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Why Conway Twitty sucks.
Jun. 30th, 2015 02:23 amI've been thinking about this, and I kind of realize why Family Guy's worst joke bothers me so much. Seth MacFarlane thinks he's being Andy Kaufman and pranking the audience. But the way he's doing it is completely unlike the way Kaufman did.
Kaufman was literally smarter than the audiences he'd prank, and the performance art would only be funny to an outside observer. The people he'd prank weren't the intended audience for his humor.
But see, I AM Seth MacFarlane's intended audience. And I'm not stupid. I know exactly that the joke only exists to annoy me, and see if I'll switch the channel. I'm actually aware of what is going on, which makes the prank not only annoying, but pointless too. Those kinds of things only work if the person on the receiving end isn't in on the joke.
Andy Kaufman was smarter than his audience. There is no part of Seth MacFarlane that is smarter than me. And if there was, Conway Twitty is a VERY poor way to show it.
For the record, Conway Twitty would have worked like gangbusters on The Cleveland Show. Because the joke would be used to it's intended effect, and actually BE like a Kaufman prank. Because The Cleveland Show was so terrible, that if they interrupted it with several minutes of old Hee Haw clips, you'd be unsure on whether you'd want to get back to it or not. Conway Twitty might actually have been an improvement and that would have seriously messed up the audience's expectations.
If they had saved Conway for Cleveland's last season, right when the cancelation was imminent, it would be the only good thing it would be remembered for. But because they used the joke on Family Guy instead, not only is it stupid and unfunny, it's pointless too. Cleveland could DEFINITELY have used some Kaufman near the end as a mea culpa as to how out of control the terrible quality had gotten. I might have even been able to forgive them for it then. But Family Guy ruined it. Just like it ruins everything.
Kaufman was literally smarter than the audiences he'd prank, and the performance art would only be funny to an outside observer. The people he'd prank weren't the intended audience for his humor.
But see, I AM Seth MacFarlane's intended audience. And I'm not stupid. I know exactly that the joke only exists to annoy me, and see if I'll switch the channel. I'm actually aware of what is going on, which makes the prank not only annoying, but pointless too. Those kinds of things only work if the person on the receiving end isn't in on the joke.
Andy Kaufman was smarter than his audience. There is no part of Seth MacFarlane that is smarter than me. And if there was, Conway Twitty is a VERY poor way to show it.
For the record, Conway Twitty would have worked like gangbusters on The Cleveland Show. Because the joke would be used to it's intended effect, and actually BE like a Kaufman prank. Because The Cleveland Show was so terrible, that if they interrupted it with several minutes of old Hee Haw clips, you'd be unsure on whether you'd want to get back to it or not. Conway Twitty might actually have been an improvement and that would have seriously messed up the audience's expectations.
If they had saved Conway for Cleveland's last season, right when the cancelation was imminent, it would be the only good thing it would be remembered for. But because they used the joke on Family Guy instead, not only is it stupid and unfunny, it's pointless too. Cleveland could DEFINITELY have used some Kaufman near the end as a mea culpa as to how out of control the terrible quality had gotten. I might have even been able to forgive them for it then. But Family Guy ruined it. Just like it ruins everything.
