Currently in Line: Angry Old People and Funny Young People

Today’s New York Times celebrates August, National Slow News Day Month, by exploring the excitement of standing in line in two separate articles. The less-funny article is about The Line, the online TV series written by Saturday Night Live’s Bill Hader and Simon Rich. The more-funny one is about the five-hour line yesterday at Lincoln Center to exchange Metropolitan Opera tickets — a line that was, naturally, populated by annoyed old people.

The Line is, indeed, a very funny series, although the appeal of moonlighting SNLers is less for us than the appeal of seeing some of our favorite UCB performers showcased, like Chris Gethard and Gavin Speiller. (And, just as with Dr. Horrible, we’re still unconvinced of the grassroots bona fides of a Web video that features in its credits hair and makeup people, two line producers, and five PAs.)

But reading about all the cantankerous Met subscribers forced by construction and new exchange policies to sit in line for hours and hours at Lincoln Center reminds us that professional comedians are sometimes less funny than very, very serious amateurs. The Times quotes a number of irritated people of distinguished mien who clearly have never once attempted to purchase Radiohead tickets or an iPhone, tasks that put their measly five hours in line to shame.

Mostly we wish that someone could find a way to combine these two situations. A Simon Rich–written TV series about old people standing in line for opera tickets, starring Bill Hader and UCB favorites, would be awesome.

A Summer Break of Comedy for the Web [NYT]
Don Giovanni in Hell? Opera Fans Endure 5-Hour Ticket Exchange Line