Clip It: Each day, Jon Davis looks at the world of trailers, featurettes, and clips and puts it all in perspective.
Christopher Guest, the man behind Waiting for Guffman and Spinal Tap!, has returned with Mascots and I couldn't be more excited. This time he's utilizing his 'mockumentary' style to explore the world of sports mascots. It's Best in Show, but with animals that aren't real.
What I like about Christopher Guest is that he doesn't write jokes, per se. He writes characters who are extreme. And those characters say funny things. It's a subtle difference but an important one. None of the character in a Christopher Guest movie know they are being funny. They aren't saying things to make an unseen audience laugh. As much as I enjoy shows like 30 Rock or Family Guy, which are engines for a stream of gags, I love the purity of Guest's comedy.
For example, Ed Begley Jr. tells us he's the first person to wear an anatomically correct costume. It's a funny idea in itself, but even better, he explains that he did this out of feelings of inadequacy, which explains his reasoning (or lack of) behind his decision. Later in the clip, we see he really does have a problem with overcompensation when he tries to hand out the gold trophy even though that's Jane Lynch's job.
Another great bit: Chris O'Dowd fancies himself of “the bad boy of sports mascotery” which is theoretically absurd until you see it in action. Then it makes a weird sort of sense. He's a hockey mascot, after all. So what can a mascot really do that's “bad?” He humps middle aged wives while they are busy screaming at their team. For that, he's serving six temporary suspensions.
It's logical yet insane, which might describe all of Christopher Guest's work. Guest isn't prolific, so it's a mini-celebration when a new project is released. I'm looking forward to all this chicanery. Are you?