FIRST TIME AS COMEDY (12)
By:
July 21, 2024
Some years ago, HILOBROW friend Greg Rowland pointed out that the 1990 movie Dances With Wolves ought to be regarded as a sentimental remake of the 1970 revisionist Western Little Big Man. The series FIRST TIME AS COMEDY will offer additional examples of this recursive (and often, though not always middlebrow) syndrome.
FIRST TIME AS COMEDY: SUPERDUPERMAN vs. WATCHMEN | WILD IN THE STREETS vs. PREZ | EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES vs. M | THE SAVAGE GENTLEMAN vs. DOC SAVAGE | GULLIVAR JONES vs. JOHN CARTER | THE PHONOGRAPHIC APARTMENT vs. HAL | HIGH RISE vs. OATH OF FEALTY | JOHNNY FEDORA vs. JAMES BOND | MA PARKER vs. MA BARKER | DARK STAR vs. ALIEN | SHOCK TREATMENT vs. THE TRUMAN SHOW | JOHNNY BRAVO vs. ROCK STAR | THE FUTUROLOGICAL CONGRESS vs. THE MATRIX | CAVEMAN vs. SASQUATCH SUNSET | LITTLE BIG MAN vs. DANCES WITH WOLVES | & more to come.
On September 14th 1973, ABC aired the season premiere episode of Season 5 of The Brady Bunch. “Adios, Johnny Bravo” saw the Brady kids dancing and singing — “You’ve Got to Be in Love (To Love a Love Song)” — as their audition for a spot on Hal Barton’s talent review TV show. Note that in the real world, the following albums by that point had already been issued: Merry Christmas From The Brady Bunch (1970), Meet The Brady Bunch (1972), The Kids From The Brady Bunch (1972) and Phonographic Album (1973). So this episode was fanservice.
The kids are accepted for a spot on the talent show… and what’s more, they are approached by a gorgeous hipster, Tami Cutler (Claudia Jennings, Playboy‘s 1970 Playmate of the Year), who introduces herself as a talent agent. She implies that wants to represent the group, but only Greg is invited to the meeting. What’s going on?
Greg plays a little guitar for Tammy and her business partner, Buddy Berkman. Buddy seems to be blown away by Greg’s talent… but there’s something phony about the whole thing. Sotto voce, Buddy wonders whether Greg will “fit the suit.” Tammy, whose job it seems to be to recruit young men who “fit the suit,” assures him that the suit will fit Greg perfectly.
Finally, the two reveal their scheme to Greg. They aren’t interested in representing his brothers and sisters. They want Greg to be a solo act, and to use the stage name Johnny Bravo. They outfit him with a kind of toreador costume… the suit they’d been whispering about.
Like the Old Testament’s Joseph, who is favored by his father Jacob (Israel) and given a coat of many colors, Greg’s flashy duds and “chosen” status cause enmity among his siblings. But Greg is excited about this opportunity… he announces that he’s not going to attend college in the Fall. Despite his siblings’ wrath and his parents’ disappointment, Greg heads back to the agency and gets jumped into show biz. He meets his PR man, his attorney, and is introduced to a gaggle of hysterical (hired) fans. So far, so good. However, when Greg discovers that he won’t be writing and recording as a solo artist — that his recordings have been electronically “sweetened,” he balks. Tami pushes back, noting that they didn’t hire Greg for his talent, but because he fits the suit!
Greg returns to performing — “Good Time Music” — with his siblings, and life returns to normal. This Adorno-esque parable about the manufactured, made-to-fit nature of “popular” culture is over.
Rock Star is a 2001 American musical comedy-drama movie directed by Stephen Herek from a script by John Stockwell. Set in the ’80s and starring Mark Wahlberg, it tells the story of Chris Cole — frontman of Blood Pollution, a tribute act covering the fictional metal band Steel Dragon — who finds himself assuming the position of Steel Dragon’s lead vocalist. Though inspired by the real-life story of Tim “Ripper” Owens, a singer in a Judas Priest tribute band who was chosen to temporarily replace Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, the Rock Star story is essentially a big-screen, debauched, sometimes humorous but mostly earnest remake of “Adios, Johnny Bravo.”
Steel Dragon’s band members are portrayed by ex-Dokken and current Foreigner bassist Jeff Pilson; Black Label Society founder and Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde; actor Dominic West; and ex-Foreigner and Black Country Communion drummer Jason Bonham (the son of the late John Bonham). Internal struggles within Steel Dragon lead to the ousting of their lead singer; meanwhile, Chris has been kicked out of his tribute band for being too much of a fanatical copyist… rather than making his own music. Paging Lionel Trilling… in the battle between sincerity (wearing the suit, playing your allotted role) and authenticity (doing your own thing), authenticity will triumph.
Chris joins Steel Dragon, adopting the stage name “Izzy.” Following a successful debut concert with Steel Dragon, he must come to grips with his new-found fame and success. He doesn’t seem to have a family to disappoint, but his girlfriend and fellow Steel Dragon fan (Jennifer Aniston) is much put-upon and leaves him. After the tour, Izzy reports to the Steel Dragon recording session with song and artwork concepts. The band rejects these, not unkindly, explaining that show biz is a business — the band has to stay true to the “Steel Dragon thing” to fulfill fan expectations. On the next tour, Izzy pulls a fan out of the crowd and installs him as the new Steel Dragon singer.
I actually can barely remember the details of this movie, which I saw when it came out… but I’ll never forget the movie’s coda. Chris makes his way to Seattle and starts a new band, for which he writes his own music. He walks around in a shaggy sweater with his guitar on his back. Essentially, we’re led to believe, Chris has invented post-grunge. (His song is in fact a song by the post-grunge band Verve Pipe.) He’s Dave Grohl. It’s so ham-handed and cringe-y…
MORE FURSHLUGGINER THEORIES BY JOSH GLENN: SCHEMATIZING | IN CAHOOTS | JOSH’S MIDJOURNEY | POPSZTÁR SAMIZDAT | VIRUS VIGILANTE | TAKING THE MICKEY | WE ARE IRON MAN | AND WE LIVED BENEATH THE WAVES | IS IT A CHAMBER POT? | I’D LIKE TO FORCE THE WORLD TO SING | THE ARGONAUT FOLLY | THE PERFECT FLANEUR | THE TWENTIETH DAY OF JANUARY | THE REAL THING | THE YHWH VIRUS | THE SWEETEST HANGOVER | THE ORIGINAL STOOGE | BACK TO UTOPIA | FAKE AUTHENTICITY | CAMP, KITSCH & CHEESE | THE UNCLE HYPOTHESIS | MEET THE SEMIONAUTS | THE ABDUCTIVE METHOD | ORIGIN OF THE POGO | THE BLACK IRON PRISON | BLUE KRISHMA | BIG MAL LIVES | SCHMOOZITSU | YOU DOWN WITH VCP? | CALVIN PEEING MEME | DANIEL CLOWES: AGAINST GROOVY | DEBATING IN A VACUUM | PLUPERFECT PDA | SHOCKING BLOCKING.