Our Acme Comedy Sketches From Ancient Times
Adam Carolla Podcast listeners Dan and Chris alerted me to last Tuesday's show where Ace recalled a comedy sketch he and I performed back in 1990. (Typing that made me feel logey and in need of a nap.) Adam and I were charter members of the Acme Comedy Theatre and the sketch in question occurred during the company's very first show. This nostalgic bon mot falls between 6:20 and 19:00 of the Ariana Savalas and Dr. Bruce podcast. Listen as Adam relates how the LA Weekly Review of the production missed the mark in one key respect.Originally, Acme was started in 1989 in a small playhouse in Studio City owned by actor/writer Mark York. When Adam and I performed there, our company was called the Two Roads Players, then the Tujunga Group, and probably something else before founder and director M.D. Sweeney stopped letting actors vote on names and simply called us Acme.
I think my favorite unproduced sketch involved Adam, myself and Paul Rugg. We were overweight proprietors of a smorgasbord doing our own commercials under the name, The Lardells. Paul's wife Marie had a dance background and choreographed our portly moves. Somehow, it fell away, never to be see the light of stage.
A Tale of Two Outlooks
As a general note, Adam and I worked on a number of sketches together. But when it came to solo material, I'd have to give him the laugh laurels. My instincts tended toward witty, surreal sketches such as the one where an optometrist corrected people's third eyes and adjusted their apocalyptic visions. Such an offering would garner polite, knowing chuckles. Adam would then come on stage and perform a sketch about a guy who got his nuts caught in an escalator and bring down the house.That's why he's the honcho of Carolla Digital and I'm retired.
4 comments:
I surely hope not 'that' retired. The books and short fiction stuff has been great, and looking back, along with Paul and Tom, you kinda translated SNL and Monty Python for kids.
Nostalgia for 80s cartoons is kinda common these days, but most of them don't really hold up if you watch them on Youtube, not like the stuff you guys did with WB. Animaniacs and Freakazoid let kids in on the jokes of the real world, while using adult-friendly humor. That was fun, innovative and also, very instructive. Just the other day I answered my little nephew's questions about the universe using Yakko's universe song in youtube, and he kept watching clips of the show the rest of the night.
Still writing, but retired for reasons relating to health benefits.
If your nephew needs to know more about the Panama Canal, you can always show him my episode. -:)
They did watch Draculee, Draculaa, if I remember correctly.
Btw, have you noticed the amount of views of unofficially uploaded Animaniacs videos? Only the best professional youtubers get that kind of numbers! It's crazy. The song about the Nations, the Univers, the States, the Presidents, and the intro, amounts to around 15 million views each (if you add the different uploads).
Given the format of all the comedy shows between Tiny Toons and Histeria, WB is wasting a titanic load of opportunities by not uploading short videos officially in a proper channel, like SNL or Monty Python do. The views alone would generate wonderfully for WB (or Spielberg?), but by not giving all away, they would promote DVD sales, Netflix views, and TV reruns. I wouldn't be surprised if WB orders more similar material or revivals; I'd actually expect that to happen, given the clear demand.
You're right. They really do sweep in the views.
Back in the day, the WB was fascinated with the idea of original Web programming, but that seems to have passed. Still, I'm glad people are watching the old cartoons.
Post a Comment