Edward James Olmos Could Very Well Be Heading Down The Same Career Path Blazed By Leslie Nielsen

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Leslie Nielsen didn't become the legendary comedic actor of the silver screen overnight. Those of us who remember Leslie Nielsen before his "Detective Lieutenant Inspector Frank Drebin" days remember Nielsen from his endless appearances in movies and television series guest spots for years prior to "Police Squad." In all of these appearances, Nielsen primarily played a stone faced and intensely serious good guy or bad guy within the parameters of an extremely limited acting range. Legend has it that Jerry / David Zucker and Jim Abrahams (the makers of the "Naked Gun" movies and the "Police Squad" television series) developed a comedic affection for Leslie Nielsen beginning in their youth when they began noticing Leslie Nielsen popping up in all of those old movies and television series broadcast on television...and noticed a hysterical comedian underneath the surface of all that stone faced seriousness. I guess the moral of the story is....is that an actor who comes across as that intensely serious can only keep it up for only so long before someone will see right through it and begin calculating the comedic possibilities. Thus, Leslie Nielsen (the greatest stone faced comedian of the silver screen) was born.....and had a new and fresh career with the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrahams.

Edward James Olmos may very well be heading down the same career path. He just hasn't been discovered yet by a group of film making comedians who could quite easily milk the endless frowning and deadpan mumbling of Edward James Olmos for everything it's worth. And believe me, it's worth quite a bit comedically. One of the things so hilarious about Edward James Olmos is that he takes himself so seriously...and that seriously. That he actually attaches intense sadness and grief to all of those endless frowns and mumbles of his. I think it's about time that the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrahams give Edward James Olmos the new comedic career he is subconsciously begging for.

Was I the only one who didn't take the "Incredible Hulk" television series seriously starring Bill Bixby? Every week, David Banner would butt his nose in where it didn't belong...and get his ass kicked because of it. There's something incredibly hilarious about a television character that never learns the lesson of....."Don't butt your nose in where it doesn't belong" despite a weekly ass kicking in 4.5 years of consecutive television episodes. Sort of like Larry and Curly never learning to not piss off Moe in the "Three Stooges" despite getting repeatedly beat up by Moe with frying pans and other metal objects....similar to the weekly fate suffered by David Banner in the "Incredible Hulk." Banner would then turn into a flabby muscle guy in green grease paint wearing a clown wig...and bystanders would be yelling in terror...."It's a monster!! It's a monster!!" No, it isn't!! It's a flabby muscle guy in green grease paint wearing a clown wig!!" And to this day...Kenneth Johnson takes this "Hulk" stuff of his so seriously.....he swears by it....as if he produced "I Claudius" for four straight years.

What can be safely concluded...is that the most hilarious manifestations of humor in our society were born out of the unintentionally hilarious moments of intended stone faced human drama.

Edward James Olmos....Your seltzer bottle and clown wig are waiting in the wings......