Sunday, March 25, 2007

Well of course he's awesome! Don't be ridiculous!

I suspect this title won't ring any bells with most of you, but when I was in elementary school, I occasionally watched a feel-good sitcom called Perfect Strangers, which really wasn't very funny and lasted far longer than it had any right to. One of the characters in the show was Myposian shepherd Balki Bartokomous, who was played by Bronson Pinchot.

In addition to the Mypos "dance of joy", the character Balki was known for certain expressions, such as "Well of course not! Don't be ridiculous!" (and variants thereof), which he uttered with a pretty good fake European accent.

About a week and a half ago, I saw a new play called "Distracted" that includes Pinchot as one of its stars. He played four different characters and also went meta- a couple times (actually, the play had a very healthy dose of meta-, which is one reason I liked it). His facility with accents came in handy.

I saw the play at the Mark Taper Forum. It's pretty funny, and Pinchot clearly stole the show. "I'm playing four characters! Without Ridalin, I couldn't even memorize my fucking lines!"

It's about ADHD, lots of input, and the issue of using meds to "raise" kids. As Number Johnny 5 once said, "Need input."

2 comments:

Lemming said...

Heh, I liked that show. That, and the play sounds like it was fun -- it's a topic I approve of, for one.

Mason said...

The play was definitely for an older audience than the show. It was fun, and I agree that the topic is one that hits close to home.

This post didn't get in my e-mailbox, so I only just noticed it.