Please Forgive Us This Non-PC, Highly Comedic Moment
We would never, EVER recommend that anyone fly an aircraft while inebriated and we fully recognize that alcohol abuse is a serious problem with HUGE impact on the afflicted -- but, dang, this old comedy sketch is funny.
Patch was going through its photo archive recently, the really old one where the pictures are on shiny paper you can actually feel, and came across a picture taken of a National Guard helicopter pilot we encountered while assigned to cover a story during an earlier life long, long ago.
This particular guy was a Chinook driver, a Vietnam vet with a virile mustache so formidable it looked like he could suspend paint cans from the tips, and he was seeking comfort in a NorCal saloon after making air drops and bringing in equipment to flood-ravaged residents in the North Bay.
He was still in his flight suit and very tipsy when we ran into him. "Aren't you flying tomorrow, Ace?" we asked.
A nod.
"Should you be drinking?"
A shrug. "Why not?"
"Well, because of the weather, the downdrafts, the power poles..."
"That's why I need a drink," Ace said, knocking back another, "because of the weather, the downdrafts and the power poles..."
Different breed and a different time, but as recent headlines have told us the practice is still alive among some of those who make their living flying other folks around. Foster Brooks -- a reformed drinker himself -- cracked up Dean Martin while playing the part. Take his act for what it is, hopefully it will make you laugh as much as we did.
CJ
1:01 pm on Monday, January 30, 2012
Funny bit by 2 funny guys. But I could do without the pathetic apology for non-PC.
Or was that the point of posting it to create a dust up about it being not being PC?
I want ot go back and watch all those old Frair's Club Roasts from BITD. They were much funnier than the Comedy Central Roasts they have now.
Patrice Martens
9:44 am on Tuesday, January 31, 2012
My uncle was a world war II bomber pilot and airline pilot and this was his very favorite routine ever.
theresa
11:48 am on Tuesday, January 31, 2012
when i was a kid, i used to watch this and similar routines by foster brooks and thought it was funny, because he talked funny. i never really knew what a drunk was like, as my parents didn't drink. so i'm watching this for the first time in my adult life and get it in an entirely different way. having been drunk a small handful of times in my life and seeing other borrachos, i recognize the slurs, the strange mannerisms that happen when you try to get words out and your voice drops, and think this guy was pretty spot on in his depiction of a drunk.