Comedy 101 with The Last Of The Americans

(Scene starts with a smartwatch screen and a finger as it taps the screen and the 1994 American Gladiators plays as the scene cuts to a hand as it taps an app on his phone as it opens a portal, and it cuts to James and the characters he’s played until it cut to his face and the credit of “James Faraci” is shown as it cuts to “The Last Of The Americans'” current iteration then slides away to different images of Paulo Fonseca, Brenda Fonseca, Rebecca Yaun and Nick Yaun and the characters they’ve played until it cut to their faces and the credits of “Paulo and Brenda Fonseca & Rebecca and Nick Yaun” is shown and it then slides away to different images of Andrew Beach, and Ed Champion as the characters they’ve played until it cut to their faces and the credits of Andrew Beach, Ed Champion” is shown as it then slides away to different images of Eric Kurtzke, Renee Miller and Olivia Horvath and the credits of “Eric Kurtzke, Renee Miller, Olivia Horvath” is shown as the 0:00-0:21 mark of the theme song plays. Everything becomes a swirl of Reds, Whites, and Blues as the credits “Produced by First Choice Productions" “Executive Producers: James Faraci, Paulo Fonseca, Brenda Fonseca, Rebecca Yaun, Nick Yaun, Eric Kurtzke, Renee Miller, Andrew Beach, Ed Champion & Olivia Horvath” “Editing by Eric Kurtzke and James Faraci” “Written and Directed by James Faraci” are shown as the 0:21-0:26 mark of the theme song plays. We then see an image of James as he jumps through the portal and lands with half of his team on his right. The other half on his left is on a black background, and the title “THE LAST OF THE AMERICANS” is shown Lazer etched into Titanium as the last six seconds of the American Gladiators 1994 theme song plays. Cut to James in his office) 

TLOTA: 
I'm James Faraci, The Last Of The Americans, and the views I'm about to express are that of my own and some of yours. Let me play this clip. (Cut to the clip of The Joker as he says, "If you have to explain the joke, THEN THERE IS NO JOKE!" Cut to James physically) And I will have to post this (James pulls out a gigantic stamp and puts the word "SPOILERS" on the screen, then tosses it in the background.) I did that because I had to set up something I will discuss, JOKES! (Cut to current "Sitcoms" and Comedy movies of the past fifteen years as James does a voiceover.)

TLOTA (V.O.): And for a good reason, there has been a recent influx of people talking about how much comedy has lost its ability to be funny and make people laugh. There's a reason why I find Cheese Aging, Paint Drying, Hearing about Climate Change, and watching mold grow on a stale piece of bread more humorous than an episode of "Superstore," quite simply it relies on over-explaining the joke, relying on people laughing at the stereotypes and not landing one laugh out of me. I love a good comedy that can make me laugh; "Superstore" does not do that. Then we come to long-running comedies like "SNL," "The Simpsons," and "South Park." They've either gone to the well one too many times, or their attempts to stay relevant have left them in disrepair. (Cut to James in a lab coat at Sullivan County Community College)

TLOTA: This is why I am here at SUNY Sullivan Community College: to educate people about the science of humor! Welcome to Comedy 101, and I am your instructor, James Faraci, The Last Of The Americans! Let's start off with what makes a joke funny. (Cut to comedic movies and sitcoms as James does a voiceover)

TLOTA (V.O.): There must be a rhythm to the joke being told. First, the setup and the payoff—there has to be something to set the joke up to be funny. Take, for example, the movie Airheads with Brendan Frasier, Adam Sandler, Steve Buscemi, and Joe Mantegna. Our heroes have already taken over a radio station with the hopes of getting their demo played and have, for all intents and purposes, held the staff and management as hostages. Earlier in the movie, we see the station manager looking into restaffing the station, and Steve Buscemi's character has just told Joe Mantegna's character about a crate of Easy Listening music. Seeing what Steve Buscemi's character has seen, the station manager's ruse is up. He tells everyone that the radio station is changing formats on Sunday at midnight, and everyone is fired. Pissed off, Joe Mantegna gives the best set of lines anyone would say in the situation, which leads to the payoff of Joe Mantegna's character going for the station manager's popular parts of the male anatomy and any other part of him that is exposed! Or, in a more classic example, in the episode "M*A*S*H," the episode "Adam's Ribs," Hawkeye and Trapper are mentally preparing themselves for lunchtime and back in the days of the Korean Conflict where "M*A*S*H" is set, lunch at the 4077 is usually met with dread anyways because it's army surplus from decades before everyone was born! The setup also includes that the lunch is either Liver or Fish; those have been the only options for ten days and possibly in the same manner. The blow-up of Hawkeye, as played by Alan Alda, is classic because once Igor says, "We have either Liver Or Fish." Hawkeye has had enough and has a breakdown, causing a chant from everyone screaming, "WE WANT SOMETHING ELSE!" when finally confronted by Lt. Col. Henry Blake, they mention something about Ribs. The payoff is for the rest of the episode as Hawkeye tries to get the ribs brought to Korea and then cooked for a meal. The twist is at the end, as they're about to enjoy the ribs, the conflict brings wounded, causing poor Hawkeye to lose his ribs and more of his sanity from the war. (Cut to James physically.)

TLOTA: Now, we move on to how to do Satire correctly. (Cut to different Satire movies and series as James does a voiceover)

TLOTA (V.O.): Satire must be used as a mirror to hold up to us and shout, "HEY, YOU DUMBASS MORON! YOU'RE BEING A DUMBASS MORON! QUIT BEING A DUMBASS MORON, OR YOU'LL DESTROY YOURSELF AND THE WORLD AROUND YOU!" One thing about satire is that it is something that everyone fundamentally fails and forgets; YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THE MATERIAL TO MAKE FUN OF IT! The reason "Galaxy Quest" remains the best satire of "Star Trek" is because it understands not only sci-fi but also understands the lives of the cast from "Star Trek," especially that EVERYONE in the cast hates the William Shatner espy as much as the few surviving cast members of "Star Trek" want to live long and piss on Shatner's grave! A Seltzer and Friedberg Satire comedy misses the mark because it focuses on making the material they're supposed to satire seem stupider than the actual material it's based on. "Scary Movie" and "Scary Movie 2" were the only two good movies in the whole thing because they understood the movies that the Wayans Brothers were satirizing AND the character types that the movies were in said movies. That is why "South Park," despite what I've heard about how intelligent the writing process of both Parker and Stone is, has permanently lost its way. Instead of making the adults even dumber than they are and everyone laughing at their stupidity, they glorify it, and everyone seems happily stupid. That is what we're supposed to be! (Cut to the clip of Robert Wagner's No. 2 saying, "Oy Gevalt!" in "Austin Powers in Goldmember." Cut to more comedies as James does a voiceover.)

TLOTA (V.O.): Now, while I have talked about Gross-Out and physical comedies, I want to point out some things I didn't get to the first time around. Primarily with physical comedy and slapstick, done right, and feeling like a ballet. In addition to what I have said there. I have to admit that this is a very easy form of comedy to mess up. If correctly done, then the humor of a good gross-out comedy is subtle, and when the gross-out moments are the effect of the cause. The first two"American Pie" movies worked because there was a balance between the gross-out and the humanity and the heart of the decent characters. Yes, the other movies in this franchise did have it, but when we see the cast in their late thirties acting like they did in their teens, it looks rather pathetic. When Joe Besser joined The Three Stooges, Moe and Larry's schtick of being unemployed, living together, unmarried, and acting like big children in grown-up bodies wasn't funny; of course, the humor around that time was more in the same tone as the 1950's sitcoms, not exactly a match to the comedy of the middle class thumbing the noses to the hoi polloi. As much as the firing from Columbia Pictures was a blessing in disguise. It had to make them re-work their act when Besser left it, and Curly-Joe DeRita joined the team; of course, not only did the shorts they made become successful on the small screen did that trio got more respect from everyone around them, but they also able to get more work on screen because of it. Their legacy was cemented, cast, and forged into immortal status when they stepped down from active entertainer status. (Cut to James physically back in his office)

TLOTA: And that is because they understood comedy, not just the slapstick, but also how to evolve their style to fit the times and stay true to what worked for them. These days, comedy has lost its ability to be funny. Now, while I'm aware I won't make much of a difference in this case, what I do hope is that I am making people aware of the situation. I'm aware I'm not as funny as I was when I started. I can remember the chuckles when I made the joke I did when that guy said, "Two Funerals, One Wedding." in my "Crisis On Earth-X" review, saying "I'm more of a "Four Weddings and A Funeral" person, it died a painful death, not even a bare acknowledgment of the joke. That's worse than having to explain it. This is why we need to acknowledge comedy requires help. (Cut to today's comedy movies and sitcoms as James does a voiceover)

TLOTA (V.O.): Now, I will admit that I may not be as funny as I once was, but I am trying to improve my comedy and ability to be funny. Will I succeed? I plan to do so because people need laughter, whether it comes from me or my associates in my profession or from actual comedians, real comedy movies, and shows that are actually funny. I'd sooner rather get a good laugh from a comedy than an over-explanation of why a joke is funny. Telling your audience to understand doesn't make a joke funny. Letting them discover what is funny about the jokes is better than nothing when it comes to being funny. (Cut to James in his office)

TLOTA: Next month, the eleventh anniversary or, in my case, the eleventh hour, something will happen. I'm James Faraci, The Last Of The Americans, and that's my opinion.