late entry--mark martin, jim woodring, and stuff!

okay...

i started off with really nothing much to say and then--wham!--i got, like, lots to say...

none of it very important though...

i'm a big proponent of credit where credit is due and as i write things here i try to be conscious of the things i say, the phrases and lines that i have incorporated into my own personal lexicon that originally came from someplace else. sure, we all pick up catch phrases and toss them around for a month or so. maybe longer. for years back in high school, i WAS steve martin, quoting and imitating him from his first two or three albums, appearances on saturday night live, etc. more recently mike and craig and i would find something funny--from snl or madtv or little britain or any one of our favorite comedians--and proceed to beat it into the ground.

i'm not really talking about that.

i'm talking about a phrase that you yourself have picked up somewhere along the way and internalized it, made it a part of your everyday vocabulary. maybe you can't control it, maybe it's a reflex thing, and maybe, just maybe, you've been using it so long you forgot where it came from.

one of mine is from waaaaay back in the late 80's. shortly after the advent of frank miller's "dark knight returns", while the rest of the (entire) comic book industry decided to make EVERYTHING dark and grim and gritty, one person, cartoonist mark martin (not the racecar driver)--creator of the hilarious strip "20 nude dancers 20" and one of my all-time favorites, "montgomery wart"--decided to take the lighter, more fun approach and parody that seminal work with his own "gnatrat".



it was, to me, a lotta fun and a lotta laughs.



but what i remember really getting me--and the thing that i took away from it and still use to this day--wasn't by mark, but his friend and fellow cartoonist, jim woodring, creator of such books as "jim" and "frank in the river".





see, in mark's book, "gnatrat", jim had done several faux ads for kooky items, one of which was a styro-band operated dream-corder, a new device able to record your dreams! not only was it a cool idea (i'd love to have one of those!!) but in the text, the pitch of the ad, jim had used this phrase, one that now, after several paragraphs of build-up, might be a bit of a let down to you, and i'm sorry--call it thanksgiving hangover. it went like this;

"...if you're like most people (and who isn't?)..."

i dunno. something about that just cracks me up. always. over and over. and i catch myself saying it sometimes and hear it in my head a lot. like those songs we talked about a month or so ago that get stuck in your brain.

check out mark's and jim's other stuff when you get a chance; mark's comics are usually both topical and lyrical, jim's, tend to be a bit more quirky and trippy. great stuff!

so credit where due...thanks, jim woodring, for, what i think is one of the funniest lines i've ever read.

which then begs the question...what about you? what funny lines or phrases, from comics or movies or tv shows--what has become part of YOUR personal lexicon?

i'm dyin' to know.


and here are the answers to the "five for friday"

1. on friends, what was the name of the building super and joey's dance partner?

mr. treeger

2. on seinfeld, who was the fixer who could rid elaine of her yapping-in-the-night dog problems?

kramer brought elaine to see newman

3. what was the name of the short-lived show featuring tony shaloub and neil patrick harris?

stark raving mad

4. on er, what song was playing during mark green's final fade...?

somewhere over the rainbow by isreal kamakawiwo'ole

5. on will and grace, what physical act did jack and karen perform upon meeting to seal their newfound friendship?

they bumped tummies

sorry for the delay--more on wednesday!
smell ya later!
todd