Had it with that "family Christmas" business? Like TV commercials hawking $45,000 stocking stuffers for the holidays about as much as stomach cramps? Avoiding shoppers and malls as if they carried live Ebola virus? Can't bear the thought of seeing one more graphic advertising anything for Christmas?
Then, watch this Christmas Eve compendium of clips and cartoons! Here at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, we find that, unlike shopping, British humor (by jove) is our cup of tea. Let's start with a cartoon featuring absolutely no holiday content whatsoever, Loch Ness Legend (1948), from George Moreno, Jr. and his crew at British Animated Productions, creators of Bubble and Squeek. Mickey, Pluto, Donald, Mulan and the Disney Princesses, feh. . . Willie the Worm and Colonel Rat, YEAH!
We searched for a complete Red Dwarf Christmas show and did not find one online, but did find this compliation of clips from Red Dwarf episodes with a holiday theme.
The Goons suggest something I absolutely enjoy doing under the tree, provided there are no glass ornaments and plugged-in chainsaws on the floor - walking backwards.
Nothing says "Merry Christmas" quite like . . . The Beatles!
And Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. . . with special guest John Lennon!
And The Goons, Beyond the Fringe and the Beatles begat. . . the Pythons.
If only John Cleese was doing our holiday season commercials!
This British comedy fan awards the mantle of spiritual descendent of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers to Rowan Atkinson's series Blackadder.
A subsequent series starring two key cast members from Blackadder, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, also did a pretty darn funny Christmas show.
A frequent guest star on Blackadder was the late, great Rik Mayall, who played the always randy, revved up and rarin' to go Lord Flashheart. Here's Rik, playing a character about as far from the swashbuckling Lord Flashheart as imaginable, although equally energetic. The following series, Bottom, astonishingly, did a Christmas show.
John Cleese, who wrote the two Fawlty Towers series with Connie Booth, no doubt was familiar with the acerbic 1950's situation comedies, on both radio and TV, of the ever-cranky and sardonic Tony Hancock.
We close with an episode of the television version of Hancock's Half Hour and raise our eggnog-filled glasses in a Christmas Eve toast!
Careening between the topics of classic movies, animated cartoons, television, comedy and music yet again, but staying resolutely within this blog's "20th Century Pop Culture" theme, submitted for your approval is the Clip Of The Day. This writer considers it hands-down the Best Beatles Cover Ever.
Would we at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog be very happy to see Elvis and his top-notch band (The Imposters-Attractions), as well as virtuoso pianist-vocalist wife Diana play music again someday? In the words of San Francisco Giants right fielder Hunter "The Preacher" Pence - YES! YES! YES!
"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."
"If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that... I believe in what I do, and I'll say it."
"I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong."
"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."
"Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground." John Lennon
Alas, what would have been the 70th birthday of John Lennon is not that happy an occasion. His life, prolific musical career and outspoken voice were cut tragically short by a psycho exercising his right to bear arms on December 8, 1980.
John Lennon birthday celebrations are happening in many cities, towns, rotundas and living rooms around the globe today, including a rousing one in Central Park.
This writer goes for many of the songs on the last John Lennon albums. They are beautiful and romantic. His ability to turn a phrase kept evolving in unexpected ways.
John - wish you were still here in the flesh among us! Here's the Plastic Ono Band performing with guest guitarist Frank Zappa.
Bay Area Film Eventspresents a tribute to the Beatles at the Del Mar Theatre in Santa Cruz this weekend. Here's a trailer promoting the event, which will include live performances by Drew Harrison and Peter Lomenzo of The Sun Kings.
Since I still have quite the soft spot for the Fab Four after all these years - especially the era involving that most productive competition between the Beatles-Sir George Martin and Brian Wilson (objective: make the most progressive, most orchestral, most mind-blowing pop album ever), this appeals to me.
I also have a soft spot for the still mod films of Richard Lester, so seeing A Hard Day's Night again on the big screen is a must, and am ready for a followup event involving Eric Idle's The Rutles, George Harrison's contributions to the early Saturday Night Live and various Monty Python-related endeavors.
