For decades, gangster movies and TV shows were expected to be gritty, not funny. There isn’t a single funny moment in The Godfather trilogy. It’s all strategy and whackings. Serious business, just like in the real world… presumably. Other genre classics like The Untouchables and Scarface have nothing to smile about either. The trend stretches back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, when films like Little Caesar and White Heat made audiences terrified of gangsters rather than amused by them.
On television, shows like Our Family Honor, Crime Story, and Wiseguy carried on in the same melancholic vein. However, things changed in 1990 when Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas came out. From the Jimmy Two Times introduction to Joe Pesci’s iconic “Funny how?” scene, the film had many LOL moments. From there, it was open season. The creators of gangster movies and shows began traveling along the comedy route. Then came The Sopranos. Even though the HBO series mostly stayed on the dark side, it had numerous hilarious quotes. The best one came 24 years ago, in the Season 3 episode, “Pine Barrens,” which aired on May 6, 2001.
Paulie Delivers “Fake News” to Christopher
HBO
Paulie Walnuts is a funny guy. Funny how? Funny, like he amuses us? Funny, like he is a clown? Both, actually. He’s the show’s comic relief character and also the one who thrives outside the Cosa Nostra bubble. Unlike his colleagues, he never ties the knot or gets a regular goomah. Additionally, Paulie strides the entire show without getting harmed, despite making several questionable choices. Oof! Madone! How did he do it?
Paulie’s funniest moment comes midway through “Pine Barrens.” The episode is, in fact, filler. It has none of the usual ingredients… no major feuds with sardonic foes, no scantily dressed women at the Bada Bing! – It even leaves a thread hanging. What it does have, however, is more screen time for two of the show’s silliest characters, a totally comically unhinged story, and reams of WTF dialogue that crackles like a G-M counter next to a radioactive site.
Early in the episode, Tony tasks Paulie with making a cash collection from a Russian mobster named Valery. Silvio was supposed to do it, but he isn’t in good shape at the moment, so the next reliable guy is given the assignment. Paulie throws a tantrum, claiming he is supposed to take his Momma to Social Security, but Tony won’t hear any of it. Accompanying him is Christopher, who (as we see later) impressively holds onto his cool as the entire situation degenerates into a mind-blowing, chaotic farce.
Predictably, after some Mickey-taking, a fight occurs at Valery’s apartment (can’t these mobsters just get along?). The Russian ends up unconscious, and both Paulie and Christopher assume he is dead because that’s what mostly happens to anyone they get into an altercation with. Several years in the mob, and they have no intuition to check a pulse. Next move? Dumping the body.
The two DiMeo crime family members put Valery in the trunk and head to the snow-covered woods of New Jersey Pine Barrens, but once they stop, they realize the big Russian is still breathing. No problem! A gangster genre trope is initiated here as they hand him a shovel and instruct him to “Start digging!” No chance! In a surprise move, Valery hits them with the shovel and flees into the woods. While searching for him, they get lost. Then comes comedy gold.
As the two mobsters are shivering like Looney Tunes characters, Paulie calls Tony to deliver the bad news. Tony then advises Paulie to be careful because Valery was a Russian Interior Ministry operative who killed 16 Chechen rebels. Due to poor cell service, Paulie hears something else and tells Christopher, “You’re not gonna believe this. He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. The guy was an interior decorator.” Even funnier is Christopher’s reaction. “Interior decorator? His house looked like sh—.“
Ignorant Paulie Is the Best Paulie
HBO
How does a funny TV quote become iconic? It’s not just the “joke element” that makes it an affordable and effective alternative to prescribed medicine. It’s how the line heightens the character’s key mannerisms, while making the entire situation even more outlandish. Ordinarily, Paulie is known to be dumb. In fact, just two episodes after “Pine Barrens,” Ralph hits him with a rather fitting shady burn
Paulie’s “Pine Barrens” quote glows because it highlights his general stupidity, something fans actually like about him. He isn’t insufferable. Paulie is blissfully ignorant. He is like Homer Simpson or Michael Scott… except that he can kill you. While misquoting Tony, Paulie expresses himself with a lot of confidence, yet it’s rather obvious that whatever he is saying doesn’t make any sense. He doesn’t stop to think about basic facts. What could possibly link an interior decorator with the death of 16 Chechen rebels? Nothing! But Paulie doesn’t stop to wonder. Only Christopher does, which says a lot because Chrissy isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed either.
An iconic funny quote also needs great timing. When Paulie says the words, he and Christopher happen to be freezing and shaking, looking more like caricatures than ruthless gangsters. Most importantly, the line needs to elevate the episode. It’s largely because of Paulie’s moment that “Pine Barrens” is considered the jolliest and one of the best (if not the best) episodes of The Sopranos, a stylish pastiche of both man-on-the-run thrillers and Silent Era-type slapstick comedy. The episode may be a caricature, but not an unflattering one at all.
Interestingly, unlike Joe Pesci’s “Funny how?” quote in Goodfellas, this wasn’t improvised. The episode’s writer, Terence Winter, talked a little about it to GQ.
“I knew Paulie would not in a million years know what the interior ministry was, or, you know, Chechen, as opposed to Czechoslovakian, so it was about interpreting it through the stupid filter in his brain. So that was fun, too, because the phone kept dying out. So basically, it’s like a game of telephone for stupid people where, you know, I whisper in your ear and you whisper to the person next to you.”
Today, Winter is still creating magic. He is the head writer of Taylor Sheridan’s gangster drama, Tulsa King. Winter also wrote the script for Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, and co-created the TV shows Boardwalk Empire and Vinyl with the celebrated Hollywood director.
Release Date
1999 – 2007
Network
HBO
Directors
Tim Van Patten, John Patterson, Alan Taylor, Jack Bender, Steve Buscemi, Daniel Attias, David Chase, Andy Wolk, Danny Leiner, David Nutter, James Hayman, Lee Tamahori, Lorraine Senna, Matthew Penn, Mike Figgis, Nick Gomez, Peter Bogdanovich, Phil Abraham, Rodrigo García
Writers
Michael Imperioli, Jason Cahill, Lawrence Konner, David Flebotte, James Manos, Jr., Salvatore Stabile, Toni Kalem, Mark Saraceni, Nick Santora
