Mauri the macabre

Mauri asks David if he has ever faked slapping someone (pretending to slap someone with force, but purposefully missing, and clapping your hands together to create the sound of the impact). After David demonstrates his fake slapping skills on Mauri, Mauri looks shaken, and insists that David had actually hit him for real. David denies the allegation, before admitting that he actually did. Mauri also tries a few fake slaps on David, but his skills are not nearly as good, and David quickly refuses to participate any longer.

Mauri then decides to fake a news report, which he is able to cobble together in his remaining five minutes with the help of a green screen, David, and David’s spare suit jacket. In the fake broadcast, Mauri reports on the sudden death of Persian comedian Behrouz Badreh, after having eaten too much shirazi salad. As he delivers the news, the ticker bar below him also lists other famous dead people (and extinct species), including Elvis Presley, John Belushi, Mother Theresa, Jesus of Nazareth, Gustav Vasa, Ulrika Eleonora, and the Ivory-billed woodpecker. David chimes in on the report, musing, “Tragic, we think at The News” (thus coining the episode’s title), but also noting that shirazi salad is just so irresistible.

Mauri then seems to have a change of heart, and decides to film a different report, this time reporting on the death of Finland’s former President, Tarja Halonen. Unfortunately, he is unable to stop himself from laughing after delivering his report, and is not helped by David’s deadpan delivery bemoaning the loss, proclaiming that “misery loves company”. During this broadcast, the ticker bar continues to list famous dead people and things, including Florence Nightingale, Joan of Arc, Alexander Fleming, Napoleon Bonaparte, Gertrude Ederle, Fet-Mats, Ötzi the mummy, Ola the Chimpanzee, and grunge music.

Babben awards Mauri second place.

(Written by Jenny R and proofread by Karl Craven)

(Illustrations collected by Jenny R and adjusted by Karl Craven)