La La Land

[Duer 157099]

I'm surprised that I haven't seen anyone on DU mentioning this show yet. It's on Showtime, and currently available On Demand. If you haven't seen it, try it and post your thoughts.

I didn't know anything about it when I first watched it, so it took me awhile to catch on to what was happening.

It's the kind of show that makes you squirm for all sorts of reasons, but there's no disputing that the actor, Marc Wootton, is brilliant, even if his characters are all completely atrocious. That he can pull these stunts off without breaking character is just mind-boggling to me. And that so many people he encounters take him seriously is just as mind numbing. I honestly don't know how many people are involved in the gag, or how they possibly set them up. The most recent episode had him at Alan Thicke's house and by the end of the episode, the police were on the way and Alan was about to kick Wootten's ass. It seems that almost all episodes involved the police in some way or another. I'll bet there's a treasure trove of footage that never made it into the show...

The British comedian Marc Wootton employs much the same techniques as Sacha Baron Cohen but steers in the direction of situation comedy rather than anarchic farce. While he doesn’t often inspire the helpless laughter that “Borat” or “Da Ali G Show” provoke, his quieter, more slowly building situations can have their own devastating payoffs.

For “La La Land,” his first American series, beginning Monday on Showtime, he unleashes three separate characters on an unsuspecting Hollywood. Each is trying to break into the American celebrity industry: Gary, a London cabbie and a bit of a yob, is convinced he can be an actor; the smug and irritating Brendan wants to make important documentaries; and the fey, feathery haired Shirley is a psychic who was exposed as a fraud in Britain and wants to rebuild his career in America. Each proceeds to dupe a series of gullible people on the fringes of the film business. (Showtime attests that everyone on screen except Mr. Wootton is “completely real and utterly unaware they are talking to an actor.”)

Some of these setups are one joke and out; for example, when Brendan pitches his revolutionary idea — filming sharks underwater, from a cage — to Sheldon I. Altfeld, a longtime producer of infomercials, industrial films and local television programs. Mr. Altfeld listens, tells Mr. Wootton it’s been done, gets annoyed and walks out, as any sensible person would. But at other times Mr. Wootton catches something appalling.

(more at link)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/25/arts/television/25lala.html

[Mojambo]

1. Sounds pretty interesting. I'll have to look it up. n/t