Happy Kentucky Derby day!

I got the horse right here--
His name is Paul Revere,
And here's the guy that says if the weather's clear,
"Can do."
"Can do,"
This guy says the horse "can do."
If he says the horse "can do--"
Can do!
Can do!

(Is that a young Vizzini on the right? I mean look at the guy...)

That little number is from a smash-hit Broadway musical called Guys and Dolls. It's based on the stories of American writer Damon Runyon.

If you've ever wondered who invented the American crime drama--you know, like The Sopranos, where the protagonists are thieves and murderers, but sympathetic because they're human and funny--that's the guy right there: Damon Runyon.

Yeah, so Guys and Dolls is basically like Breaking Bad: the Musical. Weird. Weirder still? It works.

Also those three characters singing the fugue (no really, that's what it's called: "Fugue for Three Tinhorns")? Their names are Nicely-Nicely Johnson, Benny Southstreet, and Rusty Charlie.

Which suggests a new drinking game: "My Little Pony or Damon Runyon hoodlum?"

Comments

[AugieDog]

It's of course:

Stubby Kaye in the middle, probably best known to today's audiences as Marvin Acme from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Later in Guys and Dolls, he sings one of my favorite songs ever, "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat." Quite the performer...

Mike

[horizon]

Nathan Detrot and Sky Mastercolt are names made to have been ponified.