November 3, 2000
SUMMARY: A married couple informs a police officer that their daughter (Judy Winslow from Family Matters) is missing. Comedy sketch.
PERFORMANCE ORDER: 5
RECURRING THEMES: Parasocial relationships with popular culture. Self-deception. Fractured families. Suburban isolation.
REFERENCES AND INFLUENCES:
- Family Matters
- Life Goes On
- Caroline B. Cooney's "The Face on the Milk Carton"
I attended No Shame Theatre as an audience member for three weeks before deciding to throw my own three-cornered hat into the ring. During my second week as an audience member, I saw writer/performer Arlen Lawson perform a monologue entitled "What Became of Tom Thumb?," in which he referenced the Cheech Marin comedy Born in East LA.
It was about that time when my head exploded.
Excuse me?! Someone else knows about Born in East LA?! You mean, it isn't just something that my dad's cousin Al played for our family while we were visiting him in Minnesota?! You're saying, I'm not alone in this world?!
And it was at that moment when I realized the unifying power of pop-culture references. Audiences - with their conflicting races, colors, and creeds - are miraciously united by laughter and esoteric recognition. Performers and audiences exhange "food jokes" through one glowing, referential umblical cord. By God, the entire youth culture takes a seat around the fabled Young-People-Who-Are-With-It campfire.
I was ecstatic... for I had discovered the back-door to people's laugh kitchens.
So...
I write a sketch like "The Other Face on the Milk Carton." Yes, it references Judy Winslow, long-lost daughter on Family Matters. And yes, it parodies the kidnapping melodrama genre. And you betcha, that title is a literary shout-out to Caroline B. Cooney's elementary book-order classic "The Face on the Milk Carton."
But you picked up on all those pop-culture references, right? Because you're cool. You "get it."
Then, as what seems to be the trend in most of these commentaries, I quit believing such nonsense. It occured to me that pop-culture references are indeed a god-send... a god-sent curse, that is! They are double-trouble double-edged swords because:
A) Sure, the audience is laughing, but they're only doing so out of recognition. It's like if you were watching the local news and your grandma came on the screen. Yeah, you'd start clapping and cheering and farting because, "Look-ee! Gramma's on the TV," but soon enough, a boulder falls on her and the newsman has to fake being remorseful. And big deal if the audience is laughing hard at the reference? It's just so that the hottt person behind them knows that they're "cool" and they "get it." References are not jokes. They are pandering attempts for an audience's approval. I should know. That's how I bought my first three BMW's.
And...
B) Anyone in the audience who doesn't get the reference is alienated completely. They think, "Everyone else but me gets this. I'm not part of the club. Screw this Paul guy. And screw everything else he has to say for the rest of his piece." And honestly, how many people are going to get your "clever" nod to Joe Camp's The Double McGuffin? Do you really want to alienate everyone in the audience except that one nerd with a Double McGuffin t-shirt in the third row?
So, yeah... this piece has got its references. Do what you want with them. Nevertheless, I like the concept: the idea of television-as-band-aid healing viewers' wounds. People make dates with their favorite shows. They talk to the people on their screen. They share a few jokes. They forget stuff for 30 minutes. Sitcoms ease the pain. At least, for me they do.
On a sidenote... this was the first-ever comedy sketch (read: not a monologue) I ever wrote! From here on out, I would only write, say, 10 more monologues in my lifetime at No Shame. Why? More often than not, monologues suck. Ass. They are boring. Don't you want to see a bunch of people onstage? Don't you want to see life happening before your eyes instead of having it described to you? Some folks write monologues and they are masterpieces. Most folks write monologues and they are suck-pieces.
And this has nothing to do with my frustration over not understanding something others appreciate. Nope. Not at all.
HOT GOSSIP!: Two years after this sketch, me and a bunch of other amazingly talented No Shame regulars are sitting at Village Inn after the show, talking about how brilliant we are. The subject of pop-culture references comes up and I remark, "I quit doing them because I found out they're easy ways to get the audience to like you. And I didn't want to do that." To which, fellow writer/performer Arlen Lawson scoffs at me. Granted, he could be scoffing at my round-about-way of saying that I don't care what the audience thinks of me (because... yeah, maybe... I clearly do). But maybe he was also scoffing because I do continue to use pop-culture references in my pieces? Automatically, my defensiveness-reflex kicks in and I think, "Well, I learned it from watching you, Arlen. I learned it from watching you."
And what 1980's anti-drug PSA was I referencing there? Exactly.
Christ. This will never end.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID:
"It's good to see rust experimenting with forms other than the monologic. This piece failed for me simply because it was a one-joke idea that went on for too long. If it had been shorter, or had more twists to it (say the appearance of Judy Winslow) I may have, once again, been sold. Good save on the fucked up joke though!" - Mark Hansen
"Frankly I am disgusted that Paul knew that there once was a Judy on Family Matters. Aside from the people who worked on the show how many people can claim that knowledge? Makes me wonder just how many Urkel-Ohs Paul has consumed in his life. I don't know what would have been funnier. Pulling off the Rudy Huxtable joke or fucking it up like he did. I'll toss my vote in the fuck up pile. Paul Rust impresses me. I want to be him." - Dan Fairchild
"Oh, I was a bit dissapointed by this one. Firstly bcause we have seen Rust write some extremely funny material. Secondly, because it was really exclusive. You would have to have watched a lot of television and paid rapt attention to be in on the 'in' joke of the dissapearing daughter. The explaination of this seemed like a pretty feeble attempt to redeem that exclusivity. Rust's performance was good, as was newcomer Michelle Something's (and balls', but you knew that) and the save on the Huxtable joke was definitely funnier than the joke could have been." - Nick Clark
"I heard someone wondering--just a few days before I saw this piece--what happened to that other Winslow daughter. I thought this was neat. I don't think one needed to know that someone disappeared from Family Matters to "get" this piece." - Merideth Nepstad