Dane Cook is a fairly new famous comedian who has also been the main actor in two movies: Employee of the Month and Good Luck Chuck. He has produced three comedy albums and one HBO special. In this one and a half hour stand up act, Dane Cook discusses themes such as Sex, Lying, and Religion. In his religion skit, an atheist sneezes on Dane's shoe and Dane says God Bless you. The man and Dane argue about religion and what will happen when they each die. The man says he will become a tree and be one with the earth and Dane responds, I hope you get chopped down and they print the bible on you. In this HBO special The Vicious Circle, Dane is being insightful and tries to teach the viewers not to do the stuff he talks about (cheating and going to psychics and many more common daily activities). His audience is mainly young adults and teenagers and most people agree and laugh at his jokes. This is because his jokes come from everyday basic interactions.
Dane Cook. Vicious Circle. Dir. Marty Callner. HBO September 4, 2006. DVD
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Prop 8- The Musical
"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... from Jack Black
The website Funny or Die, founded by comedians Will Ferrel and Adam McKay, is a viral video website that broadcasts comedic content. The name comes from the fact that as soon as a video is uploaded, users get to vote on whether it is funny or it should go to the 'crypt.' It is also very common for comedic celebrities to make guest appearances and to upload their own videos as exclusives to the site. This particular video got 1.2 hits on its very first day after it was uploaded on December right after California's Proposition 8 was passed, and is one of these exclusives.
Marc Shaiman, famous film, tv, and Broadway composer and lyricist, got together with director Adam Shankman to make the video in only a few days right after he learned that the musical director of the California Musical Theater had donated to a Yes-on-Prop 8 campaign (Itzkoff). The video begins with a group of people reveling on the "brand new, bright Obama day" only to be interrupted by 'Proposition 8'ers' who think it's time to "...spread some hate and put it in the Constitution." The video continues as a musical fight between the 'Proposition 8ers' and their opposers as a way to satirize California's Proposition 8 and those in favor of it, Christians that pick and choose which parts of the Bible to uphold, and people that use religion-based arguments to pass a state law. The video also pokes fun at the stereotyping of homosexuals (the Proposition 8ers sing: "...now make our clothes and fix our hair") and the importance placed on money, exemplified by Neil Patrick Harris singing that "every time a gay or lesbian finds love at the parade, there's money to be made" leading everyone to end the song with "gay marriage will save the economy!"*
*This point was included by Marc Shaiman after he learned of a study by UCLA stating that legalization of gay marriage would really stimulate the California economy (California Proposition 8). The article about the study can be found here: http://articles.latimes.com/p/2008/jun/02/business/fi-wedding2
Just for reference, some of the comedians in the video include:
WORKS CITED
"California Proposition 8," Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, accessed March 31, 2009, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8_(2008)#Proposition_8:_The_Musical>
Itzkof, Dave "Marc Shaiman on ‘Prop 8 — The Musical,’" The New York Times, Dec. 4, 2008, <http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/marc-shaiman-on-prop-8-the-musical/?hp>
"Prop 8- The Musical," Funny or Die, online video clip, December 3, 2008, accessed March 30, 2009, <http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0cf508ff8/prop-8-the-musical-starring-jack-black-john-c-reilly-and-many-more-from-fod-team-jack-black-craig-robinson-john-c-reilly-and-rashida-jones>
The website Funny or Die, founded by comedians Will Ferrel and Adam McKay, is a viral video website that broadcasts comedic content. The name comes from the fact that as soon as a video is uploaded, users get to vote on whether it is funny or it should go to the 'crypt.' It is also very common for comedic celebrities to make guest appearances and to upload their own videos as exclusives to the site. This particular video got 1.2 hits on its very first day after it was uploaded on December right after California's Proposition 8 was passed, and is one of these exclusives.
Marc Shaiman, famous film, tv, and Broadway composer and lyricist, got together with director Adam Shankman to make the video in only a few days right after he learned that the musical director of the California Musical Theater had donated to a Yes-on-Prop 8 campaign (Itzkoff). The video begins with a group of people reveling on the "brand new, bright Obama day" only to be interrupted by 'Proposition 8'ers' who think it's time to "...spread some hate and put it in the Constitution." The video continues as a musical fight between the 'Proposition 8ers' and their opposers as a way to satirize California's Proposition 8 and those in favor of it, Christians that pick and choose which parts of the Bible to uphold, and people that use religion-based arguments to pass a state law. The video also pokes fun at the stereotyping of homosexuals (the Proposition 8ers sing: "...now make our clothes and fix our hair") and the importance placed on money, exemplified by Neil Patrick Harris singing that "every time a gay or lesbian finds love at the parade, there's money to be made" leading everyone to end the song with "gay marriage will save the economy!"*
*This point was included by Marc Shaiman after he learned of a study by UCLA stating that legalization of gay marriage would really stimulate the California economy (California Proposition 8). The article about the study can be found here: http://articles.latimes.com/p/2008/jun/02/business/fi-wedding2
Just for reference, some of the comedians in the video include:
- Margaret Cho, stand-up comedian (for more information go to http://humor-database.blogspot.com/2009/03/margaret-cho-christians-have-lost-their.html and http://humor-database.blogspot.com/2009/03/margaret-cho-asian-americans-and-racial.html)
- Maya Rudolph from SNL (http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/bios/Maya_Rudolph.shtml)
- John C. Reilly (Step Brothers, Walk Hard, Chicago, The Aviator, etc. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_c_reilly])
- Neil Patrick Harris, from Doogie Howser, Harold & Kumar (http://humor-database.blogspot.com/2009/02/harold-kumar-go-to-white-castle.html), and How I Met Your Mother
- Jack Black as Jesus (Tenacious D, High Fidelity, School of Rock, Nacho Libre, etc.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_black])
- Rashida Jones from The Office (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashida_Jones)
- Sarah Chalke from Scrubs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Chalke)
WORKS CITED
"California Proposition 8," Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, accessed March 31, 2009, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8_(2008)#Proposition_8:_The_Musical>
Itzkof, Dave "Marc Shaiman on ‘Prop 8 — The Musical,’" The New York Times, Dec. 4, 2008, <http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/marc-shaiman-on-prop-8-the-musical/?hp>
"Prop 8- The Musical," Funny or Die, online video clip, December 3, 2008, accessed March 30, 2009, <http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0cf508ff8/prop-8-the-musical-starring-jack-black-john-c-reilly-and-many-more-from-fod-team-jack-black-craig-robinson-john-c-reilly-and-rashida-jones>
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Xavier: Renegade Angel
Xavier: Renegade Angel is a 15 min show on Adult Swim. Its first airing was November 2, 2007. Adult Swim is currently airing the second season.
Xavier: Renegade Angel's loose story line is that Xavier, who is a grotesque creature that is the combination of a man, a snake, a bird, and maybe a monkey, is traveling through the desert in search of the meaning of life. The show is very random in nature with odd characters appearing and crazy flashbacks happening consistently. The show's humor comes mainly from altering reality, which it can do easily through its use of computer animation. This "altering of reality" comes from Xavier travels through space and time. He is goes forward and backward in time, seeing things in his own past while also witnessing things like the destruction of Earth. His time travel is sometimes explained, but most of the time is not. These random jumps in time provide humor because the audience is never really sure where Xavier is going to end up and whether what they are seeing is real or not. Xavier also breaks the audiences normal perception of space; leaving our normal sense of reality in favor of abstract worlds that are far removed from any part of human existence. An example of this removal from human existence can be seen in the following clip.
For context, in this episode Xavier is stuck in a circular room with different colored doors, each one transporting him to an abstract place. That clip leads to my next point about how Xavier provides humor. At its core Xavier is a show about philosophy and religion, and that clip, along with many others throughout the series, touch on the belief in God and the search for some purpose in existence. The clip can be taken on the surface to be making fun of belief in God, but more importantly is the way it conveys religion as a viewpoint that is black and white. When asked the question "do you believe in God?" Xavier goes into his own views on existence and a higher power. The bar-code man is there to represent religion(from what I can tell the Judaic God) with the belief of God being either yes or no. Xavier on the other hand takes the role of philosophy, not only questioning the belief in God but going as far as questioning belief itself. I think the humor comes from showing how narrow minded religion can be while also highlighting how abstract philosophy can become. Bringing up philosophical questions is a common theme in Xavier and contributes greatly to its abstract humor. But Xavier: Renegade Angel's humor is not always so abstract in nature. The show also touches on the cultural issues of race, religion, and sexuality. The following clip touches on all these issues. On a side note, this show is made by the same people who did Wonder Showzen on MTV2; the following clip is very reminiscent of Wonder Showzen in its use of race, religion, and sexuality.
Xavier: Renegade Angel's loose story line is that Xavier, who is a grotesque creature that is the combination of a man, a snake, a bird, and maybe a monkey, is traveling through the desert in search of the meaning of life. The show is very random in nature with odd characters appearing and crazy flashbacks happening consistently. The show's humor comes mainly from altering reality, which it can do easily through its use of computer animation. This "altering of reality" comes from Xavier travels through space and time. He is goes forward and backward in time, seeing things in his own past while also witnessing things like the destruction of Earth. His time travel is sometimes explained, but most of the time is not. These random jumps in time provide humor because the audience is never really sure where Xavier is going to end up and whether what they are seeing is real or not. Xavier also breaks the audiences normal perception of space; leaving our normal sense of reality in favor of abstract worlds that are far removed from any part of human existence. An example of this removal from human existence can be seen in the following clip.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Lewis Black: The Old Testament
Lewis Black. The Old Testament. Dir. Keith Raskin. Comedy Central. 2008
This skit involves Lewis Black discussing evolution and religion. The major themes are of course Christianity and Jewish religion and how they are related to each other through "The Old Testament and the News Testament". The whole skit deals with how evolution is talked about in the Old Testament which was the Jewish book, but it wasn't good enough for Christians and therefore made a "New Testament". Most of Lewis Blacks stand up comedy deals with racism, everyday life, absurdities, sarcasm, exaggeration, and politics.
This skit involves Lewis Black discussing evolution and religion. The major themes are of course Christianity and Jewish religion and how they are related to each other through "The Old Testament and the News Testament". The whole skit deals with how evolution is talked about in the Old Testament which was the Jewish book, but it wasn't good enough for Christians and therefore made a "New Testament". Most of Lewis Blacks stand up comedy deals with racism, everyday life, absurdities, sarcasm, exaggeration, and politics.
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