Recently I was chastised on Facebook by a friend of mine. She posted the famous “Sorry” sketch from The Carol Burnett Show, and I piped in with the thought that Eunice (of Eunice, Ed & Mama) was a tragic character, and the underlying sadness of those sketches is part of what made them so compelling. She told me I was taking away the funny.
I’ve been mulling this exchange ever since. As a comedian and writer, I find nothing more annoying than intellectual posers taking the fun out of a pie in the face by insisting that it is an attempt to make violence palatable. A pie in the face is funny. We all know that. Eunice ringing that little bell and yelling in that marvelous cracker screech, “Sorrrryyyy!” is hilarious. Her delivery, that dress, those shoes, Harvey Korman and Vicki Lawrence (that wig! that ass!) determined to get each other to bust up laughing is pure joy. It’s the comedy that has informed an entire generation of comedians, improvisers and sketch writers.
But to deny Eunice’s personal hell is to do a disservice to a monumental piece of writing and acting. Eunice was dealt a lousy hand. She spends every moment of those sketches trying to win a game she is destined to lose – her mother’s approval, a supportive husband.
Perhaps I have over personalized it because I had a mother who was undercut by her own mother her entire life. I have seen first hand the reality of a woman who felt trapped between her husband, in laws, mother and children. My mother and I watched The Carol Burnett Show together every Saturday night. She laughed out loud at those sketches too. She laughed not only at the way Ed said, “slide,” but at the larger truth behind Mama re-cleaning the kitchen table. Eunice suffered all the indignities her husband and mother (and in other episodes, her "better" sister Ellen, played by Betty White) threw at her. When she would lash out and express her rage, nobody would listen. Her feelings never validated, her only recourse was to sit down, shut up, and play another hand, hoping maybe that this time, she’ll win.
Don't know the sketch (or your mom) but loved the show. And not only is a pie in the face funny to watch, but after taking one in the kisser for my Bubble video, I found out it's kind of exhilarating to be the recipient...
ReplyDeleteThank you for speaking the truth about Eunice's plot and endless struggle - in watching the clip, I felt the undercurrent of desperation in her that was so pervasive for women back then. You are dead-on and I find this refreshing. Bring it on!
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