Ed McMahon: “You’re Fired”

As a teen, I hated that scene. And hated Ed for being such a jerk, making a drunken party of firing people.

Thirty years later after having actually worked in aerospace, I finally got it. Charlie is laughing and drinking because he’s miserable after firing people all day. He’s finally “run out of bullshit” and just tells them straight up. Except for the drinking — I missed that, having started mid-80’s — the entire scene feels very real to me. And well-acted by McMahon, who finally sits down, stops laughing, and admits the pain. Some nice work. At that point, he is not really the bad guy yet.