Is Chris Guest still funny? He used to be funny, right?
As many of you have noticed, I'm hosting the Slate.com Daily Podcast this week. It's a fun job, and I'm grateful to the regular host, Andy Bowers, for picking me to fill in.
Today's 'cast is a quick interview with Slate's "Middlebrow" columnist, Bryan Curtis. His most recent piece is "Christopher Guest: A Mighty Whimper." He's saying the emperor of mockumentaries has no clothes, in essence. I think he's right, in part at least. The returns have been diminishing for me in the laughs department since Guffman, and by all accounts "For Your Consideration" is the spottiest yet.
Check out the piece, then listen to the podcast.
Like this post? Click here to subscribe to the blog.
Today's 'cast is a quick interview with Slate's "Middlebrow" columnist, Bryan Curtis. His most recent piece is "Christopher Guest: A Mighty Whimper." He's saying the emperor of mockumentaries has no clothes, in essence. I think he's right, in part at least. The returns have been diminishing for me in the laughs department since Guffman, and by all accounts "For Your Consideration" is the spottiest yet.
Check out the piece, then listen to the podcast.
Like this post? Click here to subscribe to the blog.
posted by Jesse Thorn at Tuesday, November 28, 2006
2 Comments:
personally, I think one of the comments on the article put it best: Christopher Guest's improv isn't a problem, it just depends on your type of humor. I actually enjoy Christopher Guest's stuff. Best in Show and Waiting For Guffman are my favorites. I can understand how it could get repetitive though. Also, the author's wrong: Clearly the best of Corky's merchandise is The Remains of Day lunchbox. ;)
I still really enjoy Spinal Tap, but am only amused by Guffman, Show, etc, partly because they do all seem like the same (quaintly amusing) movie with the same characters. Maybe the target of Tap was more in focus and ripe for the taking in the world of 80s rock? It is interesting that this comes up around the time of the Borat discussions, as (aside from Guest's subtler touch) isn't this what a mockumentary looks like when the foils are actors instead of "real people"? What would you get if you were to put Borat into Guest's world--Waiting For Borat's Mighty Wind?
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home