Funny / The People v. O. J. Simpson

• Two from "100 Per Cent Not Guilty":
  • In an example of Black Comedy, after seeing that the jury being selected is mostly black, O.J. whispers to Cochran that "If these people convict me, maybe I did do it."
• While O.J. is on the run, a somber Bob Kardashian shows Shapiro his "suicide note". Shapiro is less than impressed.
  Robert Shapiro: (exasperated) Jesus Christ.....who the hell signs a suicide note with a smiley face??
• Shapiro, who has obviously suspected O.J.'s guilt from the first moments, asking the Dream Team if any of them think the O.J. is guilty, leading to an awkward silence where no one raises their hand. Shapiro quickly and rather unconvincingly states that he agrees.
• Faye Resnick explaining to the publishers of her tell all book about Nicole Simpson what a "Brentwood Hello" is.
  • And then immediately after they start talking about how they definitely don't want the book to be exploitative, at all.
  • After the book is published the Dream Team pore through copies of it:
    Robert Kardashian: (reading) Faye's got it all wrong! That's not true... that's not true... okay that's true.
    Robert Shapiro: Lesbian sex, page 197!
    (everyone turns to that page)
    • Better yet, the comment about lesbian sex comes after Cochran says that people will forget about the book in maybe a week.
• Judge Lance Ito excitedly showing an autographed picture talk show host Arsenio Hall had sent him to writer Dominick Dunne (who's covering the trial for Vanity Fair magazine) and Dunne's less than impressed reaction.
• In "Conspiracy Theories", Robert Kardashian gets paranoid and thinks O.J. hid the murder weapon in the garment bag he left in Robert's house during his arrest. He calls up Al Cowlings and they work up the courage together to search the bag. It's a rather tense scene, but there's a half-second of Mood Whiplash when Robert finds a Penthouse magazine in one of the pockets and frantically tossing it aside.
• In "The Jury in Jail", in the wake of the DNA testimony and the jury's sudden revolt, O.J. suggests that the Dream Team put him on the stand in the hopes that his charisma can win back the jury. Horrified at the prospect of putting a notorious Bad Liar on the stand, the Dream Team keeps putting him on hold as they furiously discuss how to prevent their client from implicating himself, until an irritated O.J. starts bellowing at them.
  O.J.: I pray to God and to the black baby Jesus you put me on hold one more time, negro!
  • Eventually the team settles on mock cross-examining O.J. before deciding if they actually want him on the stand. Said mock-examination goes...poorly.
• "The Jury in Jail" also gives a montage of the jurors being knocked off the jury one by one as the defense and the people look for any excuses they can dig up to get rid of jurors they think will vote the other's way. A montage set to "Another One Bites The Dust" as the photos of the jurors on the board start decreasing scene by scene.
• A juror, on the verge of tears, protests to Judge Ito that the deputies treat the white jurors better. Her evidence? The jurors got an hour to shop at Target and only "gave [us]" half an hour at Ross.
  Ito: ...Us?
  Juror: They know the black like Ross more!
  Ito: Is that true?
  Juror: Of course it is, everybody knows that.
  (*Cochran nods and shrugs*)
• In "The Verdict", Cochran gets rattled after receiving death threats and responds by hiring the Nation of Islam ^note  For those that aren't aware, the Nation of Islam is an infamous organization in America: on one hand, they were and have been adamant about the advancement of civil rights of black people in America, and were instrumental in helping the rise of Malcolm X in the 60's…on the other hand, the Southern Poverty Law Center (considered the definitive expert in such matters) has classified the Nation of Islam as a racist hate group: their leaders have expressed anti-Semitic and anti-gay rhetoric, for example, to the point Conspiracy Theorists claimed they had a hand in Malcolm X's assassination after he publicly broke up with them. Whatever one's opinions on the organization, one thing is clear: they are not to be fucked with. as bodyguards. Shapiro takes this about as well as he takes every other move that Cochran's made during the trial, which is to say that he hilariously overreacts. Bailey snaps at him: "Just get in the van or I'll tell them you're Jewish!"
• The aptly named fifth episode, "The Race Card", is basically about Johnnie Cochran teaching the prosecution and Chris Darden in particular, that he can manipulate race better than anyone in the courtroom. Darden tries to keep recordings of a racist cop out of the courtroom, however in doing so he paints black people as incapable of thinking rationally when hearing the n-word. While it is a word that invokes a strong reaction, the suggestion ultimately painted black people as illogical and easily swayed by emotions. Cochran pointed this out to great effect, shaming Darden in the process, and getting the recordings entered as evidence in the trial. And then...
  Johnnie Cochran: (whispering to Darden) Nigga, please.
• The moment when Marcia Clark offers to buy Christopher Darden a drink while they're talking in her office—but instead of getting up to go, she just reaches down and pulls a bottle of whiskey out of a drawer.
  • Then, when Darden replies that he only drinks tequila, Clark (without batting an eye) reaches down and pulls a bottle of that out of her desk too.

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