"If it’s a 40-year-old guy, he’s gonna talk about Three Amigos. If it’s a 55-year-old guy, he might talk about Ed Grimley. But definitely, if it was a 29-year-old stoner, he would mention Clifford. Because he’d seen it 18 times in a row high in his dorm room. I use the word 'stoner,' and it probably is not fair. I don’t think that you had to be stoned in your dorm to like Clifford, but I do think it’s like what Conan O’Brien once said about — that it was on from 12:30 until 2, and he and his brothers thought they were the only people in the world that had discovered it and that it was for them. And I think when a film is obscure enough, you feel it’s now yours. Your parents don’t know this film, but you do. So it’s your film. And then you get into the pace of it and the oddness of it. Especially if you’re high. And it becomes more like it’s talking to you."
Said Martin Short, in a truly amazing, very long dialogue in New York Magazine, "'Look at Me Like a Human Boy! An oral history of Clifford, the 1994 cult comedy about a deranged little boy played by Martin Short."
Maybe you can't read it, because maybe you need a subscription to New York Magazine, and you don't have one, but I have one, and I'm telling you this one piece is worth the price of an annual subscription.
Here's one scene from the movie, with Short and Charles Grodin:
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5 comments:
Lloyd writes:
"I now live just outside Hamilton, Ontario, home of Martin Short, Eugene Levy (Schitt's Creek), Dave Thomas and to some extent the late John Candy. It was just in the paper that they have all (I believe) received honorary degrees from McMaster University. A kind of boring question: do Canadians do well in comedy in the States because they are somewhat like Jews--always outsiders? It probably doesn't seem that way to Americans, if they think about Canadians at all.
"I've tended to have mixed feelings about Marty's performances. Only recently did I discover Jiminy Glick. There have been many attempts at faking a talk show with celebrity guests in a way that maximizes the sheer awkwardness and pointlessness, but Glick I believe is the best of them all. You keep thinking: he can't actually be doing this."
I'll say:
I was a big fan of Jiminy Glick when it was originally on.
As for fake talk shows, the first one I think of is "Fernwood Tonight." Also important is "Larry Sanders" (which began in 1992, more than 10 years before Glick). And the original "Ali G Show" predates Glick by one year.
All those shows were great.
MJB Wolf writes:
"He’s right. I’m in that age group and would have said Ed Grimley or, because so many shifty liars have appeared in public in recent years, praise for Short’s skill and pitch-perfect portrayal of lying corporate guy Nathan Thurm. I’ve never heard of “Clifford” that I recall."
Mark writes:
"I wouldn't pay for a New York Magazine subscription but you can see the article if you use a fresh cookieless browser or in private mode. I read it this way...
"...anyways, if you liked this article...last night we were starved for programming and stumbled across The Movies That Made Us on Netflix which dissects the origins of some of the biggest box office successes the way this article examined the origins of Clifford. We watched the Back To The Future episode. Spoiler Alert: the writers, producers and actors of BTTF say all the same things the writers, producers and actors say about Clifford!
"Before Hollywood became 'comic book movies for China' they were willing to take big risks since they don't seem to know once they green light a project what they'll end up with, or if audiences will like it. Is it timing? Is it originality?
"I remember before Clifford was released I saw the previews and thought I'd already seen Jerry Lewis. Maybe young stoners haven't seen Jerry Lewis..."
Nancy writes:
"Ann, I guess I was deterred by the very bad reviews Clifford received when it came out as I’ve never been curious to see it. But watching that clip makes me want to find it. Grodin and Short are both great comic actors. I’m thinking the critics didn’t get the joke. Thanks for this."
Bill writes:
"After reading the article and seeing two of the clips, my wife and I ordered "Clifford" through the library's interlibrary loan. We love this kind of oddball movie, although just because it's oddball doesn't make it good. Like every other genre, vulgar has to be well-executed for it to be funny. Not that "Clifford" is vulgar, but we've discovered, by not listening to the critics, movies which entertained us that they deplore.
"Checking at Rotten Tomatoes (which should not be used by wikipedia because it's a terrible way to rate movies) shows how out of the mainstream our taste is. We loved "Holmes and Watson" (10%), Don't Mess with the Zohan (37%), The Brothers Grimsby (37%).
"ps: Sorry to be prolix. I just wanted to let you know your post encouraged us to get the movie."
I'll just say:
I hope you like it.
I think the acting is superb in the clip I embedded.
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