...and so that's pretty much what I'm working on right now.
December 3, 2011 7:02 PM   Subscribe

Lady One Question elicits a variety of responses from divers A-list and B-list celebrities with her eponymous technique. Gene Simmons, Samuel L. Jackson, Roger Moore, Simon Cowell, George Takei, Antonio Banderas, Terry Gilliam, and Sven Eriksson's wife. She is bested by Graham Norton. posted by e.e. coli (29 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's request. -- taz



 
Oh, this is part of Banzai? I remember the US version of Banzai. It was peculiar and entertaining. Apparently it had a target market which consisted of me.
posted by hippybear at 7:06 PM on December 3, 2011 [3 favorites]


I gained new respect for Graham Norton today.
posted by Grimgrin at 7:37 PM on December 3, 2011 [6 favorites]


Of course he should win the bizarro-world Just a Minute.

Betting ends!
posted by mimi at 7:46 PM on December 3, 2011


LOL RACISM HA HA #1 GO AMERICA
posted by beaucoupkevin at 8:34 PM on December 3, 2011


Banzai was British, not American.
posted by maqsarian at 8:40 PM on December 3, 2011


Banzai was British, not American.

True, but it was reformatted for America when it ran ever-so-briefly on Fox. So there is an American version, although the source is British.
posted by hippybear at 8:45 PM on December 3, 2011


Antonio Banderas was quite long (about a full minute). You'll note that he essentially ignored the question and ran into a one minute spiel about the movie he had made and what he had to say about it (to any given media person).
posted by el io at 8:50 PM on December 3, 2011


LOL RACISM HA HA #1 GO ENGLAND, then.

The fact that in the fucking twenty-first century, variations of the Mickey Rooney bit in Breakfast at Tiffany's are remotely acceptable baffles me.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 8:52 PM on December 3, 2011 [5 favorites]


All I remember about Banzai! was that they used a short sample from an Add N to (X) track at a time when I was really, really into Add N to (X).
posted by griphus at 8:56 PM on December 3, 2011


This one.
posted by griphus at 8:58 PM on December 3, 2011


It didn't need to be racist to be funny.

I think the reason this is so amusing is that they put a camera in front of people that are completely comfortable, and at ease with a camera and quickly make the situation unbearably uncomfortable (in many cases) to celebrities that are continually natural in front of a camera.

In some ways it makes the celebrities easier to relate to as we (or most of us) would feel uncomfortable in front of a foreign news-crew to begin with.
posted by el io at 9:03 PM on December 3, 2011


I assumed this would be some kind of thing. But I had to wade though about 4 4-5 minute YouTube clips before I determined there is no thing here. Annoying, rude, unfunny, and racist to boot.

20 minutes later, I am reminded why I despise YouTube posts. By the time you realize you're not interested, you've wasted 1% of your day.

Sorry to threadshit, but I just wanted to inform others who haven't clicked through the links yet: a series of red carpet/gala event interviews of celebrities who are generally being congenial when asked a reasonable question by someone who appears to be a reporter who then treats them to an uncomfortable staring contest and clocks the amount of time it takes for the celebrity to walk away. Ha fucking ha.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:14 PM on December 3, 2011 [1 favorite]


Well, I think that British media has a different view of "racist humor" than most Americans are comfortable with.

Was The Kumars At No. 42 racist? I don't think it was, but it played strongly on Indian culture contrasted with British culture. Same with Goodness Gracious Me.

It's interesting that the American version of Kumars, The Ortegas, fell over and died when it was created.

I think in general Americans have a very different concept of what is racist and what isn't. I'm not saying that's good or bad -- there are a lot of ways in which US culture seeks to strip away immigrant heritage and difference and strive toward assimilation, and sometimes the differences between groups gets lost or belittled or diminished in the process. Other countries seem to be more aware of the differences and willing to celebrate / find comedy in that.

I sometimes wonder if Villa Alegre would be able to be produced today. It has aspects which some might find racist in today's politically correct climate.
posted by hippybear at 9:22 PM on December 3, 2011 [1 favorite]


It was interesting to me that the responses from these celebrities was so... normal. For the most part, they responded the way you'd expect any normal, reasonable person to respond to this kind of potentially provocative, disturbing, or even frightening behavior. I would have expected half of them to completely freak out at some point and flee in a panic. But they just took a moment, tried to understand, and failing that extracted themselves as politely as they could.

Except for that Norton guy, of course. But I think he was on to her.
posted by Max Udargo at 10:12 PM on December 3, 2011


Well, I think that British media has a different view of "racist humor" than most Americans are comfortable with.

Well, let's see UK: 90.94% white, US: 66% non-hispanic white. I wonder if that might have something to do with it? That said, the UK did not have the same... issues historically either.
posted by delmoi at 10:43 PM on December 3, 2011


I never really watched Banzai, though I remember it being a thing. As I recall, it came out at a time when the U.S. had just become somewhat aware of Japanese game shows, and it was trying to capitalize on that. I'm not going to speculate on it's racism. I'll leave that to Japanese mefites. I'll say that I take it less as an opportunity for Asian charicature (though that is certainly there in spades) and more about getting its entertainment value from the (then unheard-of to U.S. audiences) concept of cruelty in game shows. I think it would have played roughly the same coming from France, Italy Brazil, or the U.K. In fact, Simon Cowell and The Weakest Link were popular in the U.S. precisely because of the shock of how the Brits could be so harsh to the contestants on their shows.

But there's still a lot of baggage in Banzai - it's just not mine to authoritatively remark upon.

I can say that this segment concept is sublimely amusing. It is, really, the perfect embodiment of the harmless prank. All Lady One Question is doing is shifting the burden of ending the conversation. The fact that she begins the questioning with, "I have one question," is repeatedly hilarious to me, as that seems so demure and reasonable as a way to begin, and then becomes more sinister as the silence drags on. And the joke isn't even really at the expense of the celebrity, as the idea is that none of us would know what to do in that situation.

So yeah, the show maybe not so good. The segment is brilliant, to me.
posted by Navelgazer at 11:44 PM on December 3, 2011


These are pretty damn funny.

The exaggerated caricature of the narrator's voice is clearly over the top. But I wouldn't call the thing racist though - seems to me to be more of an homage to some off the wall Japanese show. Sigh, why can't we indulge our fascination with differences without everything being labelled racist? In any case, imagine if the interviewer were some fairly typical western entertainment reporter. The jig would be up in seconds, and actually might be seen as hostile.

No. Stop thinking that. I wasn't thinking that, and I wasn't saying that. So stop accusing me of saying that Asians are inscrutable.

Nevertheless, if the interviewer were anything but Asian interviewing Europeans, it would not work quite so well. Not that it's an Asian thing, so much as a cultural difference thing. You could do the same with any interviewer whose physical appearance and accent was consistent with a culture different from the interviewee's. That's why it can go on so long. The victim doesn't want to offend the interviewer, and isn't sure if there is something wrong. Simon Cowell just comes out and asks if he has done something wrong.

Except Graham Norton. Norton has an exceptional self awareness - he knows he hasn't done anything wrong, and he has nothing in the world to feel uncomfortable about. He instantly recognizes the rules of the game at hand, and he plays by them. Absolutely brilliant.
posted by Xoebe at 12:10 AM on December 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


Japanese culture can be used for very funny things - take a look at this interview. It's seven minutes, if you somehow cannot stand it, make sure to watch at least the last 40 seconds as well. She has done this with a lot of celebrities. Just search for "Ushi" on the tube.
posted by DreamerFi at 12:25 AM on December 4, 2011


Banzai was supposed to be a caricature of the western concept of Japanese TV, rather than a caricature of Japanese culture per se. Whether you think that's racist or not is up to you, but that's where it was coming from.
posted by Summer at 12:40 AM on December 4, 2011


Interesting reaction here. If someone did a skit like that narrated by a stereotype of a black person - who was probably in actuality white (or a Muslim, ye gods) - I can't help but feel it would receive far more opprobium, and anyone asserting that it was just comedy would be howled down post haste. I don't know if that makes this racist, or mefites hypocritical or what, but it is interesting to see how different cultural contexts shape response, and it does somewhat seem to me that, once again, Asian racism is a case for exceptions.

For mine, stereotypes are very rarely funny, and so too here. The deconstruction of a social more like this has been done better. It works best with more complex mores that are less logical, imho. It's perfectly understandable - indeed, rational - why celebrities and journalists would want and expect a 30 second soundbite in that situation; the prevalence of it isn't inherently ridiculous or worth mocking I think.
posted by smoke at 12:51 AM on December 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


it does somewhat seem to me that, once again, Asian racism is a case for exceptions

QFT
posted by war wrath of wraith at 12:55 AM on December 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


If someone did a skit like that narrated by a stereotype of a black person

Actually, the girl doing the Ushi I mentioned a few comments above this one did exactly that when dutch celebrities knew about the Japanese girl she did.
posted by DreamerFi at 1:13 AM on December 4, 2011


a stereotype of a black person - who was probably in actuality white

Ali G.
posted by Grangousier at 2:02 AM on December 4, 2011


Ali G was a stereotype of a white person who wanted to be black.
posted by Summer at 2:05 AM on December 4, 2011


Except Graham Norton. Norton has an exceptional self awareness - he knows he hasn't done anything wrong, and he has nothing in the world to feel uncomfortable about. He instantly recognizes the rules of the game at hand, and he plays by them. Absolutely brilliant.

But that's my favorite part of the Norton clip, that it's -not- instantaneous. You can actually see him go through the five stages of conversational grief, which look very much like the Kubler-Ross model reordered. Let's get Zapruder on this thing, using YouTube timings:

1:18 - His situationally-acceptable spiel ends. Pause for more input from $INTERVIEWER. Denial that anything is wrong

1:21 - Shift to the right. Slight look of annoyance. Depression that he's stuck with a crap $INTERVIEWER

1:24 - Head tilt. Negotiating a socially acceptable way for her to ask a new question, to snap her out of her reverie.

1:28 - Barely-suppressed gigglefit. I like to think here that he actually remembers that she said she had one question. Acceptance of the situation as it really is.

1:33 - His whole bearing shifts. He goes into full Gaijin Smash mode: shoulders back, chin up, imperious British air. Anger and determination: "Ok, one question lady, I'm a Platinum-league conversationalist, you're not going to catch me with your Silver-league cheese opening. Now, can you defend against this counterattack?"

Note, despite the 1:28 giggles, he -never corpses again-, while she has a couple near-fumbles before backing out. Anyone who's had an intro to drama class knows how -hard- it is to keep this game up for more than a few seconds: this is fairly impressive social push-hands.
posted by persona at 2:08 AM on December 4, 2011 [5 favorites]


Graham Norton is Irish, BTW.
posted by Summer at 2:57 AM on December 4, 2011


Because they're small and they're yellow and they're eager to please.

What? They all look the same to me.
posted by Wolof at 3:25 AM on December 4, 2011


I went for dinner one evening with Lady One Question. She was the manager of Bar Chocolate on D'arblay street. She's not really like the character in real life.
posted by davemee at 3:29 AM on December 4, 2011


Was The Kumars At No. 42 racist? I don't think it was, but it played strongly on Indian culture contrasted with British culture. Same with Goodness Gracious Me.

Goodness Gracious Me and the Kumars' writing and creative team included Sanjeev Baskar, Richard Pinto, Sharat Sardana (.), Anil Gupta and Sanjeev Kohli. I'm not getting into the racism thing, or the Brits-v-Americans thing, but Banzai and Goodness Gracious Me are not really operating in the same way.
posted by running order squabble fest at 3:48 AM on December 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


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