Thursday, June 14, 2007

Great Moments in Unintentional Comedy, Part II

If you're a director making a video of an instrumental song, you have to decide who your front man is going to be. In most cases, it's a difficult decision to make, but not here. The organ player is the best dancer, has the best hair, and plays the hell out of his organ. I can dig it.

3 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 14, 2007

    The three Indian maidens (they're the ones who used be called "squaws," until they found out what that word really means) obviously agree with you about that organ player.

    Amazing: two hundred years of American history in this brief and entertaining video! Excellent find, Bob.

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  2. AnonymousJune 15, 2007

    Something like this brings several questions to mind, Bob.

    - How could you do a "Spinal Tap" treatment of a performance like that? It's along the same lines as asking how to lampoon professional wrestling.

    - I'd be curious to know what this group is up to now. If there's even a remote chance of booking them for my brother-in-law's 40th, it would be worth a search.

    - How do happen across gems like this?

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  3. Glen - Keep in mind that this video was made shortly after the commercial in which a tear rolled down the cheek of a Native American who witnessed littering. It was a bittersweet time of healing.

    By the way, whenever I eat McDonald's food on a road trip, I'm tempted to roll down the window and chuck the trash out the window, just like people used to do when I was a kid. I resist the urge.

    Steve - That's the great thing about these 70s and 80s videos. Lampooning wasn't nearly as pervasive, so people opened themselves up to ridicule more easily. I still think that rap music videos are the greatest source of unintentional comedy nowadays, because the participants feel shielded from ridicule.

    So far, I've gotten both of these unintentional video ideas from Bill Simmons at ESPN.com. There's more...

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