tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post1248577275749405229..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: How did we handle drinking on CHEERSBy Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-80156504608574664012014-12-30T01:18:10.757-08:002014-12-30T01:18:10.757-08:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-52661885330446006222014-12-29T23:03:15.968-08:002014-12-29T23:03:15.968-08:00Scott, jokes get repeated all the time, especially...Scott, jokes get repeated all the time, especially in the old days, when movies were not expected to have any shelf life. One memorable example: Back in 2008, the Academy held a Centennial salute to James Stewart, and one of the clips they showed was from a very obscure 1938 comedy called VIVACIOUS LADY. In the scene shown, Ginger Rogers asks Jimmy to hold her "closer, closer." He stammers, "If I hold ya any closer I'll be in back of ya." The entire audience gasped, because they all recognized that line as being spoken by Groucho the year before in A DAY AT THE RACES.cadavranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-37502788134543627682014-12-29T09:04:47.175-08:002014-12-29T09:04:47.175-08:00Just a thought. I wonder if the aforementioned Hop...Just a thought. I wonder if the aforementioned Hope-Crosby "Road" picture and the Marx Brothers picture that both used the "lobby" gag might have shared a common writer? One who remembered the gag and recycled it? In those days, before television and when reissues were rare, who would know? <br /><br />Which prompts a question: is it okay for a writer to recycle his own ideas, even if they were already used on another series or film? Is there an ethical problem with it? For example, a friend has a 16mm print of a 1960s series titled HEY LANDLORD. The episode in question, written by Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson, was recycled over a decade later on LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY, even to the point of carrying over a lot of the dialogue. If it's your script (and in this case I believe it was Marshall and Belson's series), is there a problem with reusing parts of it elsewhere, even if you're just reusing a few of the jokes?Scottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-64477765411126360072014-12-29T08:45:55.723-08:002014-12-29T08:45:55.723-08:00Ha, I was watching His Gal Friday just the other n...Ha, I was watching His Gal Friday just the other night, Ken, and caught the reference to Ralph Bellamy, but I don't remember hearing Archie Leach mentioned. Then again, that movie is filled with so much rapid fire dialog that I seem to discover something new in it every time I watch it. McAlvienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-39223460439894369452014-12-29T07:37:40.563-08:002014-12-29T07:37:40.563-08:00There is an inside joke that is painful to watch o...There is an inside joke that is painful to watch on reruns. On FRIENDS, Brad Pitt guested as a someone who hated the character, Rachael Green, played by his real-life wife, Jennifer Aniston. A few years he cheated on her and they were divorced.<br /><br />The Bumble Bee Pendanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11782074071758250824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-38710341901196133452014-12-28T23:03:42.685-08:002014-12-28T23:03:42.685-08:00Ken may not have been involved in these episodes b...Ken may not have been involved in these episodes but I remember a guy getting drunk at Cheers the night before he was to enter the priesthood or something.<br />and Diane was drunk a few times for various reasons.cd1515https://www.blogger.com/profile/13442641020639066876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-90527433415698048302014-12-28T18:00:06.201-08:002014-12-28T18:00:06.201-08:00So, Ken, are you always opposed to breaking the fo...So, Ken, are you always opposed to breaking the fourth wall, or did you just object to the circumstances under which it was done in "Volunteers"? I've been watching the Bob Hope-Bing Crosby <i>"Road" pictures, and those are laced with moments in which the fourth wall is not just broken, but reduced to rubble and hauled away. (One of my favorite examples occurs when Hope, just before Crosby starts singing, turns to the audience and tells us that he has to stick around for this, but there's no reason we shouldn't go to the lobby for a cigarette.)</i><br /><br />Stolen directly from the Marx Brothers' Horsefeathers, with Groucho warning folks right before Chico's piano piece...http://youtu.be/XG0PL99UjZA?t=1m10sLouOCNYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16151395857835632917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-26754848282307179792014-12-28T11:39:49.199-08:002014-12-28T11:39:49.199-08:00Hal, that "lobby" joke had been done 20 ...Hal, that "lobby" joke had been done 20 years earlier by Groucho in HORSE FEATHERS. And it probably pre-dated that in vaudeville.<br /><br />Katherine Helmond's character on SOAP was very much written as Gracie Allen. A personal favorite:<br /><br />"Good morning, dear. Sleep well?"<br />"Oh, yes, I slept like a hog."<br />"No, no, you mean you slept like a log."<br />"Don't be silly, Chester. Logs don't sleep."<br /><br />And indeed, who could argue with that?cadavranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-85882124205172427692014-12-28T11:09:41.052-08:002014-12-28T11:09:41.052-08:00"St. Elsewhere" is the all-time inside j..."St. Elsewhere" is the all-time inside joke champ. Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows had occasionally appeared as the parents of resident Victor Ehrlich. When the residents were about to graduate at the end of the series, the fathers of Ehrlich's friends were played by Allen's "Tonight Show" cohorts, Louis Nye, Bill Macy and Tom Poston.Chalmersnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-70994689903102977532014-12-28T00:56:00.293-08:002014-12-28T00:56:00.293-08:00While I am disappointed that "I Ought to Be i...While I am disappointed that "I Ought to Be in Pictures" isn't in the lineup, I'm making room on my Tivo for all of this, including the pleasure of seeing your comedic face on my big-screen TV, Ken! Turner Classic Movies gets it right!: <a rel="nofollow">http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/1054745%7C0/Neil-Simon-Fridays-in-January.html</a>Rory L. Aronskyhttp://scrapsofliteracy.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-62975762840630598792014-12-28T00:52:58.151-08:002014-12-28T00:52:58.151-08:00So, Ken, are you always opposed to breaking the fo...So, Ken, are you always opposed to breaking the fourth wall, or did you just object to the circumstances under which it was done in "Volunteers"? I've been watching the Bob Hope-Bing Crosby "Road" pictures, and those are laced with moments in which the fourth wall is not just broken, but reduced to rubble and hauled away. (One of my favorite examples occurs when Hope, just before Crosby starts singing, turns to the audience and tells us that he has to stick around for this, but there's no reason we shouldn't go to the lobby for a cigarette.)Halnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-84676289548148733582014-12-27T22:58:32.357-08:002014-12-27T22:58:32.357-08:00Kenneth Tigar, the Werewolf, also appeared on Chee...Kenneth Tigar, the Werewolf, also appeared on Cheers twice, the first time as Fred in "The Boys in the Bar", which I just discovered, was written by Ken and David. <br /><br />If you have any Kenneth Tigar anecdotes, I'd love to hear them. I. M. a'Robotnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-16974243854952602014-12-27T12:56:31.958-08:002014-12-27T12:56:31.958-08:00@VP81955. If you going to watch "Episodes&qu...@VP81955. If you going to watch "Episodes", try to start at the beginning. I think Showtime on demand still has it. I've touted "Episodes" a couple of times on this blog and the best comedy ons sTV currently.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-37338497958200838012014-12-27T12:18:31.251-08:002014-12-27T12:18:31.251-08:00There’s a logic to everything they said. It’s just...<i>There’s a logic to everything they said. It’s just not the correct logic.</i><br /><br />George Burns used to say that this was the trick to writing material for him and his wife, Gracie. Some writers who tried unsuccessfully to pen material for the team would just have Gracie saying stupid, off-the-wall things. George always insisted that what Gracie said had to make sense. Just not "sense" as everybody else understood it. His standard illustration was of Gracie putting two roasts -- a small one and a large one -- into the oven. Why? When the small one was burned she knew the big one was done. There is logic behind that. Just not logic that made sense to anybody but Gracie.Willnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-83811030991510965412014-12-27T11:00:20.740-08:002014-12-27T11:00:20.740-08:00One of the earliest inside jokes: In "Steambo...One of the earliest inside jokes: In "Steamboat Bill Jr.", college boy Buster Keaton arrives with a beret. His tough father immediately takes him to get a big, manly hat. We then see Buster adjusting to a succession of hats (all body language with the straight face) as his father rejects each one. Suddenly Buster's trademark porkpie hat from the shorts appears. Buster hastily ditches it, as if it wasn't supposed to be there.DBensonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-70216703114053705902014-12-27T10:53:02.536-08:002014-12-27T10:53:02.536-08:00Funny thing about Al - it never even occurred to m...Funny thing about Al - it never even occurred to me that he might have been alcohol-drunk. I always saw him as punch drunk. Actually, I just figured that was the way he always talked and acted.Mike Schryverhttp://otrcomedy.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-42778925501385161242014-12-27T09:28:30.122-08:002014-12-27T09:28:30.122-08:00Probably the biggest use of inside jokes and pop r...Probably the biggest use of inside jokes and pop references, is MSTK3k. Have the fun os trying to catch the references.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-81696195149092059622014-12-27T09:27:28.343-08:002014-12-27T09:27:28.343-08:00I love the references and inside jokes.
As mentio...I love the references and inside jokes.<br /><br />As mentioned in the post, the "20 years playing the same character" joke by Nanny G is one of my faves.<br /><br />A couple of others:<br /><br />In the first season of NCIS, Kate wonders, "I wonder what Ducky (played by David McCallum) looked like when he was younger?" To which Gibbs replies, "Illya Kuryakin".<br /><br />On the Big Bang Theory, Wil Wheaton's house number was 1701.<br /><br />My all time favorite was from 3rd Rock from the Sun - when the group met the "Big Giant Head", played by William Shatner (an inside joke by itself), at the airport. Shatner went on to complain ho whe was the only passenger to see a monster trying to take apart the wing of the plane. To which John Lithgow exclaimed, "That happened to me, too!"<br /><br />dgwphotographyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17457021093344362212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-24666732542471778002014-12-27T09:03:16.372-08:002014-12-27T09:03:16.372-08:00"the trick is to hide them so they go right b..."the trick is to hide them so they go right by the general audience. It’s comedy camouflage."<br /><br />This is kinda how I feel about references in general, even more than inside jokes; it almost applies even more to major references to stuff everyone is familiar with. If you throw a ton of references into something in the background, catching them all can be fun, and it makes no difference to a viewer who doesn't get them. THE SIMPSONS has done a <a href="http://www.smosh.com/smosh-pit/articles/movie-references-you-never-got-simpsons" rel="nofollow">particularly good job</a> with this over the years. If you don't get 'em, you don't even notice they're there. Do it in the foreground and call attention to it without actually expanding it into a proper joke, EPIC MOVIE style, not only will half the audience be sitting there not getting it, but the half that does get it will be like "Yeah? So?"<br /><br />But of course, that won't stop hundreds of writers from inserting RISKY BUSINESS dance scene verbatim over the years. And <i>maybe</i> a few will add something new to make an actual joke out of it (THE SIMPSONS replaced the song with "Who Like Short Shorts", added some bad singing by Homer, and some bear slippers, making it funny even if you hadn't seen RISKY BUSINESS).Covarrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05512077437345823232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-30538980053924787762014-12-27T08:23:47.074-08:002014-12-27T08:23:47.074-08:00Thanks to the Internet, you don't have to be D...Thanks to the Internet, you don't have to be Dietrich to get that reference.....Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05298625602730853132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-29308546264685082222014-12-27T08:12:21.498-08:002014-12-27T08:12:21.498-08:00Nice name Stefan...your hair ever grow faster duri...Nice name Stefan...your hair ever grow faster during a full moon? <br /><br /><br />LouOCNYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16151395857835632917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-92187275896005549792014-12-27T07:31:05.365-08:002014-12-27T07:31:05.365-08:00Back to the bar. I curious: was that real beer o...Back to the bar. I curious: was that real beer on tap or a look-alike? Or did you have both? One for the visual effect and another for Norm to guzzle no matter how many takes? Stefan Koepeknienoreply@blogger.com