Sep 6, 2006

The High Art Of Keeping A Straight Face

I know we said the Jesse McBeth video was a must see - and it was. But this one takes the cake though it has little to do with psyops other than demonstrating the contextualizing power of a straight face.

It's apparently (it seems a bit too Jesse McBethish to be for real. Notice how the audience members keep perfectly straight faces) a video of a dutch interviewer on a LIVE TV show (Dutch version of 60 Minutes) about surgeries gone wrong. He's interviewing a man who's surgical team inadvertently removed his testicles. No translation is needed to understand what is happening...

10 comments:

Effwit said...

The thing that distinguishes this bit from a run of the mill amateurish effort is the presence of the man's forlorn partner -- in a wheelchair.

Exquisite detail that ratchets up the gravitas of the entire scene.

M1 said...

The wheelchair lady....she was like a gag prop in an Adam Sandler movie...such as Waterboy or its likes. But hey, can you figure how no one in the audience laughed, not even by infection? I was laughing tears even before the host started to convulse.

Effwit said...

The fact that not even a single mouth from the audience was discretely buried in his or her hand is indeed a puzzler.

There is something to be said, I guess, for self-control. But this is an extreme case. The opposite of group hysteria, perhaps.

M1 said...

I just posted this because I cried of laughter when I saw it. It was sent to me by a friend. Only later did I become obsessed with the fact that the audience remained straight faced....and that the set decor/design was so...how should I put it - Sovietski a la 1970. Yet the snippet comes described as being from the Dutch version of 60 minutes.

But all I wanna know is...did you laugh or did you snicker, or nuthin' at all?

Effwit said...

Oh, I laughed my ass off. It was the funniest thing I had seen in ages.

M1 said...

I watched it again times today. Still as funny. Though now Im looking to find Waldo, ie a laugher. I think I might have found one...though he appears to be covering his face with his hand to mask/quell his laughter.

PS Doth Effwit actually laugh?

Effwit said...

I usually laugh only in the face of danger.

;-)

Anonymous said...

Tragic and hilarious if it's for real which I seriously doubt. After all, if an adult male has his testicles removed, his voice doesn't change. Still, very, very funny whether real or staged.

M1 said...

Excellent point about adult testicles and voice...and yes, I hate to admit it but I too found the video hilarious - and probably staged.

M1 said...

It's confirmed (and it's been so for ages now), the video is a comedy sketch - the interviewer being a well known Flemish comedian.