9. Alright Reba, we're back. I haven't watched this in several days, and yet most of the comedy beats are familiar. Great to see Judge ST again. The show has become like a song of the summer—forever if I catch a sniff or glimpse, my mind will be transported back to the time when it was playing, with the emotions and setting that accompany. A kinda sorta time traveling in a PKD world sense. But the uniquely goofy part is that this isn't a three-minute pop shlock song, it's a 21-minute sitcom, a bizarre one at that, and so for it to imprint really speaks to the general absurdity of the entire universe. Much as JMK harkened to with his terrifying tooth-falling-out story, it's inescapable at this point. I imagine in 20 years I will have acid style flashbacks if and when I see the phrase "workin' it" printed on jeans.
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10. If I had one general piece of advice for anyone who struggles with an anxious mind, it's to try "morning pages"—three pages of stream-of-consciousness writing, for your eyes only, done as quickly upon waking as possible. This is apropos of nothing else. Reba today is living in interstitial space. I am watching at an airport. I am tired. A certain jamais vu has descended. I understand this is a comedy TV show—it has the various components of comedy TV arranged in the appropriate ways, but no comedy is being created. Comedy, ultimately, lives as much in the mind as on the screen. The real comedy occurs at some midpoint in the empty space between my eyes and Van's stupid face. Today, the space is too clouded.
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11. I wish to quickly catalog all the jokes in this episode, as described by the live studio audience. They were there, you know? My ranking of their reaction is subjective, and any still living audience members should feel free to write in:
Every joke of Reba GGW as understood by the live studio audience:
i. Van sneezes into Reba's breakfast; rich laugh
ii. Reba’s reaction to 120 temp; mild laugh
iii. Van telling Jake to bend over; rich laugh
iv. Circus recapturing BJ; moderate laugh
v. Van's shocked face segment 1; multiple mild laughs
vi. Character reactions to Cheyenne's disexcitement, incl. Van shocked face 2; multiple mild laughs
vii. Brock's assertion that his internship is also volunteer work; moderate laugh
viii. Van shocked face 3; moderate laugh
ix. Brock's assertion that dentists help ppl referencing gingivitis video; mild laugh
x. BJ's from car call "justice waits for no one"; mild laugh
xi. Brock's speech that he will fight deadly gum disease and win; moderate laugh, whooping
xii. Cheyenne on Biology class not having anything to do with life, Reba's bogarting; moderate laugh
xiii. Cheyenne saying she hung up the cell phone, character reactions; mild laugh
xiv. Cheyenne "someone has got to do something about these old people"; rich laugh
xv. Van "I think nature takes care of that honey"; moderate laugh, clapping
xvi. Cheyenne "the whole place was crawling with them"; mild laugh
xvii. Ten-year plan to save for our own place, Reba "Ten Year?!"; moderate laugh
xviii. Van coughing "baloney"; mild laugh
xix. Van "not storming off"; mild laugh
xx. Van "You storm off like a girl"; moderate laugh
xxi. Van shocked face 4; moderate laugh
xxii. Brock "want the guys here to know you're taken"; mild laugh
xxiii. BJ "what if some guy looked at me and you beat him with a chair and then I was on your jury"; moderate laugh
xxiv. BJ “ah ah ah, call me by my number…”; mild laugh
xxv. BJ "wore my lucky bra"; mild laugh
xxvi. BJ "did you say 1536" Judge "no"; mild laugh
xxvii. BJ "1536" Judge "Let me say it"; moderate laugh
xxviii. BJ "No this loser is 1536"; rich laugh
xxix. (aside, folks, that's how you build a scene)
xxx. Van "we're signing you up for a ceramics class Grandma"; multiple moderate laughs
xxxi. Wheelchair trips Brock; mild laugh
xxxii. Brock "Can't wait to see what would make someone give up the dental dream"; mild laugh
xxxiii. Reba "You're just a glorified toothbrush"; moderate laugh, groan
xxxiv. Van "One day?"; moderate laugh, whooping
xxxv. Van "Won't be you cause you'll be dead"; rich laugh, whooping
xxxvi. Patrice "Errol Flynn!"; moderate laugh
xxxvii. Nursing home employee "Oh great you're here to take [Cheyenne] home" / "And then you'll take her home?"; moderate laugh
xxxviii. Van "we're here not to push you in any one direction"; mild laugh
xxxix. GGW reveal; mass whooping, hollering, groaning, clapping
xl. Nursing home employee "Ok, now will you take her home?"; rich laugh
xli. Cheyenne "See Florence? Slimming."; mild laugh
xlii. Cheyenne "That lipstick is really going to show off your teeth when you put them in"; rich laugh
xliii. Brock & Van re: workin’ it and thongs; rich laugh
xliv. Nursing home employee "Top to... saggy bottom"; moderate laugh
xlv. Nursing home employee "And it's like Grannies Gone Wild around here"; moderate laugh
xlvi. Nursing home employee and Dickie altercation; rich laugh
xlvii. Van "it's stupid"; nervous laugh into gasp/groan
xlviii. Van disgust face; mild laugh
xlix. Cheyenne tearfully giving waterproof mascara seminar; moderate laugh
l. BJ's white thunder and school play stories; rich laugh
li. BJ "my favorite part, is the order"; moderate laugh
lii. Judge regretting his career; moderate laugh
liii. Judge and BJ sidebar; multiple moderate laughs
liv. Judge "unfortunately it's not deaf"; mild laugh
lv. Judge "baaaaalif Ron"; mild laugh
lvi. BJ "I declare a mistrial!"; moderate laugh
lvii. BJ "My boob just popped out of my lucky bra"; moderate laugh
lviii. Van "she's probably setting up a wet shawl contest by now"; mild laugh
lix. Mother Teresa lip gloss exchange between Van and Cheyenne; multiple mild and moderate laughs
lx. Van "inspirational butt sayings"; moderate laugh
lxi. Van "… insane!"; mild laugh
lxii. Van bashing school counselors; rich laugh, clapping
lxiii. Van "I liked her hot and ditzy"; mild laugh
lxiv. Cheyenne "What does ditzy even mean?"; moderate laugh
lxv. Van “...You? Well forgive me Mrs. H but I find that ironic"; rich laugh
lxvi. Reba "That's when you sprout at BJ"; rich laugh
lxvii. Cheyenne "It is so cool the tragedy that is your life can help others"; moderate laugh
lxviii. Visual opening to stinger of old Van; moderate laugh
lxix. Van "I think I soiled myself"; moderate laugh
lxx. Van smacking his lips for sex; moderate laugh
lxxi. Cheyenne wearing workin' it pants and Van's reaction; rich laugh
lxxii. Brock stumbling in; mild laugh
lxxiii. Brock adjusting wig; moderate laugh
lxxiv. Brock dies; rich laugh, clapping
lxxv. Van dies; rich laugh, clapping
lxxvi. Cheyenne calls for Jake; mild laugh
lxxvii. Jake intimates thermometer sodomy; rich laugh, standing ovation
At approximately 80 jokes in 21 minutes, Reba GGW hits an audience funny on average every 16 seconds. It is stochastic, of course, there are several minutes of quiet drama in between the funny. It is interesting to see what the audience really loves: old person sex, ragging on friends and relatives, death. Especially death.
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12. JMK has expertly deconstructed the Mother Teresa joke in GGW #32. I believe this sets a good precedent to dive into some other bigger jokes of the episode. One I want to quickly touch on is joke 65—Van's reaction to Reba's marriage advice being a highly sarcastic "You?", followed by a "Well forgive me Mrs. H, but I find that slightly ironic." Reba acutely responds "I thought you might say that, but I am the person to learn this from." She goes on to explain that people are always growing (growing is the only sign of life), whether they are in a relationship or not, and missing this fact may cause one to grow away from a spouse in a way that's undetectable until it's too late. From the jokes that follow, we can extrapolate this may have happened to Reba and Brock, though the specifics of how they grew into who they are today remains unclear.
But the joke itself does have an immediate funny ring to someone who has only seen one episode of Reba (however many times that one episode may be watched). In context we've seen Reba rag on her ex-husband's new wife, and the title song describes her being so strong despite the incredible struggles her life presents her. So Van's reaction "You?" is pretty funny. The real shame, to me, is that he steps on that with the whole slightly ironic bit. Do the writers think the audience won't get it? The audience, to their credit, laughs at both bits. A deeper listening to the laughter reveals a richer and more complex laugh for the "You," with a slightly less full laugh following. The second laugh does include a few deeper voices which were not in the former, but generally the first has a wider range and duration. We may note one or two key m-soprano/alto members are leading both laughs. I believe the audience would have been improved by the lone "You?" and either given more space to react, or allow a tightening of the scene otherwise. Van says too much as it is.
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