Thank You Mask Man (1971)

Starring: Lenny Bruce
Grade: C-

Thank You Mask Man is something you would accidentally stumble on while watching network TV past your bedtime in the 80s or 90s.

Summary

The Mask Man accomplishes another mission, fires his gun in celebration, chants “Hi, ho!”, and rides off on his white horse into the distance. The main guy pulls up with his mother and tries to get the Mask Man’s attention but to no avail. He turns to a fellow citizen to explain his gripes. He made a present for him and was setting up a whole party, but the Mask Man didn’t want to wait. The guy just accepts it and keeps his money, referring to the Mask Man as a beautiful person. Later, the Mask Man rides through town, and the main guy tries to get his attention again with a present. However, the Mask Man rides through and doesn’t even look in his direction. He can’t believe how selfless the Mask Man is. Turning to the guy next to him again, he brings up how that guy didn’t give the Mask Man a single nickel, despite how many times the Mask Man has taken the garbage out, cleaned up the yard, and whatever else. Still, he apparently doesn’t want anything. He’s just a beautiful person. There hasn’t been one guy like that. They always stick around as if to say, “Look what I did for you” or his friends say it. After this, the Mask Man is spotted again saying “Hi, ho!”, and the main guy again tries to yell for his attention to give him a present. Sadly, the Mask Man still doesn’t notice him and rides off. The main guy goes over to three other men in town and asks if any of them gave the Mask Man any money. After the shake their heads, the main guy realizes the Mask Man doesn’t take anything, not even a “Thank you”. One guy argues that they all take “Thank you’s”, but the main guy is sure the Mask Man doesn’t. Following this, the Mask Man rides by in the distance, and all the guys try to wave and get his attention but to no avail. Finally, the main guy gets frustrated yelling, “Wait a minute you asshole! Wait a minute! I’m tired of his horseshit now”. This is the third time he made a present for the Mask Man, but he ran off.

He doesn’t mind for himself per say, but his mother made coffee and cake and everything and is standing there outside next to him holding it. Now, the main guy is pissed off just thinking about it. He questions if the Mask Man thinks he’s too good for everybody because he can’t even stop for coffee and cake. He even thinks the Mask Man was laughing at them. The main guy tells the other guy who walks over that the Mask Man is no good, a fake. He goes on about how the Mask Man isn’t a nice guy either. If he was, why does he leave bullets for everybody? Just then, a doctor inspects a loose bullet and relates it to getting syphilis somehow. The main guy takes this in and deduces the Mask Man is saying the whole world has syphilis, which is why he rides with his mouth closed. He doesn’t want any part of anybody. With this, he tells the doctor to get the Mask Man back over here because he wants to kick his ass. A guy brings over the main guy’s mom towards the Mask Man while the Mask Man stands there. The main guy’s mom holds out her gun to make sure he stays put. The guy asks the Mask Man what his story is and brings up how Mr. D’Angelo is mad at him because his mom made all that food and he ran off. He questions why the Mask Man is so snobby that he can’t accept love or a “Thank you” from anybody. The Mask Man tells the guy to get his hands off him, referring to them all as “barbarians”. The Mask Man considers the possibility of waiting for a “Thank you” aloud, and a small child interrupts and says, “Thank you Mask Man”. He repeats it, and it gets the Mask Man’s attention. He wants to hear it again, so the kid repeats it. He pats the kid’s head and appreciates it, considering it a sweet gesture. In the distance, some villain is holding two people at gunpoint, and they cry out for the Mask Man’s help. The Mask Man hears them but says he’s too busy getting a few “thank you’s”.

After the villain robs the two men and they continue to call for him, the Mask Man gets mad at them for breaking his balls. He notes how much he helps everyone, so he figures he’s entitled one week off to get some “Thank you’s”. If they keep it up however, they will get nothing. The Mask Man tells himself that he’s going to get a Thank You Mask Man book. He talks hypothetically about the future where he can talk about his book when he’s older. If he’s in the shingle business, he can point to his book to show he wasn’t always in that line of work. He goes to his mailbox to see if there are any more “Thank You Mask Man”. The mailman reveals there aren’t because the Messiah has returned during the night. This confuses the Mask Man, with him asking what this has to do with him. The mailman replies, “Well you see, men like yourself, you thrived upon the continuance of segregation, violence, and disease. Now the Messiah has returned. All is pure. You’re in the shithouse”. After the mailman leaves, the Mask Man pulls out his gun and decides he will now make trouble instead because he’s geared for it and must have a “Thank You Mask Man”.

As you might expect, he does cause quite a stir.

My Thoughts:

Just like the trailblazing comedian who inspired the production, Thank You Mask Man is a cancellable midnight short that lived a life of its own in the world of underground animation. Truth be told, the film isn’t an amazing piece of art that will move audiences in a significant way, but it’s a rarer animated short that possesses a historical aura within it, as if we should know about its existence at the very least.

The whole plot of Thank You Mask Man is derived from one of Lenny Bruce’s standup bits, and it’s imaginative enough that it does serve as a story all on its own. You can’t do this sort of thing with most comedians, but Bruce’s style onstage was very different. When watching the short film, you can see why. He rambles nonstop and a lot of it makes more sense in his head than it does to the audience. However, his delivery as he continues at such a rapid pace is impeccable. It makes his energetic babbling highly entertaining to hear, even if the individual jokes in-between isn’t all that funny, like him calling Tonto “Tanta” and getting an entire unnecessary minute out of that exchange between the city worker and the Mask Man character. Still, it’s the mark of a great storyteller, a trait Lenny Bruce was known for. Really, he embodies what the supporting character in the short says to the Mask Man in that “Damn, you sure can talk some shit buddy”. In just 7 or so minutes through Bruce’s material, the short is able to fill the screen with an entire town, loads of nameless but distinct supporting characters, a character reminiscent of The Lone Ranger, a hero/villain arc, and an unexpected but amusing ending. The inspiration to turn Bruce’s bit into an animated short was probably instant upon hearing it, as the comedian’s ability to take over the minds of all these different characters in his head, speak aloud their unique personalities while they have these conversations with the Mask Man, and each person all having varied and clear-cut inflections with the way they talk, is vibrant enough for a production to be centered around it. This especially includes the Mask Man himself and the little kid who comically rattles off, “Thank you Mask Man” over and over again to the point where it changes the Mask Man’s stance on getting such a greeting for his good deeds.

If Thank You Mask Man is viewed passively, some may have trouble with the climax being the Mask Man deciding he wants his gift from the townspeople to be Tonto himself to “perform an unnatural act”, but it’s much smarter than what it sounds like. With his trademark vulgarity for the time period, Bruce is using his aggressive style of humor to commentate on the ridiculousness of people’s aversion to the gay community. The whole time, everyone just wants to go out of their way to thank the Mask Man for what he does for them, and a city worker goes to the Mask Man in private to plead with him to accept a present, to do it for the kids, and he can move and go about his day if he does so. The payoff being that he wants Tonto and the whole town turning on him is quite funny in that regard because this one detail of his personal life supersedes everything good that he’s done, pointing out how dumb it is. The follow up of the Mask Man adding, “Tell you what. Give me the horse too” was hilarious. How they animate the confused look on all the men’s faces before the guy asks him what he wants the horse for to which he replies, “The act!” was gold. The same could be said about the three-way closeup of the smirking Mask Man, the shocked guy, and Tonto when the Mask Man initially requests Tonto as a gift (“Wash ’em up and get him ready”). The Mask Man’s downplaying of his own sexuality and how “I’ve heard a lot about it, read exposés, and want to try it now to see how bad it is, just once” was hilarious too, even welcoming being jailed for it because of the irony of being locked up with other men.

Hey, that’s Lenny Bruce for you.

Thank You Mask Man is very much Lenny Bruce in all his glory. It’s colorful, dirty, and could be taken the wrong way if the viewer has a tendency to see things on a surface level. However, it’s satirizing of the hero myth, society’s prejudices, and how fickle and terrible everyone can be is amusing in its accuracy. It’s why this small bit was able to be turned into a fully realized production by just using audio. The animation might look like it’s a Tootsie Pop commercial, but it’s part of the charm and they utilize its low budget well enough to create its “drive-in movie theater” opener type of vibe. It’s not a life-changing short and it’s far from the comedian’s best work, but it’s directed well. In addition, they do a great job at collecting Bruce’s thoughts, creating a narrative without having to deviate from the source material to service its small runtime. From a technical and creative aspect, it is impressive in that regard. Nevertheless, you’re not really missing much if you don’t see it either. Its positives rest solely on the fact that they pulled off such a feat with so little to go off of and not adding more to flesh out the bit to make a longer narrative. The idea was to go with audio straight from the source and figuring it out from there, ending the short just as the bit is over. With this, they succeeded in their goal, though one viewing is more than enough for a lifetime. Sadly, there just isn’t enough here in terms of replay value.