Featured Funny Video: “Phér•BÅney Love Themeâ€
Before watching director Jonny Look’s music video for drummer Joe Russo’s “Phér•BÅney Love Theme,†I’d never in my life given much credence to the term “sandwich plight.†Could that be because I wasn’t sure it was a term? Yes. And it may actually not be one. One thing I know to be true, though? Look and Russo have experienced the sensation of sandwich withdrawal in some form — enough to create an entire short film based around one man’s (Will Hines) unstoppable pursuit of the perfect ham, lettuce, and cheese on white bread.
What begins as Hines walking into an Elks Lodge-like all-purpose room quickly shows him seated at a cafeteria table, and then thrust between a team of dancers for an all-out symphony of silliness as he tries — and fails — to sink his teeth into the Earl’s simple delight. Watching flourishes of ballet by choreographer Erin S. Murray and transcendent blue-sky sandwich beauty shots (check out Look’s commentary on the revolutionary effect of the meal), I couldn’t help but be reminded again and again of how few artists would dare spend so much time on something so seemingly trivial. What a shame.
To be sure, “Phér•BÅney Love Theme†is a different kind of installment in this column — more interpretively funny than hardy-har-har (technical term). It’s all at once gorgeous, confusing, and absurd, but in spite of its singular focus and lack of jokes, it steers clear of the diminishing-return arc to achieve a tasty payoff. Much, in that way, like one’s search for the perfect sandwich.
Luke Kelly-Clyne is executive producer and head of development at Big Breakfast and a watcher of many web videos. Send him yours @LKellyClyne.