Holy moleeds

August 12, 2010 5:45 PM

Am I supposed to be laughing or taking notes? Comic Charles Fleischer, who played Carvelli on Welcome Back, Kotter and voiced Roger Rabbit, gives a Ted talk which degenerates into what appears to be a dissertation about the number 37 and its relationship to string theory, delivered in a rapidly shifting sequence of accents; watch the audience get more and more uncomfortable as they try to figure out whether they're watching a stand-up routine, a Kaufmannesque prank, or a guy going crazy right before their eyes. TED should have known what they were getting; Fleischer has been performing some form of this routine for decades. (Warning: numbered suit.) Transcript of the routine. Fleischer's strange myspace page. (Warning: strange music/talking on click which I can't figure out how to turn off.)
posted by escabeche (17 comments total)

puh-puh-puh-puh-please?
posted by The Whelk at 5:47 PM on August 12, 2010 [2 favorites]

You don't see a lot of standup numerology.

True.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:50 PM on August 12, 2010

I think I first saw the Moleeds bit in the early 1980s on this standup showcase that also featured Michael Keaton. I know it was a lot earlier than that clip with Dennis Leary.
posted by briank at 5:54 PM on August 12, 2010

Is it performance art or simply avant garde? Let's do a Ted talk on that.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:55 PM on August 12, 2010

Also, the fact about 27 and 37 (1/27 = .037 repeating and 1/37 = 0.027 repeating) is neat. You can do it with other pairs (try 123 and 813) but 27 and 37 seems like an especially nice pair somehow.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:55 PM on August 12, 2010 [2 favorites]

By the way, the comment thread on the Ted Talk features lots of input from Fleischer himself, along with frequent pop-ins from a Chris Anderson who I take to be the editor of Wired.
posted by escabeche at 5:57 PM on August 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

More like a Ted Forth talk, amirite?
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:59 PM on August 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

Needs more 37.
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:19 PM on August 12, 2010

The first sign that you are in a crazy place is that your whole theory falls apart in a different numeric base.

I don't think this sounds crazy so much as just fun. Maybe I have talked to too many people who were hallucinating (as an EMT)

Anyhow I thought his whole talk was fun.
posted by poe at 6:23 PM on August 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh my, this was hilarious.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:24 PM on August 12, 2010

You can't just make this stuff up!
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 8:11 PM on August 12, 2010

Really funny guy!
I remember not being too crazy about the moleeds guy as a young man.
posted by PHINC at 8:21 PM on August 12, 2010

a Kaufmannesque prank

A description sure to send me screaming for the exits.
posted by josher71 at 5:06 AM on August 13, 2010 [3 favorites]

I loved how he built up to that totally crazy crescendo at the end! Comedy gold...
posted by rigby99 at 5:44 AM on August 13, 2010

I have no idea how much of this stuff he actually believes, but this is my all-time favourite mefi post.
posted by sneebler at 2:23 PM on August 13, 2010

a Kaufmannesque prank

A description sure to send me screaming for the exits.

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter -- tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. ... And one fine morning ---- So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
posted by ovvl at 6:41 PM on August 13, 2010

The Books section of his Myspace page:

100 Years Of Solitude,-- Gravitys Rainbow,-- Perfume,-- The Master And Margarita,-- The Wind Up Bird Chronicle,-- Jitterbug Perfume,-- Hard Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World,-- Dance Dance Dance,-- Wild Sheep Chase,-- Lolita,-- Snow Crash,-- Hyperion,-- Ring World,-- The Mote In Gods Eye,-- Holographic Universe,-- The Dancing Wu Li Masters,-- The Tao Of Physics,-- Tales Of The Black Clock,-- Rubicon Beach,-- Arc D’x,-- Amnesiascope,-- The Sea Came In At Midnight,-- The Count Of Mont Cristo,-- Days Between Stations,-- London Fields,-- Times Arrow

I must know more about this strange man.
posted by Splunge at 10:58 AM on August 14, 2010