I went to Friday night's IMAF 2012 "Funny Ha Ha" screening at The Guild, in Charlottetown. Actually, just didn't "go", but co-hosted with Graham Putnam.
I thought my hosting got off to a rough start when I said something about how the shorts we'll be seeing aren't necessarily funny... my goal was to point out how "funny" is such a personal thing, and what's funny to one isn't necessarily funny to others. But I think it may have come out as me declaring that none of the videos were funny. At least that's how my brain has since remembered the moment. Probably wasn't quite like that. My hosting for the start of Act Two seemed to be more smooth, I thought.
So, were the shorts funny? Well, here's a 7 word review of each of them.
Uptown Charlottetown by Lennie MacPherson and Fraser MacAllum (PEI) - Too long. Edited like a rough draft.
Superscience by Joel MacKenzie (NS) - Sophomoric presentation, amateurish performances. Didn't even smile.
Home Sweet Hell, ep.1 (and ep.2 later on in the evening) by Fox Henderson (PEI): Dated spoof misses the mark. Terrible sound.
The Fourth Minute by Ross Vincent Moore (NFLD): Uninteresting script, uninspired. Two minutes too long.
Buzz Off by Renee Laprise (PEI): Tries way too hard to be funny.
Afghan by Pardis Parker (NS): Smart, interesting, sharp. A bit too long.
PEI Encyclopedia: Intelligence (and later : Fighting) by Dominique Girouard (PEI): Lowest comedic denominator; like cumming into Kleenex.
Goodbye Robot Army by Greg Jackson (NS): Looked good, but that's all. Predictable & long.
Dead Guy Sleeping (or The Quiet Guy) by Nils LIng (PEI): Pointless, predictable, perplexing. Unintersting script, unmotivated delivery.
The Wake by Andrew Winter (NFLD): Hated it. Unlikeable characters. Obvious, unfunny punchline.
Hurricane Harry by Neil Wiley and Richard DesRoches (PEI): A mess. And here's five more words.
Ken Fucks Up by Ruby Boutilier and Sarah Byrne (NS): Interesting idea, funny moments, a bit repetitive.
Bunkerdown: A Friend For Dinner by Jason Rogerson (PEI): (disclosure: this is a Sketch22 video, and I was involved in the creation of it) Cartoonish "Jerry" performance distracts from tone. Ambitious.
Was I in a bad mood that night? Not very many positive reviews. I only smiled a handful of times and laughed only a couple of times.
I guess it's true: comedy is hard.