The
Funny 115 - version 2.0
#71.
Mary who??
Fans vs Favorites - all season long
There are some Survivor moments that are funny just because they are
obviously funny.
ker-splut
There are some Survivor moments that are funny only if you sort of know
the history and the context behind them.
Hey Colby
There are some Survivor moments that are funny only because they are so
awkward and so weird.
Nooooooo, I don't want my touching medivac scene to look like this!!!
And
then there are my favorites... the Survivor moments that are funny only
if you stop and you think about them for a little bit.
Yes, there have been so many great types of Survivor comedy throughout
the years.
"No shit,
Sherlock."
But
if you want to see an entirely new type of comedy on the Funny 115,
check out this moment (a Survivor Sucks favorite!) from Fans vs.
Favorites. Because this is a whole new different style of
comedy
altogether. This is what I like to call "an editor's entry."
This is where the editors decide they are going to make an
editorial comment about the season, and they are going to do so by
using the editing to just make up a subtle joke out of thin air.
If
this type of subtle editing entry sounds familiar to you, it
should. This is exactly what the editors did to James Miller
with
his "Oracle
of Ulong"
prediction skills in Palau. They made sure that every single
one
of the his predictions turned out to be wrong over the course of the
season.
Why?
Who knows why they did this. Maybe
they just didn't like him. Maybe they thought James was just
one
big giant blowhard. Maybe they thought it would be funny to
make
him come off like a self-confident cocky idiot.
What was
particularly awesome about the Oracle of Ulong entry (and entries like
this) is that you would only notice it if you went back and watched
Palau a second time. You would only pick up on it if you knew
how
the season ended, and if you paid attention to what the editors were
doing to him.
That's why I call this type of entry "an editor's entry."
"Charlie Sheen's gonna become president in 2010. You mark my
words. Hell yea!"
So
anyway, onto one of the best editor's entries on the new Funny 115.
The sad saga of the forgotten Mary Sartain.
Like I
said before, this is a Survivor Sucks favorite. People on
Sucks
mentioned it to me over and over again when I asked for version 2.0
nominations.
Now that I am finally memorializing it on the Funny
115, hopefully all the people who have never noticed it before
will finally pick up on it and will appreciate it.
P.S. This is why the Survivor editors are some of the best on
TV.
Mary Sartain - aka "who??"
In
episode two of Fans vs. Favorites, the Airai ("Fans") Tribe decides
that they are going to vote out tribe member Mary Sartain.
"Mary
Sartain?", you might ask, with a look of confusion your face.
"Who's Mary Sartain? I don't remember her. Which
one was
she?"
Well, actually, I'm glad that you asked that question.
I'm glad because the other players (at least, through the editors) sure
spent a lot of time asking it as well.
"Mary? Mary who??
Which
one is Mary???"
All season long. Don't believe me? Watch and see.
The editors sure had a lot of fun with this storyline.
Episode two. Joel informs Kathy that they are voting for Mary
Blank stare
Joel repeats the name. Mary.
Finally Joel repeats the name one last time, just to make sure she has
it.
Kathy has no idea who the fuck Mary is.
She has to repeat the name to remember it.
Still trying to figure out who this Mary person is...
Kathy later sits down for a confessional and she repeats to us who
tonight's vote is supposed to be for.
"Joel steps up to me and says it's Mary."
(imitating Joel) "It's Mary."
"I'm like... where did
Mary
come from?"
So anyway, yeah. At the end of episode 2, the unknown
mysterious Mary Sartain is voted out of the game.
*smuff*
And
you know, you would think that would be the end of it.
In
any other season, with any other random anonymous character,
being
voted out in episode two would be the obvious end of their
storyline.
But nope. Not in Fans vs Favorites it isn't.
Because the editors are determined to play off of that Kathy scene and
have a little more fun with it.
Here we go.
The Fans Tribe marches out at the beginning of the episode three reward
challenge
Jeff Probst explains to the Favorites what they are looking at
"Favorites, getting your first look at the new tribe of Fans.
Mary... voted out at the last Tribal Council."
And then we get this awesome Eliza reaction.
(confused) "............. Mary?"
Ha
ha. I love it. I love when the editors do stuff
like that.
It's a perfect callback to the Kathy scene from the episode
before.
But wait! We're not done!
Want to see more
"Mary who?" callback comedy? Well check out this scene from
the
very end of the season, during the finale. It's now
eleven
episodes later, and the editors are STILL having fun with the forgotten
legacy of poor Mary.
It's the final three torch walk, and Parvati, Amanda, and Cirie
approach Mary's torch
And there it is.
What
memories do they have of Mary Sartain? What love and
affection
can they share about their former competitor who has long since been
voted out of the game?
What is the one nice thing they can say to memorialize Mary's Survivor
legacy?
Well this is why I love the editors so much
Parvati: "Didn't really know Mary."
Awesome.
Seriously,
if you want to see an A+ example of a season long editor's joke, you
need look no further than the forgotten legacy of Mary Sartain in Fans
vs. Favorites. The editors took a minor character that 95% of
Survivor fans wouldn't even remember, and they gave her a legacy that
was made to be memorialized on a list like the Funny 115.
I have
no idea what Mary Sartain did to piss off the Survivor
producers,
but I'm glad that whatever she did, she did. I'm glad that
the
editors basically Kelly Purpled her. Because once you catch
on to
her storyline it is funny as hell. Every time her name comes
up, somebody immediately has to ask, "Who??"
By
the way, the "Mary who??" storyline is also featured in one of
the
best Survivor Youtube videos of all time, the legendary Survivor
Micronesia: Amnesia Island.
If you have never seen this video before, be sure to check it
out
and laugh your ass off. Because there's no way the Youtube
channel can top what has already been done with this entry.
Mary Sartain. The real Mary.
P.S.
If you are an Arrested Development fan, you will appreciate
this
quote from RussellRules at Survivor Sucks: "Mary is the Ann
Veal
of Survivor."
Mary
P.P.S.
Yes I know that the players all knew who Mary was.
Duh.
That is why I call this "an editor's entry." It is
a
completely fabricated storyline that the editors just randomly made up
as sort of a wink to the audience. They thought that the
Kathy
scene in episode two was funny so they wanted to keep playing off of it
throughout the season. They do stuff like this on Survivor
all the time.
This
is why I always say that the second viewing of a season is way better
than the first. You would never catch "Mary who??" if you
only watched Fans vs Favorites once.
P.P.P.S. Here is the perfect quote to
end this entry. From a reader named Moe Goldberg:
"I just
discovered something extremely ironic. Mary from Micronesia
was
born on November 11 - which just happens to be Remembrance Day here in
Canada."
