This won't make sense if you haven't listened to John K's commentaries
on the Looney Tune boxsets (specifically those on volume 3), but if you
have, Barrier's comments are hilarious...
http://www.michaelbarrier.com/
"August 3, 2006... LT ON DVD: As best I can tell, the contents of the
fourth "Golden Collection" of Looney Tunes on DVD have
not been announced yet, but I don't think I'm breaking any confidences
when I say that I've done commentaries for three Frank Tashlin cartoons
from the thirties. My commentaries on the first three sets have been
attacked frequently as dry and boring, and I've taken those criticisms
to heart. I've listened to a lot of other commentaries, in the hope of
improving mine, and these are the lessons I've applied:
Laugh maniacally throughout the cartoon. Even when nothing funny is
happening on the screen. Or maybe especially when nothing funny is
happening on the screen.
Use expressions like "way cool" and "holy crap" whenever possible.
They're extremely useful filler when you want to keep your mouth moving
but your mind is taking a break.
Share the mike with a veteran of the "Golden Age." I've used clips from
old interviews in earlier commentaries, of course, but there's nothing
like having a real person at your elbow while the cartoon is running.
People who worked on Frank Tashlin's cartoons seventy years ago are in
short supply now, but I was lucky to find Alvin "Stubby"
Karpis, who worked as an ink and paint girl at the Schlesinger studio
for three weeks in 1937, until someone noticed he was a man. Stubby is
97 now and has trouble remembering to take his medicine, but his
memories of his Schlesinger days are razor-sharp, as this exchange
demonstrates:
Barrier: Holy crap, Stubby, that animation is way cool. That's gotta be
Rod Scribner.
Stubby: Yep, that's Rod, for sure.
Barrier: Wait, wait! I was wrong! That looks like Glen Keane's stuff to
me! Holy crap, I never dreamed that Glen was working at Schlesinger's in
1936!
Stubby: Yep, that's Glen, for sure.
God bless Warner Home Video for preserving these precious memories.
Tell outrageously funny stories. I've tried to do a little of that in
past commentaries, but I've realized I never went far enough. In one new
commentary, for example, I tell how Leon Schlesinger found Frank Tashlin
getting it on with an ink and paint girl (not Stubby) on top of Leon's
desk. Leon yells at him, "What the hell do you think you're doing,
dipping your pen in company inker!" Never heard that story before?
That's because I made it up. Cartoons are (1) fictional, and (2) funny,
and (3) entertaining, so commentaries should be the same, right? Right.
I hope the fans who've complained about my commentaries will appreciate
my effort to meet them more than halfway. And I hope all the people
who've accused me of hating cartoons will believe me when I say that I
really do love cartoons. It's cartoon fans I can't stand."
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