Columentary (title sadly not pending) is a weekly feature, in which I’ll listen to the commentary track of a sitcom, and divulge, through pretty pictures and less pretty words, the behind-the-scenes secrets the creators, writers, and cast discuss about their show. If you’ve ever wondered how many leg chairs Eddie from Frasier humped, this is for you.
Show: Arrested Development
Episode: “Ready, Aim, Marry Me” (S02E10)
Original Airdate: February 13, 2005
Episode Plot: The family needs some extra money, so Michael (Jason Bateman) asks Uncle Jack (guest star Martin Short) if he wouldn’t mind bailing out the Bluths yet again.
Players Involved: Will Arnett, actor; Michael Cera, actor; David Cross, actor; Tony Hale, actor; Mitchell Hurwitz, creator; and Alia Shawkat, actress
Arnett professes that he’s never seen Arrested Development, but he’s heard good things. Someone asks him, “Now, you’re the voice of two of the dragons on Dragon Tales, right?” He responds: “Yes. And I also do the Fairly Oddparents.” Cross chimes in, “I do Christ in Veggie Tales.”
Walters on the air quotes scene: “This is one of my favorite scenes I’ve ever done. I put it on my reel.”
Arnett: “This scene was not hard.”
Hurwitz: “That is a mouthful, Jessica.”
Walters: “I like mouthfuls. I like to do mouthfuls.”
Cross: “I’m going to let that one go.”
Shawkat: “How did you do that?” referring to Cera’s slipe and fall.
Cera: “There was a blue mat.
Everyone’s discussing how great Ed Begley, Jr.. is, when Cera says, “I love that Fred Willard came in and did an episode.”
Walters considers Cross’s fall to be Buster Keaton-worthy. She’s not wrong.
Hurwitz: “I’ve never seen this scene without thinking, ‘Will Arnett was a dramatic actor about six months earlier. He hadn’t really done a lot of comedy.’”
I JUST GOT THE SITWELL AND STANDPOOR JOKE.
Hurwitz claimed that many AD fans were not very smitten with the Martin Short plot. Also, they tried to get a guy who looked like Steve Martin to be the actor on the right, just in case they could cast the actual Steve Martin later on. It never happened.
Arnett: “They have no budget on Good Morning, Albany.” As someone who’s from Albany, my response is: BUT THEY SURE KNOW HOW TO MESS UP THE BUDGET IN ALBANY, DON’T THEY?! Politics.
This is the only time on the show you can see the lights of the O.C. out the window. But don’t call it that.
Hurwitz: “I’d never seen someone vomit on camera like that…until you [David] did that MoveOn.org thing.”
The first time Hale attempted his tuck and rule, he hit his head on the ground. Like, super hard. So much so that Arnett’s the one who brings it up.
Arnett: “Why the hell is Gob standing there for four minutes?”
Cross: “Just this one thing, we’re in Portugal right here.”
Hurwitz: “That was one of our worst special effects ever there, the fake leg.”
Cross: “It looks like she’s nursing a baby.”
There wasn’t a real ending for the script, until Short ad-libbed, “You’re right inside of me now.” It cracked everyone on the set up so much that you can actually somewhat hear Jason Bateman laughing in the episode.
IT WASN’T A REAL TAPE RECORDER.
