Love Is All Around by Paula Bernstein

Author:Paula Bernstein [Bernstein, Paula]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Running Press
Published: 2020-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN:

HUMOR

“Mary, I came to Minneapolis because of the cold. I figured if I was frozen, I’d keep better.”

—RHODA

It’s no wonder that the CBS mustaches didn’t know what to make of those early Mary Tyler Moore Show scripts. The laughs all came from a different place than they did on other shows. The quick-witted, character-based humor was so unlike any other sitcom on the air at the time. Rather than getting laughs from supernatural situations (Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie) or gimmicky setups (The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres), The Mary Tyler Moore Show drew humor from its quirky characters. The more you got to know the characters, the funnier the show became. As writer Treva Silverman put it, “Each character seems to be talking on a one-to-one basis to somebody in the audience, kind of firsthand, just as if you were talking to your friend and were describing something funny.”

Even though she was the star of the show, Mary Tyler Moore never thought of herself as being funny. “My forte is not being funny but reacting in a funny way to those around me,” she said. That’s partially what inspired the writers to create an ensemble show with all of the comic characters in conflict with each other and Mary playing the straight woman in the middle. Of course, it wouldn’t have worked without Mary’s outsized ability to fake laughter, her impeccable comic timing, and the priceless facial expressions that conveyed so much more than a punch line ever could. Or, as the show’s executive producer James Brooks put it, “If Mary was in a French movie and you didn’t speak French, you’d laugh at her.”

Another thing that made the show so funny was its ability to surprise audiences with jokes they could never see coming. Just when you thought you knew where a joke was heading, it would spin in an entirely different direction and hit you when and where you least expected it. For example, there’s the episode where Phyllis tries to set her bachelor brother, Ben (Robert Moore), up with Mary, only to find that he’s more interested in spending time with Rhoda, who seems to enjoy his company. Since Phyllis hates Rhoda, she’s horrified by the idea of her perfect brother hooking up with her nemesis. She’s miserable at the prospect that they’ll have to accept Rhoda as a sister-in-law. Rhoda tries to explain that she’s got the wrong idea.

RHODA: Ben and I aren’t getting married. He’s not my type.

Now Phyllis is even more horrified—who does Rhoda think she is to reject Phyllis’s beloved brother?

PHYLLIS: Why? My brother is successful. He’s handsome. He’s intelligent.

RHODA: He’s gay!

PHYLLIS: He’s what?

RHODA: He’s gay. I thought for sure you knew, Phil. We’re not getting married.

Harper recalled later, “The audience didn’t see it coming. They roared. The laughter went on so long that Cloris [Leachman, who played Phyllis] and I had to keep on acting silently until she could deliver her rejoinder: ‘Oh, Rhoda, I’m so relieved.’”

The joke probably wouldn’t work today—and some critics have complained that Rhoda casually outs Ben.

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