Another fine mess you’ve gotten me into.
Hype for the new movie with John C. Reily as Oliver?
Yea...my wife hates it, but I still married her...
COSTELLO: I want to talk about the unemployment rate in America .
ABBOTT: Good Subject. Terrible Times. It’s 5.6%.
COSTELLO: That many people are out of work?
ABBOTT: No, that’s 23%.
COSTELLO: You just said 5.6%.
ABBOTT: 5.6% Unemployed.
COSTELLO: Right 5.6% out of work.
ABBOTT: No, that’s 23%.
COSTELLO: Okay, so it’s 23% unemployed.
ABBOTT: No, that’s 5.6%.
COSTELLO: WAIT A MINUTE. Is it 5.6% or 23%?
ABBOTT: 5.6% are unemployed. 23% are out of work.
COSTELLO: If you are out of work you are unemployed.
ABBOTT: No, Congress said you can’t count the “Out of Work” as the unemployed. You have to look for work to be unemployed.
COSTELLO: BUT THEY ARE OUT OF WORK!!!
ABBOTT: No, you miss his point.
COSTELLO: What point?
ABBOTT: Someone who doesn’t look for work can’t be counted with those who look for work. It wouldn’t be fair.
COSTELLO: To whom?
ABBOTT: The unemployed.
COSTELLO: But ALL of them are out of work.
ABBOTT: No, the unemployed are actively looking for work. Those who are out of work gave up looking and if you give up, you are no longer in the ranks of the unemployed.
COSTELLO: So if you’re off the unemployment roles that would count as less unemployment?
ABBOTT: Unemployment would go down. Absolutely!
COSTELLO: The unemployment just goes down because you don’t look for work?
ABBOTT: Absolutely it goes down. That’s how it gets to 5.6%. Otherwise it would be 23%.
COSTELLO: Wait, I got a question for you. That means there are two ways to bring down the unemployment number?
ABBOTT: Two ways is correct.
COSTELLO: Unemployment can go down if someone gets a job?
ABBOTT: Correct.
COSTELLO: And unemployment can also go down if you stop looking for a job?
ABBOTT: Bingo.
COSTELLO: So there are two ways to bring unemployment down, and the easier of the two is to have people stop looking for work.
ABBOTT: Now you’re thinking like an Economist.
COSTELLO: I don’t even know what the hell I just said!
ABBOTT: Now you’re thinking like a Politician.
I’ve watched that a million times, own the movie, and giggle every time! Oliver Hardy, as big as he is, is SO graceful and light on his feet — ! Those guys are as funny today as they were then. I’d pass the guy’s girlfriend test for sure. I also like the way the musicians are cracking up.
Frank Skinner once admitted that new girlfriends were always “subjected to the Laurel and Hardy test”, when he would play a video of the Laurel and Hardy dance sequence from Way Out West. “If she didn’t laugh, I instantly wrote her off as a future companion,” said Skinner, conceding that this wasn’t exactly rational behaviour.
Reminds me a bit of the movie “Diner” in which a potential spouse was given a test about the Balitmore Colts, to see if she had enough knowledge about the Colts to marry her man.
Don’t we all do something like this? I think every girl I dated, including the one I married, had some basic knowledge and was a fan of baseball. Just saying, not sure how things would go if she didn’t share a major interest...............
Greatest comedy team ever. Their humor will live forever. Their films are just as funny and fresh today as when they were made.
Actually, I never laugh at this. I simply watch it with a smile of delight. Two endearing men. And it’s Ollie’s birthday today.
More ejaculation than catchphrase, D'oh! was the explosive parting shot of the character Miss Hotchkiss as played by Diana Morrison in numerous episodes from 1945 (series 8/166 onwards)[19] to the demise of the programme in January 1949.[20]
D'oh! was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2004, largely in response to the much later publicising of it in the television programme The Simpsons, although ITMA is credited with the earliest recorded use of the term.
They are my all time favorites. My good friend and I always say, “this is another fine mess you’ve gotten me into”.
I like everything about old comedies except the musical interludes. They are way too tedious. But that’s just me.
My favorite Laurel and Hardy film is A chump at Oxford in which Stan Laurel gets a knock on the head and becomes who he really was Lord Paddington.
Seems Paddington was a prof at Oxford and got a knock on the head and wandered off in a state of amnesia to become Stan.
It’s the only time he speaks as other than Stan Laurel in the films and it’s pretty interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok8fu30XA8g
“Sons of the Desert” (1934) is about as funny as any movie ever filmed. Sixty minutes of simple, low-key, comedic brilliance.
Add to these Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton. I have DVDs of these and Stan and Olie. And who can forget OUR GANG.
Interesting how these old comedies still hold up after 90 years or so. Most modern comedies leave me cold. I saw a few modern ones and saw NOTHING funny except modern actors acting silly. I thought...”This is supposed to be funny?
I did like Chevy chase VACATION series.
Lore has it that Larry Harmon of Bozo the Clown fame stole the exclusive licensing rights of L&H from Stan Laurel on Stan’s deathbed. Laurel’s family has brought many lawsuits against Harmon. L&H family receives a whopping $10,000 per year for the licensing, while Harmon (Harmon Pictures Corp.) makes off like a bandit.
Laurel & Hardy dance to the Gap Band!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHgjUu_KPkw
It works better than you would ever expect.
75 years later they are still just as funny.