Tag Robot Chicken

2 Funny: Emperor Palpatine’s Phone Call

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This weekend is the premiere of the new movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so to mark the occasion, I thought that I’d look back at one of my favorite sketches from the first Robot Chicken Star Wars Special, back when Robot Chicken was still funny. This sketch falls into the “I wish I wrote that” category. Seth MacFarlane’s voicing of emperor Palpatine is hilarious.

2 Funny: Behind the Music – Electric Mayhem

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ABC’s new series The Muppets put me in the mood to showcase some of my favorite Muppet characters, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.

drteeth

Rock on!

While doing the research for this entry, I discovered some interesting bits o’ trivia: did you know that band leader Dr. Teeth was modeled after both Dr. John and Elton John? (His unique mode of ‘speechifying’ was directly patterned after Dr. John.) And that he received his signature gold tooth from a voodoo priestess in Tupelo, Mississippi? Did you know that bassist Floyd Pepper’s name and costume are a direct reference to the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band? Did you know that lead guitarist Janice was originally conceived as a male character, and her large lips were originally meant to be a caricature of Mick Jagger’s, and that she’s a literal flower child, as her mother’s name is Daisy? Did you know that drummer Animal may have been partially inspired by Keith Moon, The Who’s wild drummer? Did you know that saxophone player Zoot is 50 years old, once lived in a phone booth for 3 months and only owns 1 pair of pants? (None of this comes up in the video; I’m just showing off my geek-level trivial knowledge.)

Today’s 2 Funny is an early skit from season 1 of Robot Chicken, with the band being chronicled on VH-1’s Behind the Music. Like many RC sketches, it tends to get a tad dark in places, but unlike a lot of the current RC outings, it doesn’t overdo it and is genuinely funny for the most part. Here’s “Behind the Music – Electric Mayhem”.

-Funny stuff, but one minor nitpick: why no mention or appearance of Lips, the trumpet player who joined the band in The Muppet Show‘s 5th and final season and has been with the Mayhem ever since?

Lips_GMC

Come on, the guy blows a mean horn and talks like Louis Armstrong. That’s gotta be worth a mention at least.

2 Funny: Sidekick Elevator

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So Snarf from Thundercats and Orko from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe walk into an elevator and…well, see for yourself. Enjoy Robot Chicken‘s “Sidekick Elevator”.

-Personally, I’ve always preferred Orko, since he could at least do magic.

2 Funny: Laff-A-Munich

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The massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich by the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the secret retaliation for said attack from the Israeli government known as Operation Act of God, was a tragic event which inspired a sobering 2005 historical drama/political thriller entitled Munich, produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. This unfortunate incident wasn’t funny at all, but imagine a re-enactment of the trailer for the film set in the Laff-A-Lympics universe, and that’s a different matter entirely. Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken brings us today’s 2 Funny, Laff-A-Munich. Enjoy.

A bit of a nitpick: Scrappy-Doo was never featured in Laff-A-Lympics; he made his debut on Scooby and Scrappy-Doo in 1979, a year after the final season of LAL, on ABC’s Scooby’s All-Stars, but since the scene in question had me in stitches, I’m willing to overlook that little hiccup.