Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest... new writers

Heck, Dan Castellaneta's done it (with not-so-sexy results IMO)....

Why not have Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest write an episode? Guest is a very funny man, and Shearer's comedic talent for writing is underappreciated. "Waiting for Guffman" and "Best In Show" IMO show how to write a real tongue-in-cheek satire where the humor comes more from the situation than from the dialogue (at least directly). Guest's type of humor _never_ makes the characters explain what the joke is, or what's funny about a situation. His characters are very interesting, and they're just... THERE. They are inherently funny, because they're satirical; not because they fart, or say the word "fart" or "testicles", or because they crack any type of joke, or whatever.

These two were original members of Spinal Tap, and the reputation and humor of that movie are becoming legendary. Of course, we know how connected Shearer is to The Simpsons (if you don't, drop and gimme 20; then take 5 laps around the pool).

Just an idea.

The Rack wrote:

which ep did he write, i forget. and didn't he co-write it with his wife?

and isn't he/she/they tapped to write a couple more this season?

huh? HUH?

"dave h." wrote in message news:[email]...

Deb Lecusta, or something. Yes. BABF14.

To which I would reply...

Snuh?

dave h. wrote in message news:[email]...

He's also written some very snappy plays with her. The episode was the one where Barney switched from booze to lattes.

What I'd like to see is Shearer and Guest do an improvised episode with the cast just jamming and then animate from the vocal tracks.

Ian Boothby

"Ian Boothby" wrote in message news:tcil7.3679$[email]...

wife?

one

the

Yeah. Something like "This is Spinal Tap" or "Waiting for Guffman" or "Best In Show". Of course, the interviews are the real "ad-lib" things. There's some story, too.

On Wed, 05 Sep 2001 00:18:50 GMT, "The Rack" wrote:

While I love the three movies you've cited (Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show) and think they're all very funny, you have to remember that they are all largely improv, which is what gives them that authentic documentary film feel. Spinal Tap pretty much invented the "mockumentary" genre. They would have an idea of where they wanted to go in a scene, and then they just started rolling film. It's really hard to improvise animation.

"Cap'n Lance Trousers" wrote in message news:[email]...

is

to

humor

about

THERE.

fart,

humor

Not to mention the wrist strain for the animators. But, there's gotta be a way to do that type of episode. Give it some kind of structure, then do the improv. Set up some sort of storyline, then let the actors riff. Best In Show couldn't have been 100% improv as I'm sure you'll agree. There had to be a structure; they had to know who was going to win, how the dogs would show, certain conflicts that would arise, etc.

Still... just a thought.

"The Rack" wrote in message news:...

your absolutely right

On Wed, 05 Sep 2001 06:18:32 GMT, "The Rack" wrote:

Right. As I said in my other post, the actors had an idea or outline of where they wanted a scene to go, or what they wanted the outcome to be, and then they just took it from there. What we see in the movie is the best stuff. But those movies weren't completely made up as they went along. I still think, given the length of time for producing an animated series, it would be tough to edit an all improv episode. But I'm sure over the years the cast has added a line here or there, so I guess it's possible. Maybe they could do it like that Super Bowl episode a few years ago, where Moe put a beer mug in front of his mouth when he mentioned what teams were playing in the game so that they could edit it in later. Just animate the whole episode with the characters covering there mouths ;-)

[email] (Cap'n Lance Trousers) wrote in message

lol!

I also love these three movies. Have you guys watched the DVD of Best in Show? The plot was outlined, but the rest is improv. Some of the major plot points changed with the actors' improv. But if you're gonna have Christopher Guest in there, you've got to have Eugene Levy, he co-thought up Best in Show.

And while we're on the subject, are there any newsgroups that relate to Christopher Guest or his films? I've been looking, but haven't been able to find any.

Thanks, Amanda

"Lissa" wrote in message news:[email]...

I don't see why doing an improv epiosde would be diffacult ..the only thing they would really have to do diffrently would be to have all the VAs present for the recording at one time as opposed to sepretly. just do what they did for the 3 films. give them an idea of where to go and let them do what they do. the only thing thats diffacult to improv in animation. is thw way shots are going to be composed and how many there are.

but the western approachto animation is based entirely on the voice anyway. hell animation that doesn't envolve work with keyframes is basically improv anyway.. If the animation for the Simpsons wasn't so dependant on artist overseas that don't know english very well. it would be very funny to include improvovised dialog with 'straight ahead' animation.

Improv is probably a little harder if you are just saying things in a little booth, not moving around or really interacting or anything. The result would probably be total crap anyways. ________________________________________________________________

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I got to watch everything on it except the commentary. Michael McKean is always great. Has he been a guest on the show, besides the Spinal Tap concert ep? ________________________________________________________________

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