There’s nothing quite like a group text with funny people, a digital haven where you can lose yourself in roundabout conversations, running bits, and typos that then become running bits. One can rarely share the subsequent laughs with the uninitiated, due either to a lack of context or an abundance of bad taste, but every now and then a thread can spawn something that resonates for those outside the circle.
Take Marion’s Wish, a new text shared by Tim Heidecker, Gregg Turkington, and Mark Proksch, the trio at the core of Adult Swim’s On Cinema At The Cinema. “For the past 7 years or so, Gregg, Mark and I have had a text thread going that has brought me more laughter and joy than most anything other form of media I can recall,” Heidecker writes in the piece’s forward. “For years we talked about doing something with these ‘wastes of time’ and this little snippet; a peek into the thread for 24 hours, felt like it could be a way to test the waters. So here’s a taste.”
Heidecker, Turkington, and Proksch all play grotesque versions of themselves in the On Cinema universe, and Heidecker is quick to point out that Marion’s Wish exists outside of that particular realm. While that might be hard for fans of the show to process, it’s likely they’ll quickly be swept up into this twisted, fictional tale that weaves the Three Stooges into a tapestry of nude photos, funerals, and “Moe Memorabilia.”
Read the foreword below, download Marion’s Wish as either an e-book or a PDF here, and send us any videos of you performing it. This demands a stage adaptation.
For the past 7 years or so, Gregg, Mark and I have had a text thread going that has brought me more laughter and joy than most anything other form of media I can recall. This thread has gone dormant for days, but never weeks. It’s always simmering, and it’s always the same joke: a sick, stupid or lecherous scheme or proposition is sent to Mark by Gregg or myself, Mark stupidly takes the bait and things devolve into confusion, anger, accusations and general chaos. So many nights my wife would find me lying in bed, laughing with tears in my eyes. “You’re texting with Gregg and Mark?” Many of the threads are simply too mean, gross and “inside” for them to work for public consumption, but this past week, we hit on a vein that felt a touch “accessible?”
For years we talked about doing something with these “wastes of time” and this little snippet; a peek into the thread for 24 hours, felt like it could be a way to test the waters. So here’s a taste.
We’re all kind of going through hell right now and we hope this short piece (short story? play? What is it?) can give you a few moments of respite.
Please note: This is not “On Cinema Gregg, Tim or Mark.”
I don’t know who these assholes are! All The Best!
Tim Heidecker
April 8th, 2020
Send Great Job, Internet tips to gji@theonion.com
