Best Oscar Speech

It sucks when you make a joke then no one gets it. It happened to Kunio Kato when he won the Oscar for his animated film. Or - they didn't want to offend his accent.

Old Jews Telling Jokes

My dad can tell a story. But he’d prefer to tell a joke.

Storytelling is a Jewish tradition. You’ve probably seen Fiddler on the Roof. Whenever they ask the Rabbi a question, he tugs thoughtfully on his beard and says “let me tell you a story.” Then they sing.

Jokes are like stories, but shorter and funnier. Old jokes tend to have a stigma, but they only last if they’re good. Some of the best ones provide a window to the culture of a bygone era. They can reveal the concerns of a generation or even the generation before. Anxieties of coming to a new country, of prospering, of assimilating, of having families, of fearing and worrying about, well, everything. Humor was and is the ultimate anti-depressant.

My father gathered twenty of his friends to share their favorite jokes. We set three rules for the production: the joke-tellers were to be Jewish, at least sixty years of age and they were to tell their favorite joke – the one that always kills.

Here, you will find them, Old Jews Telling Jokes.

http://www.oldjewstellingjokes.com/

David Letterman interviews

Joaquin Phoenix on Late Show w David Letterman Feb 11 2009



Crispin Glove on Late Show w David Letterman July 28 1987



Andy Kaufman on Late Show w David Letterman

Christian Bale takes David to the Dentist

A Rare Music Video by James Arthur O'Brien

Click to Play

I made digital music some time ago.  I made a video to go along with it.  This is copyright heavy.  I better not catch this on a New Balence commercial or anything.  I'm risking a lot by throwing this up on the internet.  I do it for my audience.  Please respect my art.

Elevator Phone Sex from Second City

In this reporter's opinion, the video would be nothing without the reactions from the guy behind the caller.

Who Needs A Movie? Fred & Sharon

Some of Fred & Sharon's creative work. Go to http://fredandsharonsmovies.com for more

What is Comedy?

From their post on YouTube:

A long-forgotten 1951 classroom film from Medium Large's educational library ("Bake Your Way to Marriage!" "How to Cripple a Bully" "Polio: God's Judgment Against Gays" ), this short exposes the chilling, horrifying, alarming truth about comedy in a fun, fact-filled format. The movie was made possible with a grant from "Buick: The Cadillac of Cars."

Written, drawn and directed by Francesco Marciuliano. Edited by Sara Benincasa.






http://www.medium-large.com

http://francescoexplainsitall.blogspot.com

Amateur Creampie by Karl Stevens & Gustavo Turner

Banana Slips on a Human

There is so much going on here in terms of humor. The first thing that comes to mind is the obvious frame shift. The shift may come late after the banana falls, realizing that it has slipped on a human. This then creates the association of parody on the timeless slipping on a banana peel joke. Added associations for more comic effect are the suitcase and umbrella the banana is holding. This frames the banana in our world which Echoes the theories of Henri Bergson:

"You may laugh at an animal, but only because you have detected in it some human attitude or expression. You may laugh at a hat, but what you are making fun of, in this case, is not the piece of felt or straw, but the shape that men have given it,--the human caprice whose mould it has assumed. It is strange that so important a fact, and such a simple one too, has not attracted to a greater degree the attention of philosophers. Several have defined man as “an animal which laughs.” They might equally well have defined him as an animal which is laughed at; for if any other animal, or some lifeless object, produces the same effect, it is always because of some resemblance to man, of the stamp he gives it or the use he puts it to."

Food is no different. Now with the rise of analytical comedy, a lot of weight is put on laughter in the question, "Why am I laughing at this?" which leads to "Why was this video even produced?" which may lead to another frame of laughter. The incongruity of the scenario lends itself extreme to the release of laughter. Banana's slipping on humans doesn't make sense, and this is a basic form of laughter that even the youngest human can cognitively understand.