Everytime I watch "Guffman", I see something new that makes me laugh for the first time. Most recently, I noticed the snack machine in the back of the gym where they are rehearsing is always empty.
Dont know if it is an intentional joke, but it worked for me.
Few things I noticed:
1) Despite everything else being horribly amateur, the pit orchestra is about as professional sounding as you can get, even with the horn guy being the percussionist at the same time.
2) The scene at the chinese restaurant starts with the lines "How did you find this place?" as the camera shows a huge neon sign.
3) During the scene at the Chinese restaurant, Sheila starts drunkenly blabbing on about Ron's supposed "reduction surgery" but says that "it's not minor anymore". Which is it? Nice touch at the end when Dr. Pearl says "how about these egg rolls?" and takes a huge bite.
4) In the musical number "stools", they end with the lines "working, never stopping never ending" as the music slows to a crawl and they stop.
5) Corky's choreography in "Penny for your thoughts" totally mirrors (and ends) with the same movements as the girl. and he sings his line "I have no secrets" with the gayest accent possible.
6) When councilman Steve Stark screams hysterically at the end "corky! coooorrrky!!!" the woman to his right looks at him and starts cracking up.
"3) During the scene at the Chinese restaurant, Sheila starts drunkenly blabbing on about Ron's supposed "reduction surgery" but says that "it's not minor anymore". Which is it? Nice touch at the end when Dr. Pearl says "how about these egg rolls?" and takes a huge bite."
I have a theory about that. I think that originally the script said that he was supposed to hav erecieved penis ENLARGEMENT surgery, but Fred Willard just started talking about the REDUCTION surgery and everyone else went along with it...and it was funnier.
Given the improv nature of it, I don't think it is far off...
She's not saying the penis is larger now, simply that the minor surgery has grown into a larger problem, most likely a post op infection or something
"Wait, nobody comes back from paradise. Okay, a slayer once, but..."
it doesnt end with the lines "never stopping never ending." the line is actually "never stopping never sleeping," but it ends on "some for selling, some for keeping."
share"2) The scene at the chinese restaurant starts with the lines "How did you find this place?" as the camera shows a huge neon sign."
LMAO! Never would have picked up on that one, I think reading your observation is funnier than seeing the visual itself.
During the 'penny for your thought's' scene when Corky is facing Libby Mae Brown he has his hands at his sides and slightly pointed backwards. When he moves towards her they flutter like 'spirit fingers' behind him for a while and then he composes himself. My mum was sitting on the edge of her chair waiting to point it out to me when it happened. sooooooooooo friggin funny.
Oh, and that chairman guy who's in love w Corky, how he almost had an orgasm when he saw the balloons at the end.
at least i have a bed
dude, your bed's a car
yeah but it's a phuckin sweet car
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"I left the navy with nothing but a dance belt and a tube of chapstick". A lot of need for dance belts (dancer jockstraps) in the navy. Though I can guess why he needed the chapstick.
shareI think that it's quite funny that corky talks about his wife but we never actually see her lol
shareI love this movie, but it always hits too close to home because I've been in so many plays as bad as theirs. If you've come with five feet of a community theater, you know how disturbingly accurate it is.
I love when Clifford, the narrator, pees on himself in the dressing room and some poor stagehand has to blow dry his pants, and Corky's choreography session at his house.
"It's not easy having a good time. Even smiling makes my face ache."
I thought it was funny in the opening scene of the play and the narrator says something like, "Oh I'm just cooking some beans. Don't get me started on beans, though, cause then I'll never finish," or something like that. Then the whole audience chuckles even though the line wasn't funny! I thought that was hilarious.
sharesomeone already said it, but its hilarious when Catherine O'Hara says "hubba hubba hubba" to make it look like she's whispering while talking about them reaching the Pacific Ocean.
LOVE THIS MOVIE!
Good times, Noodle salad
"Oh, and that chairman guy who's in love w Corky, how he almost had an orgasm when he saw the balloons at the end."
Best description of that scene, ever.
Genius
Look at what Mrs. Pearl does with her chopsticks in the Chinese restaurant scene. Just noticed it and I've seen the movie a gazillion times!
shareI noticed the chopsticks thing also. I love that scene, it's so uncomfortable it really makes you want to squirm watching it.
I'm not trying to be annoying...it just always works out that way.
omg i watched it again and it's so much funnier the second time around
i love it when they're at the chinese restaurant and fred willard is trying to show eugene levy his "modified equiptment" lol, and you can catch eugene keep stealing glances as he laughs and makes an effort to look away
also, it's not hidden, but i thought one of the funniest parts was after corky leaves the show and it shows the albertsons and sheila is crying, and the camera zooms out and it shows the extremely short shorts that ron is wearing and how they are ridden up all the way.
not sure why it made me laugh so
but it did
I'm a wishful thinker with the worst intentions
I love how Clifford the narrator is just totally ignored during rehearsals and spends all his time asleep - yet he comes out and just gives a superb performance as the narrator basically stealing the show from the rest of the cast.
sharedoes anyone ever notice during the president McKinley Whistlestop scene, Eugene Levy is dressed up as his Grandfather from "Bibbick Scmibbick, i said more Ham?"
shareSmall correction and another hidden joke. A dybbuk is a ghost, a cursed soul of someone who did something very bad.
"I said more ham"
The fact that after Corky asks for 100,000 dollars the Councilman Steve (the one who loves the show in the end) is the only one who doesn't bust up laughing.
And I didn't think about it till the third time or so.. but the fact that the narrator tells the story of Blaine because it would take him too long to talk about how much he loves beans.
I watched it today for probably the tenth time and cracked up at the line, "McGillicuddy's orchard became Blaine Elementary School." As if they're so proud of the fact that they destroyed an orchard to build a school!
Also, the audience's shocked and amazed expression toward the alien.
So funny! :-)
I could be wrong but it looked like Corky was wearing a German officer's uniform in his duet with the DQ girl . . . if so, that is too funny as well as wearing an earring.
share.... after he told Dr. Pearl that he couldn't wear his glasses in the early part of the musical... you know - for historical accuracy. LOL
...a signature to be named later.
Please tell me what Sheila does with her face while Ron is talking during the auditions! Also, what is Mrs Pearl doing with her chopsticks?
Some funny things...
-this is about the third time but i don't care because it's my favorite part of the movie: when they are supposed to look like they are talking about salt water and catherine o'hara is just like... "hub bub bub bub bubbub."
-also JUST HOW FREAKISHLY MUCH that alien expert reminds me of Adrian Monk...
-glasses were definitely around at that time even if corky says they weren't...
-the strange way mrs. pearl talks, maybe it's a new york accent but she is like... "we've got our SCRAY-ble club... and yuh know... other people with BAYbees..."
-i think it's amusing how they are blow-drying clifford's pants, but why in god's name would they do that?1?
Jack: I don't care if he's rich or poor, fat or thin, as long as he's rich and thin. -Will & Grace
Mrs. Pearl is from Wisconsin.
There certainly were glasses in 1845...just not big plastic ones!
They were blow-drying Clifford's pants because he seems to have a leakage problem. probably the budget didn't allow adult diapers.
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I just watched it for the umpteenth time, and the line the town historian says about the kid who "made a stool" for President McKinley cracked me up. I don't think I had really thought about the line before.
shareI totally agree with the part where Mrs. Pearl is eating with chopsticks but using her hand to steady the food. Also, maybe this is a stretch but it crossed my mind when watching it today, how bout when Ron is trying to show his penis and talking about the penis reduction to Dr. Pearl. Is this a jab at the stereotype that Jewish men have small penises? Maybe trying to rub it in is face no pun intended.
shareAlso something else I was wondering. What's up with the babies in a tire part? Is that an intentional joke like there is no such saying that's why it's funny or have I just never heard of this analogy? Please explain if you know.
shareCorky was trying to sound "deep."
...a signature to be named later.
There is an old saying describing a pointless argument: something along the lines of "arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin." I think Corky got that mixed up with a tire commercial from the 90's featuring a baby riding in a tire.
shareNan00k, that's probably it. But yes. Corky was simply trying to sound deep... not that it ever really worked well. ;)
Jack: I don't care if he's rich or poor, fat or thin, as long as he's rich and thin. -Will & Grace
After reading this thread I watched it again yesterday and noticed at the end when Corky is in his gift shop he's talking about his giant heads of Anthony Michael Hall & Andrew McCarthy, there's a smaller puppet next to him that is a likeness of Charley Weaver aka Cliff Arquette. Well, the guy who's the narrator of the play, Cliff Wooley, is played by Lewis Arquette who is Cliff Arquette's son. I've seen this movie many times but I never took note of this before. I'm assuming that Chris Guest was a fan of Charley Weaver so he named Lewis Arquette's character Cliff and also had the puppet as an homage to Lewis's father.
If you want to know more about Charley Weaver, I'm assuming he'll be on IMDB so look him up. I just remember him being so funny on Hollywood Squares (he was always on the bottom row in the left hand square.)
I may be mis-remembering, but seem to remember some tire brand doing an ad campaign with images of a baby sitting inside of a tire (safety ya know?) before that time.
That was my assumption when I heard the reference, but who knows!
I just watched it again and noticed that Eugene Levy delivers a couple of his lines in the musical sounding like Johnny Carson with a Yiddish accent. One of those was in the Mars number. It's really subtle, but very funny.
I also love the where Fred Willard tries to show off in the audition when and says: "strike it?"
"Lightning striking again and again and again" I always thought it was funny. It's also the lyrics to a chorus by Argent. Classic Guest humor. Classic rock and Broadway.
shareThis isn't really a hidden thing, but it's funny to think about...think through Corky's part in "Red, White, and Blaine" and imagine what it had been like if Johnny Savage had not dropped out of the show. I just can't picture his having performed all those numbers.
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