Yuk yuk indeed.
Even though the the MonoKote gag has been run into the ground, one has to appreciate Howard’s back handed dig into the matter. Very subtle and very Brett like. Howard has elevated himself into the number two slot as the “Biggest Smartass in Stunt” Brett should be thinking about elevating his game. Brett and Howard are in a league of their own. David, Paul, Eric and Antone are “Junior Varsity” and are a far cry from Brett and Howard’s skills.
Congratulations Howard, you smartass. With all due respect.
I would agree with your assessments, right down the line. Howard is the only real contender as far as I am concerned. Controls people are always the smartest people in any room and they towards being "on the spectrum", which seems to help. Paul calls Howard "Sheldon", which is cruel, raising his stock considerably, in my opinion. Some people, as far off the spectrum as you can get, like Ted, consider "smart-ass" a perjorative or negative characteristic.
Too far into the spectrum, and you get the late Bob Baron - generally humorless, and I bet he spent a lot of time memorizing train schedules.
The monokote thing has been completely run into the ground, and using that smacks of having nothing else to use. When you are stealing material from Antone and Eric, you undermine your candidacy (like Paul does above). And then he commits the cardinal sin of indirectly apologizing for it.
Of the likely other contenders, David certainly wins on volume, although the crudity and lack of sophistication works against him. Paul is somewhat better at it, with a hint of occasional brilliance, but likely restricted by his profession. Mechanical/structures engineers (essentially, blacksmiths with computers (and not even real computers, they use Excel a lot , for God's sake...) ) tend to descend from the same place as orthopedic surgeons, where any subtle debates are ultimately solved by either heating something, cutting something, or hitting something with a big hammer. In high school, controls engineers and brain surgeons were in the chess club, mechanical engineers were on the football team. Paul is not nearly as affected by this as many others, but lack of smart-ass challenges in his professional life have not given him the opportunities to develop the true "smart-ass"/"maladjusted and just trying to cope" attitude that people like Howard and I use as a survival skill.
David was apparently nearly insufferable when he was a kid, so the fact that he is barely tolerable now is hardly a surprise. What works against him is his ancestry and his mentoring. Bill (David Senior) and (Ted). Ted considers being a smart-ass a negative thing, so does Shareen. You have no idea how far I dial it back. Bill didn't even grasp the concept of being a wise-guy. David tries extra-hard, and has developed some superficial nerd characteristics (don't ask him about Star Wars OR Star Trek, or you will be very sorry). But on close examination, he belies this superficial nerdiness by getting the details wrong. No true nerd would forget the name of William Shatner's stunt double Fred Lubbins, for example. I don't even care, and I remember it, because I can't stop. He was surprised when I guessed the end of Star Wars Rogue One after about 15 minutes in, how could you not, and I was half-asleep. Every smart-ass comment David makes is like a brick through a plate-glass window. Crude.
Paul probably outranks David, just for subtlety and quality, although clearly not in the rank with Howard and I.
Some of the others on your list deserve consideration above Paul and David. Uncle Jimby is a contender, too. One not on your list (since you haven't met him) and an acknowledged master is one Mr. Billy Werwage. As far as quality and subtlety, I think Howard has him beat, but you can't deny a lifetime of achievement. Larry Renger would be a contender, being firmly planted on The Spectrum, perhaps about one step too far, because I suspect he doesn't even realize it.
A lot of the other guys, just don't belong in the discussion. Anyone might have their one "moment", like Eric and Antone, but that's far from using being a smart-ass as a substitute for an otherwise-absent real personality like Howard and I.
Brett
Topic: Flap Constrution (Read 2503 times)
