Favorite bit of the day

[JohnM]

Every once in awhile listening the the radio show, you'll come across a bit or a line that just kills, just sums up in a few seconds why you love Jack, or one of the gang, or the whole nutty universe they created.

As someone who has been on Team Mary since the first time I listened to the show, I heard last night after thousands of listens a bit that made me think immediately: that's the best Mary bit of all time! Of course I probably just got carried away in the moment. I loved the Belly Laugh Barton episodes in 1941 -- having a 10 year old wiseguy as a radio gagman was really funny and sophisticated, the whole thing being a bit "meta" for the writers, subtley mocking themselves and their profession while finding a fresh way to lampoon Jack. They handled it really well, keeping it alive over several episodes but not over-doing it within any one episode.

So anyway, Belly asks Jack how that rabbit gag he wrote went over earlier in the episode.

He responds that it was OK, but that Belly will need to come up with better material for next week.

Belly says, "well maybe Miss Livingston didn't put the gag over, maybe she didn't sell it."

To which May responds, in her sharpest tongue ever, "Listen junior, I punched my brains out on that gag!"

It got a good laugh, but the exchange peters out a bit after that, with Jack defending Belly Laugh Barton and the kid saying "all dames are alike - always beefin'"...

If anyone suggests Mary was not a professional, point them to that episode. She comes across as the most hardened comedienne in history!

[epeterd]

Despite whatever personal problems she had, she really was a great actress in that show. You definitely can't tell she had mic fright.

Peter