What’s the deal with the razor slot in the bathroom. Are people actually shaving in there?
A little lesson about reuse and respect from two generations of comedians
Watch this Family Guy clip. It’s from an old episode, back in Season 3. In it, the writers gently skewer a couple of old stand-up comedians. Jerry Seinfeld for his observational humour and Andy Dick for his slapstick schtick.
The Seinfeld gag is really well observed. The impression is spot on. And Brian’s ‘head in hands’ moment at the end totally makes this bit.
Check out this classic clip from Jerry, chatting about airplane travel back in the 90s, to see just how good this parody is.
What’s interesting about this situation?
It struck me that what the comedy does really well is self-referential loops. The original Seinfeld bits were funny back in the day, and many argue that they’re still funny now. But comedy moves on, and certain tropes become passé. Family Guy capitalises on this by parodying the well known observational comedy trope in its own style.
But then, watching the Family Guy clip right now, I’m reminded of how funny original Seinfeld still is. So I go back and watch some more of his stuff.
The act of parody hasn’t made the original thing less funny. It’s just created more funny where there was once less funny.
The same is true in work
Nothing exists in a vacuum. When we build new ideas we’re always bouncing off things that have gone before. Even the most innovative new widget is part of a rich history of good and bad widgets that litter the past.
Instead of writing off the old, tired things of the past, we need to look at them with fresh eyes. Maybe even parody them to create new, fresh things of the future.
In our Com4Com workshops we use a super old model called the Johari Window. It’s 65 years old. But we’re squeezing life out of it still. We kick it about and make it work for us, because we think it’s still a really useful tool to use to help people get to know each other better.
Why develop something new when we can remix something old?
Look around you. What’s old that might be refreshed? What’s tired that you might be able to parody or twist to your own devices?
I’ll leave you with this…
