Journalist/Comedian Harmon Leon dives into comedy cult classics, comedic influences, and all things comedy history.
Harmon and Scott discuss the new biopic: A Futile and Stupid Gesture which chronicles comedy writer Doug Kenney, during the rise and fall of National Lampoon.
They compare it to the 2015 documentary: Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon, which chronicles comedy writer Doug Kenney, during the rise and fall of National Lampoon
So, how did the TV show South Park come about? Well, it goes back to the animated short: The Spirit of Christmas.
In, 1992, University of Colorado film students Trey Parker and Matt Stone.created the animated short; Jesus vs. Frosty - which pitted the beloved holiday character again Jesus. That set their career rolling - but there were a few hurdles on the way.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone met in film class at the University of Colorado in 1992. Though Stone was a math major and Parker was a music major, they got along great and found they had the same sense of humor.
While working on other students' films, Parker and Stone past the time by doing silly voices to amuse each other.
Said Parker: "We would always talk like these little kids and make each other laugh." They messed around with these kid characters for a full year before they ever thought to commit anything to film.
Parker first used the South Park construction cut out animation style on an earlier short called American History
American History won Parker's animated college film won a Student Academy Award.
in 1992. Parker said that students from prestigious animation schools who had produced works of a higher artistic caliber and were "fuming" that he won.
Parker's first film was in 1989 and titled Giant Beavers of Southern Sri Lanka, which was a spoof of Godzilla movies.
Always into music, Parker produced a comedy album around the same time called: Immature: A Collection of Love Ballads for the '80s Man.
In 1992, Stone and Parker, founded a production company called Avenging Conscience which was named after a D.W. Griffith film they actively disliked. The duo would shoot a film short every week (though most are now lost.
After filming the feature-length student film CannibaL: The Musical - Parker and Stone moved to Los Angeles. Though they had many fans in the film industry, they spent a couple of years struggling to get by.
Then came Jesus vs. Santa...
Fox executive, Brian Graden, cut Parker and Stone a personal check to produce a video greeting card so he could give it to Hollywood industry friends. The short was a sequel to their student short Jesus vs. Frosty. Meanwhile, someone digitized the short and posted on the Internet; making it the very first viral videos.
Because of the buzz, Parker and Stone began negotiations with both MTV and Comedy Central. Parker, though, feared MTV would turn it into a kids' show. Comedy Central executive Doug Herzog watched the short, and commissioned the development of the short into a series.
And the rest, my friends, is South Park history...
Harmon and Scott dive into the history of Moms Mabley, who was the first successful female standup comedian and had a career that spanned over 50 years. Moms bridged the gap between vaudeville and modern stand up comedy. She was also the first woman comic to play the Apollo theater and Carnegie Hall in 1962.
Moms Mabley was born Loretta Mary Aiken March 19, 1894 in Brevard, North Carolina. Moms was the original Queen of Comedy who had a lot of comedic firsts.
Check out this impressive list of creds:
-First successful female standup comedian.
-Had a career that span over 50 years.
-First woman comic to play the Apollo in 1930.
-First women comedian to head Line Carnegie Hall in 1962.
-Moms recorded 20 comedy albums in her career; though not a lot of recordings exist of the first 40 years of your career.
-She was the oldest person to have a Top 40 Hit with Abraham, Martin And John which peaked at #35 on 7.19.1969 - when she was 75 years old
-First openly gay comedian - who wore men’s suits Xmas cards. Her friends called her "Mr. Moms" and back in the Apollo days she'd often dress like Cab Calloway.
-Moms influenced the style of comedy legends Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx,Whoopie Goldberg (who produced the 2013 doc: Moms Mabley: I Got Somethin' to Tell You), and Eddie Murphy - how modeled the grandma character in Nutty Professor after her.
Moms modeled her stage character after her great-grandma,who was a former slave. Her style was clever, wise, and filled with raunchy humor. She wore frumpy mismatched dresses and would often take her teeth out..
Her old lady persona allowed her to joke about edgy topics; sex, race, politics while her gravley voice could make any line funny.
Moms ran away from home and moved to Cleveland when she was 14-years old. She was taken under the wing of: vaudeville act: Butterbeans & Susie - who had the song “i want your hot dog in my roll”
Moms started performing on the Chitlin' Circuit, which, during Jim Crow, provided venues for black performers. In 1930, she start performing at the Apollo theater, doing 5 shows a day alongside such comedy greats as. Pigmeat Markem.
In 1933, she appeared with Paul Robeson in the movie Emperor Jones
At the height of her career, she was earning $10,000 a week in 1940’s money. Her early style was storytelling and revolved on how she liked young men over old men.
Her signature line: ''Ain't nothin' an old man can do for me but bring me a message from a young man.''
Moms didn't make her TV debut until 1967 on ABC’s Stage 67. She played a maid in A Time for Laughter: A Look at Negro Humor in America - which starred Godfrey Cambridge.
She went on to make appearances on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Ed Sullivan, and the Merv Griffin Show.
Her final role was starring in the movie Amazing Grace. The movie was filmed in 1974; a year before she died at the age of 81.
Let's hear for Moms Mabley - a true comedy original!
