Tuesday, August 01, 2006

MEL'S DRIVE-IN


Mad Mel, looking far more dapper and personable (until you look into those eyes) than Nick Nolte or Paul Reubens did under similar circumstances, pays a visit to L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca's pad

The infectious and brilliant pop-rockers Fountains of Wayne chronicled the apprehension, uncertainty and frustration of a woman trying to make her way on the stand-up comedy circuit in their wry and observant should-be-a-pop-classic tune “Comedienne,” which can be found on their most recent collection of B-sides and album outtakes entitled Out-of-State Plates. The subject of the song begs no obvious connection with the recent misadventures of a certain rage-filled, possibly homophobic, allegedly anti-Semitic actor/film director. But as I was listening to the album over the weekend, the emotionally wrenching chorus of the song struck me in a different light, as its meanings settled onto a whole new set of circumstances, an entirely separate performance stage, and informed the would-be Owner of Malibu’s predicament with FoW’s particular sense of empathy for characters on the fringes of society, the ones who don’t claim to own California beachfront colonies populated by the super-rich. As the chorus kicks in, FoW gives us a glimpse inside the woman’s head just before she takes the stage, and I wonder if Mad Mel had similar thoughts just before he stepped out of his car, into the red-and-blue flashing night lights on Pacific Coast Highway, and began his own bizarre, ruinous and all-too-revealing stand-up routine for the CHP officers this past weekend:

“She knows she knows
There are gonna be times
When no one goes
For her funniest lines

Comedienne
Please make up your mind
Are you laughing or crying
Are you killing or dying tonight?”

3 comments:

The 'Stache said...

Man, for a guy going on a break...Not that I'm complaining. By the way, I've uncovered the all-important Lebowski connection on this entire Mel incident. I posted it on the comments over at Jim's Scanners blog on his Mel item.

Dennis Cozzalio said...

I just saw that! But didn't you have a longer breakdown of the whole Treehorn-Gibson parallel on your site? I went to link to it under "owner of Malibu," but I couldn't find it. Did I just see your comment on Jim's site and then hallucinate the rest (under the influence of one of Jackie's special white russians, no doubt)? Anyway, I thought your comment was hilarious, and I wonder how many others thought of J.T. when they heard about all of this nonsense. (I really am trying to go on a break...!)

The 'Stache said...

No, you weren't hallucinating. I took it down, for some reason. I do that sometimes. Call me mercurial!