On ice makers... a semi-educated guess from a mechanical engineer: it’s difficult to design something robust to fit in the very small space available in a fridge door, especially if it’s in the “refrigerator” door which is not cold enough to keep ice frozen and therefor has to run ducting up from the freezer. Unless of course you mean the ones that are all the way INSIDE a freezer still break down too, I’m which case they have no excuse. Well, ok, one excuse- hard to design moving machinery that maintains proper lubrication at sub-zero temps. And now that I’ve used the word “lubrication” in a serious way, I’m out!
Yay, batting leadoff! Thanks for taking my call. Also, borrow a password from someone and watch the Barney film next week on Peacock: I LOVE YOU, YOU HATE ME. It's great, by which I mean terribly depressing.
Ayy, my question got answered! This is the most thrilling thing that's ever happened to me, including the birth of my first child. Then again, I don't have children.
It's not just that people forget the terrible comedy shows that were on the air when Kids in the Hall were at their peak. It's that people forget the *many* Kids in the Hall sketches that bombed. Maybe even more so for SNL during the late eighties/early nineties revival years (and even the original 1975-80 cast). Heck, even SCTV and Monty Python had sketches that I'll watch and ask, "WTF were they going for here?"
Their batting averages (for good sketches to bad) weren't close to 1.000 and honestly might have barely hit .500, but when they *did* get a hit it was almost always a Grand Slam, and that's what we remember and cherish.
The Simpsons is an exception. Seasons 3 through 9 (approximately) saw them hitting it out of the park almost every week.
I grew up being told about how legendary SNL was in the '70s, and Comedy Central would play half hour versions of those episodes, and, yeah: funny. Then, Comedy Central started playing the entire 90 minute episodes and holy shit: The 60 minutes they cut out was garbage!
What We Do in the Shadows-vampires meet Office Space on FX is straight up hilarious. I think this is b/c the main characters are 400+ years old so the writers have a built in excuse for them not being woke.
"The problem used to be piece-of-shit club owners who demanded free labor and/or sexual favors in exchange for stage time, now it’s improv theaters that expect you to blow thousands of dollars on classes before they even give you a look. Wealthy and well-connected 20-somethings are often gifted a large amount of “hang-out capital” that still really matters. A strong New York and LA bias persists even though technology makes it possible to find funny people wherever they may be."
Comedy sounds a lot like fiction writing, just replace "club owners" with editors and "improv classes" with workshops.
I have a follow up question - given the choice of the uniform model up there, were you responsible for a toddler between, say, 2009ish and 2013ish? Because that was my son's peak toddler tv watching time, and I saw a ton of that guy. I can't imagine knowing about him for any other reason.
Also that presents an opportunity to say RIP to Biz Markie, who was also a key person on that show (and was a fellow DMV resident).
On ice makers... a semi-educated guess from a mechanical engineer: it’s difficult to design something robust to fit in the very small space available in a fridge door, especially if it’s in the “refrigerator” door which is not cold enough to keep ice frozen and therefor has to run ducting up from the freezer. Unless of course you mean the ones that are all the way INSIDE a freezer still break down too, I’m which case they have no excuse. Well, ok, one excuse- hard to design moving machinery that maintains proper lubrication at sub-zero temps. And now that I’ve used the word “lubrication” in a serious way, I’m out!
Yay, batting leadoff! Thanks for taking my call. Also, borrow a password from someone and watch the Barney film next week on Peacock: I LOVE YOU, YOU HATE ME. It's great, by which I mean terribly depressing.
Ayy, my question got answered! This is the most thrilling thing that's ever happened to me, including the birth of my first child. Then again, I don't have children.
And well answered too, thank you sir.
You're my new favorite Substack newsletter just because you called Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti morons.
It's not just that people forget the terrible comedy shows that were on the air when Kids in the Hall were at their peak. It's that people forget the *many* Kids in the Hall sketches that bombed. Maybe even more so for SNL during the late eighties/early nineties revival years (and even the original 1975-80 cast). Heck, even SCTV and Monty Python had sketches that I'll watch and ask, "WTF were they going for here?"
Their batting averages (for good sketches to bad) weren't close to 1.000 and honestly might have barely hit .500, but when they *did* get a hit it was almost always a Grand Slam, and that's what we remember and cherish.
The Simpsons is an exception. Seasons 3 through 9 (approximately) saw them hitting it out of the park almost every week.
I grew up being told about how legendary SNL was in the '70s, and Comedy Central would play half hour versions of those episodes, and, yeah: funny. Then, Comedy Central started playing the entire 90 minute episodes and holy shit: The 60 minutes they cut out was garbage!
Completely agree about the Simpsons.
Yup, early Simpsons was the first “must see TV” for me as a teen/young adult.
"I had exactly one meeting about this show, and the executive’s perspective was: 'How can you parody both sides when one side is completely right?'"
Homer-receding-into-the-bushes dot gif
What We Do in the Shadows-vampires meet Office Space on FX is straight up hilarious. I think this is b/c the main characters are 400+ years old so the writers have a built in excuse for them not being woke.
+1 for this. Although I was kinda disappointed by the most recent season
Yeah, re-birthing Colin Robinson kinda killed the Office Space vibe….
These were great!
"The problem used to be piece-of-shit club owners who demanded free labor and/or sexual favors in exchange for stage time, now it’s improv theaters that expect you to blow thousands of dollars on classes before they even give you a look. Wealthy and well-connected 20-somethings are often gifted a large amount of “hang-out capital” that still really matters. A strong New York and LA bias persists even though technology makes it possible to find funny people wherever they may be."
Comedy sounds a lot like fiction writing, just replace "club owners" with editors and "improv classes" with workshops.
Yep, this mailbag is a win. Keep it on the "to-do" list!
I have a follow up question - given the choice of the uniform model up there, were you responsible for a toddler between, say, 2009ish and 2013ish? Because that was my son's peak toddler tv watching time, and I saw a ton of that guy. I can't imagine knowing about him for any other reason.
Also that presents an opportunity to say RIP to Biz Markie, who was also a key person on that show (and was a fellow DMV resident).
I was! (except define "responsible") My nephews.
I think I liked that show more than my kids! But yeah, it’s probably a narrow demographic that will get that reference.