Comedy Central is no stranger to making dumb people look even dumber. In ‘The Daily Show,’ comedian-reporters ask absurd questions of right wing zealots, UFO watchers and the criminally insane, prodding them to make ridiculous statements about their causes. In the show ‘Trigger Happy TV,’ unsuspecting pedestrians are routinely assaulted and tricked into believing practical jokes that are well outside the realm of grounded imagination.

Now, forget all that, because Comedy Central has produced what may be the most outrageous practical joke yet shown on television – and possibly anywhere else. ‘Windy City Heat,’ which premiered Sunday night, is (if we are to believe the premise) a brilliant and almost constantly hilarious documentary that proves the pervasiveness of American stupidity.

The docu/mockumentary follows Perry Caravello, a crass, racist, dim-witted slob of a man, as he rides a wholly constructed wave to Hollywood ‘success.’ We follow Caravello through the process of filming what he thinks is a major motion picture. Everyone in ‘Windy City Heat’ is in on the joke, including Caravello’s two best friends, ‘director’ Bobcat Goldthwait and the hundreds (if not thousands) of extras involved in filming.

The movie is the result of a seven-year planning process and involved impeccable yet overt storyboarding and situational devices that you would have to be brain dead (or Perry Caravello) to believe.

One of the funniest moments occurs early in the film, when Caravello is told to go to his trailer to get suited up for shooting. When he arrives, an effeminate-acting ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’ takeoff instructs him to strip down and put on chaps and a thong – which Caravello grudgingly does after some high-pitched, lowbrow complaining.

‘I’m not a fag, I’m homophobic. I hate faggots,’ he said in one of the movie’s interviews, which Caravello thinks are part of ‘The Making of Windy City Heat’ for its accompanying DVD. After a while, the man ‘realizes’ that Caravello is not actually Luke Perry, and that he was mistakenly on the wrong set. ‘This isn’t the stage for ‘Oklahomos’?’ he asked, with a completely straight face, as Caravello ranted and raved that he was not being treated like a star.

And for the rest of the film, which is as fast-paced as it is funny, more ridiculous humor pops up at every turn. A Nazis versus Jews basketball game temporarily interrupts shooting. Goldthwait requests real cow manure to be brought onto the scene in which Caravello is thrown into a dumpster. ‘For realism,’ he said. Some of the other character’s names and roles, of which Caravello is completely aware and never questions: The film’s producer, John Quincy Adams; Ansel Adams, the film’s fashion photographer; Hiroshima Nagasaki, the Japanese financier, and so on.

The joy of watching ‘Heat’ is in Caravello’s responses to the situations into which he is thrust by the practical jokers. He whines constantly, gets belligerent, makes sexist, racist, homophobic comments, acts like a slob and all the while believes he is on his way to being eminently respected in society.

The sheer stupidity of Caravello, for any viewer, should be hard to believe. But if Comedy Central isn’t lying to us, if he really is that dumb, then ‘Windy City Heat’ is probably the best mockumentary it has ever aired. If not, he deserves an Emmy for making us believe it.

Colin Dabkowski is a senior magazine and Spanish major. E-mail him at colin@dailyorange.com.

Published on October 13, 2003 at 12:00 pm