Shawnsey's Revenge
2014 · 10m · USA
Directed by Linas Phillips, Christian Anderson
Genres: comedy
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, humorous
Shawnsey, a hearing-impaired Boston townie and aspiring stand-up, rehearses, reviews his own footage, and obsessively perfects the exact moment to tip his sunglasses mid-bit. Comedy as forensic craft.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A whole short about a guy fine-tuning when to tip his sunglasses. That is the kind of microscopic comedy carpentry I'm here for.
Phillips's sustained-persona work is a real thing — a Tim-Heidecker-with-Steve-Brule lineage — but as a single entry in an ongoing universe it's hard to judge cold.
Sustained character-universe work is rarer than it sounds — the sunglasses-tipping rehearsal beat is exactly the kind of forensic comedy specificity I want. Bonus points for being part of a larger Phillips project.
Reviews
There's a couple hilarious moments here, as when he's reviewing footage of his routine and tweaking when he should tip his sunglasses for effect