I’ve been writing lots currently about my prolonged Zoom with The Bare Gun! and Airplane! creator David Zucker. Our interview was ostensibly set as much as talk about his upcoming web series MasterCrash, a more-sincere-than-usual sendup of MasterClass, and to supply area for him to gripe about being left out of Seth MacFarlane and Akiva Schaffer’s new Bare Gun film — a basic win-win media & PR collab! The residual affect has been how a lot I’ve since thought of parody, and the way not everyone is aware of how one can do it proper.
Time will inform if MacFarlane and Schaffer’s take starring Liam Neeson as the brand new Lt. Frank Drebin, son of the outdated one (Leslie Nielsen), strikes the suitable tone. Contemplating the IP and expertise connected — and even factoring within the expertise not connected — Bare Gun (August 1, 2025) has a shot. The massive Baltimore Ravens quick movie launched this week, alternatively, by no means gave itself a lot of an opportunity.
NFL schedule-reveals have formally turn out to be a factor. Main streamers, broadcasters and media firms (suppose: Netflix, Fox, Disney, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video) obtained to announce a sport or two of theirs to tv advertisers in attendance at their respective upfront events earlier this week, and the team-by-team schedule-reveals (delivered to you by Seat Geek!) are turning into main Hollywood productions, usually borrowing from main Hollywood productions.
This 12 months, the Kansas City Chiefs played Cash Cab, a minimum of two groups did Minecraft, the Houston Texans parodied Scary Film, the Los Angeles Rams went the Day by day Present route and the New York Giants spoofed Love Island. The outcomes are a blended bag — however this story isn’t about these movies.
The primary mistake the Ravens made was within the choice course of. Baltimore went massive for his or her reveal with a parody of Apple TV+ drama Severance — it’s all the time formidable to attempt to spoof the best show on television, particularly when your forged is comprised of offensive linemen, soccer coaches and front-office personnel. Whereas imitation would be the sincerest type of flattery, not all imitations flatter equally. And as they’re already well aware of in Baltimore, in the event you come for the king (of TV), you greatest not miss.
There are some good items within the execution of the video. Sure manufacturing components, just like the cinematography, are nice. The infant goats because the workforce’s draft picks who’re are “not prepared but” was a intelligent selection. And it’s OK that the gamers can’t act — Adam Scott can’t defend Lamar Jackson’s blindside — the place the video went improper was within the writing part.
The precise Severance premise right here is unclear. Are the gamers severed in order that they don’t leak the schedule? Perhaps, or perhaps I simply retroactively invented an intention. Although there are perhaps a handful of respectable jokes, the video is seven minutes of setups and few punchlines. It’s not sufficient to suppose “it’d be humorous to have our gamers and employees learn these Severance strains.” A shot-for-shot remake just isn’t comedy — except, paradoxically, it’s those Severance lead Scott did with Paul Rudd.
Maybe the Ravens ought to have introduced on Severance author/creator Dan Erickson and/or his associate on the venture Ben Stiller as free brokers, like how a workforce indicators a participant they’ve since traded away to a one-day contract to allow them to formally retire the place all of it started.
Stiller appeared to understand the trouble — Ravens Productions shot greater than 200 hours and spent days editing — sufficient to retweet the video, a minimum of. (And even when he didn’t dig it, the one skilled sports activities workforce that would probably draw Stiller’s ire this week is the Boston Celtics, who tonight will try and push the New York Knicks to an Japanese Convention Semifinals Recreation 7. Stiller will nearly definitely be courtside for Recreation 6 at Madison Sq. Backyard.)
Look, perhaps I’m improper. I’m definitely biased right here — and never simply in regards to the correct method to write comedy.
I really like the New York Giants most likely as a lot as Stiller loves the New York Knickerbockers. Am I nonetheless a bit peeved on the Ravens for absolutely the thrashing they placed on my workforce in Tremendous Bowl XXXV? Very a lot so. And as an early adopter of Severance, I’ll have overprotective tendencies in regards to the collection.
Different folks and publications dug the Severance spoof — as of this writing, the Ravens’ reveal video had 9,000 likes on X and almost 3,000 on YouTube (with 70,000 views). USA Right now ranked it because the fourth-best schedule out of 32 NFL groups, 9to5Mac called it “hilarious” and one thing known as Bike Sports activities (that clearly ventures past bike sports activities) said it was “epic.” However don’t imagine all the things you learn on-line — apart from this opinion.
Nevermore (do that), Ravens.
