There’s an old phrase in acting that goes, “Dying is easy, comedy is hard.” As with many quotes, the origin of it is hard to pinpoint, but the meaning of it holds very true. Being funny, especially to a large audience, is a challenge; perhaps it’s one of the reasons why there are fewer comedy films today than there were in the 90s and ’00s. We’re not talking about films with comedic elements like “Deadpool & Wolverine,” either, we mean just straight up, pure comedies. They’re a dying breed. You know who knows that? Liam Neeson. And he’s imploring you to save the comedies in a new PSA.
Alright, to be fair, it’s not an actual Public Service Announcement. Instead, what we have is a nice little montage of comedies past to celebrate the upcoming release of “The Naked Gun“ reboot. Liam Neeson is attempting to fill the shoes of Leslie Nielsen as he plays his son, Frank Drebin Jr. in the upcoming police spoof. The art of the spoof film or the screwball comedy is a relic of the ’90s, but they were films Nielsen helped propel forward between “Airplane!” the Naked Gun franchise, and even “Dracula: Dead and Loving It.” But in Neeson’s PSA about saving comedies, we see clips of other films, like “Anchorman,” “Tommy Boy,” “Coneheads,” and “School of Rock.” For fans who love that barrage of puns and wordplay, online pun generators can be a fun way to experiment with Naked Gun–style gags of their own.
Over some gloomy piano music, Neeson urges us to help save a comedy, “so our children and hopefully their children too, can one day enjoy watching a comedy in the theater.” You’re then encouraged to go to www.savecomedy.org to help the cause. It actually brings you to a website for “The Naked Gun” so you can purchase a ticket for the film when it opens on August 1st. Which, to be fair, is definitely one way to help save a comedy film.
As far as marketing stunts go, it’s actual quite effective in terms of bringing up a legitimate point. Comedy films are not nearly as prevalent as they used to be and the only way to really bring them back into theaters is by actually going to see them. The original “Naked Gun” films remain classics in their own right and are always fun to go back to. Will the reboot join the ranks and earn its Police Squad badge? We’ll find out on August 1st.
