The Seattle Times: The Beastie Boys song “Sabotage” doesn’t often get followed up by pop-jazz instrumental “Yakety Sax,” but during a recent rehearsal for “Jurassic Parking Lot,” the combo really worked. As did the velociraptor in full glam makeup executing a quick hit of “West Side Story” choreography.
4 comments:
An interesting read and a very interesting concept! I've always seen Jurassic Park as a very dystopian cautionary tale (as I'm a huge fan of the book). It's cool to see someone else take a comedy route even if I don't necessarily like the idea of it, because I think it's antithetical to the point of the book. I feel like instead of being stock character-based comedy it would be funnier and more in line with the original authorial intent as a situational comedy, or it could really lend itself to irony. I also WISH I could see the costumes; I bet they're hilarious. Seeing a bunch of humans running around chased by people in blow-up dinosaur costumes is kind of reminiscent of some of the themes that the dinosaurs aren't even real, just man-made amalgamations. (But again, this is a comedy, so I got ahead of myself there.) And also, why Jurassic Parking Lot? A spoof? A play on the scenery? Hilarious name. I'm also admittedly not the biggest 90s music fan, but the selected songs (Sabatoge for the velociraptors is GREAT) seem awesome.
I think the most interesting idea this article touches on is the lack of universal cultural touchstones in the modern era. I don’t think this is a good take at all. The article focuses on how there’s no media that we all experience in the modern day but this could not be farther from the truth, it’s just that these cultural touchstones have changed form. While we don’t have Jurassic Parks or good Star Wars movies that we can quote ad nauseum we still have movies that everyone sees. We had barbenheimer, the Minecraft movie, and Avengers Endgame. Outside of that we have prestige TV like Game of Thrones or The Bear and even if you think it's as dumb as I do, hegemonic internet culture has given us dozens of instantly recognizable quotes that especially Gen-Z people can use as cultural touchstones. I think it’s interesting how the members of The Habit “don’t want to be the old people who are trying to speak young” and are trying to present 20th century media through a modern comedic lens, but I don’t think that their efforts need to be framed as the reemergence of some extinct dinosaur-like hegemonic culture.
Typically, comedians are some of the wittiest and most media literate people I know. I love to watch parody shows because everyone involved not only understands the plot of the production but also the Jurassic park stories their show is a parody of, and all of the media they reference throughout the show. As someone who doesn’t perform at all, I’ve always perceived comedy as the most difficult kind of performance. Just as a human being I’ve found comedy difficult. A huge part of comedy is having so much knowledge of the world right on the top of your head, and knowing how to relate that knowledge to other people. This kind of production also brings some appreciation back to smaller theater companies, which I love to see. So much “research” or just an involvement in modern media is required to perform good comedy and based on Mark’s remark about making sure he reaches his target audience in terms of age range I hope he’s doing exactly that. Successful comedy is both relevant and relatable and it sounds like Jurassic Parking Lot is finding much success.
Personally I really enjoy a well done comedy. With something like Jurassic Park, that has such well known imagery and culturally relevant references, I think there's great set up for well done jokes. However I also think that the best kind of comedy is the kind that also has some greater and more meaningful messaging. With a story like jurassic park that has the potential for a much darker more dystopian spin (messing with the dna of extinct creatures who then turn on humans is such a clear path to dystopia) a parody could easily bring some of those elements in. Well written comedy can be one of the most effective ways to push a message about the state of the world. Completely unrelated but I'm also so intrigued by the idea of people in dinosaur costumes doing the cell block tango. this show is definitely something I would be intrigued to go see should I ever get the opportunity.
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