"They Wanna Murder You In A Well"

"Hell is hot. That's never been disputed by anybody."

-Paulie Walnuts

From the funniest line in Sopranos history to maybe the funniest thing I've ever seen on cable television: Norm MacDonald roasting Bob Saget.

Problem is, hardly anyone thought it was funny, and I'm afraid that even after watching this you'll not be laughing either. (My comments are below)

While the rest of the roasters were busy one-upping each other with vicious Olsen-twin cracks, MacDonald busted out a batch of originality we've never seen before (at least I haven't). I take pride in making other humans laugh, and I can say with absolute certainty that I've never been half as funny as MacDonald was on that stage.

Anyway, how about the people genuinely laughing, not because they got what Norm MacDonald was doing, but because they either (a.) actually thought it was funny, (b.) didn't get it, but laughed anyway, or (c.) ????????

Norm MacDonald's jokes weren't funny, which is why they were hilarious. It was quite possibly the ballsiest move in roast history - it worked perfectly - and yet the great majority of the audience didn't get it. And it's likely those same people still think MacDonald bombed at the Saget Roast. How anyone thought a brilliant comedian like Norm McDonald would honestly produce a "full of baloney" joke at a roast is beyond me. But it happened. You saw the video.

Listen, I've had dozens of people tell me Two and a Half Men is the funniest show on television. This always enraged me, but in all fairness I'd never seen the show; I just assumed it was awful, which is generally a safe assumption when it comes to comedy. Well, recently I gave Charlie Sheen's program five minutes, you know, just to make sure, and I now want to hang myself.

Someone needs to explain why this formula works: Endless, predictable one-liners + manly men + blatant sexism + hot chicks = successful network sitcom.

There is very little hope for the future of this country.

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
10/16/08