R. Kelly - "Trapped In The Closet"

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i have seen just a clip -- the midget part -- and that was mindblowing enough. i should get round to it for reals.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 16:20 (nineteen years ago)

We want the second season!

― is anyone anticipating the new Baaderonixx? (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 16:22 (nineteen years ago)

TITC is supremely entertaining. it's simultaneously one of the greatest and worst things ever produced by humankind. it alternates between mind-bogglingly tedious awfulness and uniquely inspired cartoon genius almost from second to second. kelly is a titan of comedy. he's managed to make a brilliantly observed spoof of something that didn't even really exist before he spoofed it.

all trapped in the closet fans should check out the sparkle 'be careful' video too.

eh? I didn't get this at all...far too po-faced. where's the love, I ask you? where's the love?

― mister the guanoman (mister the guanoman), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

god i fucking love be careful! i'm going to buy that on itunes right now!

― M@tt He1geson: Sassy and I Don't Care Who Knows It (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 16:25 (nineteen years ago)

I mean, I'd read about it and heard about it and even seen parodies of it, but until I saw the whole thing the horrible scale and sincerity of it had never struck me.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 16:26 (nineteen years ago)

'sincerity'? are you sure? it's much smarter than that.

― mister the guanoman (mister the guanoman), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 16:26 (nineteen years ago)

i can't believe it's been almost 2 years already. such a wonderful time it was to watch it unravel.

― Alex in Baltimore (Alex in Baltimore), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

the excitement, anticipation and WTF with each new part...

― AleXTC (AleXTC), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 16:29 (nineteen years ago)

eh? I didn't get this at all...far too po-faced. where's the love, I ask you? where's the love?

two years ago, promises is all i heard :(

i think the sincerity in 'be careful' works in much the same way as in TITC - TITC is more obviously tongue-in-cheek maybe but there's the same love of grand gestures and melodrama (ie both funny and moving).

btw sparkle is the aunt of the girl r kelly pissed on.

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 16:45 (nineteen years ago)

well that lends it a certain frisson of eeeeeuuurgh. I wonder if they're still friends?

― mister the guanoman (mister the guanoman), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 16:47 (nineteen years ago)

i found my dvd of this when i was, uh, cleaning out my closet last weekend

― cheesesteak and shake (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

the director's commentary might be better than the thing itself

― cheesesteak and shake (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

Oh my lord, director's commentary.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 17:05 (nineteen years ago)

What the hell does he say? Actually who directed? Did Kelly direct himself? I have no idea.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 17:06 (nineteen years ago)

all the bonus on the dvd are classic : kels watching TITC with a cigar and turning to the camera (us) to explain things = very classic !

― AleXTC (AleXTC), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 17:06 (nineteen years ago)

seriously, watch it. i think r. kelly discovered the word "cliffhanger" in the dictionary one day and the biggest lightbulb of his life suddenly went off.

― cheesesteak and shake (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 17:06 (nineteen years ago)

i can't remember who i talked to about this at the time -- it might have been miccio or my friend drew -- but you could seriously make a drinking game out of how many times he says it in the commentary track.

― cheesesteak and shake (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 17:08 (nineteen years ago)

here we go !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8LAeI2KyVM

― AleXTC (AleXTC), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 17:12 (nineteen years ago)

We want the second season!

My friend works for a prop warehouse that supplies all the props for the trapped in the closet videos. Apparently they're currently filming the follow-up. Which is kind of stupid and nuts, because i can't imagine people really still care.

aside from brits reading about it on wikipedia, i guess

― deej.. (deej..), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 17:30 (nineteen years ago)

i care. very much so.

― cheesesteak and shake (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 17:32 (nineteen years ago)

haha well i should probably start posting the stories I've heard about the production, then.

― deej.. (deej..), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 17:36 (nineteen years ago)

I am so incredibly happy to hear that.

― jimn (jimnaseum), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 17:39 (nineteen years ago)

This whole thing is a fucking minstrel act.

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 18:17 (nineteen years ago)

i dunno if dan is being 'funny' or not but i basically agree

― and what (ooo), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 18:25 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not being funny.

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 18:27 (nineteen years ago)

Its also pretty boring. I thought it was interesting at first in an "the audacity...!" way but really, it isn't music, it is an event and I many of the folks I know IRL who are real enthusiastic about it can be pretty condescending.

― deej.. (deej..), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

it coulda gone either way after the first couple tracks is the thing -- i mean you could enjoy it just for what it was. and i'm sure there's some folks who enjoy the whole thing in an "unironic" way but rilly after pt 5 it was just painfully downhill and yeah basically dan otm at this point. ppl talking about it are basically to me sorta like ppl talking about flava of love or whatever. something feels a bit cruel about it.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

I gotta start calling Crispin Glover films "an insult to the white race."

― da croupier (da croupier), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 20:56 (nineteen years ago)

'cruel'...? pah. it's a work of brilliance. it's not cruel to say so.

― mister the guanoman (mister the guanoman), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:00 (nineteen years ago)

seriously, this "minstrel show" bullshit would be a lot more convincing if people didn't get off on white crazy or any other type of crazy.

― da croupier (da croupier), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:03 (nineteen years ago)

Don't get mad just because you like prurientn sketchy bullshit, Anthony.

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:18 (nineteen years ago)

Many of"Flavor Of Love"'s attempts at humor seem much more derived from race, so my enjoyment of that bothers me a lot more than my enjoyment of Trapped In The Closet, which would be funny to me (and hopefully embarassingly unfunny to you) coming from anyone.

― da croupier (da croupier), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:28 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, and, like, how come theres no WHITE entertainment television??

― and what (ooo), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:30 (nineteen years ago)

ugh those Flavor of Love shows are just fucking horrible

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:31 (nineteen years ago)

I am not at all about "Flavor of Love", either, but I don't think you can blithely seperate the work produced from the people producing it; if someone white had produced "Trapped In The Closet", people would be comparing to to "Soul Plane" rather than trumpeting its comedic genius.

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:31 (nineteen years ago)

and if I'm angry it's because you and Ethan don't ever seem to undersand that distinction.

xpost wtf does that have to do with what I'm saying, Ethan?

― da croupier (da croupier), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:32 (nineteen years ago)

(and while similarly minstrels-ish they don't quite have the WTF?! quality of TITC, they're all too predictable)

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:32 (nineteen years ago)

That's because I think that distinction is self-justifying bullshit.

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:33 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think I'm blithely seperating it, "Trapped In The Drive-Thru" was totally hilarious without including any racial references.

So anything you find personally embarassing from a black person that other people find hilarious is inherently a minstrel act? There's no possibility you can find something a black person does ridiculous and funny without it being based on their race?

― da croupier (da croupier), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:34 (nineteen years ago)

Are you and I allowed to laugh at Connie Chung singing on her series finale without it being an insult to asians everywhere?

― da croupier (da croupier), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:37 (nineteen years ago)

is r. "in on the joke," as it were? i mean, i know dude is crazy, but there's no way that he's actually totally serious about this, is there?

but even if he was, ive seen/heard too many white frat dudes make fun of this in a v. sketchily racist way to be enthusiastic abt it.

― max (maxreax), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:37 (nineteen years ago)

i almost added to my original post 'except for gleeful ironists like miccio who enjoy idiotic horseshit if its produced by white dudes too' but the criticism still stands, white ppl have a serious problem reading artistic intent into black music and consume it only as something ignorantly & unintentionally bad

― and what (ooo), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:37 (nineteen years ago)

ethan's totally right, 90% of white "fans" of titc that i know would never think that r. is making a comedy; it's always, "look how dumb/crazy this guy is" ("this is what happens when you give black people the ability to make music/movies")

― max (maxreax), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:39 (nineteen years ago)

Thanks for making me smile, guys.

― cousin larry bundgee (bundgee), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:40 (nineteen years ago)

see above post from ppl who suppose that r 'just learned the meaning of the word cliffhanger' is therefore abusing it like a child would

― and what (ooo), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:40 (nineteen years ago)

Connie Chung's bizarre "lounge act" thing is hilarious because Connie Chung can't sing, not because Connie Chung is Asian.

"Trapped in the Closet" is "hilarious" largely because of the juxtapositions of black stereotypes with outrageous non-sequiturs.

I have not seen or heard "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" but I'm certain that its humor works because Weird Al is a comedian good at writing funny material.

Like I said, don't get mad because you happen to really, really like some bullshit.

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:43 (nineteen years ago)

hey, I got no problem with Ethan's "idiotic bullshit/gleeful irony" talk, I just think if everybody on General Hospital started singing I'd laugh at that too.

― da croupier (da croupier), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:47 (nineteen years ago)

plus R. Kelly's got a much better (if totally skewed) sense of timing than whoever did Jerry Springer: The Musical.

― da croupier (da croupier), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:49 (nineteen years ago)

"...if someone white had produced "Trapped In The Closet", people would be comparing to to "Soul Plane" rather than trumpeting its comedic genius."
- The Android Cat

No way.

R. Kelly isn't just "somebody", and that's critical. Even without TITC, Kelly is, ummm ... complicated. He's brilliant and awful and creepy and hilarious all mashed together.

There isn't a comparable white entertainment figure that we could map this scenario onto, simply 'cuz R. Kelly is unique. But if a kinda-half-similarly bizzare and wonderful/awful white guy made this exact same film, starring himself, I think it'd receive exactly the same response.

I mean, what if Scott Stapp made TITC? The world would shit itself! The world would do exactly what it did in Kelly's case. You'd have a million condescending blog entries about the "genius" and people rolling in the aisles.

― Adam Beales (Pye Poudre), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:50 (nineteen years ago)

i think g n'r's don't cry, november rain, and estranged videos might figure into this debate...somehow.

― M@tt He1geson: Sassy and I Don't Care Who Knows It (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 21:51 (nineteen years ago)

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