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Date Posted: 01:35:24 06/29/04 Tue
Author: CCS
Subject: Characters in Focus [TROIS]
In reply to: CCS 's message, "Characters in Focus [DEUX]" on 20:09:42 06/25/04 Fri

It shouldn't take a four part review to get through a 12 sketch update, but I'm breaking it down that way anyway. Here is the slightly anticipated part three of my reviews. Part four on the morrow, with Leblanc reviews coming sometime in a more normal format.

One comment here, both of these sketches were more wholistic, in that judging the characters alone doesn't necessarily do the sketch justice. Just please bear that in mind when reading my criticisms, which have a tendency to be quite critical.

----<b>talk show in an elevator</b>----

<i>Otis Lift</i> - An anti-social, homeless looney, he rides around on elevators insulting the people he meets. He claims to be running a talk show, but it seems fairly bare of talk show elements. It isn't until the third phase of the sketch that he brings up a discussion topic (gas prices). The security guards are very familiar with him; however, I find it a little surprising that the others who work in the building are completely uninformed about his antics. Granted, most could be first encounters, but of the five people he meets, it seems reasonable that one would know who he is. He does deliver funny insults, but as it stands, there's not much deeper to the character and the framework feels wasted. He's completely spontaneous, I wonder how he would react to a cohost?
<i>Man #1, Woman #1</i> - This pair presents our first encounter of Otis in a working environment. They're just normal people looking for calm, slightly uncomfortable silence on an elevator. An ironic comment is tossed their way regarding this, but other than that they mostly just exit jokelessly after presenting us with a view of what form this sketch is going to take.
<i>Man #2</i> - A generic portrait of a snobby rich white guy with an advancing age, it took me a while to get the voice right for this one. A much funnier exchange than the previous encounter, I feel it's still a bit too low key. Perhaps if he were more insulting? The rude and vulgar line works great though.
<i>Woman #2, Woman #3</i> - Falling back from the last guest, these two passengers are plain like unbuttered toast. The waiver line was funny, but the electric car and sumo comments just came off as wordy. Woman #3 shows actual interest in being on the show, somewhat, and it seems a shame you kicked em out of the elevator before anything could really pick up in that direction. Perhaps that is some conflict you could have worked in, one of them wants to stay around and talk and have her views heard, and the other wants to leave. When the problem solves itself in two lines, though, there's no time for the tension to build. I mention earlier that it seems odd none of the elevatorees know Otis, even though he evidently does this frequently in the same building. I think Poehler could work well with a history with Otis.
<i>Security Guards</i> - You can't do a sketch about some guy who irritates people in elevators without the men in blue getting involved somehow. A good duo to send the sketch out on, the mostly just deliver the jokes prescribed for the situation. They renege on the whole kicking Otis out for good in a fairly expectable turn-about. Nothing wrong with this pair, just nothing extraordinary.

----<b>his folks</b>----

<i>Julia</i> - This is our fish-out-of-water. She's here for a dinner with Rocky's family, and is blown-away by their weirdness. Yet, she still takes some of the other weirdness of this sketch in stride, or at least I think she does. Obviously she's none too happy about the Geyser and the Monster, but it seems like she just completely ignores Man with a Briefcase and Strange Man as much as everyone else. This is somewhat contrary to her general position as the foil in the sketch.
<i>Rocky</i> - He mostly serves as a connection that helps bring Julia into this odd household. Other than that baffling talk about the cat, he doesn't seem to have any weird ticks, as would almost be expected in this bizarre family environment. He is set up to accidentally bring Martha to tears a few times... I think.
<i>Martha</i> - Her place in this sketch is to feel miserable. I feel in a poor place to judge her position, as my Beatles knowledge is on the limited side of things. Other than the Beatles thing, there's some dealing with craziness as commonplace like the rest of the characters do, but that's pretty much it for her.
<i>Michelle</i> - Like mother, like daughter, or something like that. The twist on the band with only one album is a good punchline after the torment Martha's been through.
<i>Jude</i> - An insensitive, all-around nutcase, he knows precisely what not to say at certain moments. I feel safe in assuming that the one big bit of speaking he has is absolutely saturated with Beatles song titles. I'm just generally perplexed by the mowing the living room, but otherwise he's fairly funny as the primary antagonist of the sketch.
<i>Man with a Briefcase, Strange Man, Jesus Christ, Geyser, Monster</i> - I'm sorry; I don't even know how to begin addressing these bizarre walk-ons as characters. They don't fit in the narrative, and that's precisely the point. It would be like discussing the shape of the perfect human body with Picasso. For some reason I feel like Strange Man needs a derby on his head.
<i>Beatles Impersonator Group</i> - They tie up the sketch and stick a pretty bow on it, with one last outpouring of Martha's inner demons.

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