I wrote a song a few years ago in which I name-checked one of my favourite comedic actors – Dom DeLuise. I can remember several movies in which he made a mere cameo, but stole the scene – and he often did with little effort – much like Bill Murray seems to do these days. This was originally going to be a post about Dom Deluise's gut-breaking cameo in Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
But along the way to writing it, I was reminded of another classic comedy scene starring DeLuise and a an ensemble i like to think of as "the Crazy gang" of comedy: Dom, Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn...
I guess what made them funny was that they were so firmly rooted in old-school theatrical technique, so really the director had to point the camera and let them 'chew scenery'. Result? Comedy gold.
Case in point: The opera scene from The Adventure (singular) of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother is an outstanding bit of slapstick married with the absurd... translating 'Gambetti' into a sex farce in the middle of a murder plot is insane... insanely funny.
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