Archaeology of Sketch Comedy Episode 6 Death of A Salesman Theater

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• published: 31 Aug 2011
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Parody of cheap History channel documentaries that promise much in the way of discovery. Probing the "joke" news bulletin and awkward moments. Sketches written by Tom Konkle and Wrap Around written by David Beeler and Tom Konkle A mockumentary internet series that pokes fun at documentaries which promise to reveal great mysteries, showing clips and re-creations leading up to...well, we may never know. Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Premiered at the Morosco Theatre in February 1949, the original production ran for a total of 742 performances. Willy Loman returns home after an unsuccessful business trip. Frustrated at his lack of success, his wife Linda suggests that he ask his boss Howard Wagner to allow him to work in his home city so he will not have to travel. Willy complains to Linda that their son, Biff, who comes home for the holidays, has yet to make good on his life. Despite Biff's promise as an athlete in high school, he flunked senior year math, made no effort in summer school, and never went to college. Biff and his brother, Happy, who is also visiting, reminisce about their childhood together. They discuss their father's mental degeneration, which they have witnessed by his constant vacillations and talking to himself. When Willy walks in, angry that the two boys have never amounted to anything, Biff and Happy tell Willy that Biff plans to make a business proposition the next day in an effort to pacify their father. The next day, Willy goes to ask his boss for a job in town while Biff goes to make a business proposition. Both fail, as Willy gets angry and ends up getting fired when the boss tells him to continue being a traveling salesman, while Biff makes a terrible impression during his business presentation and impulsively steals a fountain pen (an expensive symbol of status worth far more than a ball point pen). Willy then meets Bernard, who tells him that Biff originally wanted to do well in summer school, but something happened in Boston when Biff went to visit Willy there that changed his mind. Happy, Biff, and Willy meet for dinner at a restaurant, but Willy refuses to hear bad news from Biff. The two sons decide to lie to their father, who then goes into a flashback of what happened in Boston the day Biff stopped trying to succeed in life. Willy had been in a hotel on a sales trip with a young woman when Biff showed up, causing him to want to flunk math and ruin his father's dreams of his success out of spite. Biff and Happy leave their deranged father in the restaurant, and return home, where their mother angrily shouts at them while Willy remains talking to himself outside. Eventually Willy joins the argument, at which point Biff forcefully says that he is no longer being a failure out of spite: he simply knows he isn't cut out to be a successful businessman. The feud culminates with Biff hugging Willy, telling his father he loves him. Rather than listen to what Biff actually says, Willy realizes his son has forgiven him and thinks Biff will now pursue a career as a businessman. Willy decides to kill himself in an auto accident so that Biff can get enough money to start his business, yet at the funeral Biff retains his belief that he does not want to become a businessman. Happy, on the other hand, chooses to take the insurance money and follow in his father's footsteps. The land speed record (or absolute land speed record) is the highest speed achieved by a wheeled vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C ("Special Vehicles") flying start regulations are used, officiated by regional or national organizations under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. The record is standardized as the speed over a course of fixed length, averaged over two runs (commonly called "passes"). Two runs are required in opposite directions within one hour, and a new record mark must exceed the previous one by one percent to be validated. There are numerous other class records for cars; motorcycles fall into a separate class. Until 1906, the rail speed record exceeded the auto speed record. However, the current unmanned record is held by a railed vehicle and stands at Mach 8.5. Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance. Elements of design and stagecraft are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. www.daveandtom.com or aoc.mevio.com. Sketches written by Tom Konkle. Wrap Around written by Dave Beeler and Tom Konkle