Posts Tagged "Movies"
It’s the Fuckin Catalina Wine Mixer
I had a moment the other day where I directly related a movie quote to a moment in my life.
This happens to me quite often, possibly because I keep a repertoire of quotes in my mind for just such occasions, but this time it happened to me all alone in a parking lot with no one around to hear the quote.
I still said it out loud and laughed to myself about the perfection of the delivery. You might have guessed the quote by now, it was: “It’s the Fuckin Catalina Wine Mixer!” from the movie Step Brothers. For those that haven’t seen the movie, it is an exclamation given by a number of characters toward the end of the movie to acknowledge a moment that was unexpected, but incredibly awesome.
For me, that moment happened in the parking lot because it had rained and the seat for my motorcycle was soaked, but I was prepared because I keep a small towel in my daypack and this was the first time it had ever been a useful thing to carry. My decision to include that towel as part of my “everyday carry” kit had immediately become validated!
The problem with using movie quotes is that, sometimes, when you think of something really witty on the spot, you get the laugh and then you get asked: “What is that quote from?”. Essentially, one can be seen as a one trick pony that isn’t creative enough to come up with their own stuff.
This got me thinking about what makes some things funny and others fall flat. My argument is that delivering one-liners, and just being socially funny in general, takes three things working in concert to create comedic gold:
1) The Writing – It’s got to be relevant and its got to be snappy. It needs to be easily understood and it needs to roll off the tongue smoothly. It needs to be relevant to the audience, even if that audience is just yourself. It’s the line or story that is funny, not the person who originally conceived of it in the first place.
2) The Delivery – You can’t blame your audience if you are working with the good writing. Whether it’s planned, quoted, or impromptu, good writing is good writing. Its all a matter of how you deliver the lines. There’s a technical aspect to consider with your individual ability and confidence to deliver and the choices that you make. Is it funnier to deliver in your normal tone, or do you use a character voice? Is your character voice going to draw a reaction? For example, do you use a “bigger” version of your usual voice or do you choose a voice that is so different from yours that it turns heads because its unexpected; or are you talented enough to mimic the exact line as delivered by the original character? Also, you need to consider the context of your environment. If you deliver an inside one-liner to a crowd you will get crickets from all of the outsiders.
3) The Timing – There are two elements to timing. First, consider that “there is a time and a place for everything”. The same story told at a funeral and around a campfire can elicit very different reactions so you need to have a social conscience to be funny, not offensive. And, of course, there’s the timing of your delivery. If you’re out with friends and have a great comment, but nobody hears it, you’ve missed your opportunity. Even worse, someone else can re-deliver your brilliant writing to pull great laughs moments later when the timing is perfect.
If any one of these elements is weak or missing, the hilarity does not ensue.
I may not be the best writer, but my timing and delivery are generally pretty decent. A stark comparison is my wife, who has incredibly smart and witty writing, but her timing and delivery can be hit or miss.
We often argue about which of us is funnier, but I realize now that we usually get the best laughs when I steal one of her one-liners and just execute it a little better.
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