Woody Alllen got his start as a young comedy writer in the 1950's and segued into stand-up comedy. This is a good example of the early material he used to make a name for himself. Shot in England in 1965, according to the person who posted it on You Tube, I'll bet he did this appearance sometime just before or during his first movie, "What's New Pussycat?" with Peter Sellers--who looked a lot like him--and Peter O'Toole playing the poor guy whose problem is that beautiful women of all nationalities could not keep their hands off him.
Since Allen wrote the screenplay of the film--originally intended to star Warren Beatty--I imagine this "problem" was a particular fantasy of Mr. Allen. This is 25 years before his love life took some strange turns with Mia Farrow and her adopted daughter. Well enough has been said of that in other quarters. Hope you enjoy the bit.
I never realized Woody did stand up comedy. He is actually pretty good. Thank you for pointing this out to me
ReplyDeleteYes, I found out about Woody's stand-up years from a radio station out of San Francisco back in the 1970's that used to have a Friday evening comedy records program. He even played Las Vegas in the early 1970's, which seems a strange juxaposition of place and personality for given that a lot of Mr. Allen's humor in films like "Annie Hall" is a riff about how swallow the culture of West Coasters can be. He once said that he would never live in California because the only cultural advantage there over New York is that you can make a right turn on a red light.
ReplyDelete(Sadly, he may be right.)
I've always had great admiration for anybody who did stand-up--they are like the matadors of popular entertainment: it's just you and the bull (the audience.) I got to see Richard Lewis and Ellen Degeneras, among others, play in comedy clubs in Frisco back when I lived near there. It's surprising how many good comics there were in the 1980's who I thought were teriffic but they never "made it" so to speak.
Maybe one shot on a cable special, but that was it.
Steve Martin wrote a book about this part of his career which I'm looking forward to reading.
I think seeing comics in person adds something more to the experience. They are funny on TV but there is something in the atmosphere that adds to the humor. I do not know if its the alcohol or the people around you or something else. I used to really enjoy Gallagher's specials on HBO. My brother and I went to see him in Atlantic City and we had a blast. Fortunately we were just out of sledge O matic's range. He did manage to get us wet by throwing watermelons sponge frisbees into the crowd soaked in water.
ReplyDeleteI have only visited California and have never lived there. I was not overly impressed and would not voluntarily move to the state. I did like Big Bear Lake. It was nice place to visit.
very inventive bit. Not one curse word in there and still very funny. I like Allen's "Take the Money and Run" and Annie Hall, which I believe was based on some of his old New York comedy writing days...
ReplyDeleteFrank--His early films like "Take the Money and Run" hold up well. I'm not against comics who swear as a total rule, but the last couple of professional stand-ups I saw were acts of nothing but bad language and bed and bathroom jokes. As sports guy Tony Kornheiser once said about a SNL comic, "I've thrown out stale bread that was funnier than that guy." I suspect I won't be seeing those two on HBO. (OK, I don't have HBO anyway, but you get the idea.)
ReplyDeleteFred--I wish I'd seen Gallagher. I love the guys who bring energy to a show.