Filed under: Television | Tags: Charlie Day, Danny DeVito, Glenn Howerton, High, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Rob McElhenney, Television, Weed
I have been pretty much obsessed with this show for some time now. Well, I have been obsessed to the limited extent I’ve been allowed to be obsessed with it. Basically, there is very limited access on the web to this show’s episodes. I personally use Hulu, but as I said before, it only has a limited amount of episodes. If any reader finds more episodes on some site and wants to share it, please leave a comment.
So, I think the basic appeal of this show is that it follows a group of five absolutely horrible people. One of the more recent episodes (the D.E.N.N.I.S. System) shows how Dennis mentally manipulates girls and basically tortures them. In another episode, Dennis and Mac go to anti and pro abortion rallies to pick up chicks. In yet another episode, some environmentalist has a burn on Dennis, so what does Dennis do? Well, he infiltrates the group by smoking them up, then convinces the guy to chain himself to a tree in order to stop bulldozers during a thundery (and rainy) night, then trips acid with the guys girlfriend, fucks her, then the next day he lets the guy from the tree, allows the bulldozers to destroy the tree and then while they’re doing that, he tells the environmentalist that he slept with his girlfriend.
Also, one of them (Charlie) is illiterate, which leads to a lot of gags and shows another appealing aspect of the show: they usually fuck everything up. My favorite example of this is when Charlie (and Danny DeVito, did I mention Danny DeVito is on the show?) tries to get cats out of Dee’s wall. What do they do? They smash a giant hole in the wall and then put in about twenty more cats. And all of these ridiculous stunts are just hilarious when you’re high.
Filed under: Television | Tags: Elaine, George, Kramer, Seinfeld, Television, Weed
I feel kind of guilty writing a recommendation for Seinfeld, just like a felt a little bit guilty writing something about Abbey Road: it just seemed self-evident. In fact, I don’t think there was ever a conversation that mentioned the word “Seinfeld” and “Television” and didn’t have the word “good” or some synonym. Basically, it’s understood that Seinfeld is one of the best shows ever.
This show basically did everything right. It was hilarious, there were amazing situations, it was completely self-aware (but not in an obnoxious “breaking the fourth wall” way; one example is the series of episodes in which they were trying to start a show). All of the characters are ridiculous and three-dimensional, I guess I can say this means that the acting was always impeccable. And this show was able to portray caricatures effectively and in an entertaining manner, but most importantly with a deal of restraint that stops the show from having a worn-out exaggerated feel. They were able to tread this delicate balance, and tread it effectively, unlike other shows that deal with the same subject matter (Dilbert comes to mind) in which the characters blatantly state their stereotypes.
I don’t really know what else to say about this show, except that it is really funny. It’s also refreshing because it deals with everyday situations that make our lives interesting; instead of focusing on the same overused metanarratives that other shows subscribe to (are they going to end up together?). This isn’t a show about that stuff, it’s about the consequences of taking a dollar out of a tip jar so that the pizza guy can see that you put it in. And when they deal with romantic issues, it’s a wedding called off because of the incorrect glue used on the wedding invitation envelopes.
If you need a place to watch episodes, you can go to http://quicksilverscreen.com/videos?c=347 or just search Seinfeld episodes on google. And if any of you find a better place to find more Seinfeld episodes, please post a comment with the url.
Filed under: Television | Tags: Funny, John Krasinski, NBC, Shows, Steve Carell, The Office, Weed
I think this is one of those things which doesn’t have any particular characteristics that make it better when you’re high; it’s just a funny show that you happen to laugh at more when you’re high because, well, you just laugh at everything more when you’re high.
This show follows the happenings in a Pennsylvanian paper company called Dunder Mifflin. It’s about the antics of the boss, Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell) and the way that other people in the office respond to him. They either do it with overzealous respect that borders on worship (see Dwight and Andy), with playful sarcasm (like Jim and Pam), with frustration (Oscar), naiveté (Kevin) or many other responses that flourish in their own comic right. And because there are so many different characters reacting in their own ways, a broad spectrum of comedy emerges, with everything from the lowest brow jokes to awkward scenarios and plays on words. At the end, this variety allows the show to be constantly original. This is one of those great shows that I can’t really ever see jumping the shark, but who knows? Either way, I think I’ll always enjoy it.
One great thing about this show is that you can watch shows free online at nbc.com; so I would recommend it if you have any free time.
Filed under: Television | Tags: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Jeff Garlin, Larry David, Marty Funkhouser, Seinfeld, Ted Dansen, Weed
This is one of the best television shows there currently are, and maybe even one of the best shows of all time. It chronicles the life of Larry David, one of the creators of Seinfeld, in his years after the show, including such events as a Mel Brooks musical and the taking in of an African-American family, aptly named the Blacks, who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Each episode has its own intricate plot structures, and is also part of an overall narrative that, unlike a lot of other shows of Curb’s nature, manages to be forwarded through each episode. Currently they are in the midst of a Seinfeld reunion show, engineered so that Larry can get Sheryl back. Curb is on HBO at some time late on Sunday (I have DVR, so I don’t know the time).
If you have never watched Curb Your Enthusiasm, but are a fan of Seinfeld, this is going to be an easy transition for you, because the two shows’ comedic aspects are extremely similar. However, Curb Your Enthusiasm has more of an emphasis on social awkwardness, rules and practices. It raises such questions as, can you refuse to be paid back with a 50 dollar bill that smells bad? Is it alright to buy weed from a hooker that you hired so that you can go in the carpool lane? If you are only going to drive for a minute or two, and you’re already in the backseat, do you have to go up to the front seat? If your wife thinks that she’s going to die in a plane crash and calls you in a fit of panic, but the TiVo guy is at your house, can you call her back after he leaves? Larry David finds himself having to answer these questions, and the situations that ensue act as comedic fodder that he happily feeds you on a weekly basis.
Filed under: Television | Tags: Alcoholics Annonymous, Fox News, Glenn Beck, Logical Fallacies, Retards, Weed, What Happens When A Pig Fucks a Gerbil
I feel guilty recommending listening to Glenn Beck because of the inflammatory nature of what he talks about. I would like to put a disclaimer that I don’t agree with anything he says, much in the same way that I don’t agree with anyone who says 2 plus 2 is 5. Simply put, he doesn’t understand what he is talking about on a very fundamental level, he doesn’t understand economics, he doesn’t understand certain issues and he doesn’t understand the simplest things that underlie, for all practical purposes, everything. But that is why I think this is a great show to watch when you’re high.
One thing I love to do when I watch this show high is to call out at the screen every logical fallacy that he makes. I would not recommend this as a drinking game because you would get intoxicated to a dangerous point. But you might say, “there will eventually be a point at which I’m so intoxicated that I won’t be able to spot any more logical errors.” And if you believe that, you underestimate how stupid Glenn Beck is.
But I think he is just stupid, not evil or anything along those lines. He just simply doesn’t understand certain things, and so when he sees them, he misinterprets them, and he somehow managed to get on TV, so he just yells about those things he doesn’t understand. He isn’t being disingenuous because he honestly believes in the misinformation he’s feeding you. Here’s an example (it’s going to be a little vague because I don’t remember it too well, so I’m sorry). He was showing a graph of the increase in something. When he showed the graph, he said something along the lines of “this is the real hockey stick” (a reference to Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth). However, the problem with the graph was that it used a standard scale (which means it was scaled 0, 10, 20, 30, etc.). However, he didn’t realize that when talking about that subject, you had to use an exponential graph (scaled 0, 10, 100, 1000, etc.). So, he unintentionally misconstrued the information because he just doesn’t know any better.
Another funny thing about Glenn Beck is that he just does some things that are just horrifying for any normal human being. And I’m not talking about how he cries on air, although that’s funny too. One thing that he did was, on Earth Day, he told one of the people who work for him to sit outside his studio in an idling Hummer; just to be an asshole I guess. Or when he asked the first Muslim congressman to prove to him that he wasn’t a terrorist (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFkpEduQJZo).
So I would recommend watching his show when you’re high so you can laugh at him, not with him.
This is one of my favorite shows to watch, so naturally it would be one of my favorite shows to watch while high. I think the genius of this show is its ability to combine lowbrow stunts with extremely insightful analysis about the way that we view the media, political issues and economic instruments, including many other subjects that they regularly delve deep into. It’s an example of how satire is supposed to really supposed to work, with a frequent amount of populist outrage at politicians and social systems that they feel disenfranchise us. There really isn’t that much more to say about the show besides that.
Filed under: Television | Tags: Adam Sandler, Click, Funny, Smoking, Stoned
Now, I know it is weird that I’m putting a movie under television, but I am of the strong belief that this movie is best watched when on television, sans commercials or not. Why? Well, this isn’t the type of movie you should ever take seriously, because if you do, well, the movie will suck. Don’t event take the minimal moral lesson it gives you seriously, because that’s a slippery slope and you might eventually see one of those flashbacks as capitalistic propaganda. Just think of the whole movie as the silly movie that it is, and well, you’ll enjoy it more. Because even though there are a lot of stupid jokes in it, that doesn’t really matter because, come to think of it, the jokes aren’t that bad (although I did take offense to the scene in which he accused the kid of smoking and selling (I don’t really remember) pot),
Now, commercials actually help in the deseriousification of the movie, so that is why I would recommend watching it with them, because you can’t take his monologue about missing the Dragon Tales age as seriously anymore since you just watched a Gillette commercial after learning about Halo 3. So, I would actually recommend watching this when high and just on television. Plus, that makes it easier to just stare at it sometimes.
Filed under: Television | Tags: Bored To Death, Comedy, HBO, Jason Schwartzman, Jonathon Ames, review, self-hating jew, Ted Danson, Weed, Wine, Zack Galifianakis
A couple of weeks ago I wanted to write a short story that would tackle the issues of authenticity and the nature of our actions. I guess Jason Schwartzman, Ted Danson and Jonathan Ames had the same ideas as I did a few months before, because, well, that’s basically was this show is about. The premise of the show, as I understood it when I was high, is that people really only do the things that they do because they’re bored. That’s why Ted Danson calls up Jason Schwartzman incessantly to smoke pot. He doesn’t do it because he particularly likes smoking pot, even though he does, he just does it because he’s bored. His character even says it when Jason Schwartzman asks him why he smokes pot. And that’s why Jason’s Schwartzman’s character does what he does, because he’s bored. His life is too mundane, so he constructs a character for himself (either the Self-Hating Jew or the Mysterious Detective) at every chance he gets; which is the genius of Jason Schwartzman’s acting in this show. He’s authentic enough to not make you gag, but he’s inauthentic enough to make you realize it. That is the main reason why I would say you should watch this show high, because when you’re high, it’s easier to see the roles that these characters construct for themselves.
But not the only reason why I think this is such a great show to watch when you’re high. There are a lot of really funny exchanges between characters. One of these is when Jason Schwartzman’s character tries to talk to a hotel clerk and he keeps on saying to him, “fuck you!” And it even has its share of witty one liners, “I’ve always been intrigued by Stockholm Syndrome, it makes me think of my childhood.” Then there is the conversation between Schwartzman and the meth-head English guy who abducted a girl. And this is another reason why I like this show so much, because there’s an English guy who smokes meth and abducted a girl. This seems like the type of show that is not afraid to go over the top, and its enjoyable to watch this show go there. Even though it goes over the top, it’s extremely easy to relate to the character in this show, well, that’s if you smoke pot. It’s the type of the show that I think everybody wishes they could write, because, well, it looks like its so much fun. Everybody on this show seems to enjoy being in the misery and the narratives that they construct for themselves.
The show premiers today at 930 PM on HBO, I would recommend watching it. But if you miss it or want to watch it beforehand, you can watch it online at http://www.fancast.com/tv/Bored-to-Death/103088/1250775593/Bored-to-Death-Episode-1-(HBO)/videos?skipTo=0 they released the pilot early.
“We formed like Voltron and the GZA happened to be the head.”
This is the funniest show ever when you’re high. It’s just so fucking ridiculous. And if you only have access to Voltron: Defender of the Universe: Volumes 1-3, I would watch those too. I’m pretty sure they’re as funny, but I’m not positive because I never saw those while I was high, but they can’t be too different than Volume 4.
The show starts out like every show does, with an opening sequence. It tells a story of a galactic alliance and peace and prosperity that was interrupted by what I can only guess are flying wolves. Thus, Voltron was needed once more and then you get to the show.
I can’t really give you a full play-by-play of what happens on this show, because every episode is different (another great thing about this show, but not really that unique); but the show has certain characteristics that are fairly consistent and makes it fun to watch. One thing that I love about the show is the names. Zarkon, Lida, Voltron, Coran, Commander Keith, Sven, Pidge, Princess Allura, Hunk, Wolo, Chip Stoker, Sea Team Commander Cric, Tagor, Zandee, Modoch, Emperor Zeppo, Comamnder Hazar, Dorma, Chancellor Mozak. The list goes on. The evil planet is even called Planet Doom.
The tone that these people talk in is hilarious when you’re high. Coran speaks in this sort of whisper that has this ominous sort of tone. And then the people have this really, really crazy way of talking that’s sort of enthusiastic and a little bit sarcastic. And then the evil people in this show have weird voices as well. There’s this witch that has this squeaky voice, and Zarkon has this other weird voice, that I can’t describe. The show also has this weird, ominous music in the background that never fails to entertain.
And then you have the crazy shit that happens. There are battles between people and you have this mouse brigade that saved all the people in the first episode. But I think this is actually a really good show, absent from all the absurdity. There is dramatic irony that is reminiscent of Shakespeare, and epic plots, tragic and comedic aspects that are reminiscent of Euripidies and Homer. In episode three, you learn that Coran’s “son” is actually a fake clone by Zarkon used to trick them into doing what Zarkon wants them to do. And then in the next scene Commander Keith says, “we’ll let you guide us because we know we can trust you.” But even if you don’t think the show is good, it’s so ridiculous that you’ll love it.
I just mentioned the show to my roommate and we decided that it’s sort of like an intergalactic Power Rangers. He said, “Oh, I remember that, I loved that shit!”
This show is amazing to watch when you’re high because being high allows you to just sit back and embrace how ridiculous it is. I think it’s great even if you’re not high, but it’s just so crazy that when you’re high, you have no other option but to just laugh your ass off. One thing that I especially love is how all the characters announce what they’re doing. Like, when they get the sword they say, “BLAZING SWORD!” What the fuck?
Filed under: Television | Tags: Bill O'Reilly, Comedy, Fox and Friends, Fox News, News, Satire, Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report, Weed
One day, my two friends and I smoked a couple of rounds out of a gravity bong. We then proceeded to smoke a couple of js, a few bowl packs, and then a steamroller pack or two. Needless to say, I came home extremely high. After fixing up some frozen pizza for myself, I sat down in front of the TV and put on the Colbert Report. Those were most probably 22 of the funniest minutes of my life. This story may seem a little vague, because that’s really all I remember from that experience. In fact, the next morning I watched the Colbert Report again and didn’t realize until halfway through the interview that I had seen that episode before.
But I think that’s more of a testament to the brilliance of the show than it is to the potency of the plant I was smoking. The Colbert Report is really one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen, especially when you’re high. Every part of the show becomes funnier: from the juxtaposition of clips to point out contradictions to the blowhard satirical ranting to the unnecessarily extravagant distractions that he makes (for example: the Countdown to Guitarmageddon or the Metaphor-off). When you’re high, you just laugh at more jokes and enjoy more the ones that you would have laughed at sober.
He really does his satire well. It’s enjoyable to watch him demonstrate the idiocracy that the media and the right wing have developed into. And even though his bits are exaggerations, they speak truth to the ridiculousness and outright stupidity that we are presented with on a daily basis when we watch TV. The Colbert Report is actually one of those shows that I would recommend watching both high and sober because he presents ideas that are worth examining in both mindsets.
The Colbert Report is one of those shows that are chalk-full with memorable quotes. In fact, I remember spending the first couple of minutes of gym class in tenth grade repeating his (and Jon Stewart’s) jokes amongst us. And there are so many. Better Know a District was one of our favorites. And so was The Word. Even though we loved those two bits, we didn’t think that they would last; but somehow they managed to.
And this is why I think this is such a great show to watch high. There is just ridiculous shit going on; and being high makes you just sit back and say, “Fuck!” But then you laugh because it’s just so far-fetched. His character is such an exaggeration, and it’s amazing to see how well he sticks to it. One time, a friend of mine was telling me about an episode I missed. Apparently, a female ultra right-winger came on the show, which was apparently against the women’s rights movement. While most other people would just say “what the fuck?” to her, Colbert showed how absurd her advocacy was by out-right-winging her. That is what he does; he attacks right-wingers from the right, and always with a smile.
A lot of people I know view this as a comedy show and don’t see any merit to it absent that. I don’t think I agree. In fact, I think I’ll take it one further and say that the Colbert Report is one of the most serious outlets for commentary out there. Sure, he makes jokes, but his jokes have substance to them, and they always have an underlying message. Usually it’s that Papa Bear Bill O’Reilly, his Fox News compatriots and Republican politicians are blabbering ideologues who distort information for a political end that is not really founded upon their moral convictions, but really on greed mixed with a childish and delusional commitment that their side is right and the other side is wrong, no matter what they are talking about.
But not all of the Colbert Report is politically charged, and that is great to watch when you’re high as well. He has various challenges, call-outs and requests to his audience that add an extra flavor to his show. There are constant examples of these, all of which will make you crack up if you ever see them. Some of them are (as previously mentioned) his Countdown to Guitarmaggedon (most probably the funniest bit I’ve ever seen), the Metaphor-Off, Better Know a District, the naming of a bridge in Hungary after him, cooking with feminists and his WristStrong campaign.
All in all, there are very few other shows that I would recommend watching as much as the Colbert Report when you’re high, I guess that’s why I gave it a 73.
