Macleans: Too soon?

Superbad is superallright

Rebecca Addelman — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:14:41 -0400

So I seem to blog in one of two ways: incredibly short and useless (but pithy!) posts, or incredibly long and windy (but confusing!) posts.
Here's hoping this instalment will break the mould.

I saw Superbad on the weekend. Opening night, to be exact. Why anyone wants to wait in line for an hour with hundreds of dweeby teens and jocko & girlfriends just to be let into the theatre, only to wait for another 35 minutes for the lights to dim, only to wait another 15 minutes for the actual movie to start (oyve! the commercials these days last longer than it takes to broil a brisket!) beats me.
I only know why I do it. And I do it for love. Or a fear of being alone. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between those two.

My boyfriend is a fanatic for seeing movies on opening night, and I tag along, the result of years of being hardwired to not want to "miss out" on the fun. Blame it on older brothers or an overarching desire to impress random acquaintances with my trivia and pop culture knowledge. I blame it on my mom. She's the source of all my problems!

Although Superbad was funny and a pretty good movie, it wasn't worth the wait. Or the aggravation that only a congested popcorn (and bean burrito) mill can bring. It also wasn't worth all the hype. I think Judd Apatow -- the comedy producer/director phenomenon who can do no wrong these days -- is a great thing for the world of jokes. He's loyal to a strong cast of players that he rotates through all of his projects, and his cred from Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, and 40-Year-Old-Virgin is huge. It's just that, well, I'm afraid he's veering towards quantity over quality lately.
The scripts seem a bit watered down and the jokes not as poignant and truthful as the Freaks and Geeks days. I'm also curious about Apatow's ability to take credit for every project that has his name attached, even tangentially. He didn't write or direct Superbad, but he's quoted all over the place about the movie.
He's like the godfather of a new comedy movement, and his existence has its pros and cons.
Pro: a guy who knows his stuff and has produced excellent work is now in a position to make whatever he wants, and he chooses to use a phenomenal cast every time.
Con: a guy who isn't questioned anymore can make whatever he wants. Never the best thing for comedy -- unless you're Larry David, I think.
Another con -- Judd Apatow does not know how to write for women. Or incorporate them into the funny. It's not bad that his movies are male-oriented and speak to a generation of young men. It's just that, well, what makes those young men young men is often young women. And there is a dearth of 3-D women in a lot of his films (take Katherine Heigel's character in Knocked Up as an example -- the fact that she'd a) keep dating Seth Rogen and b) keep dating Seth Rogen is hard to believe).

And finished.

Still long. But not too long, right?

p.s. My boyfriend says he's in love with Spiderman's girlfriend Mary-Jane Watson (not the Kirsten Dunst version, but the hand-drawn comic book version). Should I be jealous?

Yeah, I said it

Rebecca Addelman — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:48:13 -0400

People who blog more than me:

Mark Steyn (hell yeah!)
Paul Wells
Scott Feschuk
Luiza Savage
Dafna Izenberg
Andrew Potter
Your Mom

Deal with it.

s@#!

Rebecca Addelman — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 18:22:51 -0400

I just noticed that certain swear words get censored by the macleans.ca site, while others make it through unchanged.

let's do a little test, shall we?

s@#!
shitty
f@#!
motherfucker
tits
ass
cock

Let's all hate women

Rebecca Addelman — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 18:12:25 -0400

Around 10 days ago, I promised more on Just for Laughs Toronto. So much time having passed since the festival, I don't want to write about it. If anyone feels ripped off -- well, just remember: I don't get paid to write this blog, and you get what you pay for.
Or, for the angry bigots out there, perhaps this will comfort you -- I'm half Jewish, so now you can confidently tell all your friends that you were just half-Jewed.

On to better things! Like summer blockbuster movies. Summertime is the best time for comedies, because believe you me, short shorts and sunscreen sure do make people want to laugh. Hence the release of several hilarrific flicks -- The Simpsons Movie, Hot Rod and Superbad -- all in the span of a few weeks.

I've only seen one of these movies -- Hot Rod. It's a wacky comedy starring Andy Samberg. Check him out, he's all right (to avoid awkwardness, years ago my brother and I adopted "you're all right" as our way of saying "i love you." So, I guess what I'm saying is: I love Andy Samberg....Only problem is, I don't actually love him, so I guess I got my own wires crossed there.)

Andy Samberg. Saturday Night Live's newest saviour, rejuvenating the 37-year-old(!!) sketch comedy show with his musical digital shorts (my favourite? Lazy Sunday. But Natalie Portman beating the s@#! out of stuff and Dick in a Box are nothing to sneeze at, if you know what I'm saying).

Okay, so Hot Rod is Samberg's movie debut, bringing along with him the rest of his sketch troupe, Lonely Island (i think that's their name). Although, strangely enough, he and his buddies didn't write the movie. A woman named Pam Brady did. And we all know...women aren't funny. Right? Huh? Who's with me?
Everyone who was just with me, you're fired. That was a test to see who here's a woman-hater.

But speaking of woman hating, that's what I'm trying to get to. In Hot Rod, Isla Fisher -- Sacha Baron Cohen's ladyfriend and baby momma, as well as the funny psycho girl in Wedding Crashers -- has the only female role (other than Sissy Spacek as mom).
When I first saw Fisher's name attached to the project, I thought "Of course. A funny comedy deserves a funny woman." I had high expectations for the movie, and I think Fisher has some real chops.
But unfortuantely, in Hot Rod, Fisher, like most women in comedies, is just the straight man, given one, maybe two jokes through the whole film. What a waste. What a goddamn shitty piece of s@#! waste. God I am so mad right now! If you could only see me, you'd know just how mad I am. But instead I have to try to communicate to you through writing just how mad I am, and it loses something in the translation, let me tell you!!!!!

The Isla Fisher thing is just another example of something that, as a female comic, has bothered me for a long time. While male comics are the star vehicle in their own films (think Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, Woody Allen, fucking Sinbad, and now *shudder* Dane Cook), female comics are never cast as their counterparts.
The female roles in comedies go to really hot women who can kind of maybe pull it off (think Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Jessica Simpson). Okay, sorry, correction. These roles go to hot women who are pretty fucking terrible at being funny.
Occasionally, however, there is a hot woman who really can pull it off. Christina Applegate is a great comedic performer, and was quite awesome in Anchorman. And although she kind of bothers me, Drew Barrymore was a good fit in the Wedding Singer. Likewise, Isla Fisher is funny and pretty and yadda yadda yadda.

Where was I? Oh right (I just reread that last paragraph).
It's a crock of s@#! that dudes can look as ugly and stupid as Dane Cook and be the star of a movie, while women like Sarah Silverman, Amy Poehler and Maria Bamford are far from being the main attraction. Molly Shannon starred in one movie, I think. Too bad there weren't more.

In conclusion:
Hot Rod wasn't that great.

And also...
If you're in the Toronto area on Wednesday, August 15, come see a funny woman in action.
Nikki Payne, standup comedy sensation, is starring in her own sketch comedy show, the NIKKI FUNTIME SHOW, and we're taping the pilot next week in front of a live studio audience ie. YOU! (I am a writer/performer for the show, so you can catch me in action, too)

For FREE tickets to the taping, just call one of the numbers below to reserve a seat.

416-214-9900 ext 250 or 416-214-9400 ext 250.

Date: August 15
Time: 7pm
Location: 65 Trinity St., Trinity Studios -- near Front and Parliament, near the Distillery District

Just for Laughing it up

Rebecca Addelman — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:29:43 -0400

I hate to disappoint the Administrator, who seems to relish reminding us all that "there are no posts at this time," but I'm about to start this thing....
Here it goes.

This is a comedy blog, which means that as a comedian, I'll be writing about all things comedy-related. Some of this may be funny, some may not. So if you're expecting non-stop hilarity, then look elsewhere. May I suggest you start with the Wayans Brothers section of the video store (seriously, I hear White Chicks is a strong film, although I prefer Little Man myself*).

To kick things off, three little words: Just for Laughs Toronto.
The iconic Montreal festival, the very same fest that's launched bazillions of comics, from Yakov Smirnoff to Rodney Dangerfield**, touched down in Toronto last week for three days of mega-watt, star-packed, celebrity-studded (got any more cliches? use them here) shows.
For their Toronto launch, JFL brought out heavy-hitters Lewis Black, Howie Mandel and Craig Ferguson to host galas at Massey Hall (capacity 2,700-ish), and let me tell you --- those shows were only all right.
Now, before I launch into some kind of facile criticism of the Toronto JFL, I should preface myself: I think the festival coming to Toronto with a bunch of big-ticket names is great. The more comedy, the better I always say.*** And besides, it's hard to argue with a lineup that included Richard Lewis, John Pinette, Russell Peters, Nikki Payne, Greg Giraldo and Jeremy Hotz. These are all bona fide stand-up stars. People should pay $100 to see them in action. They do deserve all the acclaim they receive.

My quibble with the festival is tiny -- minute, you might say -- to anyone other than a big 'ol comedy snob like myself. It's this: the Toronto JFL consisted largely of galas (those big theatre shows where all the comics do their best 10 minutes). Galas are exciting, galas are glitzy, galas attract big names. But they can also be safe and boring. Comedy is at its best in smaller, more intimate venues. Clubs where comics feel free to explore, take chances, risk stepping out on a limb with a few daring jokes. (Montreal's JFL, by contrast, has dozens of shows in smaller clubs -- although I do realize that they've had 25 years to get to that point.)

The Toronto JFL galas delivered what they aimed to deliver: high-quality comedy to the masses. What they didn't do was initiate the uninitiated into the "real" world of comedy. Snobby, I know. But watching someone do material about their wife that they know is going to get an easy laugh from all the married yokels in the crowd is far less interesting than watching a comic risk his or her set on a racial bit, and failing.

Case in point. The highlights of the fest, for me, were U.S. up-and-comer Bill Burr, and the veteran of them all, Richard Lewis. Burr, a white comic (race is relevant, wait and see) who was a regular on Chappelle's Show and appears on Howard Stern, came out onstage Thursday night after a set from Kathleen Madigan (one of the judges of Last Comic Standing) that touched on familiar, popculture topics like American Idol and Lindsay Lohan, and the middle-aged crowd didn't know what hit 'em. This guy started talking about the urge to elbow grannies in the face, why one stupid b**ch thought he was homophobic (he isn't), and why he's fed up with movies where black Americans overcome an evil whitey oppressor. His example? The Terrance Howard flick Pride -- a story about a black swim team that overcomes an evil whitey swim coach or league administrator or intramural captain or something else whack like that.
Burr was doing interesting, funny, edgy stuff. The crowd didn't know what to do. There was unease. Shifting. I'm sure most of the 905ers desperately searched out any black (or brown) faces in the crowd -- were they laughing? Cause if so, then I guess I'm allowed to laugh.****
Then he gave them a hockey joke.
Ejaculatory spasms of orgasmic laughter ensued! Oh man! Hockey? That guy just talked about hockey! That's hilarious.

Icing on the cake, Burr called the crowd out on laughing at his hockey joke. He was essentially calling them morons to their faces, but they were too moronic to get it.

Next, Richard Lewis. F**k. This guy. Thiiiiiiiiiiissssss guy. Didn't used to like him way back when. Then learned to love him on Curb Your Enthusiasm. But this 10-minute set---cemented him in my personal pantheon of comedy idols. Describing it could never do it justice. A schizophrenic*****, post-therapy, post-addiction, 60-year-old dressed "like Captain Kirk's rabbi" who "just wants to live" is it in a nutshell. Oh yeah, and he also grabbed his nuts a lot. Apparently being 60 made him do it. I didn't ask.

Well legions of readers, I'm pooped. I have a lot more to say on the festival, but you'll just have to wait.

*This writer has never seen either White Chicks or Little Man, and does not recommend that anyone else watch them, either.
**This writer has no idea if this is true.
*** "I've never heard you say that before," says Dafna. "I say it a lot in private," adds Rebecca.
**** Another comic told me that at Montreal's JFL, Burr did the same material to a mostly black crowd and they effin' loved it. And you know why? Cause the s**t is hilarious. Man, whiteys concerned about appearing too white/racist suck, huh? Wouldn't you say they're the most racist of them all?
***** schizophrenic in the un-literal sense. I know, I know. Schizophrenia is always used to improperly describe people who are best described as having multiple personality disorder. I know that! So shut up already.

Check back soon.

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