• If you’re reading this, you made it to 2020. Congratulations. If you read Comedy Stray Notes all the way to the end last week, you saw that I offered spots to people that read the whole thing. Eleven people reached out. All of them will get spots from me in some capacity over the next year. The lesson here is I will wield my extremely limited power in extremely arbitrary ways.
• This past week, I appeared for the fourth time on Frank Terranova’s Terradome Podcast which puts me one appearance shy of joining the Five Timers Club. Truly an honor. My pal Charlton Jon Villavelez was a guest as well. This week on the podcast, the three of us discussed Frank’s upcoming Feature Film debut, our favorite movies of 2019 (you can hear me openly hate on how much I disliked “JoJo Rabbit”) and as always, Woody Allen. We all will be talking about him until we’re as old he is. The podcast will be dropped sometime mid-January.
• Well, with it being no man’s land time of the year where everyone hibernates, you better believe I stocked up and viewed as many things as I could. Excluding everything that doesn’t qualify as comedy, here’s what I saw, where you can watch it and whether or not I recommend it:
Girlfriend’s Day (2017): This 70-minute barely a feature film curiosity starring Bob Odenkirk is 1000% worth checking out. It starts as a twee indie film about the greeting card industry and turns into a sinister noir that never forgets it's about greeting cards. Folks, I RECOMMEND (streaming on Netflix).
The New One (2019): Anna E. Paone and I saw Mike Birbiglia perform this special live back when it was on Broadway last year. There’s a shocking revelation halfway in that just bringing it up here kind of spoils it but should at the very least inspire you to stream this. This special is moving, affecting, hilarious and maybe even better as a taped special than live. It’s about 68 minutes. RECOMMENDED (streaming on Netflix).
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976): Anna’s Dad had her whole family and me watch this on Christmas Eve. I’ll admit I’ve never finished any of the original Peter Sellers/Blake Edwards movies except for maybe the first one like ten years ago? Honestly, can’t remember. Either way, this is the fifth entry in the franchise and has some really cool comic setpieces and great physical gags like Sellers ballooning up and flying outside an apartment but there was no way to follow the story. NOT RECOMMENDED (can be found on DVD).
The Naked Gun (1988): Well, this is easily one of the funniest movies of all time. Can’t believe I completely overlooked it and just got around to seeing it. Honestly, it feels like the precursor to the greatest comedy of all time “A Night At The Roxbury.” Leslie Nielsen is perfect, the jokes mostly all hold up and...OJ Simpson is a decent actor in it? The final sequence at an MLB game was a perfect cross section of baseball and comedy. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (Streaming on Hulu).
The Sack Lunch Bunch (2019): Caught this on Christmas Day with Anna’s family and loved it. The musical bits (“Grandma’s Friend Paul” is one of the best musical comedy songs ever), the knowing winks to New York culture, Mulaney’s plain faced candor with the kids, special guest Richard Kind, Jake Gyllenhaal’s kooky acting...I could go on and on. In fact, I will. The noodles with butter song, the People Magazine “What is this?!” feature all added up to one of the warmest, best specials I’ve ever seen. Mulaney is on a new plane. Can’t wait to see what he does in the 20s. This is a HIGH RECOMMENDATION (streaming on Netflix).
Michelle Wolf’s “Joke Show” (2019): Wolf’s new hour is crazy tight. She employs the Michael Che joke writing technique where she makes you see something familiar in a totally different light. For example, the Mother/Son relationship. And otters. Seriously, she does like eight minutes on otters off the top. Yet, another special that makes you want to sit down and start writing more again. Definite RECOMMEND (streaming on Netflix).
Detective Pikachu (2019): Never been super into Pokemon (as much as I might look like I am) but I was curious about this cool take on the genre. It was fine. Ryan Reynolds’ smartass shtick is getting a little old for me but the story where no one is quite who they seem was kind of fun. Would not RECOMMEND but Pikachu is cute (streaming on HBOGo).
Uncut Gems (2019): Not a true “comedy” but damn. If this is what the future of Oscar-nominated movies (fingers crossed that this happens), that’s a great sign. Sandler is great in this, Kevin Garnett is EVEN BETTER and the scene at the high school play was incredible. The Safdie Brothers write amazing screenplays, direct with sheer intensity and purpose and make entertaining anxiety creating flicks. My only complaint is that this movie doesn’t exactly make my people look great and portrays us as greedy. Hopefully, that’s rectified in their next one. Would easily RECOMMEND. Even my grandma saw it (In theaters now).
Knives Out (2019): Always loved Rian Johnson since “Looper.” He does really cool stuff like releases his director’s commentaries as podcasts so you can listen to them in the theater and treat yourself to a second watch of his movies. This one was spectacular. Starts like your typical whodunit but he puts what is your usual, safe third-act twist at the end of Act One. Daniel Craig (who I opened the door for at Momofuku one time) turns a familiar Southern caricature into something iconic. Christopher Plummer and Toni Collette are secret MVPs of this movie. There’s a lot to like here. It’s funny, suspenseful and three steps ahead of you. HIGH RECOMMENDATION for sure (In theaters now).
Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead (1991): Had always been curious about this one and I saw it was leaving HBO at the end of December. Well, here’s what goes down. Umm, the babysitter dies and then Christina Applegate, a high schooler has to get a full-time job in an office and then just keeps failing up. Her younger brother plays a Mom type flipping gender roles. The kids are stupidly precocious in this movie that you feel the screenwriter laughing at how “Adult” the kids are but it kinda falls flat. They just sound like nine-year-olds with crazy vocabularies and doesn’t feel as earned or subversive as it did in “The Sack Lunch Bunch.” The movie is a fine 6/10 and if it was 1991, I bet I would give it a 7.5/10 but standards are higher now so I DO NOT RECOMMEND (not sure where it’s streaming since it left HBO).
I Love You, Daddy (2017): Remember Louis CK? I’ve been curious about this feature he made that never got released a few years ago and after digging online with Anna, she found a link that worked. It’s a weird movie that Louis should honestly be happy wasn’t released. Charlie Day gives maybe his worst performance in it, the script is stilted, there’s a lot of recapping things that just happened, Louis mansplains feminism (I remember 2017 too), he says the N word and there are a ton of allusions of what’s about to happen to him (being cancelled) before it did. Somehow, the movie has moments. John Malkovich (playing the Woody Allen surrogate) is creepy and interesting. The arguments for and against Woody are oddly kind of fascinating and the whole thing kind of works if you view it through the lens of it being a parody of Woody’s self serious stuff. Not sure how I feel about it, I said it’s a 5/10 kind of movie but one you have to see to believe. Very CAUTIOUS RECOMMENDATION (streaming online with popup ads and digging around).
Peanut Butter Falcon (2019): This popped up on a number of people’s “Best of 2019” films lists. It’s certainly good. Not great. Fun Bruce Dern cameo. Thomas Haden Church has a nice turn in the third act. Mick Foley is in this thing too. It should be noted that the lead actor and Shia have great chemistry. Honestly, I feel like Shia is going to be the biggest actor of the 2020s but I could be way off. Overall, this is a charming piece of cinema. I BARELY RECOMMEND and I had to pay to watch it on Amazon since it’s not streaming for free anywhere.
Bumblebee (2018): Great companion piece to “Shazam.” Very thematically similar and just as fun. Other than the typical “Transformers” storyline and action the relationship between Hailee Steinfeld and Bumblebee was pure joy. The gag with the robot communicating via the radio in the car is brilliant. Pamela Adlon as the Mom was an inspired choice too. I’d give this a RECOMMENDATION for sure (streaming on Amazon Prime).
• FREE FRIES was rough this week. We had a great lineup, the place was packed. Somehow, things went haywire. First, I got chewed out by the staff for giving out TOO MANY fries. Also, I may have told people to move seats to a different part of the venue when that’s the job of the staff. So things were tense to start. Then, the crowd was anarchic. They didn’t stop talking once. I mean, the biggest laugh of the night was when I asked an audience member if she was engaged and someone from the crowd yelled, “DON’T DO IT!” It’s my job as the host to get people to quiet down but I couldn’t do it. The show was all over the place and I feel bad for the booked comics but that’s the price of an ambush show with a built-in audience. Some of the shows will be a tough uphill battle. Chalk it up to another good learning experience.
• Last year, I had TEN Comedy New Year’s Resolutions. This year, I have just one. I want to release 12 sketches this year. If you want to collaborate in any way, let me know! I’d love to squeeze anyone into a sketch.
• Finally, this is not comedy but I saw The Strokes with Anna for New Year’s Eve last night. They are my favorite band other than Girl Talk. Julian Casablancas is maybe my all-time favorite singer. Either way, he really didn’t want to be there at the show. A lesson to any and all performers. No matter how big you get, want to be there. Julian ruined the show for me by treating it like it was a bad bar gig. It seemed like he made the audience feel dumb for being Strokes fans.
• Got a huge comedy week this week! FREE FRIES is back on Sunday and I’m also on Who Books This tomorrow January 2 (8 PM) at Offsides Tavern, Hobo Cop at The Grisly Pear on January 6 and So You Think Stand Ups Can Dance at The Pit on January 7 at 8:00 PM.
Well, you read this far. You deserve something. Leave this post a WOW react and I’ll DM you about a spot if I’ve never given you one before. If I have, we can talk about it!
