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National
Lampoon proves reality television can
be fun
By
Gerry Wachovsky
Daily Forty-Niner
Diversions Editor
Reality
television seems to be the "in" thing
right now, and whenever we turn on the
boob tube we are inundated with these
shows that claim to be "real" and "unscripted." Luckily
for you, what you're reading isn't about
a reality show, but rather, a DVD poking
fun at reality shows. That's right, National
Lampoon has done it again, and with "Lost
Reality 2" we see just how funny
reality television could be if the censors
weren't so busy, well, censoring.
The
premise of "Lost Reality 2" is
simple: it is a collection of short "pilots" of
reality shows that didn't make it onto
network television, and much like its
predecessor, "Lost Reality 2" provides
laugh after laugh. The pilots are clearly
jokes and were never actually intended
to be on television, but that doesn't
matter. What matters is that if reality
television was like this, the Nielsen
ratings would go through the roof.
One
winning segment in the first edition
of "Lost Reality" that still
remains a knee-slapper now is "The
Amazing Racist," where comedian
Ari Shaffir goes around offending people
of various religions and nationalities.
In the first episode, we find him dressed
as a character from the stylized Japanese
Kabuki theatre, and we follow him on
his travels to various Asian restaurants
and nail salons. At one restaurant, when
asked if he wants chopsticks, Shaffir
removes two from his hair and says, "No
thanks, I've got my own. I don't want
to get SARS." Not missing a beat,
when trying to decide what to eat, he
innocently asks, "I see fish and
chicken, where's the dog section?" After
a while he is kicked out of the restaurant,
but the fun has only just begun, and
Shaffir makes several other stops on
his insensitive voyage in two segments
on the DVD.
Next
we have the brilliantly conceived "Project
Redlight," a spoof of the budding-film
writer/producer/director series, "Project
Greenlight." To quote from the introduction
to the clip,""It's all about
these guys who think they're going to
be doing a Fellini-style film but end
up doing porn instead." Another
comedy gem,""Project Redlight" is
what makes National Lampoon one of the
top producers of the spoof/parody/satire
genre of film.
In "Scare
Me," a spoof of "Jackass," a
group of guys travel to various places
scaring people. Take the bowling alley,
for instance, where we find a few bowling
studs getting ready to play one of America's
favorite pastimes. Right as one of these
fine athletes is about to let the ball
glide down the lane, one of the pranksters
yells, "Oh s***!" and fakes
a spill, causing the bowler to fall and
subsequently screw up his shot. By the
way, did I mention the scene where they
attempt to scare people at everyone's
favorite fun-zone, a graveyard? "Scare
Me" is pure comedy gold and would
have "Jackass" running for
its money.
Another
funny bit was "Dumpster Dinners," which
is described by the introducer as being "just
low, I mean it's low, then there's really
low, then there's like really low, then
there's the ‘Joe Schmo Show,' and
then there's ‘Dumpster Dinners'." Also,
lest we forget, there is "Foreign
Family Affair," a show that places
a Pakistani foreign exchange student
in a sexually liberated household where
he is forced to do a number of titillating
acts. In one scene, while giving the
attractive and topless daughter a back
massage, the student says, "I don't
know if this is such a good idea," to
which she responds, "No, it's fine,
it's America!"
For
more information on "National Lampoon's
Lost Reality 2" go to www.nationallampoon.com or www.venturadistribution.com.
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