This is from Adult Swim and if you haven't seen it yet you must check it out. Anyone who has ever watched '70s or '80s cheesy sitcoms will recognize these tropes... actually several genres are spoofed. Incredibly funny and well-done. The man behind it is Chris "Casper" Kelly. As it unfolds it becomes progressively weirder and there's a danger that theme song could become a permanent ear worm but for sheer brilliant parody you gotta make yourself an afterschool snack and watch TOO MANY COOKS. If nothing else, it's so well cast.
Smarf spin-off!
ReplyDeleteSome interesting info on the creation of Too Many Cooks in this interview:
ReplyDeletewww.vulture.com/2014/11/too-many-cooks-behind-the-scenes.html
The chyrons are the real names of the (human) actors.
It had parts that were inventive, like the scene where the doctor catches it, and the one where the chyron and actors are reversed. The Grand Guignol/slasher aspect seemed obvious and tired to me, like something the National Lampoon would have done in the '70s.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but I got bored and bailed a couple of minutes in. Cheesy '80s sitcoms. Huge casts and titles that go on forever. Yeah. Got it.
ReplyDelete"Sorry, but I got bored and bailed a couple of minutes in. Cheesy '80s sitcoms. Huge casts and titles that go on forever. Yeah. Got it."
ReplyDeletePerhaps watch past 2 minutes before offering criticism of an 11 minute video.
The "All In the Family" set, too funny!
ReplyDeleteNo, Ryan. No, you really didn’t get it. It’s so very much more than what you saw.
ReplyDeleteI’m glad Ken liked this; I posted it on my Facebook wall yesterday with a description along the lines of “the strangest most brilliantly funny thing you’ll see all day” and got exactly zero likes. I consider myself a pretty funny guy, but when you post something this good and no one likes it at all, you start questioning your sense of humor a bit.
I had the same experience. If I got any response to it at all after telling people how funny I thought it was, it was like, "Oooookaaaay."
ReplyDeleteTrust your humor, no matter what.
ReplyDeleteThe first 2 or 3 minutes, I laughed so hard I started tearing up. After that, it just kept getting weirder and weirder. Clever, but more disturbing than funny. At least that's the way I felt. Like most comedy sketches, when the point of diminishing returns occurs, the sketch goes more for shock than laughs. Very well done for what it was, but I would have like it better if it was about 9 minutes shorter.
ReplyDeleteNot enough production companies at the end for my liking.
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderfully bizarre and has the Adult Swim feel (more current version) a reminder of the fact that a segment of broadcasting time on a network has developed an autonomous, identifiable brand. It also comes from the same mind who wrote for many AS classics, like Harvey Birdman.
ReplyDeleteI believe one important point is that it was specifically intended for the early a.m. hours viewer mindset alongside infomercials and the like. The length is important in my opinion, because the song has to get embedded as an earworm. In the beginning minutes, it's easier to visually consume in an addicitive manner, just watching one more and again one more trope after trope get done well. But that's important to establish the repetitive ear worm music.
Yikes. That video should come with a warning. Didn't expect it to get THAT weird and disturbing. Loved the beginning, but it lost me when it turned into a slasher movie, came back when it turned into sci-if, but ultimately lost me again. Very well done, though. Some brilliant moments.
ReplyDeleteClever timing. The creators just did an AMA on reddit:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2lm9se/we_are_the_gobsmacked_creators_behind_too_many/
Brilliant! Thanks for sharing this. I had to post it on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteThis really needs repeated viewing to get everything. For example, the slasher guy appears a lot earlier than you probably noticed the first time. He's standing behind the nerdy science girl with the glasses about 20 seconds in, and unless you look for it you'll miss it.
ReplyDeleteLOVED it.
ReplyDeleteLOVED it.
ReplyDelete