oh my god this is a perfect clip because it starts as “Danny DeVito talking about the characters” then slips towards “ok, this Danny DeVito guy has some strange beliefs about the world which are necessary beliefs for his character to exist in his head” to “THIS IS FRANK REYNOLDS TALKING ABOUT THE SEWERS”
This is so magical I don’t know where to begin.
- It takes literally 17 seconds for Danny to forget Glenn’s name and that he’s talking about actors instead of characters.
- “Dennis is so full of himself he can’t walk and talk at the same time.”
- Mac is Lucille Ball. Or Rob is Lucille Ball. I can’t tell. Is it because Mac wants to shove himself into everything or because Rob’s really talented? Is Danny complimenting someone or explaining something? We just don’t know.
- Important Character Revelation: all of Frank’s “guys” are connected from Vietnam, somehow.
- Remember that we started talking about improv, by the way.
- Frank doesn’t want to hurt anybody. He has emotionally tortured children and poured a man’s actual ashes down the toilet and sold his son into unwilling prostitution. Discuss.
- Reassurance that Frank is not involved in the Afghanistan drug trade.
- Many people would like to go into the sewer. They can’t. You need to know a guy.
- “You need to know how to deflect turds.”
- They are better men for this experience of sewer-walking.
- Has Frank read ‘Guns Germs and Steel’? Has Danny read ‘Guns Germs and Steel’? Does ‘Guns Germs and Steel’ contain the theory that people from Spain engaged in bestiality to avoid disease? People who are more well-read than myself, feel free to chime in.
- This clip is in the Archive of American Television.
- I still can’t pinpoint the exact moment he slipped into character or if that was, in fact, his plan all along.
SHOW NOTES
