“We don’t have a lot of money for bleeps,” Scott scolds a foul-mouthed guest in tonight’s episode. But in these last few episodes of the series, it feels like Comedy Bang! Bang! is going all out on small production and design elements. Mimicry of talk shows and infotainment has always been CB!B!’s signature, but “Ben Folds Wears A Black Button Down And Jeans” demonstrates the show’s longstanding knack for capturing the mood of any genre in a few notes of music, an overblown Foley sound, or a quick visual effect.
Excess in silliness is CB!B!’s style, but lately there’s a feeling that Aukerman and company are making sure to—as the talking heads on Sporty 4:40 might phrase it—leave it all on the field. It feels like they’re spending their last bits of budget and jamming in their favorite leftover concepts and one-liners. If that sometimes leads to a disjointed episode, it also means these last installments are packed full of the peculiar tonal shifts and anti-comedy bits fans responded to in the first place. Maybe the writers, cast, and crew subscribe to Scott’s heretofore unseen brother Sammy’s (Ryan Gaul) strategy for winning the lottery: “Basically, if you buy one ticket, the odds are stacked against you, but if you buy $10,000 worth, you’re bound to win.” If you toss out every joke and effect, you’re bound to land some of them, even if the jackpot is a little scattered.
(“Jackpot!”)
Scott’s brother and his mother (Lynne Marie Stewart returning as Barbara Aukerman) don’t need to win the lottery. They’ve already hit the jackpot with Scott. And that jackpot isn’t scattered. Scott hands over money in $10,000 increments for every off-hand request: for Sammy’s lottery tickets, for Mom’s new dress, for shoes to match… and for not turning in Cracker Aukerman (Alison Rich), Scott‘s recently escaped convict sister, to the police. Pretty soon, Mom and Sammy are sitting comfortably in a corner of the studio, showing off their goodies and their pile of Monopoly-style money, but still asking for more.
Alison Rich fits into the go-big aesthetic of “Ben Folds Wears A Black Button Down And Jeans” like a grape fits into a producer’s mouth, like Cracker fits in the arms of PA Mitch (Mike Mitchell), like those gold lamé singing shorts will fit Mike’s—uh, will fit Mike (Mike Hanford). She goes big with everything, starting with her entrance. Aw, heck, starting before her entrance. The costume department puts her in attention-grabbing gold lamé and an orange fur shrug, with long strings of baubles bouncing around her neck. Her wide-eyed, wide-mouthed expression and over-enunciation take some cues from Holly Hunter in Raising Arizona, but Cracker Whitey Aukerman is a unique character, not a derivative one.
Cracker goes big in her demands, too, and she hits the jackpot, wheedling Scott into making her an executive producer. (“But don’t expect any creative input. You’re a Dave Kneebone and nothing more.”) She may not know what a producer does, but she knows how they should be treated. “You! Feed me grapes by hand. And you! Carry me to them damn grapes.” Soon she’s got the crew tending to her every need (and Mitch carrying her to her every need), and Scott feels too guilty to put a stop to it.
But Mom doesn’t. Scott’s mother is named Barbara in previous episodes, but here she’s only identified as “Mom,” which contrasts with her cool, cutthroat approach to her relationship with Scott. Lynne Marie Stewart gets to show range in this episode, from the sickly sweet compliments she deploys to charm Scott into laying out cash and the simpering modeling of her new dress to the tough-as-nails negotiation when she’s got her successful son cornered. As she deliberately lights a cigarette and says coldly, “Sorry, honey. I need that dress,” she evokes a long history of noir femmes fatales and soap-opera villains alike, but she reminds me particularly of Piper Laurie’s Catherine Martell, who gets what she wants with few words.
MUSICAL BREAK:
Who is the coolest guy we know?