Hello podfans. A couple of things about today’s Comedy Bang Bang (#775):
1.
Like most people, I’m baffled by the British royal family. They’re perfectly ordinary people with no more power to shape policy than any other wealthy person in the world. None of them seem to have the skills or talents we expect to find in politicians, entertainers or other people who command public attention, and they only seem to want to spend their time managing finances and overseeing charitable foundations. Fascinating!! They live, for some reason, in historic buildings that could be thrown open to the public, Versailles-style, any minute now and I’m sure everyone (including the royals) would be happier if they were. The whole thing is just weird and I have no idea why anyone pays any attention to these folks, let alone obsessive, intrusive attention.
With that in mind, a few years ago I started doing a character named Byron Denniston, who is a professional “royal watcher”, a man with a posh accent who is completely besotted with the royals to the point of being a dangerous menace, particularly to Meghan Markle. But here’s the problem. When I started doing Byron, I failed to consider that in order to execute the character to my own eccentric standards, I would have to become an actual expert, of sorts, on the British royals. I think it’s important for Byron to know the royal family tree and how each person on it is “styled”, and he should certainly be up on the latest news and scandals. Today, I clicked on a Vox article titled “10 Questions About Queen Elizabeth’s Funeral You Were Too Embarrassed to Ask” and the only embarrassing thing about it is that I already knew all the information in the article!
I believe this is a solid example of irony.
2.
I’ve always considered the Australian accent particularly challenging. I’m not claiming I could fool a local with any of the accents I do, but I’ve always doubted I could even get close enough for comedy with Australian. Back in 2009, I spent three months in New Zealand shooting Yogi Bear. How did it take three months to shoot that movie? Good question. I think it was mostly weather delays. Anyway, the whole time I was there, I constantly spoke to myself and my family in my best attempt at a New Zealand accent. The only time I tried it in front of an actual Kiwi, she was clearly displeased and said “sounds more like Australian”. I considered that a kind of victory but have scarcely attempted either accent since then.
Last week, in the middle of this podcast taping, Paul F. Tompkins suddenly entered as the Australian counterpart to The Grizz (it’s a long story). As soon as he busted out that accent, which was very good and very funny to my ear, I started thinking “Oh, it would be fun if I came in as the Australian counterpart to Byron, but I don’t know if I can do that accent. I think I got it pretty good for a few months back in 2009, but I haven’t really done it since”, and the crazy thing is that there was no way to give it a spin before entering as the character. The only way to try it out was – into the mic. So, that’s a little backstory on that fraught and scary comedy moment, which turned into something very silly and funny, mostly because of how completely Jason Mantzoukas lost it. When we were done taping, Scott said I sounded Australianish about 75% of the time, and I think that’s about right and I’m very happy with it.
Oh and a third thing. This was the most I’ve laughed in a little while and it feels good to laugh!
