Mom's up on the roof and she won't come down.

April 18, 2005 9:45 PM

The Zucker Abrahams Zucker Comedy Glossary and Comedy Writer's Jargon (via johnaugust.com).
posted by Armitage Shanks (6 comments total)

Hopefully not derailing: It always surprised me that David Zucker has become a hardcore conservative (see here).

But his terms are funny and pretty good. Too bad his last two real movies, Scary Movie 3 and My Boss's Daughter, were shitfarms. His chickenfat used to be excellent (a Mad magazine term, from before they were a festering shithole too...)
On the other hand, his brother went on to direct Ghost...
posted by klangklangston at 10:41 PM on April 18, 2005

Airplane! has always been one of my favorite movies. I watched it so many times as a kid I managed to wear out the tape in parts, and it seems that even now I'm still catching some new gag every time I see it. This is a great list. A couple of my favorite terms, made better by the juxtaposition:

15. Manic Dumb Show: Slapstick for the sake of slapstick, but without character/plot motivation or wit.

16. People Talking in Rooms: The concept that witty dialogue in confined spaces can often times be as effective as huge comedy action scenes.
posted by Aster at 10:52 PM on April 18, 2005

This is actually a fascinating article. I need to bookmark this.

On the other hand, do the ZAZ team have a list of "comedy cliches we've used in every single movie we've ever made?" Because it would be about the size of one (ANY one) of their scripts.
posted by shmegegge at 11:15 PM on April 18, 2005

I've gone back and read every single thing written on both lists, now (rather the skimming I'd done previously.) and would like to ammend my earlier analysis:

This is an invaluable resource. Seriously incredible. Thanks.
posted by shmegegge at 11:48 PM on April 18, 2005

Here's my favorite:

36. Sonny on the Causeway: Thinking a joke is a sure-fire winner, then getting ambushed by the silent audience reaction.
posted by Optamystic at 5:05 AM on April 19, 2005

That was great. I guess I've often gotten Jerry and David confused. If David's a conservative, his filmography makes up for it.

My favorite line from High School High:

"Little early to be drinking, isn't it?"
"Who stops?"
posted by fungible at 8:26 AM on April 19, 2005