BRING THE THUNDER

omedy theorists call it the ‘switcheroo’: in a two-character dialogue, the bad guy feigns a spell of uncharacteristic benevolence, lulling his nicer and less dominant sidekick (Blackadder frequently does it to Baldrick) into a feeling of comradely reciprocation, only to pull the rug from under him with a sudden return to his acerbic true self. Les Grossman, the furnace-headed mega-mogul, producer and funder of Ben Stiller’s metafictional comedy gem — one