Dovi’s Digest Volume 99
A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Hello all!! Welcome to Volume 99 of Dovi’s Digest.
There are numerous tropes that crop up in sitcoms. There’s the comical misunderstanding, the will-they-won’t-they, the middle-aged paunchy man with the inexplicably good-looking wife (Jerry from Parks and Rec springs to mind, but he honestly deserves it), and the flashback if the show runs long enough. Most of these are pretty tired. Yet there is something that crops up often in the biggest sitcoms, something that fans can titter over and exchange knowing looks because they alone are in on it. I refer to the recurring joke. The few examples I can think of offhand are Sheldon’s “that’s my spot” in The Big Bang Theory, Winston being terrible at pranks in New Girl, the banner gag on Bojack Horseman (well worth looking up), and basically the whole of Arrested Development from season two onwards (Bland/egg, illusion, no touching!, chickens).
Recurring jokes can go one of two ways. They either get funnier every time, or your desire to kill becomes stronger and stronger. And although each person has their own feeling about them, and can vacillate between the two, I’m fairly sure I know which way Conan O’Brien leans. Most late-night hosts have certain guests that keep coming on, year after year. One of Conan’s is Paul Rudd. Now, Paul has a running gag since his first appearance in which he promises to show an exclusive clip from whichever show/movie he’s working on, and then shows a ten second clip from the E.T. knock off Mac and Me. He does this every single time. When Conan retired last year, we assumed we’d seen the last of this particular joke. How wrong we were. Conan now focusses on his podcast Conan Needs a Friend, where recently Paul Rudd was the guest. He did the same thing he always does; except this time, he showed a video on a PURELY AURAL medium. You can hear Conan bemoaning the fact in the background, and there actually is a video of it too (the look on Conan’s face is priceless).
Paul Rudd is perpetually pulling moves like this and has been since his early days. He’s a classically trained actor who has made a name for himself in teenage boy classics like Anchorman. He also looks exactly the same as he did when he was in Clueless nearly thirty years ago, leading some to wonder if he’s Dorian Gray, or some other immortal (or he could have that Benjamin Button disease).
He’s known as one of the most likeable stars in Hollywood, but underneath it all, who is Paul Rudd really? What makes him tick? A lot has changed since this week’s headline article was written: in the world, in his career, in his personal life. In fact, the only things that haven’t changed at all are his babyish face and his hairline.
For those who care, here is a list with accompanying videos of all the times Rudd got Conan with Mac and Me (aside from the Podcast one, which is on Conan’s channel here).
Do you enjoy the Digest? Would you like it to get better? Then please consider sharing it, as the more articles I’m sent, the better it is. It only takes a few seconds, and all you need to do is click here 👇. Thank you!
There were FOUR correct answers to last week’s brainteaser. Well done to Ariel Subotzky. There were also SIX correct answers to last week’s brainteaser. Well done toAriel Subotzky, Chaim Ehrlich, Hazel Levine, and Cheryl Geliebter. In addition, last week I inexplicably left out Josh Hazan. I’m sorry! The answer and this week’s riddle are below.
I get it if a god of scatological humour is boring to you. So instead, you can read about a power washing grave cleaner, super tomatoes, a mostly female cookie revolution, the oddest depths of Wikipedia, and the divergent stories of the first three women to climb Everest. Also, seeing as the new Sonic movie is out today, I thought I’d add an article ranking all the blue characters in movies ever. Enjoy!
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming,
Have a great week,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
You Know You're Paul Rudd When...
…you're an Oord-trained actor who tells boner jokes for a living, the secret of your success is your everlasting obsession with Steve Martin, and you raised a son who thinks he's Elvis Costello.
Basically, Every Blue Movie Character, Ranked
No, not sad ones.
How a Grave Cleaner Uncovers the Past
Alicia Williams’s popular headstone-cleaning videos are also history lessons.
The Tomatoes at The Forefront of a Food Revolution
As global temperatures increase and extreme weather events become more common, can gene editing help to tweak our food plants so they can cope with the changes?
Revolución on the Cookie Factory Floor
The new owner of Argentina’s de facto national treat stopped paying his majority-female workforce — so they seized control of the entire operation.
Want to See the Weirdest of Wikipedia? Look No Further.
On @depthsofwikipedia, Annie Rauwerda is compiling some of the crowdsourced site’s most bizarre pages.
Remembering the First Three Women to Climb Mount Everest
One inspired the world, one is in danger of being forgotten, and one disappeared.
Quote of the Week:
“The mirror we hold up to the person next to us is one of the most important pictures she will ever see.” - Seth Godin
Facts of the Week:
Speeding offences increase significantly the weekend after the release of a Fast and the Furious film.
Video game Grand Theft Auto V has made more money than any film in history.
Psycho was the first major American film to feature a flushing toilet.
The boy, who played Piggy in Lord of the Flies was bullied by the other boys.
The first eight popes were all murdered.
There's a secret passageway at the back of the Vatican in case the Pope needs to escape.
Pope Urban VIII issued a decree that all pasta shops must be at least 25 yards apart.
Italian pasta makers used to knead dough with their bare feet.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
(Courtesy of Yisroel Greenberg)
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
Use the letters given to complete the grid so that four other words can be read downwards and across. Your bank of letters: A A A D D D E L L R R S S T Y Y
Last Week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
Each of the following words appears either in the middle of or at the end of the name of a country. For example, ACED is in Macedonia. What are the countries?
1. DIVE,
2. DONE,
3. GLAD,
4. HAIL,
5.HELL,
6. LAYS,
7. NAME,
8. OVEN,
9. RUNE,
10. SCAR,
11. SWAN,
12. TENS,
13. WAND.
Answer:
1. Maldives, 2. Indonesia, 3. Bangladesh, 4. Thailand, 5. Seychelles, 6. Malaysia, 7. Suriname, 8. Slovenia, 9. Brunei, 10. Madagascar, 11. Botswana, 12. Lichtenstein, 13. Rwanda