I am often asked what my favorite comedy is, and I can never decide on a single movie. I do however know what my favorite moments have been watching comedies, and they are all single lines delivered earnestly and in good faith. Each of the three "moments" I am about to describe literally had me on the floor laughing. A warning note though, when I try to tell people about these, they just sort of stare at me. I will make this attmept anyway.
I will always remember my introduction to Earnest T. Bass (pictured above) on the Andy Griffith show. The character was an after-thought I think, played by Howard Morris, one of the producers of the show. Earnest T. was a backwards hill-dweller who was about as honery as one gets. In later episodes, he would terrorize the small town with his brick throwing proclivity and general obstreperous nature. He would do something fairly heinous then declare, "It's me, it's me, it's Earnest T." Apparently, Earnest T. had invented ADHD decades before the professionals.
The lead characters, Andy and Barney (sheriff and deputy sheriff respectively) go up into the rural hills to investigate a complaint. They are told a local neer do well is hindering the upcoming nuptials of a popular young woman. When the lawmen reach the cabin of Earnest T. they are met by a slow-witted relative. When they inquire as to the whereabouts of Earnest T., they are greeted by a very plaintive and dour response, "He went out to kill a mockingbird." I have never heard anything so beautifully poetic since. It said it all. I wasn't sure I wanted to meet Earnest T. at that point, and I am certain Andy and Barney wish they never had.
When I started started graduate school, cable tv was provided free in the dorm I lived in, and I watched a lot of movies I would have never seen (kinda like on a plane). One movie I would have never seen if I wasn't suffering from Techniques of Research procrastination was Big Man On Campus. It was a silly spoof of the Hunchback of Notre Dame set on the contemporary UCLA campus. A young, deformed man is found hiding in the bell tower of the campus. His mother had been a mental patient and had somehow kept the child from the rest of the world. The school's Anthropology professor discovers him and immediately recognizes the research potential. He assigns the welfare of the "experiment" to an underachieving student in his class. The subject of their research has little language ability and no name. After a series of typical comical gags revolving around his developing language skills, he chooses a name for himself: Bob Maloogaloogaloogaloogalooga. The rest of the story is a madcap scramble to study him and educate him for the real world. Towards the end of the film, a local investigative journalist has picked up on the Pygmalion manipulation and threatens to expose the professor and student. The duo are duped into appearing on a tv program thinking they will be allowed to present their positive findings. It is a trap however, and Bob Maloogaloogaloogaloogalooga must make his way to the studio set to save the day. He is pursued by folks determined to keep him safe, and he eventually arrives at the studio. Bob is still working on his language skills, not always having the correct words for every situation. As he is dashing across the lot, with his caretakers in hot pursuit, a Fruit of the Loom comercial takes a break and several large men dressed in underwear and as apples, grapes and leaves obstruct his path. You can see him pondering his next utterance as he is running towards them. Finally, he blurts out "out of my way (slight pause) fruit" and continues on. I laughed so hard I choked.
My final anecdote comes from an obscure movie, Kafka. It is a very clever movie that places the author Franz Kafka into a story composed of several of his famous plots (i.e., The Trial, The Castle, The Metamoposis). He is involved in a desparate mystery soon into the film, and finds that he must travel to and secretly enter an ominous castle. At first, he is befuddled but then his practical and intellectually challenged carpenter friend suggests a plan - Kafka could pass though a secret tunnel the carpenter knows of that begins in one of the tombs of the cementary adjacent to the castle. The two travel to a decrepit, dank charnel deep in the cemetery where the carpenter reveals the hidden passageway. The carpenter refuses to accompany his companion any further, being very frightened by the prospect of travelling through the dark, cold earth to the forbidding fortress. Kafka looks at him and says ok. He then descends into the tunnel and a few seconds later we hear him calling back to his friend, asking him to burn his manuscripts in the event he doesn't return. Now at this point in the movie, I was very pleased with myself because I knew that Kafka (in real life) had made that very request (obviously ignored as we are still discussing him). The carpenter scratches his head and bellows back into the blackness, "I am sorry, I cannot do that." After a moment the retort echoes back, "A friend would do that for me." The carpenter is even more distressed by the exchange, but finds reprieve, "No" he extorts, "But a wife would." Kafka had no further reply. Neither did I, as I was laughing so hard I could not speak.
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