Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related FFQ: weather service/comedians

Morning, my good buddies.

Well, for the moment at least, my Muse appears to have been listening to Kae's bludgeoning her over the head last night on irc and co-operating slightly, to the extent of nagging me to get out of bed far earlier than I figured on and get on with the story she's cooking up.

So, I need the answers to two questions, if you don't mind.

1. What do you call the service which gives out weather forecasts in the US? I'm talking about cabin country. The wilderness states. Not quite sure which wilderness state yet - our heroes haven't seen fit to let me know where they are so far - but one of them anyway.

2. If you were trying to tell someone you thought they were a pretty cheesy and smart-assed comedian, who would be the first personality you thought of as a comparison? As in "I'm stuck here with the boondocks version of ??"

Thanks!

LabRat

Rat's writing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kaethel (who doesn't know the answer to either questions - except maybe Jerry Lewis for question 2, if I understand correctly the sort of comparison you want to make? - but thinks she should use that two by four more often if it works so well [g])

Rat, the answer to the first one is the National Weather Service, I think... and without access to a nice big tv and the Weather Channel, people can get the forecasts & warnings via weather radios -- little battery-powered radios that are pre-tuned (unchangeable) to whatever frequency those things are broadcast on. They don't broadcast continually, I don't think, but they announce updates as they get them.

If you wanted to have a tense moment that would be broken unexpectedly, having a new broadcast appear out of a previously-silent weather radio would work very well

That's the extent of my knowlege, but my husband's had several of the little suckers, so if you have more specific questions I could ask him for you.

As for comedians, no one's coming to mind at the moment... what time frame are we talking about here? 1993-ish?

PJ
yay, you're writing!

YAY!!!! Okay, where's the


Wendy

Labby, Pam's got you hooked up as far as your weather question goes.

As to comedians. Jerry Lewis is always a 'classic' reverance to goofball comedians. Slightly more contemporary and perhaps some that the French don't consider a genius ( ) would be someone like Gallagher. A comdedian who made is somewhat small name by smashing watermelons and other friuts with a large sledge hammer several years ago. There is also Carrot Top who is currently making the rounds annoying people with his 1-800- call- ATT commercials, but whose career started years ago with 'prop comedy'. He would bring a large bag of silly stuff on stage and while doing a running commentary he'd do demonstrations of the silly products he'd supposedly invented.

The best known 'insult comic' would have to be Don Rickles.

Tank (who says if Labby continues to have trouble with this just makes someone up... after all the gentle readers don't know who the top comedians in Metropolis are)

See, this is actually something that always surprises me. I've heard many times that the Americans consider Jerry Lewis as a goofball comedian (hence my suggestion to Rat) whereas the French love him, but while his name is familiar to most French people, he's not *that* famous over here. Certainly if you asked a panel of French people to give the name of a famous comedy actor, Jerry Lewis would be waaaaaaay down the list (first one coming to mind being French actor Louis De Funes). I've only ever seen Jerry Lewis in Arizona Dream, and it was a dramatic role, not a funny one. So I'm wondering where his reputation as a funny-for-the-French actor comes from.

Kaethel

Just because I'm bored, I went looking for links:

National Weather Service -- this is run by the federal government -- they have a page of info just for Weather Radios
AccuWeather services -- this is a commercial service that lots of local news stations (radio & tv) get their forecasts. If you've got characters listening to a regular radio station, they'd most likely get an "AccuWeather forecast" once or twice an hour.

"Smart-assed"? umm... Someone from Saturday Night Live -- Bill Murray? David Letterman?

p.s. to Kaethel -- now that you ask, I have no idea why Jerry Lewis is associated with the French -- at a guess, I'd say he was popular in your country long after he was popular in ours -- it's just one of those cultural things that "everyone knows". But his peak of popularity has to have been several decades ago, so it's no surprise to me that he's fairly obscure now. Actually, if it weren't for the French joke, I'm sure *I'd* have no idea who Jerry Lewis was, apart from a vague memory of his telethons, which I always avoided watching.

PJ

The first comedian that came to my mind before reading all of the suggestions is Jim Carrey, but Pam's right that it'll depend on what kind of time frame you want the comedian to be from. If you want around 1993ish I'd also recommend Robin Williams (who works for a lot of fairly recent time frames) or Mike Meyers.

As a part of a younger generation, I don't know much about Jerry Lewis except that I vaguely remember that he's a comedian once you mention that he is. I've never actually seen him in... movies? stand-up? What does he do, anyway? Just goes to show that I don't know much about him. Anyway, the point is that I'm not sure that some younger--I mean, less mature --people would get the reference.

~Anna (who also wants to know where the Labby-Is-Writing-Again Party is being held WOOHOO!!)

The first comedian that came to my mind was Jim Carey. Any of the other suggestions would work, too.

I must admit I was surprised to see so many young(er) people don't know who Jerry Lewis is. I didn't know he was so famous in France, but I do know he is (or at least, was) very famous in Spain. When I went to Spain, everyone I met asked me if I knew the famous American actor, "Harry Levis". Or at least, that's what it sounded like they were saying to me. (They were pronouncing Jerry Lewis phonetically in Spanish, and that's what it came out like.) I told everone I'd never heard of Harry Levis, and they looked shocked. "He's the most famous actor in the world!" (I don't know why they didn't call him a comedian, they all called him an actor. If they'd said "comedian", I would have been more likely to have figured out who they were talking about.)

Smart ass? <--Someone called my name?

Seriously the two that come to mind are Carrot Top and Shekkie. Maybe someone knows what's going on with the probably terribly mispelled second one. Whenever my lame jokes start coming out, my sister always says, "Okay, Shekkie, that's enough out of you."

Jen

The Straight Dope answers: Do the French really love Jerry Lewis?

Thanks for feeding this curious girl's interest, guys. Rivka, the link you posted definitely answers my question... although I have to say that it's not because a few French highbrow critics (and yes, we do have a lot of these, though thankfully they don't entirely control the world of art) put Jerry Lewis on a pedestal than the whole of the population does. In fact my reaction is pretty much the same as the French guy who posted the question on that site. Jerry Lewis, sure, I've heard of him, but having only seen him in one film (and a dramatic one, too), I can't possibly put him on a pedestal.

Kaethel

Geesh. And here, most of my Jerry Lewis exposure has been thanks to the Animaniacs. I certainly knew who he was long before that, as I have a tendency to linger on AMC and TMC when flipping through channels -- the old movies channel. (Keeping an eye out for Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Fred Astaire usually) Anytime I hear Jerry Lewis, my first thought is "Hello Lady!"

As for comedians, it depends on the type of comedian you want. Some of the big ones have already been mentioned. My first thought actually was Carrot Top when he did the props. Another person is Howie Mandel, though I haven't heard anything about him since his Bobby cartoon went off the air. But cheesy and smart-assed.. hrm. Oh. George Carlin. Not cheesy, but most definitely smart-assed.

/me rushes into the channel and hugs everyone in sight. Yay - I finally got my connection back!

Thanks for all the help in answering my questions - and for the encouragement too. The Muse insisted I get out of bed at 7am yesterday to jot down her ideas and by the time it got to 9am I had 16 pages written. <g> I think she's keen. Of course, this being me, I've ended up with several massive plot holes/contradictions in there, so I need to sort them out before the entire thing crashes and burns. Kae - break out that brainstorming channel! <g>

Pam, thanks for reminding me that I need to take note of when this story is set (S1). That's something I always forget to take into account when looking for this kind of data. And thanks for offering to delve deeper on the weather info - appreciated. But it's just needed for a throwaway line: "X says the weather dropped below freezing last night..." so what's on this thread is ample for the purpose, thanks! I'm bookmarking those links though, thanks - very handy for future reference.

Thanks to everyone for your comedian suggestions. I think from this Jerry Lewis or Bill Murray would fit the bill admirably. Or now I'm thinking of Chevvy Chase, now that you've put the SNL connection into my head.

Thanks again for the help, everyone - you guys are the best!

LabRat (off to catch up with what else has been happening while she's been off in limbo land....)

Oh, forgot to say I really like that idea of the radio too. Thanks, Pam! Need to see if I can do something with that.

LabRat

Err...16 pages within two hours, that's...err..

Pelican

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kaethel (brainstorming channel for whenever you want, Rat!)

LOL, Pel. Well, when the Muse is keen she can go at a fair clip, it's true - unfortunately there aren't many times she's that keen. <g> Now, if I could do it that fast all the time I'd be...a lot more prolific. Thanks for the kind encouragement.

Kae - I'll see you on irc, Monday. <g> I haven't had the chance to get near the file today, but the Muse has been ambushing me at odd moments and I've amassed several pages of longhand.

LabRat

Hey all - know I've been gone for a bit [and am not really back yet for that matter ] but hopefully soon... Did write about 10 pages of a fic a couple weeks ago [well, rewrite things I lost in the computer crash in june - ended up getting a new HD, but I digress...]

When reading Rat's post the first person who came to mind was Jeff Foxworthy - the 'You might be a redneck if...' guy.

There it is - way late of course - but for what it's worth, there ya go!

CM [who can't wait to have time to read whatever it is Rat's writing and hopes that the relevant parts haven't been posted already making this post completely irrelevant but haven't been to the FF folder yet]

LabRat immediately looks exceptionally guilty and starts shuffling her feet because - as usual - after that initial burst of enthusiasm she hasn't so much as looked at said story file since. Yes, I am ashamed. Deeply, deeply ashamed.

LabRat (off to see if said file is salvageable)