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I can't stand the comedic acting in most 3D animated features. It's just not funny. I'm an animation guy, but when I'm in the mood for a laugh I reach for 2D cartoons or for live action.
One of my favorite old-time TV performers was Sid Caesar. The guy was a living cartoon. Here he's (above) pantomiming a husband at a cocktail party. The plot has him always always sneaking away from his wife to talk to a beautiful girl. Look at him go!
His wife grabs him and brings him back to the discussion she's involved in....
...with someone her husband finds incredibly boring. That's a brilliant expression on Sid.
In an effort to make the situation bearable he he takes a bite of an hors d'euvres (above). It tastes terrible.
He discreetly puts it in his pocket.
After a bit he scopes out the beautiful girl again.
Genius, pure genius! You won't find anything like that in new animated features. Come to think of it, you won't find it in the older ones either. Animated comedic acting really only exists in shorts. Too bad. I'm convinced that feature audiences would love to see it, but no one will give it to them.
Caesar was a master of comedic acting. Here he is (above) trying out a brand new
rug.
Ooooh, it feels good!
He's always aware of how he looks in silhouette.
In another sketch he shows off his wife's new maid to his friend.
The shocked friend reaches for a canape and sticks his hand in his coffee instead.
Caesar delivers a masterful slow burn.
Nice, huh?
9 comments:
Hi, Eddie! I love Sid Caesar too! Two questions: one, where can we see this clip? It looks really funny and I don't remember watching it. And two, what do you think of Jim Carey's brand of comedy? Many people think of him as a genius, but I just don't feel it.
Love it or not, some of the funniest stuff I've seen was when Sid Caesar and Mel Brooks appeared together as Paul Reiser's uncles on the TV series "Mad About You". Comic gold!
Please put a clip up, Eddie! I must see this work of genius.
What is it about 3D animation in particular that you don't like? The only CG features I've seen are Toy Story, A Bug's Life and Finding Nemo, none of which really did it for me, but as you say things were never that much better in the days of 2D features either. Are there any 2D characters/scenes in features (mostly we'd have to be talking about Disney) that stand out for you because they succeeded at being funny? The only thing that comes to mind right away are Ichabod Crane and his horse.
M: I think Jim Carey's best work is really funny. Mack Sennett would have loved him.
Joel: Thanks for the tip! I tried to look up that episode on YouTube but I couldn't find it.
Steven: I don't have the proper program to copy make clips from a disk and excerpt them on YouTube. What do you need for that? Snapz? Quicktime Pro?
Stephen: Funny Disney 2D animated features? Maybe parts of Three Caballeros and parts of the compilation films.
Back when Sid Caesar was, you know, actually on TV and I was a kid of around 7 or 8, my reaction to him was sort of like how I reacted to cartoons then: even though a lot of the situations and references (like Caesar's silent and foreign film take-offs) went right over my head, he was inherently just plain roll-on-the-floor funny. And that's what I did, to the point of hysterics. To this very day I still do. Good example, his "This Is Your Story" (take-off on "This Is Your Life") sketch.
Sid Caesar is indisputably a genius, but this entire post needs to be rewritten in the present tense. Caesar is still alive, still active, and presumably still a genius.
Paul: Yeah, the "Life" sketch is one of his best!
Mike: Actually I wrote the way you suggested first then changed it to the past tense. It reads better that way, even if it is technically incorrect.
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