This Blazing Saddles scene is rife with double entendres,
in-jokes and superb chemistry between Harvey Korman and
Mel Brooks.
Watch it a couple of times, to get everything you’ll need to!

Superb!

Forty years ago one of the funniest movies ever created
hit the big screen…in 1974 Blazing Saddles was born!
Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor co-wrote this classic comedy
and I cannot think of a more interesting pairing.
It was ground breaking for MANY reasons, I could devote
an entire week of posts just describing the scenes in the
movie that were one of a kind.
You simply could NOT make a movie like this today.
I’ll show a few of these this week but I wanted to start
off with one that was the only part of the original script
that was cut, not by the studio folks but by Mel Brooks
himself, with some strong urging by his wife, Anne Bankcroft.
In the final cut, when Madeline Kahn attempts to seduce
Cleavon Little in the dark…she says “Is it twoo
what they say that you people are gifted”…loud zipper
sound…”It’s Twoo! it’s Twoo! (she says it four times)…
(scene fades to morning breakfast).
The cut was only one line, right after Madeline says
“It’s Twoo!” you were suppose to hear Cleavon say
“You’re sucking on my elbow!”

More to come!

Anthony Griffith is a really cool stand-up comedian that I
have been playing on the show for a little while now.
He is a laid back, insightful church going man with a
gift for making people laugh.
He is one of a group of Christian comics that are quite
good at what they do, and yet are not at all preachy.
I have a tendency to avoid the heavy handed types but
Anthony is not like that.
Give him a listen, you won’t regret it.
Here he talks about his mother and mixed messages.

Good stuff!

The Reverend Billy C Wirtz is a very unique individual.
A blues based musician with a mad comedic streak he has
been performing since the 80s to all sorts of crowds.
In the 90s he dabbled a bit in the wacky world of
professional wrestling and had lots of fun doing it.
I had a chance to talk to him in the late 90s and he was
a hoot to converse with.
He has a few recordings out and they are all fun to listen
to, I highly recommend them to anyone who likes comedy.
Here’s a neat little ditty about his Grandma…

Cool!

This is one of the funniest scenes from Monty Python’s
Search for the Holy Grail.
I usually play this on the show with the John Cleese
speech afterwards.
That is Connie Booth, John’s Ex-wife and Fawlty Towers
actress, as the witch.

I love that movie!

As I was reviewing this piece by John Pinette I happened
to think to myself, “This looks and sounds really familiar”,
then I realized I saw this live in Montreal when they were
filming it…I was THERE!
Very cool that, but even better, it is a VERY funny bit.
I laughed out loud then and I did so again just a moment ago.
I believe that you will also…

That was a howl!

Heywood Banks is a tremendous talent, as funny a songster
as has ever been.
This is a nice little ditty with some dark lyrics.
Listen very carefully, some superb wordplay…
“She spilled her bong. They upped the voltage, she soiled
her thong…” and “Return to the trailer the next day to
feed her snakes…”

I love it.

“Football” in this country has an entirely different meaning
than the rest of the civilized world.
This skit, by Rowan Atkinson, is a very funny piece and it
reveals the differences and the similarities between them.
Every coaches nightmare…

Relax, it’s only half time!

In 1953 a relative unknown by the name of Andy Griffith
created a funny little story called What it Was Was Football.
This comedy sketch sold 800,000 copies and helped launch
the career of a man who would soon be known as Sheriff
Andy Taylor, chief constable of the fictional town of
Mayberry, North Carolina.
This is a recording of that piece with illustrations from
George Woodbridge, a Mad Magazine artist…this actually
was the art used in the issue of Mad from 1958 that put
the story into print.

A neat little piece of comedy history!

Daniel Tosh Is a superb comedian, one of the best ever.
He is a polarizing figure in the wild and wacky world of
stand-up because a lot of his material is irreverent and,
dare I say, very misunderstood.
One of the skills of a good stand-up comedian is to satirize
anything and everything, observational humor is part of this
and not many do it well…George Carlin, Kathleen Madigan
and Lewis Black are some of the few that do.
Mr. Tosh pushes that even further, he goes where a lot of
comics will not and succeeds admirably, though not without
some detractors.
This is a classic example…

I love this stuff!