Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Give Me An Answer, Get Some Rambling





For a couple of reasons, I feel like writing about comedy teams.

1) My niece, Avaroo, seems to have taken a liking to Laurel & Hardy. Here's what her mother said about it, on Facebook, a week ago.

"Ava's up watching Laurel and Hardy. She finds them to be hysterical. I find them creepy."

I, on the other hand, opined that Avarooo had superb taste. After reading the rest of this, should you have any brain remaining, I would like to hear your opinion.


2)  My wonderful friend, Daryl, and her husband, Ray (who gets no link because he has no blog, but he'll get a link below, because... well, you'll see) made my Easter pleasanter than it otherwise would have been.

Here's the thing: MY WIFE and I picked up nasty colds on Good Friday. We're not positive where we picked them up - our best guess is at breakfast, which we had outside of the house - but we both came down with a cold at the exact same moment on Good Friday. As a result, we did not travel to visit relatives on Easter, as we had planned, but instead stayed home and snuffled up snot.

It was a rather miserable weekend, all things outside of Our Lord's resurrection considered, and would have been much more miserable except for Daryl & Ray. I'll let the following e-mail I sent to those two fine people tell you the story: 


Daryl, Ray:

So, this morning, we're watching CBS Sunday Morning, and it comes to a commercial break. We've both been sick since Friday; very bad colds. I decide that I'll step outside to have half a cigarette, get a little fresh air (I know; talk about oxymorons!), and feel the sun on this Easter morning. Since we're sick, we cancelled going to my cousin's place, which we always enjoy tremendously on the holy day. We're both feeling pretty down. The Easter Bunny did not make his usual rounds to our place... :-)

I step outside the front door and I see that some mail has been left on the porch. Since mail had been pushed through our mail slot, into the house, yesterday, this was a surprise. The mail is an envelope too big to fit through the slot, and it has a return address with which I'm not familiar. I light up my smoke and open the envelope.

And then I am thrilled, and delighted, and happier than I've been all weekend. It is something sweet and special in the envelope.

So, I thank you both (and Andrew) for being our wonderful Easter Bunnies, delivering this wholly unexpected mitzvah.

Jim & HIS WIFE
xxxooo


You may be asking yourself a few questions, such as...

a) What was in the envelope? 

b) Who in hell is Andrew?

c) Pray tell, what is a mitzvah?

Here are the answers:

a) Inside the envelope was a DVD.

b) Andrew is Ray's comedy team partner.

c) A Mitzvah is a favor, and that's what you'll be doing yourself if you go to You Tube and view the many wonderful short films that Ray Edelstein and Andrew Johns have made together.






There are more than twenty such films there, and each one is a small gem of comedy team magic. Andrew Johns is a tremendous writer. Both guys have tremendous timing. And I personally guarantee at least one laugh-out-loud moment per film (there will probably be many more than one, but I'll stake my reputation - what little there is of it - on at least one.)

So, I expect you to go there, watch some films, enjoy yourself, and then leave a comment or two saying how much you enjoyed the films (feedback is the best way to get them to make more, I think, unless you're connected in some way to HBO or Showtime or some other outlet that should be snapping these guys up to do a regular series of some sort, in which case that would be the best way to get them to make more and I only want the job doing the voice-overs if this actually results in that happening.)

So, go there, do that. Before you go, though, here's what the title of this piece means. I want to know your favorite comedy team(s). The next time I show up here (heaven only knows when that will be, given the spotty way I've been popping in here lately) I'll try to have something to say about every team you mention. If that threat isn't enough to make you dread the future, I don't know what would be.

Soon, with stuff (but only if you leave a comment here) and more better stuff (if you leave a comment there, probably.)



22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lucy and Ethel!!

(not necessarily your) Uncle Skip said...

Can I list two teams?

Nah... fuggedabottit.
Stiller & Meara

I forgot the other two's names.

OldAFSarge said...

Monty Python.

(Nudge, nudge...)

Daryl said...

what a wonderful mitzvah this post is! i can tell you that while Slim and Cody have moved on through the green screen .... Patsy and Mickey are headed to YouTube and my blog next Tuesday .. oh and the video will have a special appearance by someone you really like, Suldog ... no, its not me

who is my fav comedy duo? ummm .... you and Your Wife .... xo

Pearl said...

A good friend!

I grew up on Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, Our Gang -- they were old, even at that time, but my father thought them hilarious and so I did too.

Best comedy duo? Burns and Allen. :-)

Pearl

messymimi said...

Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, and Mortimer Snerd. Also, Jack Benny and Rochester. Burns and Allen were great, too.

Chris said...

Hands down, Abbott and Costello. I had "Who's On First?" memorized by the time I was ten years old, and I still laugh out loud whenever I see it.

If we're going to loosely define the term "comedy team," I have to also give a nod to Aykroyd and Belushi, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, and the cast of Seinfeld.

(not necessarily your) Uncle Skip said...

Oh... now I remember...
Nichols and May.
And that reminds me of...
Don Ameche and Frances Langford - the Bickersons.

But wait, you said favorite.
It would have to be my stepdaughter and I.
When we get on a roll, GS just rolls her eyes.

Michelle H. said...

Someone already mentioned Lucy and Ethel. So that basically covers an era you're familiar with. So I'll go the opposite direction and mention the Wayans Brothers, Keenan Ivory and Damon. You'll remember them in their sketch comedy "In Living Color" where Jim Carrey and Jennifer Lopez got their starts at fame.

Yeah, I went all ethnic with you. :-)

Jackie said...

Carol Burnett and Tim Conway (even they are aren't an official 'team'...when I watch them together, I cannot NOT smile and laugh.)

stephen Hayes said...

Laurel and Hardy, when they were in their prime, were hard to beat.

OldAFSarge said...

Michelle, I'm right there with you on the Wayans Brothers. They were brilliant!

Buck said...

You've linked Andrew and Ray before... I thanked you then and I thank you now.

My favorite comedy team? Bob Newhart and Suzanne Pleshette on the old "Bob Newhart" show. Timing, dead pan delivery (Newhart's specialty!), excellent writing, and the oh-so-VERY-lovely Ms. Pleshette. That woman was my lust object for the LONGEST time.

Bill Yates said...

Hudson and Landry

lime said...

what a wonderful mitzvah indeed! my favorite comedy team? tough to narrow down....rowan and martin, monty python, the team on carol burnett, abbott and costello, the early seasons of the SNL cast, tina fey and amy poehler. laughter is good medicine so i certainly hope you and YOUR WIFE are feeling much better now.

Anonymous said...

I've never heard of a mitzvah, so thank you for that. I learn so much from your blog! I'll vouch that Ray and Andrew are very talented. I've only recently discovered them, probably thanks to a previous post by you. And, oh gosh, my favorite comedy team? That's a tough question because there are so many. But a previous comment reminded me that Monty Python's Holy Grail is my favorite movie, I'll say Monty Python. But some of their stuff is too out there and over-the-line for me, so I'll back it up with Burns and Allen... or maybe Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin before they started feuding...or the Smothers Brothers...or...okay, I'll stop and just say I'm grateful for all the laughs, including the ones I get from you. Hope you and YOUR WIFE are feeling better! Daryl is so sweet.

Jeni said...

Never heard of a mitzvah here either and as yet, I haven't viewed the videos you recommended -mainly now because of the lateness of the hour when I read your post. Believe it or not, it's my bedtime -a little after 2 a.m. which is a tad early for me but since I can't play the videos right now as I'd have to turn up the volume on the computer and that might wake up one of the sleeping beauties in the house and trust me, we wouldn't want to do that now, would we? (But I solemnly do promise that first thing Thursday as I make my normal rounds on the computer, I will click in here and watch this as per your recommendation! Glad to know though that you did receive this mitzvah and that it obviously brightened up your Easter and took your thoughts away from blocked sinus issues and snot for at least a little while. Peace, my friend and thank you too for your kind comments today to me. You'll never know how much I do appreciate your words! Happy Easter oh, about 4 days late but better late than never. Right?

Michelle H. said...

I wish they would come out with something more in line of "In Living Color." Although, I do admit, those Scary Movie rip-offs are a riot.

Maggie May said...

That was sweet of Daryl and I hope you & your wife are feeling better.
I used to watch Laurel & Hardy as a child. They were very popular.
Maggie x

Nuts in May

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

Hmm...Comedy team isn't something I'm really all that familiar with. I'm much more about the single person comedy acts. Carlin live was one of the best times I've ever had while laughing in my entire life, pretty sure it was a full two hours of laughter only pausing while he was sipping water or something. If I get a little down time this weekend I'll stop over and check out some videos. Thanks for the tip!

Hilary said...

What a nice gift. I've been enjoying those videos since the beginning, also.

Comedy teams... I like the brothers.. Marx and Smother.

Jenny Woolf said...

They're great videos, and they should be snapped up! I like a German show called Knallerfrauen and I would like it even better if I spoke good German.