Chris Farley was Not Subtle, Neither is Drawn Together

So I watched The Saturday Night Live Tribute to Chris Farley tonight, as I have many times in the past (my dad has it on VHS and he used to watch it at least once whenever we would visit), and I have often thought about Tim Meadows' introduction and how completely full of shit it is, but I never commented on it before now.

In it, Meadows says that Farley once told him his (Farley's) characters were all the same character, just performed at different volumes. Meadows then goes into some melancholy dripfest about what a great and talented actor Farley was and how all of his characters were so completely different, each with subtle variations and nuances. And while you know he's completely full of shit and totally out of his mind if he truly believes that to be anywhere near the truth, you could almost let it go... if it were said at the end of the program.

Because, right after he says this, the tribute starts... And you see 90 minutes of sketches featuring Chris Farley doing the same character doing exactly the same things as all the other character (no, that's not a typo). Like Farley said, the only difference is the volume at which he does them, and (sometimes) their clothes.

Now I'm not saying he wasn't funny - he was - but come on, Tim Meadows! The word "talent" is thrown around so much these days, especially in America. Chris Farley was a moderately talented actor/comedian, at best, and if he hadn't died at the height of his short career, he would have been yet another SNL alum has-been. And don't even get all melodramatic on me; it only sounds harsh because he's dead.

And all of the same goes for Kurt Cobain, while I'm at it.

After that, I flipped over to Comedy Central to give Drawn Together another chance. This is either the third or fourth time I've given it a shot because it sucks out loud, and it hasn't changed one bit. Drawn Together is probably the unfunniest cartoon I have ever seen, excepting several Japanese cartoons that are supposed to be funny and are not just completely and totally not. They've shown at least one or two of them on [adult swim] over the years - usually only an episode or two.

I was in such a good mood before I watched these shows. I hate that I am living in a culture and society where outright mediocrity passes for quality. Nowadays, the benchmark for excellence is basically, "Well it didn't suck..."

Drawn Together falls short of even that.