Twin Peaks

When I First Watched David Lynch’s ‘Eraserhead’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Please don’t ask me what “Eraserhead” is about because I’m still trying to make sense of it after all these years. Even David Lynch, who passed away on January 15, 2025 after battling emphysema, refused to tell anyone what it means as he prefers to let audiences come to their own interpretations. I finally got to see this surrealist body horror cult classic for the very first time at New Beverly Cinema back in 2012, and the theater was packed with fans of Lynch’s films as well as others who were also witnessing his cinematic work for the first time. We all came out of “Eraserhead” baffled as to what it all meant, but we were still endlessly mesmerized by the visuals and sounds Lynch came up with, all of which were done on a very low budget of $100,000.

When the movie’s title appeared on the screen, the audience burst into applause which gave me an idea of just how many at the New Beverly had seen “Eraserhead” before, and I imagine that have sat through it multiple times. We were sucked right in as Henry Spencer’s head floated in front of us while some weird looking guy was pulling at a bunch of levers as if he were pulling strings on a marionette. Then we got a visual of a sperm-like creature floating on the edge of Henry’s mouth which is suddenly shot forward into our world. Whatever this creature is, it was clear it would play a big part as the film unfolded before us.

It was fascinating to take in the audience’s reactions to “Eraserhead” that evening, but the most vocal reaction came when Henry Spencer (plated by Jack Nance) and his girlfriend Mary X (Charlotte Stewart) bring home their hideously deformed newborn baby. No one could tell if it was male or female, and its grotesque appearance both repulsed and enthralled everyone.

This very strange looking baby has a long pencil-thin neck, its head looks more like a giant snout, and it is limbless. To many, this is the kind of baby no parent ever hopes to have, but we feel sympathy towards this child because it breaks our hearts to see any baby suffer the way this one does. That it’s whining seriously got on the nerves of its parents is a testament to the meticulous sound design Lynch put together along with sound editor Alan Splet because it irritated us as well. Then again, we couldn’t help but laugh along with the baby when it let out a cackle as if it were belittling Henry and his feeble attempts at attending to it in a meaningful manner.

With Lynch’s films, there are times where we can’t help but laugh because the dreamlike state he invites and propels us into is at times hard to take seriously. But with every moment we laugh, there is another which has us so deeply enthralled to where we are at a loss for words and you can hear a bag of popcorn or a soda drop from someone’s hands in the theater (if it were a cellphone ringing, they would have been kicked out and banned for life). “Eraserhead” is no exception as it has many moments with a kind of beauty impossible to find in any other motion picture, and this makes Lynch an exceptionally original filmmaker.

This is especially the case with Laurel Near who played the Lady in the Radiator because, even with her horrifically bloated cheeks, she has us at hello with her rendition of the song “In Heaven.” While she may not exactly look pretty by any conventional standards, her singing voice is very sweet and gives us one of the more heart-warming scenes you might not expect this film to have.

While we came out of “Eraserhead” utterly baffled as to how to describe or interpret it, we could not say we weren’t enthralled by what Lynch presented to us. This was his debut as a movie director, and it led him to getting a career in Hollywood as one of its most daring filmmakers. I am eager to revisit this film again in the future because, like “Lost Highway,” I would like to think I can figure out what it all means. Lynch was never quick to give us any easy answers as he felt life was far too complicated and complex to do so, but I appreciate him for always bringing up some very interesting questions. Even as human beings all over the world desperately want everything spelled out to them, Lynch reminded us how we need to think about things for ourselves.

Rest in peace David.

‘Eddie Pence: The (Un)special Comedy Special’ is Endlessly Funny

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Sooner or later, every standup comedian gets their own comedy special captured on film, digital or whatever else people are using these days. Richard Pryor performed one of his most famous standup specials on the Sunset Strip at the Comedy Store, George Carlin performed many unforgettable specials on HBO, Kevin Hart got to perform to a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden, and Dave Chapelle has remained a comedic force to be reckoned with on Netflix along with others like Amy Schumer and John Mulaney.

And then there is Eddie Pence. You haven’t heard of him? Well, you clearly have not been paying attention like you should. Eddie has been a stand-up comic for many years in Southern California, has appeared on many different shows, and he is also the vice host of “The Ralph Report” with Ralph Garman. Still, he has not achieved the crazy level of fame others in his field have. But like many in this day and age, he has been busy fundraising in an effort to create his own comedy special, and it has finally arrived and been given the unique title, “Eddie Pence: The (Un)special Comedy Special.” What results is a solid hour of hysterics from a self-deprecating individual who is better at performing than he thinks.

With this comedy special, which Pence filmed in his hometown of Washington, D.C., he wisely sets himself up as an underdog. When rushing towards the camera in the opening moments, he is knocked over by a pedestrian who will not even allow him to say the title of this special which Comedy Dynamics took a little too long to release. As he attempts to give out free tickets to his show, he is greeted by one who mistakenly believes he is a blood relative to a certain Vice President who was recently upstaged by a housefly during a debate. Upon arriving at his appointed venue, the D.C. Comedy Loft, he is informed that the main room is hosting a comedy class on how to tell a joke, and it costs only $10 to attend. As a result, he is forced to perform in the venue’s Cellar room which I imagine is the equivalent of the Belly Room at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles. Nevertheless, Pence is so determined to jump onto the stage to give us what he has got, and he is so pumped up to where he doesn’t realize his comedy set will not start for another two hours.

The set of the Cellar is very simplistic as it features a red wallpapered wall with bland white Christmas lights adorning it. If those lights were blinking constantly, it may have looked more like the seedy bar Laura Palmer visited in “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.” But while Pence may not have the spectacular sets which adorned Carlin’s HBO specials, he is not about to let his sparse set affect his comedy set, and it quickly proves to be endlessly hilarious.

Right from the start, I could see Pence has had a lot of experience as a stand-up comedian, and he shows a lot of confidence as he goes from one joke to the next with what seems like relative ease. As he points out how strippers are doing the Lord’s work or how no one can half-ass streaking, it is clear he has long since found his own unique style of performing and trusts his own point of view implicitly. Even I have never taken into account how strippers are doing the Lord’s work.

What I also admired about Pence is how he goes from one topic to another with the understanding of not staying on the same subject for too long. He is also aided by his director, Dustin Jacobs, who keeps the proceedings moving at a steady pace. Stand-up comedy specials usually have spots where things begin to drag to where you find yourself checking your watch or looking how much time is left before the end, but this special is never undone by such problems. Everything feels smooth and I never felt my attention wavering throughout even when Pence talks about how hamsters make the worse pets.

And like all great comedians, Pence saves his best material for last. His jokes about “Star Wars” are more than welcome, and he comes up with stuff even Kevin Smith did not include in “Clerks.” Pence’s biggest jabs, however, are at “The Empire Strikes Back,” still the greatest “Star Wars” ever made. The penultimate scene in which Princess Leia tells Han Solo she loves him before he is frozen in carbonite, and he tells her “I know” remains one of the most memorable moments in a “Star Wars” film, let alone any other film in cinematic history. But in the process, Pence provides us with definitive proof of how a similar situation will never play out as well in real life. In fact, anyone with a DNR order will find their wishes completely voided if those two words are the last thing they say to their spouse.

Is “Eddie Pence: The (Un)special Comedy Special” one of the greatest stand-up comedy specials ever made? Oh please, do not go into this needlessly comparing this one to others. Simply let it stand on its own and enjoy for what it is. Besides, all these lists get everything in the wrong order. There was one which even dared to put “Bill Cosby Himself” at a much higher position than “Richard Pryor: Live in Concert.” Blasphemy! That’s like saying John Carpenter’s “Ghost of Mars” is a better motion picture than his remake of “The Thing!”

Anyway, I digress. Pence proves to be a durable stand up comedian who generates many laughs for the most enthusiastic of audiences, and his “(Un)special Comedy Special” will present viewers with a nice diversion from the apocalyptic world we have been forced to endure this past year. But by the end of 2020, I hope to have an answer as to which comedy is funnier: this or “Trump Card.”

* * * ½ out of * * * *