Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Jon Hamm raps the TAXI theme

This you've got to see. Jon Hamm rapping to the TAXI theme, and pretty much explaining the series. As I heard this I thought: Now this would be an interesting way to pitch a pilot to a network.

17 comments :

Anonymous said...

that's a pretty good christopher llyod impression

Anonymous said...

Ken - love your blog, but can you please see what can be done to get the videos to render on IOS devices? Be Apple friendly, man!

Rockie Bee said...

That IS a pretty good Christopher Lloyd!!!

Whitney said...

To the second Anonymous... it's not like Ken's the one who makes the videos or creates the code when embedding them. THAT would be something you'd need to address with the host of the video or Google for the Blogger end of it.

Jeremiah Avery said...

Hello, Ken. Here's a possible Friday question for you:

Tonight, the station I was watching re-aired the "Frasier" episode "Room Service" by you and David Isaacs. A great episode, by the way.

When Frasier said how he and Niles were like "two brothers out of an O'Neill play" as well as an inter-title card being "A long days journey into night", I thought how though the references were great and clever, I also was wondering if there were ever any notes from the network when it came to some of the references on "Frasier" that would appear to go over the head of most viewers; and if so how were the producers and writers ever able to win those battles?

Max Clarke said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
phb said...

Jeremiah:
I would assume that any reference that would go over the heads of most viewers, would go waaaay over the heads of the network suits!

Jim, Cheers Fan said...

Who the hell thinks Reverend Jim made Taxi jump the shark? It was letting Andy Kaufman play Latka with split personalities that (almost) did that. IIRC, they reigned that in after not too long.

JT Anthony said...

Whitney-- ...but Ken DOES have influence how content is delivered in his own blog. Perhaps he needs to find a different delivery mechanism.

Chris said...

Any show--ANY SHOW--that added Carol Kane to its cast jumped the shark.

Unknown said...

Damn it. Jon Hamm is so talented, handsome, funny and humble, it's altogether plausible he's nothing more than a computer generated personality created by the North Korean military in a long term conspiracy to make all other American men so unattractive that the birth rate of the US plummets and becomes ripe for North Korean colonization by 2025.
Judging by my wife's actions, the war has begun.

-bee said...

‪Jeremiah Avery‬ said...

Your mention of Eugene O'Neal suggested to me a casting 'game' of casting actors from Cheers in The Iceman Cometh

So here are my initial ideas (going the 'non-traditional' casting route):

Ted Danson as Harry Hope
Woody Harrelson as Hickey
Rhea Perlman as Larry Slade
Shelley Long as Willie Oban
Roger Rees/George Wendt - the former Boer War rivals
Kelsey Grammar - Jimmy Tomorrow
Dan Hedaya: Night Bartender
John Ratzenberger: Ed Mosher
Bebe Neuwirth - Don Parritt (the most youthful-looking of the cast)
Kirstie Alley - Cora
Jackie Swanson (Kelly, Wooody's girlfriend) and Jean Kasem (Loretta Tortelli) as the streetwalkers

After this I'm stuck. The best candidates for Don Parrett (Harrleson or Grammar) are already taken, and I'm a little hazy on other characters in the play.

-bee said...

^^^^^ Whoops:

This is what I guess for not proofreading my posts carefully enough, meant to start the above post with @Jeremiah Avery‬

Mike McCann said...

That's clever... and shows a different, looser and more likeable side of Jon Hamm. Now, the big question: would you want him riffing over the CHEERS theme (with some extra rhythm) in detailing your series' evolution over its lifespan?

Ben said...

Hamm better work his Christopher Lloyd into a sketch the next time he does SNL.

Kirk said...

Agree with Jim the Cheer fan that taxi almost jumped the shark with the multiple personalities.

Disagree with Chris about Carol Kane. Putting her on the show killed that damn shark for good.

Though I was glad when Latka went back to one personality, it was even less realistic than when he got the others in the first place. He's born and raised in a foreign country, has a very thick accent when he comes to America, yet then develops another personality that speaks perfect English? Highly unlikely, but that's ultrarealism compared to having his peronalities merged, and ending up with the one that speaks in broken English!

mrswing said...

I think making Simca (ka?) a semi-permanent cast member was the real sharkjumper. She was dreadfully annoying and most plots in which she was featured would go overboard with absurd humor which didn't gel with the more realistic tone of the series.
That being said, at least the first two seasons were sitcom at its very best and Marilou Henner was '70's sexiness personified. Man, if only HBO had been around then...