A Giggling Idiot

I truly am a giggling idiot. I make that claim in my bio ("giggling idiot for the ages and I encourage everyone to follow suit"). I put it in there for fun but I truly am a giggling idiot.

It happens a lot when I'm nervous. In fact, sometimes the funnier I am the more uncomfortable I find a situation. It's that way with my singing as well. Curiously, I've been known to break into full arias depending on my mood, but the mood that brings it on can range from sunny to dark. Boredom too eggs me on. I was already midway through an Elvis Costello song as I loaded my clothes into the laundromat dryer before I realized that what I was singing was fully audible to anyone nearby. Often, when someone hears me singing they comment, "Ooh, someone's in a good mood" and I counsel them not to necessarily bank on my singing to gauge my mood.

So to this I add giggle fits or laughter. Or the five minute set of inappropriate jokes I can reel off at any given time. At my brother's wake I was like a stand up comedian. 

I'd like to say it's a genetic Irish thing. There's a fantastic saying: "Irish charm is the ability to tell someone to go to hell and have them look forward to the trip." Still, I can't help but wonder if in my core, it's more nurture than nature. I was raised by two incredibly funny and quick parents. Unfortunately many of their cleverest lines were used to lacerate each other or those in the line of fire (i.e.: their kids). Consequently, the kids learned at the dinner table a way to diffuse the situation by using a witty comment at the expense of the other siblings and feeling, at least for a few moments, somehow more than zero.

And of course sometimes it was all for fun. But if I've been accused of quick witticism, I can blame that on those years when the family tried their best to sit together at a table and...well eat like a family (as opposed to apes throwing verbal crap at each other which is usually the direction those failed-Norman Rockwell dinners took).

Because of this I can see humor in the darkest of moments. It's a coping mechanism that, if I were writing comedies, would come in extremely handy  but can none the less throw people off at times.

Still, I suppose it could be worse. What's the fallout, really? I avoid discomfort, a situation can be diffused and maybe it puts a smile on the face of someone who desperately needs a smile. 

So yes, I may be a giggling idiot, but it is my superpower and I wear it proudly! (even if not always conveniently)

Remakes and Misogyny

I'll admit, I never warmed to the idea of a remake, reboot, whatever of the film "Ghostbusters." I think they kind of nailed it 30 years ago. And I understand that everyone has a movie here and there for which a remake sounds sacrilegious. Some people eschew remakes altogether believing that the original movies can never be topped. 

I understand that, though I believe that sometimes the originals can be topped. And if not topped, the remakes can at least provide a quality all on their own. Ever since I was a child and saw the 1949 version of "Mighty Joe Young" on the 3:30 movie after school I've been a fan of that film. When I heard Disney planned to remake it, I doubted it would work. When I saw the 1998 remake, I loved it. 



There are many movies remakes that I've enjoyed. And some that I've absolutely hated.

To me it all depends.

But "Ghostbusters"...I don't know maybe it's because it's one of my favorite films of all times. But I think there are other forces at work here. As I explain in my post on the film's 30th anniversary, the film was a perfect storm of creativity yet, at the time, it seem to come out of nowhere. Along with the comedy it had elements of science fiction, paranormal, horror and even romance that could have been an absolute mess if it hadn't been so perfectly blended. I don't think, in terms of "Ghostbusters", that blend can be successfully reproduced. Even the original creators had a difficulty recapturing that energy. I enjoyed "Ghostbusters II" enough, but it was obviously lacking in something. 

The boys take Lady Liberty out for a spin in "Ghostbusters II"

Who knows, maybe the first movie's success lay in the audacity of the attempt to mix these elements together to begin with when no one was quite sure how it would be received. 

Whatever it was, "Ghostbusters" was a movie simple in its premise (three guys bite off more than they bargained for); technical in its detail (thanks in large part to Dan Akroyd's sincere interest in the paranormal upon which he unabashedly relied), with an epic, world-saving battle at the end that they still managed to throw some memorable humor into. All this glued together with perfect timing. 

In short, when making this movie: They came, they saw, they kicked ass!

I do not think that can happen again. For example, this, from the Daily Beast, is the plot idea being tossed around for the "Ghostbusters" remake: 

"Feig said that this reboot would unequivocally not be a sequel, and that the humans wouldn’t be afraid of ghosts at the start of the film because they haven’t encountered them yet. He also said the villain would be a convicted murderer—hopefully played by Peter Dinklage—who turns into a ghost during a botched execution. (Morbid! Love it!) This apparently will give Dinklage’s character the power to raise an army of ghost villains, which could be famous people throughout history. 

"Feig’s idea is also that the Ghostbusters work for the government, but in a tortured relationship kind of way: their organization keeps being disavowed because it would be ludicrous for the government to endorse ghostbusters. He wants Saturday Night Live’s Cecily Strong to play their bureaucratic nemesis, who, according to Vulture, is 'always saying terrible things about them in press conferences and then apologizing to them behind the scenes.'"

Oh please, let the hilarity begin. 

No, seriously, let the hilarity begin cause I can't really see it in that convoluted mess. Of course, I know, the plot will change as production goes on. Details added and subtracted. But if this is the bedrock upon which this movie is to be built, it does not bode well.

Let's consider the casting. A big to-do was made about casting an all-female cast for a "Ghostbusters" remake (which, in itself, becomes a bit of a schtick and if you aren't happy with the casting you run the risk of being accused of misogyny). So it's been decided that the four Ghostbusters will be Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Whig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones. People are creaming themselves over the cast. Lindy West (in her blog piece on the misogyny of not liking an all-female cast) refers to the choices as:
"...a stunning ensemble cast of some of 2015's most hilarious and sought-after comedians."

And:

"That is the most indomitable fucking comic dream team of all time."

Which isn't at all how I'd define that cast. In fact, since we're only one month into 2015, perhaps we can give it a few more months and track down some other names for this project. Melissa McCarthy can be funny when she's not Tammy-fying up everything. Kristen Whig generally leaves me cold. And the other two SNL alumni, McKinnon and Jones, while eliciting a chuckle from me every so often, do little else on a show that grows increasingly unfunny every year. I would hardly call this a fucking comic dream team. Comic nightmare maybe.

Despite its outrageous subject, the original "Ghostbusters" relied upon a great deal of subtly to make its humor work.



I'm seeing anything but subtle with this remake.

West seems elated though, and has apparently decided that guys not entirely on board with the idea are driven by misogyny. Of course there are guys who are upset by this because it's an all-female cast. But there might actually be some guys out there who just aren't overly happy with who was cast, (though I'm sure that's hard for West to grasp since this is apparently her fucking comic dream team).

As for myself, well I'm a woman who has long called for roles in which females kick some ass, physically, mentally and comically. There's a reason that "Xena: Warrior Princess" remains one of my favorite shows. (And by the way, when they decided to make a strong female character, the producers didn't just recast Hercules as a woman. They created a whole new strong female character) 

But don't pretend that the casting of an all-female Ghostbusters brigade was anything less than calculated on the part of the producers. They've been pumping up interest in the project by tossing around the possibility for well over a year. They're not doing it to address gender imbalances in the movies. They're doing it cause they sense a trendy tidbit they can milk. It's as much a gimmick as deciding to redo "Ghostbusters" is to begin with. To me, hailing an all-female cast is not that different than bemoaning an all-female cast (both are making a big deal of something that shouldn't at this point, be such a big deal). 

In her piece, West states: "I can't even tell you what it would have meant to me, as a child, to watch a movie about four hilarious female scientists. I'm thrilled that my kids will get to grow up in a world where people actively work to rectify gender imbalances..."

I agree. So here's a challenge to her and all creative minds out there: Rather than piggy-back onto the concept (and success) of an old movie, create an original idea about four hilarious female scientists. Rather than trying to rewrite the past, why not take charge of the future? Rather than chiding people for not wanting a movie they enjoyed to be redone, why not slam the studio redoing it for not taking that supposed "fucking comic dream team" and creating a whole new movie for them?

Then maybe you'd really have my attention.

In the meantime, I guess we'll see what we'll see with this project. I can say this: Thirty years later, people still quote lines from the original "Ghostbusters." I can't imagine that happening with this remake.

Because thirty years ago...

Blogradio Appearance

I'm pretty excited because later on today (Friday, Dec. 19, 2:38 a.m. is when I type this) I'll be doing an hour long interview on the Speculative Fiction Cantina. We'll be discussing To Touch the Sun, among other things. They also asked me to do a 5-8 minute reading from the book and choosing a passage that fits in that time has been difficult but it's been fun practicing with the possible choices. 

There are a number of accents in my book: Heavy Chicago, light Chicago, Indian, British, I've always enjoyed playing with accents so playing with these (not to mention trying to pin down the male voices without it being too obvious that that I'm "husking" my voice) has been interesting.

I'll say this, I've often wondered why most authors don't read versions of their own audio books. You would think it would be perfect since they know the rhythm of the words they put down on paper. 

It can be quite a challenge, however, as I discovered when I read the prologue of TTTS so that the publisher can put something on Facebook the day it was released. It was me, in my living room with a headset and a computer, trying to accomplish the task in a hurry and luckily it was mostly prose so that I didn't have to go in and out of too many accents. Even still, I found myself having to pause frequently to attend to sinal issues, or because I had a tickle in my throat, or Oliver T. Kitty decided I was spending far too much time with that and not nearly enough praising him so he tried to steal my focus with a whiny meow. Or, and this is a huge problem, you tend to assume what the next words will be only discover you're off by a word or a tense. 





Now I know that most audio book readers are locked up in a quality studio with technicians to help them. Still, it has to be a daunting task.

If you want to hear a reader successfully attack a variety of accents in a book, listen to John Lee's exceptional reading of Ken Follett's "Century Trilogy." I have gotten through the first and half of the second book (hoping to finish it soon) and was blown away. I was made fully aware of his talent after listening to the audio versions of Follett's Pillar's of the Earth and subsequent books in that series. It was like listening to a radio play. But in the Century Trilogy, Lee is taking on a variety of British accents, a variety of American accents, German, Russian, male and female...and he does it all seemingly effortlessly. It's astounding. 

Of course the audio versions of the Harry Potter books are classics unto themselves thanks to the voice talents of Jim Dale. He doesn't have the vast amount of different ethnic accents, but he does have the male/female, adult/child accents to perform. I had a friend who made a ritual of reading the Harry Potter book and then made a ritual of listening to it on CD.

I really enjoyed Ron Perlman's reading of The Strain, the first novel in a vampire trilogy by Guillermo del Torro and Chuck Hogan. His was a measured reading, but it was perfect for the subject and added to the tension.

Recently (well, several months ago--unfortunately, with my schedule, that's recent for fiction) I finished the audio book of The Martian by Andy Weir. It was a surprisingly engrossing book (I say surprisingly because it's very subject should have left my eyes glazed over from minutia). The performance by R.C. Bray only helped to pull me into the story. 

Frequently I find myself listening to books on audio because my schedule leaves me little time to read. Popping a CD into the player driving from one thing to another is a lot easier. And if you have a great reader, it can be a fantastic experience.

If you would like to hear me take a stab at a live reading, tune into the Cantina tomorrow. And feel free to call in with any questions. I'll be on at 5 p.m. Central time. Visit http://www.blogtalkradio.com/writestream/2014/12/19/the-speculative-fiction-cantina-with-anthony-metivier-and-laura-enright

Craig's Contract with his Audience

Only a few days remain until "The Late Late Show" is no longer hosted by Craig Ferguson. It's been a great ride. I've written posts that contain some of my favorite things from the show. What I want to point out today isn't the bust your gut funny moments, but those moments he made it real. That's one of the things that made Craig's tenure with the show so very special. Perhaps it was the main thing because it enabled Craig to connect with his audience on a deeper level using his own feelings on a national or personal tragedy. It was cathartic for both host and audience.

Again, in no particular order, are ten examples.

This is the first monologue that I saw that Craig opened up about something troubling and it turned out to be a fantastic mix of humor and social slapdown. It's when I truly realized how special this show was with him at the helm.



David Letterman's production company, World Wide Pants, is the company that produces "The Late Late Show" which follows his own "The Late Show with David Letterman" every night. In 2009 news broke of Letterman's affairs with various female staffers over the years. As Craig himself says, this left him in a very difficult position since it was his job to comment on the news of the day.



This is just for fun. Apparently there was a power outage during the taping of his show. What do you do when a power outage occurs during the taping of your monologue? You take a few nips at the hand that barely feeds you.



Craig shared a lot with his audience. A lot.



I mean, a lot!



Five years after 9/11, an immigrant, two years shy of his U.S. citizenship, shared his memories of that horrible day. 



On July 20, 2012, a man went into a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. and shot 82 people, killing 12 of them. Two years ago an some change, we were still horrified by such an event (sadly I fear we've become a bit too accustomed to it now). A pre-recorded show of "The Late Late Show," including jokes about "The Dark Knight" (The film being shown when the event occurred) was scheduled to run, leaving Craig and his staff in a dilemma. So he decided to tape a new opening to the show that would address the shooting (and in fact his dilemma). It's the sort of sincerity that made his show so special.



And in a companion piece: On April 15, 2013 two pressure cooker bombs went off during the Boston Marathon. It was a horrific and cowardly act that left everyone shaken. Craig presents that confusion and anger perfectly.



Craig's mother and father had been on his show, his mother partaking in a particularly charming bit in which she went shopping with RZA of Wu Tan Clan. When his mother died, as he so often does, Craig shared his feelings with his audience. And he almost made it through without breaking.



Of course two years prior to the send off for his mother, fresh from the funeral, he spoke about his father's death. (The show that night actually became a wake for his father).





And of course honorable, and sad, mention belongs to his announcement that Craig would be giving up the reigns of "The Late Late Show."




Whether it was joy, frustration or grief, what you got with Craig Ferguson was an honesty and wit that couldn't be contained on a cue card. It was indeed his contract with the audience.

Let's Get This Party Started

I'm not quite sure when the puppet cold openings on The Late Late Show morphed into the spectacular lip synching numbers but I suppose it was inevitable in an ever evolving show. As I showed in the previous post the lip synching seemed to start with the puppets. A yodaling monkey, an acid rock wolf, a dinosaur and shark singing "Rain Drops Keep Fallin' On My Head." It was ridiculous and fantastic all at the same time. Eventually, with the help of a talented and playful staff, Craig Ferguson transformed this show opening featuring puppets into musical numbers that helped pump up the audience even more.

The numbers are remarkably notable when you consider the space in which they had to stage them. Some have quite a lot of choreography to them.

Again, in no particular order, here are ten of my favorite musical openings from The Late Late Show.

"Fireball XL5" was a children's show created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson of Supermarionation fame which Ferguson very likely grew up watching in Scotland ("Fireball XL5" actually did run on NBC on Saturday mornings in the U.S. from 1963-65). It had a curiously poppy closing song considering its science fiction theme that lends itself perfectly to a bit on the Late Late Show.



The Village People's "In the Navy" is a song screaming out for a good lip synching and Craig and his crew are just the folk to provide it.




"Look Out There's a Monster Coming" is a catchy little tune that can be found on the album 1967 "Gorilla" by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (one of its members, Neil Innes, would go on to write the fantastic songs to be found in the Beatles-parody band The Rutles). And it's nice to see Geoff Peterson get in on the act.




The Late Late Show's take on "White Lines" (covered by Duran Duran) is one of those numbers that definitely cemented the party aspect of the cold openings.



I think "Wonderful Night" was the first lip synching bit that I saw and it only increased my affection for this show.




It's only fitting that when Craig took the show to Scotland, his country of birth, the opening would need to be big. Add an awesome TARDIS effect and you have a rockin' cold opening.



And when in France:



"Over At The Frankenstein Place" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" was one of the more elaborate cold opens and it works excellently.



This next one is one of my favorites featuring a cover of "Istanbul" by one of my favorite bands, They Might Be Giants.




As a "Doctor Who" fan like Craig himself, this last one is probably the penultimate cold open for me. It didn't, however, actually open the show when it was broadcast since at the last minute it was discovered that they couldn't get the rights to the "Doctor Who" theme music. What was filmed was a practice run-through that Craig, none the less, winkingly encouraged should somehow make its way onto YouTube. And so it did. Brightening the lives of every Whovian out there.



These are the things that made The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, despite the late hour, such a joy to tune in. 

Craig Ferguson's Puppets

In my last post, I told you about my sadness at Craig Ferguson's imminent departure from the Late Late Show. Tuning into the show every night was like stumbling on an open house party at a neighbor's house, and late night will sorely miss that energy.

I would like to illustrate why I love this show with a few Top Ten lists (borrowing, of course, a concept from another show).

Borrowing a concept from another show, I would like to illustrate why I love this show so much using a few Top Ten Lists (although the the entries are in no particular order). To begin with here, are ten of my favorite cold openings featuring Craig's cast of hand puppets (a cast that seemed to grow as the concept went on):

So one night I tune into The Late Late Show and opening the show, I see a white rabbit puppet talking to the camera in squeaky cockney, an empty set behind him. I think that's when I officially realized that the party had begun. As much as I enjoyed the sketches written for the show (a particular favorite was Michael Caine at Hogwarts), there was something so audacious about a host opening his network show with only a white rabbit hand puppet talking to the audience (Craig doing the puppet's cartoon voice) that I was spellbound. And when he did it again and again (with a monkey, or a unicorn, or a puppet he referred to as a crocodile/alligator) I was a goner. 



Kronos, King of the Monkey People, is another puppet that has made a number of appearances on the show. With his firm, booming voice he professes to being on the verge of taking over the planet. The adorable elevator operator outfit (or is he a bellhop) he wears, however, makes it hard to believe that he'll succeed in these plans.



Kronos made an appearance in a rare multi-puppet opening bit featuring a dinosaur and a shark singing "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" before they started a toothy make-out session. 

I mean, come on!! What other show offered that?



Another toothy denizen of the Late Late Show puppet brigade is Wavy the crocodile/alligator. Fresh from the bayou, he apparently has an English cousin whose longer torso is perfect for High Def.



Wavy not only has an English cousin, but also has an English girlfriend, who he introduced to the audience. She seems a shy, retiring type, though I suppose one would be when dating a crocodile/alligator. (This is one of my favorite bits)




In what seemed like a shark week of his very own, Craig was having relationship problems with his shark. Breaking up is hard to do, especially with a shark.



But it turns out, that the shark has quite a personality.



The lip synching to songs became more elaborate as time went on and began to incorporate staffmembers, but there's something so right about puppets "lip" synching.



And speaking of elaborate, here's a little unicorn joined by friends to sing "The Lonely Goatherd."



Not to be outdone, however, is Kronos, King of the Monkey People, a monkey of many talents.



As an honorable mention, it seems only fair that Craig should have a puppet all his own.



There are any number of other puppet bits floating around out there on YouTube and I highly recommend an hour of surfing.

My next post will discuss the more elaborate cold open lip synching.

Craig Ferguson's Party

Craig and Secretariat bust some moves

Recently The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson released the guest line up for Craig's final shows and it reminded me of how bitter/sweet the next several weeks will be.

James Corden

Ferguson's last show will be Dec. 19 and frankly I don't want him to go. Oh he'll probably move on to something else (at the moment he's got some game show thing that he's hosting on another station) and the next host (James Corden) of The Late Late Show will probably do a good job, but this show with Ferguson has been magical since he took over in 2005.

I remember early on in Craig's (I call him Craig cause he makes me feel that I can) tenure trying to tell a coworker about the show. I had a hard time explaining the show because it was so atypical of talk shows. What you normally see is rote: Host is introduced, host does monologue, host does wacky banter with sidekick/bandleader (of course hard for Craig to do since he's had neither for some time. Technology solved that problem eventually). After the break the first guest comes out, there's a bit, then the next guest, then maybe a musical act, then end of show. It stays that way for years.

The Dreamboyz

Maybe it was Craig's punk sensibilities left over from a misspent youth that led him to break that format. (During the 80s he played in a band called the Bastards of Hell, later renamed Dreamboyz, which also featured current Doctor Who Peter Capaldi). Sensibilities which apparently also flavored his life some years after. Not only did he depart from standard talk show format with his television show, Craig often departed from the formats that he himself would establish for his own show. 

An early sketch featuring Ewan McGregor


It was like watching one big comedy bit being tried, tested, tailored and trimmed to offer a tighter result.

The show was constantly evolving and it was brilliant to see what he and his staff came up with.

Consider the evolution of Geoff Peterson, gay robot skeleton sidekick. The lack of a sidekick had never hurt the show or Craig's performance. In fact, he seems to have the mutant ability to be entertaining without sake of sidekick, cue cards, band or other late night paraphernalia (which he often joked were lacking due to the cheapness of CBS). Deciding at some point it might be fun to have a sidekick, he took Mythbuster's Grant Imahara up on his offer to create a sidekick. In the beginning, Peterson's vocabulary consisted of seven pre-recorded phrases (one of them the often played "balls"). Craig would interact with the robot using the buttons at his desk which set off the phrases. Later, writers handled Peterson's dialogue using an iPad to control it offstage.



Over time, Peterson's vocal abilities were tweaked as were his motor skills (somewhat) and now voiced by Josh Robert Thompson, he's become an integral part of the show. With comedy and improv skills as sharp as Craig's, Thompson is able to keep up in whatever direction the host goes.



What could have been a prop for a bit lasting a few months evolved into a favorite part of the show for many viewers. But comedy evolution is exactly what the show has been about. Quick, pre-opening bits with puppets turned into puppet lip synching songs which turned into elaborate, choreographed lip synching performances featuring puppets, Craig and members of his staff. I think that's when the show really became a party. There was a sort of "oh well, what the hell, let's try it" attitude not seen since Letterman started the Late Show in the 1980s and went on fast food road trips with Zsa Zsa Gabor or tossed stuff off the top of buildings.

Only Craig takes the attitude to the next level, encouraging the audience to stick with him by sheer force of his enthusiasm for life. Every sketch and monologue is an invitation to join the party. It's clear right from the theme song.



It could be his enthusiasm for life that leads him to share so much of his personal life with the audience. Craig has led a life, and come close to death, and as with most people recovering from something he's almost evangelic with his openness.

When Britney Spears was going through some issues, Craig stood apart from the crowd capitalizing on it with "Britney is so messed up" jokes by delivering a monologue in which he encouraged people to cut her some slack. Using his own, misspent youth as an example he encouraged everyone to just let her work it out. And he was able to deliver the lecture in his usual, funny, disarming way.

On Feb. 1, 2008 Craig became an extremely proud citizen of the U.S. and later showed clips of himself taking the test and his swearing in. 



We met the members of the Ferguson family when he had on his show his nephew, his sister, and his parents. He even arranged a filmed outting for his mother and RZA of Wu Tang Clan and the two actually corresponded afterward. When his father died, followed later by his mother, he opened respective shows with eulogies for them both.

It was instances such as this that helped Craig achieve an intimacy with the audience whether in the studio or at home. It's perhaps that intimacy combined with his comedic inventiveness that will be missed the most.

He addresses all his guests with an easy familiarity as if they are old friends just hanging for a chat. In most cases this easy familiarity is able to loosen up even the stiffest of guests. By the end of the interview they are willing to choose between ending on an awkward pause, playing the mouth organ, a moment of meditation or one of the other interview-enders Craig and his staff has come up with.



But even during the interview he seems genuinely interested in the guest and most times he probably is. If he uses the sort of guest question cheat sheet found on the desk of other talk show hosts you wouldn't know it. His is a very stream-of-consciousness style of interviewing which helps make the interview more enjoyable for the guest, the audience and more than likely himself as well.



So, I'm going to miss my friend, TV's Craig Ferguson. Late night won't be quite the same without him. Though I look forward to what he has in store for his next incarnation. I'm sure it'll be a party.