If you demanded that I tell you my favorite scene from any American television show – why are you demanding that again? – I’d probably mention this one.
And speaking of weirdness, I only revisited this scene because a comment thread discussing Kentucky’s Kim Davis included a passing mention of Stephen Root, an actor that you’ll know even if you don’t know him. I went to bat for him as one of America’s greatest treasures, a thought jarred loose by seeing his name and remembering all the things that he’s done. Among his seemingly endless collection of ongoing projects is providing a voice on Gravity Falls, an absolutely wonderful Disney Channel show. From there, I went backwards through Root’s career – Justified, No Country For Old Men, Dodgeball, The West Wing, King of the Hill, and eventually I got to NewsRadio, a great show whose run was cut short by the grim reality of Phil Hartman’s murder. At the time though, NewsRadio was my favorite thing going, mostly because it was simply so well done.
All of this thinking left me at the moment above, in which Dave and Bill utterly meltdown just nine hours-and-a-half hours after giving up coffee and smoking respectively. That there would be a scene in which two characters yell at a third character blew my mind at the time; I don’t remember yelling being a thing that was done on television shows I had been watching up to then, especially for comedic effect.
In summation, brains are weird.
Let’s not forget Milton (“I’m gonna put strychnine in the guacamole”) Waddams!
He was also one of the few non-ridiculous (deeply sad, actually) bits of True Blood (what I saw of it, anyway – I only watched the first season, maybe some of the second).
If you are looking for comic yellers, John Cleese is your prototype (or, I suppose, Gleason).Report
Dude, I quote that scene constantly. I’ve quoted it here (e.g.)!
“I coughed up something that look like escargot this morning” is perfect.
Also, one of my favorite shows ever. Man I miss Hartman.Report
I was vaguely reminded of the scene in “Anchor Man” where they swap war stories after the party.
“I pooped a squirrel.”
“Champ, I ate your chocolate squirrel.”
I wonder if that was a callback.
And, yea, we all miss Hartman.Report
NewsRadio was pretty awesome. Holds up really well. Last season excepted.
Which is kind of funny, because even though Hartmann was the “name” on the show, his character didn’t seem to hold it together as much as it apparently did.
And Jimmy James was just a fantastic character.Report
I think of Dave Foley as a very funny man. But he really mostly does “mild-mannered as funny” and that needs a comic foil, and Phil Hartman was perfect for him. And vice-versa.Report
From what I understand, the cast was really devastated. Even if they’d been able to reasonably replace Hartman’s character from a comedy/ensemble POV on-camera, the people behind the characters and the show were supposedly really struggling to move forward.Report
It was Phil Hartman. Everyone who knew the guy was devastated.
(comedians always hurt the people they love).Report
This is phrased oddly, maybe – you’re not implying Hartman hurt the people he loved are you?Report
Not… physically.
Comedians have rather a talent for finding people’s weaknesses — the gift to see things accurately is at the heart of a lot of comedy.
Hartman’s wife killed him — and the first person she told couldn’t believe it. He was, from the people who’ve worked with him (and I do know someone who has), a really amazingly great person.
(was totally funny when Arnett mentioned his “pet name” for Poehler on air, though. “Blamey” — accurate too, from the tales I hear told)Report
The episode “Bill Moves On” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1DVN7ig9QA – is heartbreaking, and contains by all accounts real and unplanned breakdowns from the cast.Report
There are a lot of comedians that just can’t be main characters, no matter how good. Not living up to their potential.
This was what TV never understood about Randy Quaid.Report
To be fair, a lot of people can’t understand a lot of things about Randy Quaid.Report
I don’t think Randy Quaid doesn’t understand a lot of things about Randy Quaid, and I’m not joking – my internet psychiatric license makes be think the man does have real mental health issues.Report
Offering my second opinion that this diagnosis seems correct.Report
Like Root, Foley also had an amazing part on Justified.
I’ve always been disappointed that none of the KITH alumni never made it bigger than any of them did.Report
I’ve been reading Nathan Rabin’s back catalogue on the AV club (Year of Flops/World of Flops). The story from him is that Foley – the only one with conventional ‘Hollywood’ skills – divorced right after News Radio was winding down, but his child support and alimony payments were based on News Radio money. Which of course, is no longer there. So he has to basically take any and all parts he can get just to dig himself out of a financial hole, and can’t go back to Canada because of the deliquency and associated court orders.Report
Dave Foley’s appearance on WTF with Marc Maron details that situation and how bad it seems to be. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDdNfCOXilUReport
Yeah, that’s the source used by Rabin.Report
Wow, I wonder why he wasn’t able to get his payments adjusted (he says he tried but the court denied him). I’d thought that sort of thing was somewhat automatic if someone is employed and making significantly less money. Perhaps it’s different in Canada, or with the ways entertainers make money?Report
Ah, this might explain it:
From.Report
Oh man, if what Foley says in that podcast is true, he and I have kids with the same woman!
(My son’s mom is also BPD diagnosed.)
Suddenly I empathize with him so much more.Report
I’ve only ever heard Foley’s (and his friends’) side of the story, but it sounds like his ex-wife was not…mentally stable.Report
You know, I want to walk this back. I don’t know anything about her, and people that have gone through nasty divorces say all kinds of nasty things about each other, and I have no way of knowing who is being truthful (or if either of them even are). And it’s not like there aren’t plenty of comedians and artists out there that appear to be nice guys but are in reality terrible people.
I DO think that the amount of child support Foley was expected to pay seems excessive to me; but that’s presumably the law or whatever they negotiated in the settlement, not solely her choice.Report
Was such an odd cast that no one could possibly have expected it to work, but it did largely because the 4 main characters were well done.Report
Any mention of Stephen Root without mentioning Tripping The Rift is just incomplete.Report
I present Stephen Root in Super Karate Monkey Death Car!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzNUg_IcKrI
(This is the funniest scene to me from News Radio)Report
My favorite part about that episode is that somebody in the background has made a paper mache Jimmy James head and is carrying it around in the background of the airport.Report
Donkey Donkey… Donkey!
The wife and I will always fall back on this because it is so ludicrous and true.Report
“What did you mean when you said…” is great during the questions, as it allows the writers to shoehorn in even more wonderful absurdity.Report
I have seen every single episode of this show when I was like 11. I don’t know why I liked it so much back then, but I still like it today. Brains are weird!Report
When you were 11?
Sigh.Report
@chris I was eleven in 1996 so I guess I started watching when I was eleven, but I couldn’t have seen them all since it didn’t end until 1999. My bad.Report
What blows my mind is all the scenes with Andy Dick where the other characters don’t yell at him.Report