For this research project, my title is: ‘How does the tongue-in-cheek comedy genre make Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) and Stepbrothers (2008) memorable films to enjoy?’ As said in the title, my focus film will be Anchorman and I will also be gathering information from the two related films Dodgeball and Stepbrothers.
Annotated Catalogue
Films/DVDs
Item 1: Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy (Dreamworks, US 2004, Dir: Adam McKay): This film would be useful as it shows all of the elements of the typical tongue-in-cheek comedy genre; with a huge influence of Monty Python, it contains a range of comic actors like Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Christina Applegate and Vince Vaughn with some memorable, off-the-wall quotes with some very funny moments. It portrays a tongue-in-cheek take on the culture of the 1970s, particularly with the then-fresh TV Actions News format.
Item 2: Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (20th Century Fox, US 2004, Dir: Rawson Marshall Thurber): This film takes on some elements of the tongue-in-cheek comedy genre although while Anchorman is witty, Dodgeball portrays the style of comedy using more slapstick with a more proper storyline. It humorously portrays how an amateur dodgeball team (the Average Joe’s) rose to fame before overcoming the kings of dodgeball (Globo-Gym).
Item 3: Stepbrothers (Columbia, US 2008, Dir: Adam McKay): We see the return of writing duo Will Ferrell and Adam McKay (the writers of Anchorman) joined with colleague John C. Reilly and this film portrays the tongue-in-cheek comedy genre with a combination of wit and slapstick. It tells the story of two 39 & 40-year-old stepbrothers – Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell) and Dale Doback (John C. Reilly) respectively – who, when they first meet, show a dislike of each other; yet in the first third of the film, we see Ferrell & Reilly portray this childish dislike by their trademark silly humour. What else is funny is that these two characters are supposed to be grown-ups when they, themselves are somewhat childish.
Magazines
Item 4: http://www.slantmagazine.com/Film/film_review.asp?ID=3781 This page has proved particularly useful as it contains a full review of Stepbrothers as well as the reviewer commenting on how the film worked in terms of Ferrell and Reilly creating the humour but also criticising where the humour didn’t work. Basically, it is summarising, in terms of Stepbrothers, the pros and cons of the tongue-in-cheek comedy genre.
Box Office
Item 5: http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=anchorman.htm, http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=dodgeball.htm and http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=stepbrothers.htm show the box office statistics of the three chosen films. These helped support the evidence of how popular these films were to certain audiences.
Internet
Item 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-ThOz7G-Ok&feature=PlayList&p=3779FED3F6F04DF0&index=9. This clip contains a wide range of quotes taken from Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy and shows great examples of typical tongue-in-cheek dialogue. For those who haven’t seen the film, once they read these quotes and then seen the film, they would appreciate the enjoyment of seeing Anchorman as a very oddly funny film.
Item 7: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongue_in_cheek This page proved useful as it generally summarises the aspects of tongue-in-cheek genre. This would make one spot the ways and various different scenes in which Anchorman, Dodgeball & Stepbrothers suitably fit within the genre.
Item 8: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_humour This page describes the concept of Jewish humour. Even though the page goes on to too much detail about Jewish jokes around religion and ethnicity, it also briefly explains how it largely refers to self-deprecation, a concept within many Jewish American actors and comedians.
Item 9: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-deprecation As a following link from the Jewish humour Wiki page, this page has been very useful because it fully explains the self-deprecation phrase as well as the style of humour and a list of good examples including perhaps the main backbone: Rodney Dangerfield. Much of this humour is contained in Anchorman, Stepbrothers and partly in Dodgeball.
Item 10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FPv2toi5og This Internet page contains a video clip featuring Jewish American stand-up comedian Rodney Dangerfield. This has proved useful because Dangerfield had become the backbone of self-deprecating humour with his famous catchphrase “I get no respect.”
Item 11: http://www.pemfoo.com/michael/Anchorman-Poster.jpg This is the poster of Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy and this was useful because it shows a typical tagline for a comedy film which, in this case, reads: “They bring you the news; so you don’t have to get it yourself.”
Item 12: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/will-ferrell-hollywoods-highest-paid-star-443160.html This item contains information on how Will Ferrell – the lead actor in Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy and Stepbrothers – rose to fame with his tongue-in-cheek humour which describes his comic role in the film Anchorman. It hardly really talks about the tongue-in-cheek comedy genre itself; although it does discuss how Will Ferrell developed this movement due to his cheesy, yet silly, unattractive, self-deprecating roles, which affectively began his rise to fame.
MATERIAL NOT SELECTED
With this magazine article http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/dodgeball-a-true-underdog-story, this describes briefly the containment of the tongue-in-cheek comedy in Dodgeball; although it only briefly describes the humour in the concluding paragraph and even that doesn’t explain much about the genre of the film. The Philadelphia magazine article http://www.phillymag.com/articles/exit_interview_adam_mckay/page3 contained an interview with Adam McKay but was practically useless as it doesn’t give any relevant references towards McKay’s directing style, let alone any of his influences with Will Ferrell to develop the tongue-in-cheek genre. http://www.shalomdelaware.org/page.aspx?id=206732 gives out general info on the success of Jewish humour but hardly explains how it influenced Jewish American comedians.
Presentation Script
How does the tongue-in-cheek comedy genre make Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) and Stepbrothers (2008) memorable films to enjoy?
RUN AUDIO & VIDEO CLIP: Opening two minutes of Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy; Ron Burgundy is doing his humorous take on his vocal warm-up before reading the news; also includes the introduction of the Channel 4 News team (4 mins approx) (Item 1).
PRESENTER: My presentation focuses on the tongue-in-cheek comedy genre and, in particular, how the genre has been so successful over the world enjoyed by many different audiences. Three films central to this examination that I will make reference to throughout this presentation are Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy (Item 1), Dodgeball: a True Underdog Story (Item 2) & Stepbrothers (Item 3).
VIDEO CLIP: Best of Anchorman, length 7’40”, found on YouTube. This clip contains some of the best bits of Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy. It contains some of the funniest quotes in the film and it gives great examples of allegedly serious, tense scenes which end up being broken by the odd quote, usually spoken by, or revolving around, the mentally-challenged Brick Tamland, played by comedian Steve Carell. It also shows a glimpse of the silly, yet cheesy, fight scene between the Channel 4 and Channel 9 Evening News teams. This clip shows the essential elements of humour in the tongue-in-cheek genre (Item 6)
PRESENTER: In this presentation, I will cover:
- The history of tongue-in-cheek and its development;
- Certain elements that categorised my three chosen films, including the meaning of tongue-in-cheek, how Jewish humour leading to self-deprecation is involved;
- How the tongue-in-cheek genre doesn’t work sometimes in Stepbrothers (as shown in Item 4);
- The success behind Will Ferrell, a key figure in this genre.
PROJECTOR: Several pages via ‘Box Office Mojo’ featuring box office statistics of Anchorman, Dodgeball and Stepbrothers (Item 5)
PRESENTER: So as you could decipher from this extract, average review ratings had suggested that Anchorman, Dodgeball and Stepbrothers had all been generally well received, getting B grades overall. However, Anchorman was the lowest-grossing film, grossing only at over $90million but Dodgeball grossed around $160million. This is mainly due to the fact that the genre had adapted during the four years within the three films.
PROJECTOR: Page on Wikipedia entitled “Tongue-in-cheek” (Item 7)
PRESENTER: Over the years, the tongue-in-cheek comedy genre has developed; it all started in 1828 in The Fair Maid of Perth by Sir Walter Scott, “The fellow who gave this all-hail thrust his tongue in his cheek to some scapegraces like himself.” Tongue-in-cheek is a type of humour in which a statement or a piece of fiction is not meant to be taken seriously; the sarcasm is subtle. The Monty Python group were considered one of the first acts to take on the genre; other groups beforehand were more significantly under the surreal comedy genre.
More tongue-in-cheek comedy films were made more recently, including Shaun of the Dead, Ninotchka, True Lies & Hot Fuzz. Because Monty Python gained so much popularity in America, the genre evolved all over the USA and now, the three films Anchorman, Dodgeball and Stepbrothers are considered some of the finest examples of silly, cheesy, tongue-in-cheek comedy films. As you hear from Item 1, it shows the very serious anchorman Ron Burgundy doing his vocal warm-up; bearing in mind he is supposed to be the top man in the business, Will Ferrell is portraying this role in a silly, surreal sort of way so you can tell straightaway that this film is not meant to be taken seriously by the viewers, nor is Ron. In Item 6, the audience see Steve Carell as the hilarious Brick Tamland providing a majority of the entertainment as he, along with many other of the actors towards the film, used influences of Jewish humour.
PROJECTOR: Page on Wikipedia entitled “Jewish humour” (Item 
PRESENTER: Many American Jewish actors/comedians starred in such tongue-in-cheek comedy films like; amongst the most famous are Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Steve Carell and Ben Stiller. Jewish humour is largely based around self-deprecation…
VIDEO CLIP: Clip from YouTube featuring Jewish American stand-up comedian Rodney Dangerfield (Item 10)
PRESENTER: Now one of the most pinnacle examples of Jewish humour is stand-up comedian Rodney Dangerfield and his catchphrase “I get no respect” made him a household name due to the fact that what he’s saying supposedly means that he is being challenged badly, the audience love him because he wasn’t trying to push himself or sound pompous.
PROJECTOR: Page on Wikipedia entitled “Self-deprecation” (Item 9)
PRESENTER: Self-deprecation, in a nutshell, means someone saying something bad about him/herself without the insult being projected by someone else. It also is another way of saying ‘taking the micky’ out of yourself. It also relies on the observation of something negative about the person delivering it. Many comedians use self-deprecating humour to avoid seeming arrogant or pompous and to help the audience identify with them. In this way, its use could be seen as an application of the rhetorical concept of ethos.
VIDEO CLIPS: Clips from Stepbrothers: the beginning dinner (length 2 mins approx); Dale and Brennan sleeping in their bedrooms, whispering threats to each other (1 min approx); Brennan and Dale premiere Prestige Worldwide’s first music video (“Boats ‘n Hoes”), filmed on Robert’s boat; the video ends when the boat crashes into the rocks and a furious Robert spanks Brennan upon arriving home (4 mins approx). (Item 3)
PRESENTER: These clips highlight exactly the sort of humour prevalent in the tongue-in-cheek genre. I am going to explain to you how these scenes could be taken seriously but end up being portrayed as obvious elements of sarcasm. In the scene within the meal between the Huffs and the Dobacks, we can see the humour within Brennan and Dale acting like little children despite them being close to 40-year-olds; we can see this by the way Dale attempts to squirt ketchup on his food and replying to his dad, “I like it,” portraying particularly childish behaviour. In another sense, he is indeed portraying self-deprecating humour. Likewise, Will Ferrell supports this humour as he starts crying to an insult from his stepbrother Dale about his singing abilities. Likewise, in the scene where they are whispering threats to each other, they’re supposed to be aggressive towards each other; but alas, both Ferrell and Reilly add humour to the scene with their cheesy quotes like, “YOU DON’T SAY THAT!” “Sssssh; you’ll wake my dad! He’ll get me grounded!” and Ferrell offering the most random threat, “I’ll get a pillowcase, fill it with bars of soap and I’ll beat the s*** outta you!” Here, the humour lies in the fact that they’re supposed to be tough towards each other until they give out silly threats and look ridiculous.
The scene where Dale and Brennan premiere Prestige Worldwide’s first music video proves another exemplary example of a tongue-in-cheek statement. This scene is humorous because Brennan and Dale quite clearly perform this song very weirdly but take themselves extremely seriously.
After the rather off-putting video – to the two brothers’ parents to that matter – the four characters arrive home and in what was presumably supposed to be a serious falling out; however, even the dad, Robert Doback (played by Richard Jenkins) provides the comic touch by smacking his son-in-law Brennan Huff in an exaggerated way while Brennan’s pleads are also exaggeratedly funny.
PROJECTOR: A newspaper article from The Independent containing info on Will Ferrell (from Anchorman and Stepbrothers) and his success titled “Will Ferrell: Hollywood’s highest paid star” (Item 12)
PRESENTER: One of the main contributors towards the tongue-in-cheek comedy genre was Will Ferrell. I particularly like the quote at the beginning, in the standfirst, describing Will Ferrell’s roles and his laid-back personality that make him so popular towards audiences. In almost all of the films he has starred in, Will had sustained his self-deprecating style so that he doesn’t try to portray himself as pompous or big-headed, hence leading to him gaining so much success and recognition from audiences.
PROJECTOR: Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy poster with tagline, “They bring you the news…” (Item 11)
PRESENTER: Now, as you can see, this is the poster of Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy along with this tagline “They bring you the news.” This is portraying the tongue-in-cheek statement that for everything anchormen say citizens would believe each single word; in this case, Ron Burgundy is THE man to do it when Will Ferrell is mocking his character’s stupidity.
PROJECTOR: A magazine article from Slant Magazine containing a review of Stepbrothers (Item 4)
PRESENTER: According to this review of Stepbrothers, it was commented that certain scenes of humour didn’t always work. For example, as quoted in the review, “comebacks are delivered too quickly and conversational pauses last a second too long,” and that “some scenes that do [work] would have benefited from a touch more of Anchorman‘s anything-goes fantasyland farce.” This was many due to the fact that Stepbrothers was decided, by Adam McKay, to be directed differently, with more foul-mouthed characters which didn’t happen in Anchorman; for example, in the single bed scene where the two stepbrothers are whispering threats. While they were too many pauses, there were still some hilarious lines.
VIDEO CLIP: Final scene from Dodgeball: a True Underdog Story; the scene featuring the ultimate match between Average Joe’s and Globo Gym (roughly 5-10 minutes long) (Item 2)
PRESENTER: As you could see from that clip, although this big match in Dodgeball between Average Joe’s and Globo Gym would’ve decided the grand champions of Dodgeball, it still followed the tongue-in-cheek conventions closely. For instance, despite a big event showing, the director has decided to keep it sustained as a funny scene from a comedy film; what made this scene funny were the cheesy, lively commentary as well as the exaggerated reaction shots after the players on each team were being hit by the ball. Also, bearing in mind that Ben Stiller’s character is supposed to be tough, he again self-deprecates himself by making his character’s hairstyle look weird as well as the way he dresses. Like Ferrell, Stiller plays a role which does not suit him physically, adding to the humour.
I hope from my presentation you have learnt the conventions of the tongue-in-cheek style, what techniques are used in this genre and why, in particular, this can help to explain the success of the focus films I have discussed.
Evaluation
My small scale research project has focused on Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy as the focus film with the two related films being Dodgeball: a True Underdog Story and Stepbrothers. This would have been a successful project in various ways; however, it would be unsuccessful in other ways, as well. For example, on the positive scale of things, the genre of tongue-in-cheek comedy within the three films would be fun to present; however, there was a difference of style between the three films. For instance, Anchorman & Stepbrothers had followed the majority of conventions of the typical comedy genre with OTT playfighting and its off-the-wall dialogue and quotes; on the other hand, Dodgeball didn’t follow all of the conventions within the genre. Both Adam McKay’s directed films contained a lack of – or an absurdly funny – plot whereas Dodgeball was quite different. Despite the humour in that film being goofy and absurd, it contained a proper plot with more physical comedy involved. All of the films linked in satisfactorily clearly towards Jewish humour as it contains many influences within the humour in actors like Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, John C Reilly, etc.
The material required in aid for the research including the use of books, the Internet, magazines and DVD extras. The book research, in the end, proved to be very useless as there wasn’t any relevant material about any of the comedic actors, directors (particularly Adam McKay) or the tongue-in-cheek comedy genre itself. Magazine articles had proved useful as they handed out reviews of all the films; however, there was the Anchorman review in The Independent’s story ‘Will Ferrell: Hollywood’s highest paid star’ both proving as glitches as it only significantly focused on Will Ferrell and very little about the genre behind the films that he’s starred in. This would prove the same case within DVD extras, too. The Internet has proved the most useful and the easiest way of research as I’d found pages which significantly describes the summary of tongue-in-cheek comedy, which means a fictional work which isn’t meant to be taken seriously although containing subtle sarcasm, coupled with Jewish humour and self-deprecation. After finding a ‘best of’ clip coupled with a Wikiquote page from Anchorman, it has proved to be a backbone to what is required within a tongue-in-cheek comedy; however, like magazine articles, I also found irrelevant pages containing info about either only the film(s) or the star of the film(s).
In duration of this project, I had developed the skills of researching material and analysing how the material is relevant or irrelevant to the question. Also, I had learnt about discovering the history of the tongue-in-cheek genre as well as developing understanding of Jewish humour leading to self-deprecation of the genre. My selection process of the catalogue has revolved around searching for reviews and clips of my chosen films in order to support what makes a funny film.
In conclusion, even though magazine articles were easy to find on the Internet (in addition to Internet articles) – not helped by the lack of info from books – I had learnt that although the pages I found for research may’ve been too predictable, it would’ve been difficult to produce information about the genre from fanpages like Will Ferrell’s fanpage – let alone films’ reviews – apart from Wikipedia; info would also be limited on IMDB so therefore, the presentation script would’ve been a bit shallow. Anchorman and Stepbrothers was quite different to Dodgeball in terms of comedy style, hence leading to a difficulty of spotting similarities the films. However, after researching Jewish humour, I found that there would’ve been more to relate to within my three chosen films.
