Wednesday Overnight Open Thread - March 19, 2025 [TRex]

Good evening Horde. The time has come for mid-week shenanigans of the overnight variety.

This is the Wednesday night ONT.

A special welcome to those who have given up commenting on Ace of Spades for Lent and have assumed temporary lurker status. The rest of you know what that means. More commenting to take up the slack. Comment of the week honors are at stake.

Early morning tomorrow for TRex, so doing to be an early evening on the ONT. Behave yourselves or at least misbehave in amusing ways that puts you in the running for comments of the week.

Henry Hill: You're a pistol, you're really funny. You're really funny.
Tommy DeVito: What do you mean I'm funny?
Henry Hill: It's funny, you know. It's a good story, it's funny, you're a funny guy.
Tommy DeVito: What do you mean, you mean the way I talk? What?
Henry Hill: It's just, you know. You're just funny, it's... funny, you know the way you tell the story and everything.
Tommy DeVito: Funny how? What's funny about it?
Anthony Stabile: Tommy, you got it all wrong.
Tommy DeVito: Oh, oh, Anthony. He's a big boy, he knows what he said. What did you say? Funny how?
Henry Hill: Jus...
Tommy DeVito: What?
Henry Hill: Just... you know... you're funny.
Tommy DeVito: You mean, let me understand this cause, you know maybe it's me, it's a little fucked up maybe, but I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to fucking amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?
Henry Hill: Just... you know, how you tell the story, what?
Tommy DeVito: No, no, I don't know, you said it. How do I know? You said I'm funny. How the fuck am I funny, what the fuck is so funny about me? Tell me, tell me what's funny!
Henry Hill: Get the fuck out of here, Tommy!
Tommy DeVito: You motherfucker! I almost had him. I almost had him. You stuttering prick you. Frankie, was he shaking? I wonder about you sometimes, Henry. You may fold under questioning.

George Carlin - wizard with language and words but not an improv specialist. When you saw a Carlin performance, it was tight and scripted. The audience is mostly irrelevant. Profanity is not uncommon but used very intentionally for effect. Carlin's politics were fully disclosed and he obviously thought everyone else was an idiot.

Jerry Seinfeld - observational humor that makes light of common, every day life. Jerry labors to refine and craft and build the joke and tell the story. The joke itself is technically clean. His cadence is hard to describe in words but everyone knows his style: "What's the deal with this?" No profanity or shock value. No props or stage effects.

Jay Leno - quick quips based on current events or pop culture references. He doesn't tell long and structured jokes - just a set up and a punchline. His days of stand-up and man-on-the-street type bits for the Tonight Show gives him some improv chops. He's generally not mean or edgy and wants the joke to land for a broad audience. He takes it seriously but genuinely enjoys humor and things that are funny. He treats humor as his job - when he wasn't doing the Tonight Show, he was doing sets in Las Vegas or Hermosa Beach.

Lore is that he never spent a dollar of his television money. TRex has spent a little time with Jay talking cars. What you see is what you get. He cracks jokes when he's comfortable and will spend all day talking cars if you want to treat him like a regular guy who likes talking cars.

Steven Wright - the master of the dry, deadpan, one-liner. His facial expression never changed. He almost mumbled his delivery with as little energy as possible. He didn't have fancy stages or clothing. He stripped down almost everything possible to focus on the very specific word choice that found humor in small corners of irony.

Steve Martin - comedian? magician? musician? He plays a mean banjo and bits like King Tut could have been done by nobody else. What about The Great Flydini?

Johnny Carson - comfortable and conversational that didn't look like he was trying too hard. The Tonight Show format meant that a lot of his rumor was just riffing off the headlines of the day. He was the master of the one-liner and knew great timing. He used just enough physical emphasis (like adjusting his tie) to heighten the punchline or the golf swing to end the monologue. He did not push boundaries but there was a hint of mischief in the twinkle in his eye. Did Johnny do shows other than the Tonight Show?

TRex had a very brief verbal appearance at a taping of the Tonight Show during a segment called "Letters from Home." Audience members wrote our names and hometowns on postcards while waiting in line and Johnny used those in a bit. I don't remember exactly what the joke was for me except that it involved arugula (which makes it unknowingly even funnier). He called my name and I responded from the audience. No camera time, just the verbal exchange. Alas, no royalties. Magician Harry Anderson was a guest.

Could anyone else turn bombing into funny?

David Letterman - the late night host brought midwest charm with observational humor on the quirks of every day life. He added a dry, sarcastic edge at times. Letterman was quite willing to go off script and embrace (or create) chaos. Absurd in a way that would resonate with any inner 10 year old that wanted to drop watermelons or drive a golf cart around the stage. Improv segments with neighbors near the theater were simple but turned into giggles. Working the drive-though, stupid human tricks, and top 10 lists were standards. A little goofy and awkward with a sense of timing, he almost seemed like he was cracking himself up more than playing for the camera. (For those of you scoring at home or even for those of you alone.")

Robin Williams - unscripted chaos. The greatest improv comedian of all time? Every appearance was like launching an unguided missile. It was going to be spectacular and there was going to be fireworks, but nobody had any idea what was going to happen next. He also obliterated the fourth wall when performing. Everything was potential improv material.

This clip is also a great example for the ability of Carson to roll with the chaos.

Who else is on your list? Richard Pryor? Eddie Murphy? Gallagher? Carrot Top? Louis CK? Dave Chappelle? Bill Burr? Chris Rock? Kevin Hart? Dennis Miller? Andrew "Dice" Clay? Mitch Hedberg? Rodney Dangerfield? Phil Hartman? Norm Macdonald? Sam Kinison? Jim Gaffigan? Drew Carey? Don Rickles? Conan O'Brien? Richard Lewis?

Wholesome:

Because we can:

Dear Wednesday ONT readers, I give you...the Guinness Record for the world's largest building shaped like a chicken.

Measuring 114 ft 7 in in height, 39 ft 9 in in width and 92 ft 5 in in length, Campuestohan Highland Resort's latest holiday spot is officially the largest building in the shape of a chicken.

Ricardo Cano Gwapo Tan - the mastermind behind the project - says that he is a dreamer and wanted to create the unthinkable.

"I had a vision to make something with a wow factor that can really leave a footprint of admiration to the public."

Negros Occidental has a gamefowl industry that employs millions of people in the Philippines. If you look at a rooster, it looks calm and commanding, imposing and strong which reflects the attitude of our people."

Congratulations? I tried, but was unable to find a definitive list of other chicken buildings to evaluate the competition. I guess it is a more impressive feat than the vegetable orchestra from last week.

A capella music for a big ONT finish:

Written correspondence can be sent to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Are you lurking? Come out and play. Vintage Wednesday ONTs were not included in the JFK document drop.

posted by Open Blogger at 10:00 PM

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