Joyful Things: Spring Edition
From 'Friends' and 'Taxi' to the great talents of Pedro Pascal, Robin Williams and Julie Andrews, here are some clips that should brighten your day.
Thanks for all the support with Coffee, TV & Me. If you have yet to take advantage of the Spring Subscription Special, click the red button below. 20% off for monthly and annual subscriptions, existing or new through the end of April. But, of course, free subscriptions are also still available.
______________
It may be summer here in Bangkok but my friends in the U.S. and other parts of the world are enjoying spring so what better time for another editon of my Joyful Things series where I just post some of my favorite TV and movie clips that, yes, bring me joy. Enjoy this edition, which may not be so much about spring but the real goal is to bring a smile to your face. Enjoy!
___________
It seems weird to me at times to call Friends a classic televsion sitcom since it’s been a show I’ve never not been watching since it premiered in 1994. The hugely popular NBC/Warner Brothers sitcom went off the air after ten seasons in 2004, which is over 20 years ago so, yeah, it’s classic TV. But, and I feel I’m not alone in this, I’ve never gotten tired of watching the antics of the six friends and they’re a part of my regular sitcom rotation. In fact, I posted a clip from the show’s fifth season in a previous Joyful Things post but it’s so good I had to include another.
In the event you aren’t familiar with the show (???!!!), all you need to know is that this storyline finds friends Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Monica (Courteney Cox) having started a secret romantic relationship. At this point in the storyline, Joey (Matt LeBlanc) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) know about their dating and have had to keep it a secret but in this episode, Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) has found out and she pairs up with Rachel to have some fun testing Chandler. You can currently watch Friends on MAX but, for now, watch the clip below:
One of my favorite scenes in the iconic sitcom Taxi Christopher Lloyd’s Reverend Jim and Jeff Conaway’s Bobby Wheeler. There’s not much of a set up needed except that Jim is a tad spacy (or stoned…or both). You can watch Taxi on Paramount+.
Pedro Pascal can do no wrong no matter what he does. Currently, he’s showing us what an amazing dramatic actor he is as the second season of HBO’s The Last of Us is airing. But, of course, he also does comedy so well as he proved on Saturday Night Live’s 50th Anniversary special in February alongside Kate McKinnon, Meryl Streep, Jon Hamm, Aidy Bryant and Woody Harrelson. Watch the special and all of SNL on Peacock.
And I always like to put in some music into my joy posts and 1982’s Victor/Victoria is one of my favorites. In this clip, Julie Andrews plays Victoria Grant in “Le Jazz Hot,” one of the best musical numbers from the Blake Edwards directed film. If you don’t know this film, find it and watch. Besides having some great music, it felt ahead of its time with gay characters and gender commentary since Victoria, a down on her luck singer in 1930s Paris, starts a nightclub act where she pretends to be a gay male singer who pretends to be a woman onstage. So, yes, a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman, as Andrews actually says in the course of the film! The fact that the macho gangster played by James Garner is attracted to “her” after seeing a performance in this clip only complicates things more for everyone involved. This awesome comedy also features fantastic performances by Robert Preston and Lesley Ann Warren (who were both nominated for Oscars, as was Andrews) as well as Alex Karras. It’s definitely a film I never get tired of watching. Victor/Victoria is available to stream on Sling TV or you can rent on Amazon, Apple and anywhere you rent movies.
Prime time soaps in the 1980s escalated to new heights when Dynasty rivals Krystle (Linda Evans) and Alexis (Joan Collins) began having annual fights each season. After season two had a delicious brawl between the two in Alexis’s guest house after Krystle found out Alexis was responsible for her miscarriage, season 3 had to top itself so the two women ended up fighting in the Carrington estate lily pond. And, unlike the previous fight where it was obvious stunt doubles were doing a lot of the work, the lily pond fight is clearly a lot of Evans and Collins. Good times! (Watch the original Dynasty on Pluto TV)
The passing of Robin Williams still feels fresh even though its been over ten years since he died in 2014. While he was gone much too soon, we have a lot of television and film where we can still go and appreciate his genius work. I personally love some of his dramatic work in films like Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society but there’s no doubt he was also one of the funniest men ever. A great example is in this clip from 1993’s box office hit Mrs. Doubtfire. In this film Williams plays Daniel, a man who just wants to spend more time with his kids once he and his wife (played by Sally Field) have divorced so he pretends to be a British housekeeper named Mrs. Doubtfire. Here’s one of the times when he has to work very hard to keep up appearances for a social worker check-in. (Mrs. Doubtfire is currently available to streamin on Hulu and Disney+)
If you have any suggestions of great TV and movie clips that would fit under the “Joyful Things” banner, please leave the suggestions in the comments.
Until next time…