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You are here: Home / Open Threads / This is a genuinely great idea

This is a genuinely great idea

by DougJ|  June 16, 20125:15 pm| 27 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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I was always sorry I never saw “Buddy Cianci: The Musical” so I hope someone takes this Atrios suggestion seriously and makes a musical about Tom Friedman:

It’s the tale of a wealthy white American who travels the world, blissfully unaware that all of the wiley foreigners who flatter his ever thought and deed are just in it for the tips.

All dialogue for the “Tom Friedman” character will be taken from the collected writings and public utterances of Tom Friedman. We’ve got a massive opening number, Bollywood style, sung by every cab driver Tom Friedman has ever met and quoted. Potential opener title: The World is Flat (but the roads are bumpy).

Does Suck on This end the first act or open the second? So much to think about…

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Reader Interactions

27Comments

  1. 1.

    katie5

    June 16, 2012 at 5:22 pm

    Kickstarter, anyone?

  2. 2.

    Trentrunner

    June 16, 2012 at 5:22 pm

    Patter song in the middle of act 1:

    “Don’t be a hata/Trust my anecdata!”

  3. 3.

    beltane

    June 16, 2012 at 5:26 pm

    Someone could choreograph a fabulous song & dance number about the Green Tea Party.

  4. 4.

    me

    June 16, 2012 at 5:28 pm

    @beltane: or a bollywood style bit about cab drivers.

  5. 5.

    Soonergrunt

    June 16, 2012 at 5:29 pm

    They could throw in a part about how his family loses their asses in the real estate game from bad investments and how he’s saved from ruin by his collection of real witticisms, homespun sayings and anecdotes from his travels around the world.

  6. 6.

    Hypatia's Momma

    June 16, 2012 at 5:32 pm

    Well, shoot, we already have The Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld, so why not?

  7. 7.

    Amir Khalid

    June 16, 2012 at 5:35 pm

    I can’t wait to hear that song of hope for the future, Six Months From Now. It’ll be just like You’ll Never Walk Alone from Carousel.

  8. 8.

    me

    June 16, 2012 at 5:36 pm

    @me: I guess I should read before posting.

  9. 9.

    Valdivia

    June 16, 2012 at 5:44 pm

    Sorry, I am not big on musicals in general so the idea of subjecting myself to one about Tom Fucking Friedman? No way. There’s no music in the universe than can make that man ok.

  10. 10.

    beltane

    June 16, 2012 at 5:49 pm

    @Valdivia: What if the dialogue and song lyrics were written, or should I say compiled, by Matt Taibbi?

  11. 11.

    Amir Khalid

    June 16, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    @Valdivia:
    Plus, there’s no way The Mustache would let himself be mocked in a mash-up of Bollywood and Broadway musical styles, apt though that would be to his romanticized notions about globalization. But it’s a nice thought exercise.

    (Random thought: if Tom Friedman is the Mustache of Understanding, then what is Sam Elliott the Mustache of?

  12. 12.

    MattF

    June 16, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    But don’t forget– if there’s a gun on the mantelpiece in Act One, someone has to use it by the end of the play.

  13. 13.

    gbear

    June 16, 2012 at 5:51 pm

    @Amir Khalid: ..or Tomorrow from Annie.

  14. 14.

    TG Chicago

    June 16, 2012 at 5:57 pm

    @beltane: I was thinking Taibbi could be the antagonist.

    I’d also like sad ballad about the death of Americans Elect.

  15. 15.

    Valdivia

    June 16, 2012 at 5:59 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    ok, you had me at bollywood mashup and mocking :)

    on the other hand I am not a big fan of Taibbi, sorry! @beltane:

  16. 16.

    gbear

    June 16, 2012 at 6:04 pm

    The war will be won in six months
    Better bet your bottom that in six months.
    Just thinking about six months
    Clears away the Sunni and the Shia til there’s none.

    When I’m stuck with a day that’s gray and lonely
    I shoot off my mouth and grin and say…

    The weapons will be found in six months
    So just suck on this for six months is what I say.
    In six months, in six months, we’ll fix it in six months.
    It’s always just six months away!

  17. 17.

    burnspbesq

    June 16, 2012 at 6:09 pm

    I’m going to need another gallon of Nature’s Miracle to get the stench from this pile o’ crap out of my carpet.

  18. 18.

    gbear

    June 16, 2012 at 6:12 pm

    @gbear: crap, I missed part of a line in the first verse.

    ‘Better bet your bottom that in six months we’ll have won’.

  19. 19.

    gbear

    June 16, 2012 at 6:41 pm

    Wow. I killed the thread.

  20. 20.

    patrick II

    June 16, 2012 at 6:53 pm

    @Amir Khalid:
    The Mustache of Droll.

  21. 21.

    Alison

    June 16, 2012 at 6:58 pm

    I’m picturing a number with people wearing giant mustaches with little city-scenes decorating them, a la the hats in Beach Blanket Babylon.

    (For the unfamiliar – and if so, I highly highly recommend it if you’re ever in SF, or somewhere near, or can get here for a night. One of the absolute best live performances of any kind.)

  22. 22.

    Joseph Nobles

    June 16, 2012 at 7:16 pm

    “Suck on This” definitely ends the first act.

    “Whocoodanode” opens the second.

  23. 23.

    kerFuFFler

    June 16, 2012 at 7:34 pm

    @Joseph Nobles: In complete agreement that “Suck on This” is the way to close the first act!

  24. 24.

    gloryb

    June 16, 2012 at 7:44 pm

    I’m not musical at all, but I see a scene traveling from the airport to the Infosys campus with Tom ignoring the people in the street singing all around hjm. Oh, and a song about Lexuses (Lexi?) andolive trees.

  25. 25.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    June 16, 2012 at 8:04 pm

    Update on Ellie Wyatt for all of those who were concerned.

    http://crittersbybritty.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=420&action=edit&message=6&postpost=v2

  26. 26.

    Maude

    June 16, 2012 at 8:22 pm

    Thanks. I bookmarked it.

  27. 27.

    Joey Maloney

    June 17, 2012 at 2:19 am

    @Amir Khalid: Sam Elliot is the Mustache of Badassery. For not knowing that you are sentenced to watch Roadhouse.

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