from nytimes.com
The NYT Magazine tackles comedy this week, determined to unlock the secrets of humor and deconstruct it mercilessly down to the minutest of building blocks, with (we assume) unintentionally ironic pearls like this from A.O. Scott : "The genius of a well-executed gag is that getting it requires nether schooling nor explanation. Nor does the humor appeal to the audience's sense of superiority." Yes. Indeed. Also, A.O. really, really liked it when Borat and his friend wrestled naked.
There is great writing and there is humor and there is great writing about humor. ETP will leave it to the reader to make those calls, though we will cite with approval Paul Rudd's "How To Be Funny When You Are Incredibly Good-Looking." We do, however, take issue with a few things: (1) The breezy characterization of Will Ferrell's characters as "vapid," which anyone who witnesses his quietly growing self-awareness in "Stranger Than Fiction" will take issue with (and might prefer the phrase "sunny simplicity" as applied to Buddy The Elf); (2) The same tired meme about how women aren't being recognized as funny — see article on Anna Faris asking — but not answering — "Is there a place in Hollywood for a funny woman who doesn't want to just play dumb?" (Answer: Yes; though Faris' pratfalls in the "Scary Movie" franchises are great, forgotten is the new SNL generation hitting the screen, i.e. Tina Fey , Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch in films like "Mean Girls" and the upcoming "Spring Breakdown" which also features Parker Posey which leads into all the star turns in the Christopher Guest movies, notably Catherine O'Hara's Oscar turn in "For Your Consideration" which just might garner actual buzz) (see the NYPost's Reed Tucker on her here); and (3) Worthy of note, and consideration, is that the article on the new breed of YouTube comedy phenoms features eight men and zero women. Probably justified — ETP can't think of a single YouTube girl comedy phenom — but still, worthy of exploration.
Probably the best distillation of comedy, however, comes from Chris Rock to Deborah Solomon: "You want to know what's not funny? Thinking about it."
Bonus: 15 men and 3 women list their top five comedies! [NYT]
Update: Broadsheet has a more nuanced take here.
