OSCAR WEEK FUN: HOLLYWOOD ASST

In this week given over to everything Oscar (even the charting of the history of nudity in the careers of two of this year’s nominated actresses), SLIFR would like to take a moment to remember the little people, the way-below-the-liners devoted to making sure that all the high-profile nominees, from actors to directors and producers and, perhaps most of all, the studio suits who facilitate (and sometimes inhibit) their every artistic move, get the right tables booked and are supplied with a constant flow of double chai whip slo-jack mocha crème whizzachinos. We speak, of course, of the ambitious, yet perpetually lowly Hollywood assistant. These overworked minions, who will likely be in charge of dusting and polishing the statues of the Oscar winners who provide them not-so-steady employment, as well as a constant, tantalizing glimpse at the carrot of Tinseltown glamour that keeps so many of them pressing on, are in dire need of a shard of the spotlight. And this week, when all eyes are on Kate and Brad and Angelina and Werner (that’s Herzog to you, Us Weekly subscriber), the sketch comedians that make up Back of the Class have constructed a hip-hop-tastic tribute to these denizens of the underbelly of every studio commissary, mail room and B-level Sunset Strip premiere party. If you thought the Michael Bolton character in Office Space was tha bomb, chances are you’ll find the hotshots of Hollywood Assistant as hilarious as I did. Bottom line: Any comedy piece that finds a way to link “Toblerone” and “Stallone” (among seemingly thousands of other killa rhymz) is the shizzle in my book, yo. Behold.


Hollywood ASST from Back of the Class on Vimeo.

(Mad props to Andrew Blackwood of Cahiers2Cinema for directing me to this gem.)

********************************************************