hyper normal improv banter

[Nuzzolese]

Have you noticed this slightly annoying style of 'improv' comedy that is popular now, in which a couple of people banter back and forth in what I can only describe as an exaggerated, hyperactive version of "normal people" talk? Ben Stiller does it. Jonah Hill does it. In Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian they do it together.

I think the idea behind it is to behave like bickering 10 year-olds who've shared the back seat of family van for 24 hours. Nothing comedic is actually said, it' just supposed to be funny that adults are bickering like that...I guess. It's hard to describe in print because it's just meaningless, rapid-fire, overlapping, fragmentary speech in an eager tone: "No see I thought you wanted that? Oh, okay so you did this, that's cool cause I was thinking, you know, but whatever it's your call. I'm just gonna, you know, so, whatever."

Do you know what I'm talking about?? I'm getting kind of annoyed with it. Not everyone can make it funny. Most people seem to force it.

[MC Moot]

I think you should hammer out a couple of scripts…you have a flair or penchant for the written word that I can appreciate…yep,you write like crazy…if you like I will make my self critically available…as apparently every successful comic venture currently requires a Canadian somewhere along the line…:rolleyes:

[b i o n i c]

i read an article somewhere sometime about how tv writing is deliberately (some kind of writers trend or something) getting faster paced to cover up for lack of substance. something about how if you speed things up, there is a sense of urgency and purpose created that really wouldnt be if it were just for the written dialogue. i wish i could remember the article.

have i ever mentioned how much i hate the "cameraman walking backwards in front of actors walking down a hallway looking busy and smart while bantering with eachother with coolshit expressionless faces." i fuckin hate that shit

they do this a lot on hospital shows and la and order also, why when the police visit a suspect on l&o, why does the suspect ALWAYS walk around or even walk away so the police have to follow then around the place while they ask questions. i dont really think it works that way in real life.

[Nuzzolese]

I know what you mean! Like, just because the camera is moving, we're supposed to feel like there's some exciting action going on.

Sometimes, with the badly written dialogue, shows like The Office and Parks and Recreation overdo it with the awkwardness. It seems to be improvised with no direction and it goes on too long. I don't know if this trend in dialogue is trying to mimic actual reality, but real people don't usually talk like that, do they? Only Vince Vaugn does.

Speaking of reality shows. Can they be OVER please! That trend has got to die already. I think it's obvious that people want writing, even if it's cheesy, outrageous, or infuriating: Gossip Girl, 30 Rock, Lost....
Perhaps the writer's strike last year did more damage than I realized. I saw that the cartoon network now has about 5 new shows, all reality shows, none of them are cartoons.

[b i o n i c]

i dont think reality tv is ever going away

I don't know if this trend in dialogue is trying to mimic actual reality, but real people don't usually talk like that, do they?

i think they are trying to mimic reality or the reality that people want to think they live in. on tv, most of the important shit happens walking down hallways, where the witty juices and smart waves flow

[Waus]

I remember having that problem when I saw "Clerks" for the first time. I thought to myself, "almost nobody can talk and respond that fast...they talk too damn fast."

Eventually it quit bothering me though, because my patience for realistic pacing goes down the drain when I actually have to watch a real conversation on TV.

I think the current trend could be seen in older Adult Swim cartoons - where the characters would be in really bizarre situations and still have the conversational flow that would be more appropriate in the everyday. That was really funny, but now it's starting to leak into normal situations so that the flow is normal and the situation is un-extraordinary, but we're still supposed to find it funny.

[Dorothy Wood]

I'm gonna need a youtube clip or something, I'm having trouble picturing this.

although I guess I can sort of imagine ben stiller doing it.


I probably think it's funny because I generally find stupid things funny. my bff/coworker and I sometimes start insulting each other in the most ridiculous way possible until we're yelling at each other and then someone will say something hilarious and we'll laugh until we fall on the floor.

usually it will start like this-

me: get out of my way, turkey leg!

him: did you just call me turkey leg? I don't have turkey legs!

me: no, your entire body is shaped like a turkey leg, deal with it! turkey leg!

him: yeah, well, your face is a turkey leg!

and so on.

and then we go on to do completely inaccurate impressions of each other.

we're just passing the time, though, not sure we should be in a movie.

[Echewta]

Reality shows are cheap to make.

[b i o n i c]

this is why they're not going away.

shows like amazing race and survivor arent cheap though

[Nuzzolese]

I'm tired of being shortchanged by life.

[Audio.]

Family Guy. Serves as an example?

I'm getting tired of seeing this shaky camera concept they do on 24, The Office, the one show with... wiiith um uhh that bald head fucker who is rich and has a family full of dipshits... it was a comedy on FOX long ago and the vast majority of people liked it but I think it got canceled.

also, micheal cera. DO SOME NEW SHIT BOI!