Here we are again at the lunch table. It’s been a while since I’ve been here. I’ve been at a different lunch period because I had to take “sthpeech clasth.”
First order of business (Halloween-related):
A KitKat in my pillowcase is the best Halloween treat ever. Rebuttals in comments accepted, but they must be given in the form of “I disagree. I think it’s a very good treat but…”
Second order of business (also Halloween-related):
My Halloween time consumerism was limited to shopping at places that sell cheap, yet stylish, pants that fit my new job’s dress code but I did manage to squeeze a few puns in while I shopped. Target had a whole section for its “Spooktacular Savings.” Even the local flower shop was offering up “boo”-quets for your sweetie. I was hoping they would have a dumpster out back I could root through. It would have been more fitting for the season.
Third (as in three-points, as in Adam Haluska) order of business:
J and I’s totally awesome Iowa Hawkeye basketball season tickets rolled through the door today. First game is against Buena Vista (of Iowa, I presume) and if their QB team represents their basketball team in any way we shouldn’t have any trouble. Also they should have some decent looking girls on their team.
Lastly:
I figured out why my tolerance/liking for Tenacious D is so low compared to the common man (or woman, women can be as misguided as men). Comedy in any musical form is terrible. It took a very lame show on NPR to pinpoint it for me. I think it was “Capitol Steps,” according to my dad, possibly, maybe. Anyway it was some show that involved taking our nation’s news/problems and making them in to a hi-larious musical number. All musicality was pushed aside to get a joke or point across. Words were rushed to fit the rhyme scheme and punchlines were held out with low notes for the men and high notes for the women. It was all so formulaic and chaotic at the same time.
Regarding the D, I don’t doubt that JB and KG are funny. In fact, I know they are both funny as hell. But comedy is a different art form than music totally. One compromises elements of the other by trying to combine the two. They limit each other in so many negative directions to the point that not even talented musicians and comedians can overcome the obstacles.
Some elements that I find compromised:
Timing - Rushing the end of a verse or drawing out a punchline to make it fit
Rhyming - Since when were rhyming jokes funny, unless you are a fan of a limerick, in which case, enjoy your Metamucil?
Element of surprise - Music is meant to be replayed, but once you heard a joke is it as funny again? Is it continually funny? Very few things are able to do that (Patton Oswalt, classic comedies such as Billy Madison and The Jerk)
I hate to sign off as a music snob, but if you really need proof of why they don’t belong together, look at Weird Al. If anybody has had enough time and practice to perfect musical comedy, it is this man, and he’s still struggling with rubbing the sticks together until they are warm.
