satire, social commentary, sketch comedy, writing, stuff
Friday, June 8, 2007
Year of the Dog
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/business/la-et-dog6jun06,1,5404281,full.story?ctrack=2&cset=true
They were friends and neighbors. She remembers him calling her late at night to bum a cigarette and discuss their lives as struggling writers and actors in Hollywood. He remembers bonding over their love of animals and helping her search the hills when her cat disappeared.
But everything shattered after she wrote a screenplay about a woman obsessed with rescuing cats — and he wrote a screenplay about a woman obsessed with rescuing dogs.
Now, Laura Kightlinger is suing Mike White in Los Angeles County Superior Court, claiming she gave him her script, "We're All Animals," to read only to discover he was making a film called "Year of the Dog," which the suit contends relied on the script about her life as a cat rescuer.
The White film, which stars "Saturday Night Live" alumna Molly Shannon, was released April 13 by Paramount Vantage to largely positive reviews — it earned a 72% on the RottenTomatoes.com film website — but has generated just $1.5 million in box office receipts.
White, who wrote and directed the film, vigorously denies the allegations, insisting that beyond a general thematic similarity, the two scripts have different plots, characters and dialogue.
"They are totally different scripts," he said in a telephone interview. " … I know there is a similarity in the sense that [the female leads] both have pets that they care about, but beyond that, everything she is saying that is similar seems like a real stretch to me."
In a town where film and TV ideas are often discussed among friends over lattes and laptops, Kightlinger's lawsuit provides a cautionary tale for screenwriters: How far should writers go when discussing their ideas, especially with other writers?
Kightlinger is not alleging copyright infringement. Instead, the suit, which was filed in October and will soon enter the deposition phase, claims that because White is also a producer, there was an expectation that he would compensate her if he used her script in some way.
"Our claim is not a copyright claim but rather a breach of 'implied' contract claim," said Jennifer McGrath, Kightlinger's attorney. "Mike and Laura were friends, but he was also a writer-producer. There was an expectation that if she told him her idea and he was going to use it in some way, she would be paid and she would also be involved in the project."
White's attorney, Louis P. Petrich, said in an e-mail to The Times that what Kightlinger asked White to read was "not a list of ingredients, but rather a specific story with delineated characters and a detailed sequence of events. … Mike's movie is not that story."
A survey of the two scripts shows some similarities in basic plot elements: In each, the lead character loses her pet — one dies and one wanders off; each brings her animal rights activism to the workplace, where she is eventually fired; each begins hoarding animals; and each visits a farm. Most other key plot points and characters differ.
Eric Weissmann, a Beverly Hills entertainment lawyer who is not a party to the lawsuit, said Kightlinger faces significant legal hurdles. "Anybody can do a movie about somebody who is obsessed with an animal … but then the question is, 'Was there really an implied agreement? And was the agreement really about that?' "
Industry veterans
White and Kightlinger are seasoned writers and actors.
Kightlinger was a staff writer on "Will & Grace" and "Roseanne." She's also an actress and comedian, who appeared as Nurse Sheila on "Will & Grace" and was a featured player on "Saturday Night Live" in the 1990s [she impersonated O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark].
Kightlinger also created, produced and stars in the IFC cable network's comedy series "The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman."
White drew Hollywood's attention when he wrote and starred in the quirky 2000 indie film "Chuck & Buck," portraying a young man who stalks his boyhood pal to reconnect with their past. He has written and acted in Jack Black's hit comedy, "School of Rock," the Jennifer Aniston vehicle "The Good Girl" and "Orange County." He also wrote and produced Black's Mexican-themed wrestling comedy "Nacho Libre."
Kightlinger said she first met White in 1996. He later was a frequent visitor in the home she shared with Black, who was her then-boyfriend. The two men later became producing partners, but today run separate production companies, although they continue to have joint projects.
She said that she based her screenplay on her experiences in the zany and often heart-rending world of cat rescues.
For example, while working at "Will & Grace," Kightlinger said she helped set up feeding stations for stray cats that roamed the grounds of CBS Studios on Radford Avenue in Studio City. Her work with strays became so well known, she said, that her co-workers even altered the name on her office door to read "Catlinger."
A tall, raven-haired woman with striking dark eyes, Kightlinger is given to self-deprecating humor. At one point in the interview, she quipped: "I'm not embarrassed to be called a cat lady, or a dog lady or even a dog." She currently has a dog and two cats.
Animal rescue
Kightlinger said that during her conversations with White, she mentioned wanting to write about women in Hollywood who bonded over rescuing animals and how her relationship was falling apart because of work with animals. She wrote her screenplay in 2002 and showed it to White.
"I read it and told her it was great and told her if she wanted me to have a part [acting] in it, I would do it," White said. " … But I never made any kind of agreement that I would use it — nor did I use her script."
White said he and Black posed for photographs holding a copy of her screenplay. She planned to imprint the photos on T-shirts so they could be worn to a film festival in a bid to fuel interest from studios and production companies. A spokesman for Black said the actor declined to comment.
Kightlinger said she gave White a new draft of her script in late 2003 or early 2004. She said she agreed in 2004 to allow a production company, Catapult Films, to shop her screenplay to the studios but found no buyers.
Then early last year, she read in the Hollywood Reporter that White had struck a deal with Paramount to make "Year of the Dog." She called to congratulate him and offered to "punch up" his script with jokes or other dialogue if he wanted her to, but according to the lawsuit, she says he declined, saying she would find his script "boring" and "wouldn't like it."
White denies this. He said he told her: "It's not really a jokey movie but I think you'll like it."
When her agent sent her White's screenplay to read for a potential part, Kightlinger said she felt it was like a "stab in the back." She telephoned White and "I said, 'What is going on?' And he said, 'Well, does it matter as long as you get it out there? Get the word out about animals?' "
White denies this conversation ever occurred. He said she left an "accusatory" message on his answering machine. "She and I have never ever spoken about [my] script since she got it," he said.
Now, the two don't speak. "This was an old friend," she said. "He knew how personal it was to me. He would laugh at things that I was doing [rescuing cats] … and then using it and made it feel like it was his experience."
But White maintains that he based his film on his life — not hers.
White, who has two cats and two dogs, said the movie "came out of me losing a pet and replacing that pet with a lot of pets and becoming involved in animal rights, becoming a vegan." He noted that he had a cat named Bootlegger, a former stray, who was found dead in the neighbor's yard.
"That whole story line came out of my own life," he said. The reason he made a movie about dogs instead of cats was because "dogs are easier to train in movies and easier to [film]."
In an anguished e-mail to The Times, White wrote, "I would never do what she's accusing me of doing" and called her allegations "a surreal … nightmare from which I hope to wake."
"The only thing that has ever mattered to me as far as my work was that people thought I was original and that I had integrity," he wrote. "I never cared if they thought I was weird or uncommercial or an acquired taste or whatever. That Laura is seeking publicity for herself by trying to damage what I have spent my career trying to create seems cruel."
As for Kightlinger, her frustrations over "Year of the Dog" are not unlike the anger expressed by the main character in a screenplay she wrote called "Better Than J.C." A struggling actress named Amanda discovers that another actress named J.C. has ripped off one of Amanda's funny catchphrases and used it in a wildly popular TV commercial. J.C. is then rocketed into the national spotlight.
In the script, Amanda says of J.C.'s success: "I can't help but think it should have been me and not you."
Kightlinger said she began writing the script before her friendship with White took off, finished it after they had become friends and she showed it to him in confidence.
robert.welkos@latimes.com
Screenwriters Laura Kightlinger, Mike White fight like cats and dogs over script
One screenwriter says her friend -- another screenwriter -- copied ideas from a script.
They were friends and neighbors. She remembers him calling her late at night to bum a cigarette and discuss their lives as struggling writers and actors in Hollywood. He remembers bonding over their love of animals and helping her search the hills when her cat disappeared.
click to enlarge
But everything shattered after she wrote a screenplay about a woman obsessed with rescuing cats — and he wrote a screenplay about a woman obsessed with rescuing dogs.
Now, Laura Kightlinger is suing Mike White in Los Angeles County Superior Court, claiming she gave him her script, "We're All Animals," to read only to discover he was making a film called "Year of the Dog," which the suit contends relied on the script about her life as a cat rescuer.
The White film, which stars "Saturday Night Live" alumna Molly Shannon, was released April 13 by Paramount Vantage to largely positive reviews — it earned a 72% on the RottenTomatoes.com film website — but has generated just $1.5 million in box office receipts.
White, who wrote and directed the film, vigorously denies the allegations, insisting that beyond a general thematic similarity, the two scripts have different plots, characters and dialogue.
"They are totally different scripts," he said in a telephone interview. " … I know there is a similarity in the sense that [the female leads] both have pets that they care about, but beyond that, everything she is saying that is similar seems like a real stretch to me."
In a town where film and TV ideas are often discussed among friends over lattes and laptops, Kightlinger's lawsuit provides a cautionary tale for screenwriters: How far should writers go when discussing their ideas, especially with other writers?
Kightlinger is not alleging copyright infringement. Instead, the suit, which was filed in October and will soon enter the deposition phase, claims that because White is also a producer, there was an expectation that he would compensate her if he used her script in some way.
"Our claim is not a copyright claim but rather a breach of 'implied' contract claim," said Jennifer McGrath, Kightlinger's attorney. "Mike and Laura were friends, but he was also a writer-producer. There was an expectation that if she told him her idea and he was going to use it in some way, she would be paid and she would also be involved in the project."
White's attorney, Louis P. Petrich, said in an e-mail to The Times that what Kightlinger asked White to read was "not a list of ingredients, but rather a specific story with delineated characters and a detailed sequence of events. … Mike's movie is not that story."
A survey of the two scripts shows some similarities in basic plot elements: In each, the lead character loses her pet — one dies and one wanders off; each brings her animal rights activism to the workplace, where she is eventually fired; each begins hoarding animals; and each visits a farm. Most other key plot points and characters differ.
Eric Weissmann, a Beverly Hills entertainment lawyer who is not a party to the lawsuit, said Kightlinger faces significant legal hurdles. "Anybody can do a movie about somebody who is obsessed with an animal … but then the question is, 'Was there really an implied agreement? And was the agreement really about that?' "
Industry veterans
White and Kightlinger are seasoned writers and actors.
Kightlinger was a staff writer on "Will & Grace" and "Roseanne." She's also an actress and comedian, who appeared as Nurse Sheila on "Will & Grace" and was a featured player on "Saturday Night Live" in the 1990s [she impersonated O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark].
Kightlinger also created, produced and stars in the IFC cable network's comedy series "The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman."
White drew Hollywood's attention when he wrote and starred in the quirky 2000 indie film "Chuck & Buck," portraying a young man who stalks his boyhood pal to reconnect with their past. He has written and acted in Jack Black's hit comedy, "School of Rock," the Jennifer Aniston vehicle "The Good Girl" and "Orange County." He also wrote and produced Black's Mexican-themed wrestling comedy "Nacho Libre."
Kightlinger said she first met White in 1996. He later was a frequent visitor in the home she shared with Black, who was her then-boyfriend. The two men later became producing partners, but today run separate production companies, although they continue to have joint projects.
She said that she based her screenplay on her experiences in the zany and often heart-rending world of cat rescues.
For example, while working at "Will & Grace," Kightlinger said she helped set up feeding stations for stray cats that roamed the grounds of CBS Studios on Radford Avenue in Studio City. Her work with strays became so well known, she said, that her co-workers even altered the name on her office door to read "Catlinger."
A tall, raven-haired woman with striking dark eyes, Kightlinger is given to self-deprecating humor. At one point in the interview, she quipped: "I'm not embarrassed to be called a cat lady, or a dog lady or even a dog." She currently has a dog and two cats.
Animal rescue
Kightlinger said that during her conversations with White, she mentioned wanting to write about women in Hollywood who bonded over rescuing animals and how her relationship was falling apart because of work with animals. She wrote her screenplay in 2002 and showed it to White.
"I read it and told her it was great and told her if she wanted me to have a part [acting] in it, I would do it," White said. " … But I never made any kind of agreement that I would use it — nor did I use her script."
White said he and Black posed for photographs holding a copy of her screenplay. She planned to imprint the photos on T-shirts so they could be worn to a film festival in a bid to fuel interest from studios and production companies. A spokesman for Black said the actor declined to comment.
Kightlinger said she gave White a new draft of her script in late 2003 or early 2004. She said she agreed in 2004 to allow a production company, Catapult Films, to shop her screenplay to the studios but found no buyers.
Then early last year, she read in the Hollywood Reporter that White had struck a deal with Paramount to make "Year of the Dog." She called to congratulate him and offered to "punch up" his script with jokes or other dialogue if he wanted her to, but according to the lawsuit, she says he declined, saying she would find his script "boring" and "wouldn't like it."
White denies this. He said he told her: "It's not really a jokey movie but I think you'll like it."
When her agent sent her White's screenplay to read for a potential part, Kightlinger said she felt it was like a "stab in the back." She telephoned White and "I said, 'What is going on?' And he said, 'Well, does it matter as long as you get it out there? Get the word out about animals?' "
White denies this conversation ever occurred. He said she left an "accusatory" message on his answering machine. "She and I have never ever spoken about [my] script since she got it," he said.
Now, the two don't speak. "This was an old friend," she said. "He knew how personal it was to me. He would laugh at things that I was doing [rescuing cats] … and then using it and made it feel like it was his experience."
But White maintains that he based his film on his life — not hers.
White, who has two cats and two dogs, said the movie "came out of me losing a pet and replacing that pet with a lot of pets and becoming involved in animal rights, becoming a vegan." He noted that he had a cat named Bootlegger, a former stray, who was found dead in the neighbor's yard.
"That whole story line came out of my own life," he said. The reason he made a movie about dogs instead of cats was because "dogs are easier to train in movies and easier to [film]."
In an anguished e-mail to The Times, White wrote, "I would never do what she's accusing me of doing" and called her allegations "a surreal … nightmare from which I hope to wake."
"The only thing that has ever mattered to me as far as my work was that people thought I was original and that I had integrity," he wrote. "I never cared if they thought I was weird or uncommercial or an acquired taste or whatever. That Laura is seeking publicity for herself by trying to damage what I have spent my career trying to create seems cruel."
As for Kightlinger, her frustrations over "Year of the Dog" are not unlike the anger expressed by the main character in a screenplay she wrote called "Better Than J.C." A struggling actress named Amanda discovers that another actress named J.C. has ripped off one of Amanda's funny catchphrases and used it in a wildly popular TV commercial. J.C. is then rocketed into the national spotlight.
In the script, Amanda says of J.C.'s success: "I can't help but think it should have been me and not you."
Kightlinger said she began writing the script before her friendship with White took off, finished it after they had become friends and she showed it to him in confidence.
robert.welkos@latimes.com
Cry Day
RoboWriters - There are two groups that meet on Thursday night. There's the 6:30pm - 8:00pm group which is open to anyone. There's the 8pm group which is a select group of writers I have worked with before. The function of the first group is to offer up the opportunity to get writers writing and to give constructive, honest feedback on anything they are working on. The focus tends to be comedy sketches written for the stage. We do the same in the second group, but our overall goal is to take our time developing a longer show in the style of a sketch revue. A typical approach to developing a sketch revue in Chicago is to secure a date somewhere and then scramble to throw material together and get it rehearsed and ready. If there's a connection to all the material, in style more than anything, it's usually applied at the last minute without a lot of thought put to it. Our goal is to have the script completely in place before we look for a space and begin rehearsals. Right now, we're in writer mode and developing material.
We'll be debuting a fruit of our labor at The First Annual Chicago Lions and Typers Festival being hosted by the Uptown Writer's Space. We're slated for Saturday, June 16th, at 6:30pm. On the schedule, we're listed under my name, because I'm a member of the writer's space. In our 8pm group, we have read approximately 35 scenes. We have to choose one. We'll be hammering this out in our Yahoo Group. It's a staged reading, so I'm looking to use the piece that best represents us, isn't heavy on stage directions, is simple to follow while also being a buttload of fun to read and to hear.
RoboWriters Assignment - The assignment for the next meeting is dubbed Buried Satire. Similar to how last week's assignment in genre ended up beinga kind of Buried Parody. In this assignment, use a current event - local, national or global - and develop a scene that is about the event, has an opinion about the event, but disguises that it has anything to do with the event and still works as a scene. One doesn't have to be familiar with the event to get the scene. Some good examples of this; In film, Alexander Payne's Election - it's about the current state of our election process done from a high school presidential election point-of-view. In literature, The Original Wizard of Oz, which is about capitalism (yellow brick road, Emerald City,ruby slippers, Toto and Oz being monetary abbreviations, etc). In Second City's canon, there's a scene about rape and how women are treated like the criminal. It's disguised by having a man who was mugged being being cross-examined by a prosecutor making the victim look guilty for the crime - Oh, you were wearing an Armani suit. Weren't you just asking to be mugged?
It's a little tricky. If you have any questions, post it in the comment section or e-mail me at rvdchicago@comcast.net.
We'll be debuting a fruit of our labor at The First Annual Chicago Lions and Typers Festival being hosted by the Uptown Writer's Space. We're slated for Saturday, June 16th, at 6:30pm. On the schedule, we're listed under my name, because I'm a member of the writer's space. In our 8pm group, we have read approximately 35 scenes. We have to choose one. We'll be hammering this out in our Yahoo Group. It's a staged reading, so I'm looking to use the piece that best represents us, isn't heavy on stage directions, is simple to follow while also being a buttload of fun to read and to hear.
RoboWriters Assignment - The assignment for the next meeting is dubbed Buried Satire. Similar to how last week's assignment in genre ended up beinga kind of Buried Parody. In this assignment, use a current event - local, national or global - and develop a scene that is about the event, has an opinion about the event, but disguises that it has anything to do with the event and still works as a scene. One doesn't have to be familiar with the event to get the scene. Some good examples of this; In film, Alexander Payne's Election - it's about the current state of our election process done from a high school presidential election point-of-view. In literature, The Original Wizard of Oz, which is about capitalism (yellow brick road, Emerald City,ruby slippers, Toto and Oz being monetary abbreviations, etc). In Second City's canon, there's a scene about rape and how women are treated like the criminal. It's disguised by having a man who was mugged being being cross-examined by a prosecutor making the victim look guilty for the crime - Oh, you were wearing an Armani suit. Weren't you just asking to be mugged?
It's a little tricky. If you have any questions, post it in the comment section or e-mail me at rvdchicago@comcast.net.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
The Evening Blues
Poor Katie Couric. This from The Internet Movie Database's Movie & TV News...
I don't think "The Big 3" evening news shows matter as much as they used to. News is very accessible via cable and the Internet anytime you need a news fix. From quality news to downright trash. But I suppose for a good chunk of America, they still get their daily dose of what's happenin' from these guys. It hasn't been the same since that last great triumvirate of Rather, Jennings and Brokaw were on the air.
The only current anchor I really like is Brian Williams. He seems like a decent, honest guy with a good sense of humor. He's like the offspring of Brokaw and Jennings. Gibson is too much of a weenie. He's good for fluff. It's as if Regis Philbin were suddenly asked to do the news.
The problem I have with Katie Couric is that I really like her. I thought she was great on The Today Show. She's natural, she's honest, she's personable, she'll ask tough questions. She's a shoe-in to do well at this anchoring the evening news stuff.
Unfortunately, THAT Katie isn't hosting the news. Some creepy pink, overlit, soft-focus automaton is hosting the news.
And it's a shame. People will conclude, if they haven't already, that either she's the wrong person for the job, or worse, that America isn't ready for a female news anchor. Give me a frickin' break. I don't know who's getting in her way. It may very well be Katie herself. But I know that the Katie I admire isn't the Katie that's soft-peddling the news every night. I want my Katie back.
Or, at least, have her deliver the news like this...
Sure would make it easier to hear about Iraq.
ROBOWRITERS TONIGHT AT 6:30PM AT THE UPTOWN WRITER'S SPACE!
Members of the audience for the CBS Evening News With Katie Couric continued to desert, dwindling to a new record low of 5,495,000 average total viewers, down 464,000 from a week earlier, the previous record low. ABC's World News With Charles Gibson continued to reign as the most-watched evening newscast, drawing 7,860,000 viewers versus 7,3860,000 for NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams. (The numbers represented an improvement for the NBC newscast from a week earlier.) Among adults 25-54, CBS and ABC wound up in a virtual dead heat.
I don't think "The Big 3" evening news shows matter as much as they used to. News is very accessible via cable and the Internet anytime you need a news fix. From quality news to downright trash. But I suppose for a good chunk of America, they still get their daily dose of what's happenin' from these guys. It hasn't been the same since that last great triumvirate of Rather, Jennings and Brokaw were on the air.
The only current anchor I really like is Brian Williams. He seems like a decent, honest guy with a good sense of humor. He's like the offspring of Brokaw and Jennings. Gibson is too much of a weenie. He's good for fluff. It's as if Regis Philbin were suddenly asked to do the news.
The problem I have with Katie Couric is that I really like her. I thought she was great on The Today Show. She's natural, she's honest, she's personable, she'll ask tough questions. She's a shoe-in to do well at this anchoring the evening news stuff.
Unfortunately, THAT Katie isn't hosting the news. Some creepy pink, overlit, soft-focus automaton is hosting the news.
And it's a shame. People will conclude, if they haven't already, that either she's the wrong person for the job, or worse, that America isn't ready for a female news anchor. Give me a frickin' break. I don't know who's getting in her way. It may very well be Katie herself. But I know that the Katie I admire isn't the Katie that's soft-peddling the news every night. I want my Katie back.
Or, at least, have her deliver the news like this...
Sure would make it easier to hear about Iraq.
ROBOWRITERS TONIGHT AT 6:30PM AT THE UPTOWN WRITER'S SPACE!
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
It's Official - I'm One of Them
After doing this for a month, I'm becoming aware of this whole sub-culture that is known as "bloggers."
I got tagged by Don Hall yesterday with a meme started by Laura Axelrod. My first question was, 'What the hell is a meme?"
Being that it's an internet thing, I looked it up on the web. The most surprising thing I learned is that it is NOT pronounced mee-mee. It is pronounced meem. It has to do with a blogger seeing a list of questions somewhere else and deciding to answer them for him or herself. And then someone else sees them, does the same, and so forth and so forth. It's like you and your girlfriends all doing the same sex quiz in Cosmo. In this case, the meme isn't just voluntarily picked up - or ripped off - it's hurled at someone else. Some say like a game of tag, but it's really more like a blog chain letter. Remember those?
Well, when in Rome...
Bloggers must post these rules and provide eight random facts about themselves.
In the post, the tagged blogger tags eight other bloggers and notify them that they have been tagged.
ITEM #1:
I did my first sketch revue, that I wrote, directed and performed in, for my fourth grade class at Lacarne Elementary School. The first joke I ever wrote was in a fake newscast. "Rain has been spotted in Lacarne and now it is raining ink." Genius! My two main sources of inspiration for this was listening to Stan Freberg presents The United States of America and watching Hee-Haw.
ITEM #2:
I am the only person in my immediate family who has never been married. Everyone in my immediate family has gone through at least one marriage and one divorce.
ITEM #3:
In my stand-up days, Dennis Miller once bought me brunch at a Bob Evans in Michigan. Paula Poundstone and I took a backstage tour of the Cleveland Zoo. I once went to an adult bookstore with Bill Hicks to buy porn (girl-on-girl was his fav). Brad Garrett told me I was a tough act to follow (he was full of shit). I have opened for Leon Redbone and for The Monkees.
ITEM #4:
I got a lot of bloody noses when I was a kid and wet to bed until I was fourteen. I was not someone you wanted at a sleepover.
ITEM #5:
My senior year in high school, I was president of the student council and editor-in-chief of the school yearbook. My grade point average was a stellar 2.2. Suck on that, George W.!
ITEM #6:
From 1999 to 2001, I was a spokesperson for the Nebraska Lottery as a character named "Fate." They even made life-size cutouts of me for in-store promotions. The ad campaign was pretty funny and won several awards.
ITEM #7:
My fantasy job is being a late-night horror movie host, like The Ghoul.
ITEM #8:
I have all the DVDs from Superman: The Animated Series and am working on Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited.
There you go.
The bloggers that I tag are: Pete Ficht, Paul Custodio, Erica Reid, Tony Rielage, Hanna LoPatin, Fuzzy Gerdes, Noah Ginex, and Rebecca Rine-Stone.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Sgt. Pepper's Sketch Revue
Forty years ago, The Beatles kicked off what became known as The Summer of Love with a mind-blowing explosion of music that raised the bar on rock and roll music and music albums. It's been known as the most influential record album of all time, extending its reach beyond musicians to artists of all type. Even me, who can't play a lick of music on anything and couldn't tune a kazoo.
I think of a sketch revue a lot like a record album. Not a CD, but a good old-fashioned vinyl record album. Each track is a sketch that tells a story. The best ones paint vivid pictures in your imagination, characters have strong wants and emotional investments, are relatable and only hang around for four minutes or less.
Don Hall and I have a lot in common as far as theatrical tastes go, but here's one place where we differ. He hates it - HATES IT - when there's down time between scenes. He doesn't want to watch actors setting up chairs in the dark. I don't mind it. Sometimes, I even treasure it. To me, it's a palate cleanser. Like the silence between songs on an album, the lights out and the music bridge as the next scene is set, completes one story and gets you ready for the next.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was the first ever pop/rock album produced with the intention that the listener enjoy it in its entirety. What became known as a concept album.
Paul McCartney has largely been credited with pushing The Beatles in this direction and I believe he pulled from his love of Music Hall entertainment in fashioning the flow of the album. Not only is it one of the most influential rock albums ever produced, it also makes a decent sketch revue.
Side one
1. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" – 2:04
- The Opener. A great little warm-up that introduces the band. It tells the listener who they are and that they are in for a great time.
2. "With a Little Help from My Friends" – 2:46
- Now that the audience knows who they are and they've warmed them up a bit, here's something a little more intimate to draw them in. Usually know as the Relationship Scene slot in a sketch revue. The first track goes right into the second, just to make Don Hall happy.
3. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" – 3:30
- The tone of the show here is being explored here. The first track set up a concert by a mythical band. In this track, the group is letting their audience know that they're taking them to a whole new world that they created.
4. "Getting Better" – 2:49
- A nice character point-of-view scene with this.
5. "Fixing a Hole" – 2:38
- A nice, relatable situation. If one has never literally fixed a hole where the rain comes in, they can certainly apply a metaphor for their own lives.
6. "She's Leaving Home" – 3:37
- A character study, again, with a very relatable situation.
7. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" – 2:39
- Act One closer. It promises a big show in the near future. Whets your appetite for Side Two.
Intermission - otherwise known as getting off your butt and flipping the album over.
Side two
1. "Within You Without You" (Harrison) – 5:07
- Side One has won over the audience. Shown them a fun, but safe world the group has created. Now, it's time to get a little weird and a little dangerous, stylistically. This is a complete departure from anything heard yet in the show.
2. "When I'm Sixty-Four" – 2:37
- This track, with it's classic good time feel, says, "Now, just in case that got too weird, don't worry! Entertaining you is still our priority. We haven't abandoned you!
3. "Lovely Rita" – 2:44
- Another quick character study and a relatable situation - getting a parking ticket - with the twist of falling in love with the meter maid.
4. "Good Morning Good Morning" – 2:43
- There's a lot about life on this album and this one has the most humorous take on just getting through the day. Life sucks, but I will continue to say "Good morning!"
5. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" – 1:20
- Thanks for coming. Let's wrap up the show. Remind you that this was meant as a whole experience by referencing the opener. A false ending that bookends the start of the album. Strengthens the theme.
6. "A Day in the Life" – 5:33 - The Closer. The BIG Closer. Mixes both elements of the album - straight up, well-structured songwriting and the loopier, more dangerous stuff. Wraps everything in the show up in a very dynamic way.
Like most sketch revues, the "concept" isn't heavy-handed and necessary for all the scenes/songs to work. In fact, some of the songs would easily fit on other Beatles albums. In sitting down to write this, I could have sworn Lovely Rita was on Abbey Road. What can I say? While Sgt. Pepper's is their most influential, Let It Be is actually my favorite Beatles album.
1,000 - I must admit, when I started this blog, I had no idea who or how many would read this. I have nothing to measure it against. My expectations were very low. Imagine my surprise when I saw the visitor meter turned over 1,000! Woo-hoo! Site Meter tells me the 1,000th visitor is from Phoenix, Arizona. That's the other thing I didn't expect, people from all over the planet drop in on this place from time-to-time. Mostly by accident, but, hey, I'll take it.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Always Leave 'em Laughing
Texas Inmate Seeks Jokes for Last Words
By MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press Writer
LIVINGSTON, Texas - Patrick Knight is collecting jokes and will pick the funniest one for his last statement before he is set to die June 26.
He's had about 250 wisecracks mailed to him on death row or e-mailed to a friend who has a Web site for him.
"Lawyer jokes are real popular," he said. "Some of them are a little on the edge. I'm not going to use any profanity if I can find the one I want, or any vulgar content. It wouldn't be bad if it was a little bit on the edge. That would be cool."
Knight said he got the idea for a joke as his last statement after a friend, Vincent Gutierrez, was executed earlier this year and laughed from the death chamber gurney: "Where's a stunt double when you need one?"
You can read the full article here.
I love this idea! Yes. I know. It's insensitive. He committed a horrible crime. But they do give a condemned man the last meal of his choosing. Why not let him go for a laugh, too? It's his funeral.
And I have to admire the risky move it is on his part. What if the joke bombs? He's not exactly playing to a slightly inebriated comedy club crowd. Who's going to warm them up? The executioner? We all know he's no barrel of laughs. Worse, suppose they are in the mood for a little chuckle before he bites the big one. What if they don't get it? What if it goes over their heads? What if he messes up the punchline. He has established that he won't do blue material. Maybe he should, just to play it safe. Audiences always laugh at the dirty stuff.
His MySpace page is here. I was surprised to discover I was in his extended network! The jokes are pretty much all the standard jokes that get told on the golf course. Nothing original. That's a shame. Give the guy some original material. And worst of all, none of the jokes pertain to his situation. To me, a comedian is at his best when he's in the moment.
Here's a few I'll throw in for consideration. They're a little more "one-liner" than "joke" so I suggest doing three in a row punctuated with rimshots. Mind you, these are intended to be the last thing he says before the lethal injection.
- I've been waiting for the governor to call, but you know how men are after you sleep with them...
- Now, it's time for my lethal injection. I hope they use a clean needle.
- The last time someone strapped me down, it cost me 400 bucks. (to the person giving the injection) At least this is free and you're prettier.
- Yes, what I did was horrible. And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids and their dog!
- Oh, so that's a lethal injection. That's not at all what Bruno from Cell Block H told me it was while we were in the shower.
- Oh, lethal injection. I thought you were going to kill me by making me watch Danny Glover movies. (if the joke bombs, follow it up with...) I'm too old for this shit.
- You know, I should have told you guys this earlier, but I'm afraid of needles.
- Always the optimist, I couldn't finish my last meal, so I got the rest put in a "to go" container.
He does have an advantage over most comedians. If his joke bombs, he can still tell people he killed.
Apparently, he prefers to have the jokes snail-mailed to him so he can read them to the rest of the guys on death row who will help him decide which one to go with. Not exactly his audience, but it's the only option he has for testing out material.
Jokes can be sent to Patrick B. Knight, #999072, Polunsky Unit, 3872 FM 350 South, Livingston, Texas 77351.
Hey, if you have any, post them here!
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