I watched an episode of the CBS television show The Big Bang Theory the other evening. As usual the show was very funny - really the only sitcom since Seinfeld that causes me to laugh out loud.
I couldn't help thinking however of the original The Big Bang Theory - you didn't know that there had been an earlier attempt to use that name for entertainment purposes, did you? - which I must rather unhappily admit to have been a part of. The story is this: many years ago I was a novice guitar player. "Novice" is a bit of an understatement. I started with three (count 'em - three) chords; I had picked up a copy of "Bob Dylan's Three Chord Songbook" and plunged right into the business of learning to play guitar by singing Blowing In The Wind and The Times They Are A-Changing and strumming the chords C, F, G7. Later on I purchased a copy of "Paul Simon's Three Chord Songbook" and added G, A and E. (Or was it G minor, A minor and E minor?) I forget...as I mentioned....this all took place a long time ago!
The other friend, Harry - I forget his last name - was a guitarist who could actually play a little rhythm and lead guitar. (The operative words: a little.) He had long, dirty blond hair, complete with bangs that were forever covering his eyes. (Which was probably by design, since his eyes were perpetually bloodshot.) He never looked as though he were focusing on just one thing at a time. Harry was either a little smarter than the rest of us...or a little more stoned. Or both.
On this day Harvey and Harry came up to me and said that they had been hired to play a gig at a teen party hosted by a local church. They were looking for another guitar player. And a singer. I told them that I didn't know anyone. But they were talking about me. I was shocked. "I can't sing" I said. "I sound like Bob Dylan. With a bronchial infection. And I can't play guitar...I'm still learning." They were adamant. "It'll be fun...let's play in front of an audience. In front of girls." Hmmm. Perhaps it would be fun...so I agreed to do it.
"When is the gig?" I asked. The answer: Saturday night. I(t was already Thursday.) I had additional concerns. What about rehearsing? Getting some songs together. And who was going to play base guitar? Harry shrugged. "We'll just wing it" he said. "Crank up the amps and see what happens!" "Wing it"... And so we did. Harry gave me an entire book of three- chord rock and roll songs. "Better work on these" he suggested. "You have two days." I looked at him. "Are we going to work on these together??" Nope. He had to get to his part-time job at the Ronkonkoma Dairy Queen. One more question: what was the name of this so-called rock band? (I hadn't even known they were even in a band.) Harvey had been silent throughout most of the conversation. Now he answered: "The name of the band? The Big Bang Theory. You know...like the scientific theory about the creation of the universe." Yeah, OK. (The name fit since no doubt the entire evening would blow-up in our face.)
And so it did. The night of the gig I dutifully reported to the church, carrying my guitar and pages and pages of sheet music. Three chord stuff. Harry met me at the door. "Ditch the sheet music" he commanded. "You think we want to come across as unprofessional?" Perish the thought! so I left the sheet music in the trunk of my car.
Well, you can imagine what happened: we were terrible. Worse than terrible. We couldn't remember the three chords in unison; couldn't sing in harmony; couldn't even remember most of the lyrics to the songs. Harry's "lead" guitar consisted of some riffs he borrowed from Grand Funk - none of which musically fit with the songs we were attempting to play. Harvey's drumming was loud - just not loud enough (unfortunately) from keeping the audience from hearing the rest of us. And - speaking of the audience - they truly and justifiably hated us - I learned some new four-letter words that evening (and we were in a house of God!) We weren't even good enough to qualify as "noise" (my Dad's description of most rock and roll music.)
I think we must have performed the sixties three-chord rock staple Gloria - originally released by Van Morrison's first group, Them - a hundred times. (It was the only damn song that we could perform successfully from start to finish. How hard is it to sing G-L-O-R-I-A over and over again?) I am reminded of a cartoon I saw recently in some magazine - I can't recall which one - but essentially the cartoon featured a nerdy-looking rock band on stage holding their instruments while the lead singer said "Well, we can play this one song for the hundredth time - or we can just call it a night!") Needless-to-say....The Big Bang Theory wasn't asked back - and never in fact played together again.
We also didn't do very well with the girls. Surprised?
Nerd bands, lack of success with women - and The Big Bang Theory...all of which brings me back to the current television show with that name.
It's not that the jokes or the stories are so brilliant. Many of the gags and plots feature the same tired, old sitcom devices we have known to love (or hate). Some examples: Mistaken identities. Merciless, even cruel jokes at a character's expense. A character has some unexpected success - and it goes to his/ her) head. An innocent lie snowballs into a major catastrophe. A battle of practical jokes that get out-of-hand. Characters try to "one-up" each other in some way. A female relative or friend or professional colleague of a main character comes to visit and tries to seduce another character. Or...my personal favorite...endless, needlessly prolonged sexual tension between major characters. (Just to name a few.)
The Big Bang Theory employs all of the devices listed above - and many others. Yet the show is terrific. The reason is because the director/writers/actors have endowed these characters with distinctive and interesting idiosyncrasies, the characters remain true to themselves throughout the evolution of the various plots, and the humor is organically derived from the synthesis of character traits and the acting - not from an arbitrary plot point demanded by a static script. ("Uh, oh - it's been two whole minutes since Howard has been insulted. Time to zing him.") In addition: the actors on the show are truly marvelous, creating a collection of unusually sympathetic and quirky characters.
"Art as modern sitcom".
Whew. Isn't it wonderful that I can now associate the name - The Big Bang Theory - with something entertaining and creative...instead of - well - instead of the with that rather unfortunate musical experience summarized above.
Hey...by-the-way...anyone remember the chords in Louie, Louie?
Talk with you all soon - be safe! :-)
Stevenn
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