h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

No no, he definitely was. I remember now. Danny, his name was. Same voice, same napalmed-hippy look, everything. That guy cracks me up.

"So 'ere I am in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), and we 'ave to get 5000 brown M&Ms or Ozzy won't go on stage....turns out the sweetshop owner instead of a guard dog 'as this bloody great Bengal tiger...I dealt wif the tiger alright, but the shopkeeper...well, that was a different matter entirely...*wistful pause* ...I 'ad to beat 'im to def wif his own shoe..."

One of my top ten movie moments.

Thanks , thought I was insane. Haven't actually seen film, it was just a clip from one of those 'top 100' things, and I was like, hey, guy from waynes world.

I like Wayne.

hmmm, I may go and we it though.

-- DoctorMO --

Same actor, Ralph Brown (he was also a squadron leader in Phantom Menace, but you already knew that).

Mike Myers was based in the UK in the mid-80s (working for breakfast telly IIRC) so very likely saw W&I when it first came out.

Interesting, so you think alot of the ideas are just repeats?

-- DoctorMO --

Well I've spotted at least that one, and the whole mugging-to-the-camera schtick is familiar too... I'm sure there are more examples if I went and watched the films again.

Does this mean that comedy is efectivly dead, with people copying each other?

-- DoctorMO --

Well, I wouldn't necessarily say dead, as long as people keep reinventing things in their own style. I mean, the 'nudity obscured by passing objects' gag goes back at least as far as Benny Hill, and the whole silhouettes-in-a-tent routine was nicked wholesale from Carry On Camping. But Myers does it in his own way.

I wouldn't think it was so bad if he was simply copying jokes from other distant sources, as long as he did them in a new and funny way. But using his old jokes, and recycling all the old characters (Fat B*****d, Mini-Me) shows that either his creative juices are running dry or he's being forced to pander to studio executives with their eyes on the bottom line.

By the bottom line, I prosume thats the Total Profit: line?

-- DoctrorMO --

Yes indeed, the only line worth eyeing.

It's so depressing when actors sell out. See also Ed Harris in those bloody terrible car ads, and Sam L. Jackson for Barclays Bank. For shame, Samuel! For shame! It's not as if he's living off dog food and tap water.

hmmm,

There is only a limited number of ideas in the universe.

Blah blah blah bringing jokes to new audiences, some people haven't seen Withnail&I or Benny Hill etc, so benefit from getting to see good jokes that they would otherwise not see blah blah...