Auteur Theory: ‘On the Air’

David Lynch and comedy make an uneasy combination. Although many of the director’s best works are filled with quite effective, offbeat humor, his few attempts to tackle the comedy genre directly (such as his 1988 short film ‘The Cowboy and the Frenchman’) have mostly been disasters. Lynch himself attributes this to his fondness for jokes and situations that are “very absurd and really stupid. I love that combo, but apparently nobody else does!”* Nevertheless, after their TV show ‘Twin Peaks’ imploded in its second season, Lynch and co-creator Mark Frost found themselves pitching a half-hour comedy series called ‘On the Air’ to the network bosses at ABC. Yes, David Lynch actually made a sitcom. The fact that such a thing exists at all is perhaps the most surreal development in the filmmaker’s entire career.
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