Flashback Caruso

I can’t stomach it on a regular basis or anything, but I do sometimes enjoy CSI: Miami just for David Caruso’s completely batshit hamming. And now some enterprising soul has put together this compilation of “endless Caruso one-liners” and put it up on YouTube. Could be a little more sharply edited, but it’s still very fine. The use of the Who theme music as a kind of ba-dum-bum rimshot really makes it for me – every time it goes to the Daltrey “Won’t Get Fooled Again” scream, I just laugh harder & harder.

Sent it to a Caruso-loving (well, Caruso-appreciating) colleague, who says:

My two favourites are, obviously, the last one set in Brazil, which I still can't really believe is real, and the one where he says, “Mr. Coleman, don’t worry because I ... I’ll be your memory.” I like to imagine that the weird pause is a Caruso ad lib and not just the worst writing ever.

I have not seen the full Brazil episode, but I must have seen the one leading up to it, because I do remember the line “Eric, we’re going to Brazil” right before the end credits. And several minutes later, I stopped laughing and got up off the floor.

Bonus beats: also courtesy of YouTube, here’s David Spade having some fun of his own: “That Who song can make any dialogue rock.…. Now Caruso delivers every line, even the lame ones, as if the Who is about to kick in his door.”

And if you have no interest in David Caruso, which is of course proper & sensible, just so all this wasn’t a complete waste for you, here’s everybody’s favourite German art-rock band* with one of the more almost-kinda-rockist moments from their trippy ’73 album The Faust Tapes. Buy it here.

• Faust, “Flashback Caruso”

* (Well, along with Can, Neu!, Amon Düül, and probably a few others....)