In the sitcom Barbara, a horse's pantomime head ends up in the bed of one of Barbara's friends. (It's a very British joke...of an American phenomenon.)
Just looking at the picture makes me laugh.
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I'm not a fan of mafia-focused entertainment. I've never seen The Godfather movies and my desire to see the series lies somewhere between Go Bungee Jumping and Eat Snakes.
I suppose if I was trapped on an island . . .
What's amazing, however, is my utter familiarity with Godfather jokes from Zootopia's Mr. Big to Robin Hood: Men in Tights' Dom Deluise to Ballykissangel's horse saddle in the bed (rather than the head).
What's even more amazing is how hard I laugh at these jokes. Often, satire depends on a thorough appreciation and knowledge of the thing being satirized--like the "countdown" in Galaxy Quest or, also in Galaxy Quest, Sam Rockwell's marvelous riff about being the disposable guy (not to mention his fantastic reality check: "HEY! Don't open that! It's an alien planet! Is there air? You don't know!")
But I have no interest in mafia stories. I have less interest in The Godfather. And I only know about Al Capone from reading Bill Bryson's 1927.
And yet, I fall out of my chair laughing at Dom Deluise.
Is Marlon Brando truly that pervasive? Is our culture that inculculated with Godfather imagery?
Possibly.
Or is it that watching a man pull cotton balls out his mouth would be funny no matter what?
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