Episode 245 — Poehler Ice Caps

[Uterine Helmet 81]

Why can't Amy Poehler be my wife? Outrageously good line-up.

[rachelpi 228]

Heavens to Betsy, I've invented an applause machine!!

[Poika 615]

Seeing as how Paul does Ice T and talks about the Belz, I was hoping there would be a reference to the fact that Belzer was Alan Thicke's sidekick on Thicke of the Night. Great episode!

[Kickpuncher 5012]

My favorite bit of of-mic laughter was at Scott's "It's been" reference because Amy and Neil probably didn't understand why it was so funny to Paul.

 

Didn't Neil deliberately set him up for it?

 

I'd be happy with an episode that was nothing but Amy and Paul laughing the whole time, but this was even better.

 

My only disappointment was that when Alan was talking about working with M. Night Shyamalan, no one made the "Thicke of the Night" connection.

 

I hope Gilly Jacobs isn't mad at Alan for stealing her catchphrase, but if she is, at least we know he'll apologize.

[Syme 548]

 

Didn't Neil deliberately set him up for it?

 

 

Possibly, it seemed like it was just a coincidence that he'd said that though.

[shyguie 12]

The Gemini's are Canada's most prestigious awards for Television.

[sauze 111]

The Gemini's are Canada's most prestigious awards for Television.

 

Now technically the 'Canadian Screen Awards'

[rachelpi 228]

I loved Neil pouncing on the "Faith" reference to get back to George Michael.

[KevinMerryman 58]

They should bring back Paul Rudd for the next GOAT rap battle. His performance was in the running with Amy's before Neil came into the picture.

[GarbageCan 143]

I'm so glad to see that Neil's previous little boys at the pool rap was not just a one-hit wonder. He's got some serious rapping chops. In addition to his many other chops.

[Joe Lerini 7329]

Oh my god, I just got to the part where Amy picks "The Monster Mash" which is literally my favorite song. As if I didn't love Ms. Poehler enough before. If I didn't have a horse dick (I'm not bragging, I lost my human dick in the war), I'd propose to her immediately.

[ChaseRoper 64]

Unrelated to this episode, last night my wife was reading a horoscope out loud and mentioned that one of our kids' sign governs the stomach and thorax. I said that I didn't think people had a thorax to which my 14yo replied, "I've heard of the Lorax, but the thorax!?"

 

I have the best kids.

[KlooKloo 13]

Next time Alan should be the co-host. He's got the chops:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozoTzkCeO-A

[joebronx 16]

OK, so I'll preface this by saying that I'm a genuine fan of all of the people involved here. I'll also say I've been traveling for a few days and I might not be as quick on the uptake as I should be.

 

But what is going on with this PFT impression of Alan Thicke? He doesn't sound anything like Alan Thicke. I mean, he sounds like a white male with a fairly deep voice, so perhaps he sounds SOMETHING like Alan Thicke. But, this is a not a good impression. Now, PFT impressions don't need to be perfect to succeed by any means. While Garry Marshall and Werner Herzog are both close to the originals, Ice-T is a bit off, but nonetheless very funny.

 

Unless I'm missing something and this impression is just supposed to be a bad impression, then I'd have to say this is a pretty epic (and surprising) failure. I've been listening to this part for about five minutes and this voice is so far off that I can't even imagine Alan Thicke saying the things that PFT is saying. I'm also struggling to figure out why a bad impression of Alan Thicke might be funny (if that's what he's going for).

 

Finally, why is Alan Thicke even worth impersonating? It's not 1988. I guess his son is famous now. And maybe as I listen further I'll discover the hook.

 

But dropping this terrible Alan Thicke impression out of nowhere is kind of making me crazy. Maybe if I didn't know who Alan Thicke was and had never seen Growing Pains, this might be funny. But I know what Alan Thicke sounds like, and this is not it.

 

Anyway, no disrespect, but I don't respect this.

 

Word.

[justinmh05 1968]

I don't really think anyone turns to PFT's impressions for vocal accuracy. That's Adomian's bag. Paul takes the shell of the C-list famous person and spins it off into weird, crazy areas.

 

As far as why is it worth doing an Alan Thicke impersonation? You could say the same for Garry Marshall, or Andrew Lloyd Webber. Or Adomian's Paul Giamatti (not, inherently, a funny guy) or Huell Howser.

 

The answer is because the characterizations are funny. The person doing the impression imbues those "celebrities" with a quirk that they don't really have. For Thicke, it was Paul's characterization of a snooty actor.

 

So to me, this Alan Thicke impression was the exact opposite of an "epic fail". Total opposite.

[Shannon 2953]

HEy o this episode got an article on Jezebel http://jezebel.com/amy-poehler-hilariously-raps-about-paula-deen-and-butte-1377201110

 

There's a cranky person in the comments who is very unhappy about white people rapping.

[joebronx 16]

I don't really think anyone turns to PFT's impressions for vocal accuracy. That's Adomian's bag. Paul takes the shell of the C-list famous person and spins it off into weird, crazy areas.

 

As far as why is it worth doing an Alan Thicke impersonation? You could say the same for Garry Marshall, or Andrew Lloyd Webber. Or Adomian's Paul Giamatti (not, inherently, a funny guy) or Huell Howser.

 

The answer is because the characterizations are funny. The person doing the impression imbues those "celebrities" with a quirk that they don't really have. For Thicke, it was Paul's characterization of a snooty actor.

 

So to me, this Alan Thicke impression was the exact opposite of an "epic fail". Total opposite.

 

I agree that PFT doesn't have to nail the voice. But this isn't even close. This just sounds like Paul F. Thompkins with a deep voice. And I think for a "characterization" to be funny, you have to at least get us into a zone of familiarity with the voice. Otherwise, the absurdity doesn't land within any context that would give it humor. He may as well be saying, "Wouldn't it have been funny if Richard Nixon had been on Thicke of the Night?" By the way, that's not particularly funny anyway.

 

Word.

[justinmh05 1968]

I personally think he did capture the essence of Thicke, especially after recently hearing a few of Alan's ridiculous Howard Stern interviews.

 

Funny is subjective. You say the impersonation wasn't funny. Obviously a lot of people here think it was.

[Chimpinalls 53]

Whole Kernsal Corn

[joebronx 16]

I personally think he did capture the essence of Thicke, especially after recently hearing a few of Alan's ridiculous Howard Stern interviews.

 

Funny is subjective. You say the impersonation wasn't funny. Obviously a lot of people here think it was.

 

Here's the problem. If weren't told this was supposed to be Alan Thicke, no one would guess that it was. And as much as PFT doesn't quite get Ice-T's voice, I can tell that he's doing Ice-T. He doesn't clear that minimum bar of recognition here, and he's asking the audience to do a lot of work to follow the premise (that this is Alan Thicke).

 

And yes, funny is subjective. A lot of people think the Larry the Cable Guy is a goddamn riot.

 

But this. This is mostly not funny. His description of Blurred Lines was pretty funny, though.

 

I guess I suffer the hindrance of actually knowing what Alan Thicke sounds and talks like.

 

Word.

[mobo 116]

I'm 38, and I feel like I've kicked around on this ol' ball of dirt we call the Earth long enough to say that I'm PROUD of Amy Poehler.

 

Queen of the Rap Battle.

[Joe Lerini 7329]

Jim Carrey does a really good sounds-like impression of Alan Thicke. There were times here where PFT sounded kinda British. But I still thought what he did with the character was funny, and everyone in the room playing around together was hilarious.

 

*shrug*

[justinmh05 1968]

 

 

Here's the problem. If weren't told this was supposed to be Alan Thicke, no one would guess that it was. And as much as PFT doesn't quite get Ice-T's voice, I can tell that he's doing Ice-T. He doesn't clear that minimum bar of recognition here, and he's asking the audience to do a lot of work to

 

And yes, funny is subjective. A lot of people think the Larry the Cable Guy is a goddamn riot.

 

But this. This is mostly not funny. His description of Blurred Lines was pretty funny, though.

 

I guess I suffer the hindrance of actually knowing what Alan Thicke sounds and talks like.

 

Word.

 

You clearly didn't like it. That's cool. All I can say is that I think PFT's performance was funny and that I absolutely feel that he captured Thicke's personality. It's a successful impersonation in my book.

[HipGuide 196]

tompkins does accents, not impressions. garry marshall is literally just him doing a brooklyn accent. herzog is him doing a german accent.

[HipGuide 196]

HEy o this episode got an article on Jezebel http://jezebel.com/a...utte-1377201110

 

There's a cranky person in the comments who is very unhappy about white people rapping.

 

 

before or after vulture posted about it?