At the recent Wits show, somebody tweeted a photo of Kevin and Bill in prominent box seats with caption “Minnesota royalty.” That about says it.
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Kevin Interview…and by the awesome James Lileks, no less!
46 Replies to “Kevin Interview”Commenting at Satellite News
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“We asked him the usual questions….” :-((
Anyone know what this is?
James Lileks writes of: Kevin Murphy, who played Tom Servo for 188 episodes.
Is it just me or is the correct number 163?
Does anyone else remember reading Mike Nelson’s letter to the editor opposing metered ramps years ago?
Chris Vosburg– you are correct.
If the Lord had worked on the seventh day,he’d have created Lileks. :laugh:
Metered ramps are those “Stop Light” type-meters that appear on Freeway entrances. On paper they help smooth out traffic on major highways, yet whether or not they help seems to be a point of contention. The Minnesota Department of Transportation swears by them, the rest of us just swear at them. I remember them being a notable target in the Sci-Fi years, around the time they debuted in Minneapolis/St. Paul.
(Then again, teaching Minnesotans to merge and Wisconsinites personal space would probably be much more beneficial in the long run.)
What’s a metered ramp? Seriously.
(…and somehow I answered fathermushroom’s question before he asked. I need these powers at work…)
“…They want to live in a place where they can thrive, not just as showbiz entities, but as people. Just plain folk, you know. Believe me, you can’t do that out in Holly-ville…”
Yes, it’s really awful how me and all my writer, comedian, actor, animator, musician and artist friends who live out here in Los Angeles and who spend every day creating theater, making films, taping podcasts, writing scripts, composing songs, designing characters and developing our crafts are just “showbiz entities.” And unfortunately, our geographic location prevents us from being just plain folks who value family and friendship. We’d love to live creative, productive, worthwhile lives, but believe me, you just can’t do that out here in Holly-ville.
Frank makes a valid point, but I imagine it must be at least a little easier for someone from New York to acclimate to LA than the other Brains who were wholly bred in the Midwest. Then again, I’m from NY and I couldn’t stand Hollywood after only a five-day stay, and Bill’s from NY and didn’t stay in LA, so, um, clearly I was never on a deabate team. :-?
Bottom line, Kevin has always struck me as someone with very little tolerance for dumbasses, bless him, and say what you will about Los Angeles, it is the Dumbass Capital of the World.
Franks a sensitive guy,funny and very gifted,but LA sucks on toast,and if people think they’re just regular folks in that cess pit…well,they are nuts too.
I don’t care where they live, as long as the end result is funny. I love them all!
I think the point about L.A. was not that people there don’t *value* such things, just that there’s so many layers of other stuff going on there that it’s more difficult to actually enjoy it for oneself. As in, you want to live and thrive as a person, but it’s harder to do that because of all the other pressures involved in thriving as a “showbiz entity.” It’s a different balance of expectations, and Kevin clearly knows which ratio he prefers.
When I read the comment, I didn’t see it as an attack on people living out there in general, just a commentary on the additional complexity and, yes, the subset of people who really *are* phonies or high-powered schmucks who make life unpleasant for the remaining writers, performers, etc. It was an expression of his personal experience with the culture out there, and his distaste for how it affected his lifestyle, not an insult to anyone and everyone who lives there.
And I’m such experiences vary by profession and by studio/agency/etc, so it’s not like there aren’t exceptions . . . plus that particular comment doesn’t say anything about creativity or productivity, just about the quality of one’s personal as opposed to public life.
I can’t believe Frank actually checks this site. It’s probably not a good idea. We’re a little obsessive.
Ever see Misery?
Wait…was that actually Frank? Is there a moderation feature that prevents people from impersonations?
If that WAS Frank…was that sarcasm? It was so dry it really could’ve been either completely serious or completely acerbic and biting.
I mean, I KNOW it was sarcasm, but it was put down so well as to confuse someone not paying close enough attention.
@#2 Kevin and Trace worked together at Wootstock and they voiced robots for Hamlett ADD which a clip appears on the Vol. 15 DVD as a special feature.
I’m just glad I didn’t follow Frank’s comment by calling him and all his friends dumbasses.
Patrick (#13) hit it right on the head. As long as someone finds the right environment to be creative in, it’s always a good thing. Kevin gets energized in Minnesota, Frank finds inspiration in LA. It’s all good. And that’s coming from someone who happens to live in Minnesota.
I hope Kevin’s comments won’t discourage anyone from following their dreams. I know many people who are thriving out in L.A., both in the industry and out. Based on what I know about them (and others), I believe it is possible to thrive anywhere as long as you are motivated and maintain a positive outlook. Does anyone know the background behind Kevin’s statement, or do we assume by his ‘Believe me’ that he has lived in L.A. and couldn’t thrive?
I’m more curious about what he said at the beginning of that paragraph – “There’s always a crucible of creativity here that occasionally fires up white-hot, and it’s ALWAYS from people who want to stay here, not make a name and move to WHEREVER they think things are better.”
What does this mean with regards to how he feels about Mike, Joel, J Elvis, Frank, and Mary Jo? Kinda seems to imply he is unable to retain respect for creative colleagues who have moved away. I would particularly like to know what Mike thinks about Kevin’s comment.
Perhaps Kevin would be willing to post here to clarify what he meant.
If Frank isn’t aware of the fact that most of America doesn’t really like LA, then he’s gone nutty. It’s not like casting a wary eye at LA is a new thing; Zappa was doing all the way back in 1966. Of course, Kevin’s feelings are a bit of an overgeneralization (there is ALWAYS an exception to the rule) but they do hold some truth. Conversely, most people think that only rednecks and hillbillies live in South Carolina, which isn’t fully true but…it’s pretty darn close. :X-P:
@ Weasel Snitch: Hey, whoa now. You didn’t really interpret my comment that way, did you? Because in no way did I mean to imply that everyone in LA is a dumbass. There’s just a unusually high dumbass to non-dumbass ratio there, something I’m sure most Angelinos would freely admit.
By the way, I believe that really was Frank. Why? Two reasons: 1. It sounds like him. A whole like him. Both in terms of what he said and how he said it.
And 2: Would anyone here really impersonate one of the Brains? Aren’t MSTies above that kind of nonsense?
PS: I did not call Frank a dumbass. (Just a majority of the other 18 million people who live in the LA-area.)
Could someone link to the Bill/Kevin theater picture?
“who spend every day creating theater, making films, taping podcasts, writing scripts, composing songs, designing characters and developing our crafts are just “showbiz entities.” “
Don’t forget all those hilarious “Bush is teh stupid!” jokes you wrote for Air America. I mean, “A politician I don’t like is teh stupid!” I’ve never heard such japes before! I tell you, that station would still be around if the people you left behind had your gift for “Bush is teh stupid” gags.
Hey, Tork_110 – I wrote those “Bush is teh stupid” jokes for Air America in New York City, so you’re missing my point about creativity in Los Angeles and therefore I’m afraid your post is kind of teh stupid. Also, I might add that all of my beloved “Bush is teh stupid” jokes are posted under my own name; I don’t anonymously flame people hiding behind a screen name the way you do, a practice I find teh cowardly in addition to teh stupid.
Frank for teh win!
Frank’s smackdown on Tork_110 has been one of the greatest things I’ve ever read on this site in the ten or so years I’ve been coming here. I hope he posts more. He seems like a funny guy.
Frank,I can’t wait for the Obama is stupid jokes!
Lileks is actually a rightwing twerp, but I’m always happy to read about Kevin.
Yay for Frank!!! :-D
Frank just wants Tork’s real name so he can beat him up behind the bleachers after school.
People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?
Can we get along? Can we stop making it….making it horrible for the older people and the kids? It’s just not right. It’s not right…… ;-)
TheProfessor said: “Frank seems like a funny guy.”
Didn’t we know that already?
Anyhoo… I smell a locked thread coming. Politics – Ruining the Internet for Over Two Decades. (C’mon people, the web is for LOLcats and porn. Save the politics for Thanksgiving dinner.)
@35
Are you aware that the official LOLcats site also officially endorses LOLpolitics ( at pundtkitchen) as part of their family of websites?
;b
Just being contrarian.
I think we can all agree that each work environment will have its own culture and pressures, that there are exceptions to every trend, and that not everyone is going to have the same reaction to any one such environment.
And in fact it’s not necessarily an either-or proposition: I have little problem believing that Frank is working on creative, successful, personally satisfying stuff *and* that LA in general tends to stifle and/or devour many or most of the people who go there, simply in the course of major corporate interests pursuing large-scale profit motives. Nothing inherently contradictory crops up between those two concepts.
In fact, I would argue, simple observation of reality suggests that both are plainly true – in at least some meaningful sense.
How’s that for getting along?
Simple observation of reality? Weirdo. I’ll stick to uninformed namecalling and baseless accusations, thankyouverymuch. :silly:
A slithy tove like you *would* say that . . .
WELL…..I’ll just throw out a theory that population density makes a difference. L.A. could have the exact same percentage of dumbasses as an entire separate state, but where there are far more people per square mile, there’ll be more dumbasses. In fact, I bet all 50 states have dumbasses.
I don’t know. I think Frank’s jokes would be funnier if he wrote them in MN.
Is it me or is Kevin beginning to look like his hero Kurt Vonnegut?
I want to know where Bill C. wrote Meet Dave so we can bomb it. Because one good bomb deserves another.
@39 Having lived in eight different cities (including L.A.) in four different states, I feel qualified to agree that L.A.’s ratio of dumbasses isn’t higher than anyplace else. They just have better publicity.
Warren and oddstocks make valid observations, but Talon wins any debate for me by citing Lewis Carroll, that mome rath. :-))
It was the *best* butter…
Hey, I don’t outgrabe any more than the next guy.
I stand in uffish thought as we derail the thread. Or defuse, perhaps?
To be fair, the thread kinda got derailed well before we started chortling about it. Still, I’m glad that it didn’t flare up into anything more manxome than it did.