Gerbils: The Lamest Pet in Creation
I have a cat (there’s something inherently creepy about a heterosexual male saying that, but bear with me). It craps in a box, lives on a pillow under the heater, […]
The Sopranos really was one of the most spectacular shows ever created. Nuanced, expertly acted, rife with dramatic tension, not to mention a surprising number of tremendous laughs.
The scene above works because it fires on all these cylinders. Within five seconds, it’s already introduced you to tizzone, a slur I learned through the show and thus am infinitely grateful to it for. We’re then made aware of Tony’s apparent calmness when laying into his daughter’s new boyfriend being an utter farce because they mix in audio of Tony practically gasping through his nose. Again, genius. And what does Tony do to cope with his stress? Reach for a drink or some cocaine? Of course not! He shovels in Italian deli meat, his nose growing that much louder with his mouth stuffed.
All this pales compared to the scene’s coup de grâce, however: The visage of Uncle Ben triggering a panic attack in Tony. I still remember that my first viewing of this episode predated the DVR and I was laughing so hard that I couldn’t watch the remainder of it properly. Who could even come up with something so brilliant? 99 out of 100 times as I watch tv I think things along the lines of “what hacks – I could write this crap,” “where is my life going” and “I’d still like to have sex with Marge Simpson over Lois Griffin.” Only the first of those thoughts is relevant here, I suppose. But I’m acutely aware that, even on my best day, I will never come up with anything approaching that Uncle Ben gag. Figlio di puttana.
Tapperass on January 14, 2011
This was HBO’s pinnacle. They had OZ, and the Wire. I recently canceled my HBO service. I was no longer impressed with their current line of programming.. This clip brings back some great memories of huge laughs. I always tell my friends who never watched the shows that Tony S. was not a typical Italian mobster. He was not portrayed like Vito C. or Paulie from Goodfellas. Tony always made great pop cultural references when dealing with the frustrations of his family (the Woody Guthrie line he used on Janice after her Soccer Mom melee was classic). Add to that his panic attacks and emotional outbursts (the crying), and he became super cool because he was portrayed like one of us, with the same weaknesses.
Just one of the many reason the Sopranos were so good.
Reallyprofound on January 14, 2011
Great scene, no doubt about it, but my all-time favourite is Paulie with Tony explaining how “snakes were fuckin’ themselves long before Adam and Eve came along”. Colour me insensitive.
drmiranda on January 19, 2011
agree with reallyprofound here