High atop the list of reasons we're here writing a blog on a bordering on frigid winter day is . . . comedy. Used to see lots of San Francisco stand-up comedy way back when, many moons ago (1970's and 1980's), in the olden days of the Holy City Zoo on Clement Street and the Other Cafe in the inner Sunset. Got lucky and saw a 1:00 a.m. set by Robin Williams!
Definitely prefer stand-up comedians who are off the beaten path. Two favorites: Gilbert Gottfried and Stephen Wright!
Love stand-up comics who are not just off the beaten path but WAY off the beaten path. Two stand-ups along those lines who used to appear frequently in the San Francisco Bay Area were Bob "The Ol' Rube" Rubin and Bobcat Goldthwait, just two among a slew of talented and way-out comedians back then.
The only comedian I can think of recalling Stephen Wright in exploring the cosmos of the stand-up comedy universe was the late, great Mitch Hedberg (1968-2005).
And that brings us to the main topic of today's post on unorthodox standup comics: Emo Philips, born on this day, February 7, in 1956, a fabulous year for rockabilly, jazz, blues, Frank Sinatra at Capitol Records and outstanding sketch comedy starring Sid Caesar and Ernie Kovacs.
Emo Philips was hitting the big time during the same era (1980's) as Bobcat Goldthwait and Bob Rubin.
TV's Weird Al Yankovic Show had its share of very funny bits involving Emo Philips.
We extend a big time Max Linder top hat tip to Emo and all the outstanding stand-ups of yore!
Now how does National Name Your Poison Day relate to this blog? Well, frankly, it's as good an excuse as any to post a bunch of classic cartoons that feature inebriation, a well as clips of great movie comedians delving into that topic (at least onscreen).
One film that never fails to get me ROFL is Laurel & Hardy in BLOTTO.
In this classic 1930 short, the boys think they're brazenly putting one over on their wives by sneaking out to get smashed on bathtub booze.
The greatest cartoon involving altered states would be. . .
Of course, for this blog, National Name Your Poison Day means Prohibition-era cartoons, starting with Fleischer Studios.
Felix the Cat stars in one of the very best in that mind-bending genre. Otto Messmer and crew always deliver the goods - and producer/promoter Pat Sullivan very likely was stone drunk somewhere during the making of this cartoon.
Hands-down, this writer's favorite of all the early Harmon-Ising Merrie Melodies is YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOIN' (1931). The unabashed inebriates who heckle the cartoon's plucky protagonist, "Piggy," resemble characters from another great early Merrie Melodie, GOOPY GEER (1932).
In WISE QUACKS (1939) just one of many outstanding cartoons directed by Bob Clampett, Daffy Duck is a tad nervous about becoming a father and relieves stress by getting hammered on "corn juice." It creatively re-uses segments from the brilliant 1936 Looney Tune directed by Frank Tashlin cartoon, PORKY'S POULTRY PLANT and, as is the case with Clampett's crew, animated with a certain crazed glee. This review by the gang at Anthony's Animation Talk gets into the nuances.
Yes, even dogs get obliterated in Columbia cartoons from both the Charles Mintz and Screen Gems studios and dont ask how Rover got blitzed on local anesthetic in the following opus. If it's jokes about hallucinations and dangerous levels of inebriation you want, look no further than the work of director/gagman Sid Marcus!
Is it possible to make an entire cartoon about a cat who gets wasted on pickled herring? Yes. That might not be a good idea, but it's possible.
Are there any cartoons for National Name Your Poison Day that don't involve booze? Yes, this way-out 1938 Hugh Harman MGM cartoon, Pipe Dreams.
This "goodie goodie monkeys" opus definitely anticipates the hippie era by almost three decades, especially the scene with the simian trio taking hits off a pipe like Dennis Hopper thirty years later.
What was in that Helz Fire tobacco?
These monkeys act like they're smoking kif!
Any letters between MGM brass and Hugh Harman demanding an explanation for this cartoon must be hilarious - and we all know darn well that Harman ignored them!
Hugh Harman made some wonderful weird cartoons, including all three of the Gothic ones featuring the "goodie goodie monkeys."
In closing, noting that there is a dark side to National Name Your Poison Day, here's the late, great Robin Williams making comedy out of the painful realities of alcoholism and jumping into the flaming center of that volcano (in a definitely NSFW clip).
