Nichols and May: Take Two

The whole time I watched this, I thought they were a married couple!

Somehow or another, it sort of takes away from their appeal to find out that they were just friends who worked together, because all the best relationships should have the kind of camaraderie that these two had, to understand each other's minds so well, which is what it takes to be able to do this kind of comedy.

Comedy is a mental exercise. So these two really had a meeting of the minds. In the meeting of the minds is a great basis for a romantic relationship. But alas!

They were good. I just wish they would have been a married couple, that's all. I just somehow find that more appealing and genuine.

Oh, well! There's always Burns and Allen, thank God!

Good documentary of the greatest standup team of all time with, thankfully, ample footage of the two of them taking precedence over the talking heads. And speaking of talking heads, what, in the name of all that is funny, is TOM BROKAW doing within a thousand feet of comedy?

I am just a bit too young to recall Nichols & May in their performing days, but I have heard about them for decades, and seen their later works: Mike Nichols as a director, and Elaine May as writer-director-performer. Here, looking at this TV documentary which relies on copies of their routines as seen on television, I can see their brilliance Yet I wonder how meaningful it will be to younger people.

Understanding the era in which they arose, the 1950s, it's easy to understand the repression, but not the reasons why. The truth is that America had risen from isolation to one of the world's two great superpowers in ten short years, and as a nation we were freaking out, uncertain of what to do, and wishing for a return to what we viewed as normality. And so we pretended.... and Nichols and May told us it was pretense. They did not do it with the extravagant anger of comics like Lenny Bruce or mort Sahl, who went to jail. Instead they did it with surgical precision, showing us precisely how all the nice people actually behaved, from funeral directors gouging the bereaved, to horny teenagers trying to have sex.

And so they gave no purchase to those who fought back. They may not have seemed as revolutionary as Bruce, but he went to jail, and they won. Isn't that the purpose of revolution?

I wasn't familiar with the brilliant comedy duo of Mike Nichols and Elaine May, until I saw this program (originally broadcast in 1996 on PBS). Their combination of great comic timing and natural improvisational ability is showcased, here, in rare clips of their comedy sketchs. Whether they take on contemporary political issues, teenage dating rituals or the divisions of social class, this couple was simply amazing! They came up with funnier material on their feet, than some of the so-called "comedy" developed for the sit-coms of today, written weeks in advance! Check it out, if you can find this video. You will love it.

Nichols and may take II, an episode of the american masters series, shown on may 22 1996. Nichols and may highlights, from their radio, television, and film bits. They really were genius! Starting with an outline, they added improv; sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Nichols directed some HUGE films... the graduate, virginia woolf, birdcage, silkwood. I personally LOVE elaine may as actress and director. "A new leaf" (elaine may, walter matthau) is incredible. Although ishtar clearly had issues... but I blame those on warren beatty, who owned the rights. And cast himself. But he should have cast someone else in his role. Jack parr, steve allen, steve martin, and even robin williams talk about the ups and downs of their type of comedy. One problem was that the sponsors didn't always get it. Or the explicit talk of sex. Or cheating on a spouse sometimes caused problems. But when they worked together, it was magic; they really had a great sense of timing and comedy.