#3 Outstanding Misunderstanding: WKRP in Cincinnati
Sunday, 3 April 2016 11:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
carose59This is part of a 100 Things series I started elsewhere, where I write about particular outstanding features of various TV shows
I was once told that two people having a conversation about two different things without realizing they aren't talking about the same thing is called farce. (Think Abbott & Costello's famous Who's on First? routine [There is actually a WKRP episode called Who's On First?, which I haven't seen in years.]) Then I looked up the word farce and found that it's a style of humor based on the situation rather than the personality of the characters, so I don't think it really fits WKRP.
This has always been my favorite kind of humor, and WKRP did it better than anyone else I've ever seen. My favorite examples are where one person (usually Andy Travis) walks in at the end of a conversation, has no idea what's been discussed, and is confronted with some declaration that has no context. I'll tell you about a couple of my favorites.
The first happens when they all find out Mr. Carlson's wife is pregnant. There's a discussion of this in the bullpen with Johnny, Bailey, Les, Jennifer, and Herb talking (variously) about how nice or how unbelievable it is that the Carlsons are still having sex after so many years of marriage. As the conversation progresses, Herb—the only other married guy there—gets more and more agitated. Bailey tosses out a statistic that says married people have sex quite frequently, Herb contradicts her, and when Les says that Herb's not average, Herb snaps.
"You bet I'm average!" he shouts just as Andy walks in. "I'm about as average as it gets!"
And Andy says, "I think that's right."
My second favorite is after Les and Herb have a meeting with Mr. Carlson about doing more provocative stories to get more listeners. One of the topics Herb has suggested is prostitution.
Andy is coming into Mr. Carlson's office as Herb and Les are leaving, and Les says, "Andy, tell Herb I don't want to do the prostitution thing." There's a moment when Andy's going to say something, then, nope, not getting involved.
As I say, I can't call this farce because it's so based on their characters. So I just call it misunderstanding humor. WKRP did a lot of things great, but this they did it better than anyone.
I was once told that two people having a conversation about two different things without realizing they aren't talking about the same thing is called farce. (Think Abbott & Costello's famous Who's on First? routine [There is actually a WKRP episode called Who's On First?, which I haven't seen in years.]) Then I looked up the word farce and found that it's a style of humor based on the situation rather than the personality of the characters, so I don't think it really fits WKRP.
This has always been my favorite kind of humor, and WKRP did it better than anyone else I've ever seen. My favorite examples are where one person (usually Andy Travis) walks in at the end of a conversation, has no idea what's been discussed, and is confronted with some declaration that has no context. I'll tell you about a couple of my favorites.
The first happens when they all find out Mr. Carlson's wife is pregnant. There's a discussion of this in the bullpen with Johnny, Bailey, Les, Jennifer, and Herb talking (variously) about how nice or how unbelievable it is that the Carlsons are still having sex after so many years of marriage. As the conversation progresses, Herb—the only other married guy there—gets more and more agitated. Bailey tosses out a statistic that says married people have sex quite frequently, Herb contradicts her, and when Les says that Herb's not average, Herb snaps.
"You bet I'm average!" he shouts just as Andy walks in. "I'm about as average as it gets!"
And Andy says, "I think that's right."
My second favorite is after Les and Herb have a meeting with Mr. Carlson about doing more provocative stories to get more listeners. One of the topics Herb has suggested is prostitution.
Andy is coming into Mr. Carlson's office as Herb and Les are leaving, and Les says, "Andy, tell Herb I don't want to do the prostitution thing." There's a moment when Andy's going to say something, then, nope, not getting involved.
As I say, I can't call this farce because it's so based on their characters. So I just call it misunderstanding humor. WKRP did a lot of things great, but this they did it better than anyone.