James Urbaniak

1 sketch, 11 claims, and 7 fun items attributed to them. What was said about them.

Personality, episode by episode

Blank Check with Griffin & David: Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak (guest)

Loves old-timey stuff, the history and styles of acting, Robert Altman, Tony Randall and the Simpsons-quoting camaraderie of fellow nerds. He admires Keaton as a non-indicating, anti-sentimental, serene and modern performer, favoring cool restraint over Chaplin's warmth. He dislikes hammy over-indication and is a sucker for the specific, throwaway behavioral bit.

Stances

  • Keaton is modern, clean, streamlined and the ultimate non-indicator
  • Keaton is cool where Chaplin is warm and practical where Chaplin is showy
  • Silent acting streams coexisted: naturalistic and semaphore
  • Seeing a Spielberg shoot revealed that great directors create an environment that allows things to happen

Humor: Dry, precise and self-deprecating, with mimicry and deadpan anecdotes about his Jersey voice and his doomed Altman projects.

In their words

  • “It is my single favorite Buster Keaton bit of all time.” (0:46:50)
  • “Because because he's, in a sense, he's the, he's the ultimate non-indicator.” (0:42:16)
  • “It's like Helvetica font.” (0:40:35)
  • “if you'll allow me, please, I think he's a little Kubrickian.” (0:50:07)

Their shows' recurring bits

Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.

Blank Check with Griffin & David

Their claims

Showing 1–11 of 11 claims.

  1. unmapped (period look): The Fabelmans → Back to the Future. The prom set full of extras looked like Back to the Future.
    “And it looked like back to the future.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:16:01 · James Urbaniak (0.80 sure it was them)
  2. craft (directing style): Steven Spielberg → Ed Wood. Spielberg called out where to look mid-take during the long projector shot, like Ed Wood calling directions.
    “It was almost like Ed Wood going, walk through the door.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:19:21 · James Urbaniak (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (dismissed): Robert Altman → Citizen Kane. Altman told Urbaniak he never thought Citizen Kane was that great.
    “I never thought Citizen K was that great.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:25:20 · James Urbaniak (0.85 sure it was them)
  4. theme (analogy): Buster Keaton → Typeface: Helvetica. Keaton's clean, streamlined, unaffected style is like the Helvetica font.
    “It's like Helvetica font.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:40:35 · James Urbaniak (0.60 sure it was them)
  5. unmapped (critic's description): Walter Kerr → Buster Keaton. Kerr's book The Silent Clowns describes Keaton's serenity as resignation to catastrophe, not happiness.
    “he actually has a great description where he talks about Keaton's serenity.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:41:42 · James Urbaniak (0.80 sure it was them)
  6. people (acting style contrast): The Crowd → Sherlock, Jr.. Naturalistic acting in The Crowd coexisted in the same era with semaphore-style silent acting, which Keaton avoided.
    “There's an indicating quality where fingers are being waved in the air and that's a stream that coexisted.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:44:00 · James Urbaniak (0.50 sure it was them)
  7. unmapped (practical vs showy): Buster Keaton → Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin will make potatoes dance but Keaton's character is practical and just tries to solve the problem.
    “But Keith wouldn't do that because it's not practical.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:49:40 · James Urbaniak (0.50 sure it was them)
  8. unmapped (technical rigor): Buster Keaton → Stanley Kubrick. Keaton is highly technical, mechanical and formal in framing, which makes him a little Kubrickian.
    “if you'll allow me, please, I think he's a little Kubrickian.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:50:07 · James Urbaniak (0.70 sure it was them)
  9. contrast (temperament contrast): Buster Keaton → Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin is warm with emotions at the surface; Keaton is cool with emotions under the surface.
    “Chaplin is very, very warm.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:50:22 · James Urbaniak (0.40 sure it was them)
  10. lineage (influence): Buster Keaton → Wes Anderson. A line of rigorous frame control runs from Keaton to the Coen brothers and Wes Anderson.
    “the Coen brothers, Wes Anderson.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:50:38 · James Urbaniak (0.40 sure it was them)
  11. craft (joke structure): Buster Keaton → The Simpsons. Keaton is great at the Simpsons-style 'plus joke', a joke with another joke on top.
    “Keaton is great at the Simpsons style plus joke.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:05:02 · James Urbaniak (0.50 sure it was them)

Their fun items

Showing 1–7 of 7 fun items.

  1. fun, about Steven Spielberg: On the Fabelmans set, Spielberg greeted Urbaniak with a pun on 'thanks for having me.'
    “And Steven Spielberg said, thanks for being had, which was cute.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:18:00 · James Urbaniak (0.90 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Killer App: James was cast in an Altman and Garry Trudeau miniseries about early computers whose 'killer app' was live video that looked good.
    “And the killer app of the title was live video that looked good.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:23:47 · James Urbaniak (0.90 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Robert Altman: Altman told James he never thought Citizen Kane was that great, after he had followed Orson Welles through Paris.
    “I mean, Orson Wells is fine, but I never thought Citizen K was that great.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:25:20 · James Urbaniak (0.90 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about James Urbaniak: As a first grader a kid told him he sounded like Mr. Spock; his voice is his dad's Jersey loudness plus his mother's over-careful articulation.
    “you sound like Mr. Spock.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:32:59 · James Urbaniak (0.95 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about Buster Keaton: James: Keaton is the ultimate non-indicator; Helvetica was a reaction to ornate German type and is the New York subway font, so 'modern' also means clean.
    “It's basically Helvetica is an anti-Nazi font.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:40:46 · James Urbaniak (0.70 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about Sherlock, Jr.: The opening lost-dollar bit is James's favorite Keaton bit; the title card just says 'describe it' and he later repeats the rectangle callback.
    “It is my single favorite Buster Keaton bit of all time.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:46:50 · James Urbaniak (0.70 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about James Urbaniak: On Law and Order SVU James played a red-herring creep who put cameras in women's restrooms; his character's name was Wade Donato, an aquatic pun.
    “his name was Wade Donato, and I always felt Wade was a sort of aquatic pun.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 2:18:21 · James Urbaniak (0.90 sure it was them)