--------------------------------------------------------------
CHARACTERS
MADAME LEMOND
(Exaggerated French accent, mid 50s, strict but funny.)
MR.RICARDO
(Well known rich business man.)
STUDENTS
LUCY (The Zany)
AUDIENCE
1. Background laughers
2. You
--------------------------------------------------------------
“I love Lucy” - Episode: “LUCY MEETS MADAME LEMOND”
EXT. BALLET SCHOOL
CLASSROOM - DAY:
Three students are warming up in the classroom before their instructor comes.
MADAME LEMOND comes into the room very excited…
MADAME LEMOND
“ I have had a most exciting visit with the wife of Mr. Ricardo. She is very experienced donna and she EVEN will be your partner!” “She is here, nooww”
MADAME LEMOND opens the door.
LUCY comes in. Shy but excited walking in. Her hair, make up. Check!
(AUDIENCE and STUDENTS laugh)
As soon as LUCY notices the people inside she gets scared but is smiling.
A MALE STUDENT, welcomes her with a kiss on the hand.
MADAME LEMOND
“I think first, we are gonna start with some limbering up exercises, I assume you know basic positions!”
LUCY
“Ye, yeah.” (with a hesitation)
MADAME LEMOND
“ Now, first position.”
Lucy cannot do it and almost fell.
(AUDIENCE laughs)
MADAME LEMOND
“Madame, no second, first position.. one forward, no.. bend...”
(MADAME LEMON is getting a bit mad.)
MADAME LEMOND
“ 1 ,2 ,3 4.... 1,2 ,3 ,4 ...”
Lucy misses the rhythm as well as she starts doing Flapper dance.
(Madame Lemond gets really annoyed.)
After this there is a funny dialogue between Madame Lemond and Lucy. Madame Lemond tries to fix it and Lucy messes up every time...
...Wait, what?
Is she doing a Flapper dance? The wife of MR. RICARDO!!
The students in the scene do not take her seriously, despite having welcomed her warmly at the beginning. They were turned off. Surprising or shocking effects are in the DNA of The Zany. This feature is mostly achieved with dumb looking “costumes” that the zany has to wear, but the zany character always tries to give a deeper message within the ease of her look. This simple, dumb look makes people approach her more easily. So the audience will listen, laugh and make fun of her but then she tells a teasing joke, or says a very subtle sentence at the end that reveals the true character beneath the zany.
“Lucy” was the most popular show in the USA. It won five Emmy Awards, in 2012 it was voted ‘Best TV Show of All Time’ . People loved her, listened to her and admired her. However listening to her ,Lucille Ball, in real life is shocking. Her personality and discipline has a huge impact on the success of the show. But she is not “Lucy” the wife of Mr. Ricardo at all in real life. She talks very seriously and is cynical. The interviewer asks Lucy: People think you are funny but you also say you are not funny!
Lucille Ball: “I am not funny! I can do funny things that other people write down in detail and tell me how to do them but I DON’T THINK FUNNY.”
What happens in most of the skits is that Lucy does something that doesn’t fit with the environment or rules or people and she doesn’t really realize. (Like an innocent child, but an adult). And once the figure of authority gets more and more angry, the scene becomes funnier and funnier. She shifts King to Pawn, Pawn to Knight. One “dumb” person re-ruling the game in a strange way. You no longer take the authority seriously but laugh instead.
The character of the zany is aggressive, is an activist and political inside but possesses an exterior that is the complete opposite.
Because there is a huge amount of work behind that playful, hyper charismatic aesthetic, this is what makes the zany very important. Peter Cook’s Friendly Alien (Art Museum - Austria) has a similar quality and struggle. It looks odd, goofy but it is trying to achieve something larger than its look. Trying to fit that huge body of Architecture in its surrounding brick-pitched-roofed environment. Using its name, color, and seriousness to help this odd piece of Architecture make its neighbours accept it. Using environmental qualities and less artificial energy choices, it is literally a friendly alien. Choosing the road of the zany requires harder work to be appreciated.
In time we see the character of the zany in movies, art pieces, in food, in fashion. The zany creates pre-judgement in the receiver. The receiver, after first being shocked then feels comfortable enough to approach the zany, and maybe even feels superior. But after the joke, comes the truth. The zany says his/her sentence and once again shakes the receiver. But this time, not because its funny, but because its not.
So either choose to be a good student in Ballet school or work harder to be the “dumb” one: The Zany.
CHARACTERS
MADAME LEMOND
(Exaggerated French accent, mid 50s, strict but funny.)
MR.RICARDO
(Well known rich business man.)
STUDENTS
LUCY (The Zany)
AUDIENCE
1. Background laughers
2. You
--------------------------------------------------------------
“I love Lucy” - Episode: “LUCY MEETS MADAME LEMOND”
EXT. BALLET SCHOOL
CLASSROOM - DAY:
Three students are warming up in the classroom before their instructor comes.
MADAME LEMOND comes into the room very excited…
MADAME LEMOND
“ I have had a most exciting visit with the wife of Mr. Ricardo. She is very experienced donna and she EVEN will be your partner!” “She is here, nooww”
MADAME LEMOND opens the door.
LUCY comes in. Shy but excited walking in. Her hair, make up. Check!
(AUDIENCE and STUDENTS laugh)
As soon as LUCY notices the people inside she gets scared but is smiling.
A MALE STUDENT, welcomes her with a kiss on the hand.
MADAME LEMOND
“I think first, we are gonna start with some limbering up exercises, I assume you know basic positions!”
LUCY
“Ye, yeah.” (with a hesitation)
MADAME LEMOND
“ Now, first position.”
Lucy cannot do it and almost fell.
(AUDIENCE laughs)
MADAME LEMOND
“Madame, no second, first position.. one forward, no.. bend...”
(MADAME LEMON is getting a bit mad.)
MADAME LEMOND
“ 1 ,2 ,3 4.... 1,2 ,3 ,4 ...”
Lucy misses the rhythm as well as she starts doing Flapper dance.
(Madame Lemond gets really annoyed.)
After this there is a funny dialogue between Madame Lemond and Lucy. Madame Lemond tries to fix it and Lucy messes up every time...
...Wait, what?
Is she doing a Flapper dance? The wife of MR. RICARDO!!
The students in the scene do not take her seriously, despite having welcomed her warmly at the beginning. They were turned off. Surprising or shocking effects are in the DNA of The Zany. This feature is mostly achieved with dumb looking “costumes” that the zany has to wear, but the zany character always tries to give a deeper message within the ease of her look. This simple, dumb look makes people approach her more easily. So the audience will listen, laugh and make fun of her but then she tells a teasing joke, or says a very subtle sentence at the end that reveals the true character beneath the zany.
“Lucy” was the most popular show in the USA. It won five Emmy Awards, in 2012 it was voted ‘Best TV Show of All Time’ . People loved her, listened to her and admired her. However listening to her ,Lucille Ball, in real life is shocking. Her personality and discipline has a huge impact on the success of the show. But she is not “Lucy” the wife of Mr. Ricardo at all in real life. She talks very seriously and is cynical. The interviewer asks Lucy: People think you are funny but you also say you are not funny!
Lucille Ball: “I am not funny! I can do funny things that other people write down in detail and tell me how to do them but I DON’T THINK FUNNY.”
What happens in most of the skits is that Lucy does something that doesn’t fit with the environment or rules or people and she doesn’t really realize. (Like an innocent child, but an adult). And once the figure of authority gets more and more angry, the scene becomes funnier and funnier. She shifts King to Pawn, Pawn to Knight. One “dumb” person re-ruling the game in a strange way. You no longer take the authority seriously but laugh instead.
The character of the zany is aggressive, is an activist and political inside but possesses an exterior that is the complete opposite.
Because there is a huge amount of work behind that playful, hyper charismatic aesthetic, this is what makes the zany very important. Peter Cook’s Friendly Alien (Art Museum - Austria) has a similar quality and struggle. It looks odd, goofy but it is trying to achieve something larger than its look. Trying to fit that huge body of Architecture in its surrounding brick-pitched-roofed environment. Using its name, color, and seriousness to help this odd piece of Architecture make its neighbours accept it. Using environmental qualities and less artificial energy choices, it is literally a friendly alien. Choosing the road of the zany requires harder work to be appreciated.
In time we see the character of the zany in movies, art pieces, in food, in fashion. The zany creates pre-judgement in the receiver. The receiver, after first being shocked then feels comfortable enough to approach the zany, and maybe even feels superior. But after the joke, comes the truth. The zany says his/her sentence and once again shakes the receiver. But this time, not because its funny, but because its not.
So either choose to be a good student in Ballet school or work harder to be the “dumb” one: The Zany.
I Love Zany
Esra Durukan
April 2015
Esra Durukan
April 2015