More On Comedies

i think that the answer to why the apatowian raunch comedy genre has been so lame recently is that the writers, producers, and directors have gotten famous/successful enough to wave off their editors, and they are making things that are way too long. here is a list of pretty funny movies from the last few years and their respective runtimes:

old school - 91 min

anchorman - 94 min

role models - 99 min

hot tub time machine - 99 min

get him to the greek - 109 min

pineapple express - 111 min

forgetting sarah marshall - 111 min

superbad - 113 min

knocked up - 129 min

funny people - 146 min

now, take another look at that list. if you had to rank those movies from "funniest" to "least funny" wouldn't the order be almost exactly the same? i mean, maybe you drop get him to the greek a couple slots (haven't seen it yet) and bump anchorman over old school, but other than that, isnt it about the same?

shakespeare once said "brevity is the soul of wit." apparently, hollywood has forgotten this, as they continue to release these bloated comedies with their even more bloated "unrated editions" that just have more of the jokes that aren't funny and were cut for a reason.

by contrast, i've been very impressed with the quality of comedy writing on television. from network shows like glee, modern family, and how i met your mother, to cable shows like always sunny or south park, to premium shows like eastbound and down or party down, the writing is pithy, funny, and tight. i think that by having to adhere to a 22 or 28 minute timeframe, the writers have a much better understanding that they need to be funny quickly.

this has been an extremely long post for one that is all about how things need to be short (on a comedy website, no less!) so i'll cut it off now, but here's a little reward for your reading efforts:

Milkman - Lactose and THC (whole album)