Analysing a sentence written by Woody Allen

Question

The sentence below is from the piece Udder Madness written for The New Yorker by Woody Allen. I take it that Woody is no linguist and so it surprised me a good deal to light upon such a "complex" sentence from a non-linguist. I tend to believe one must have a certain level of proficiency to write such sentences.
What exactly is happening here? I can't make head nor tail of this sentence as far as its syntax and grammar are concerned. The sentence reads

That’s why when included in last week’s A-list was a writer-director in cinema with a long list of credits although I was unfamiliar with the titles I anticipated a particularly scintillating Labor Day.

I would appreciate any help. Thanks!

Kate Gregory · Accepted Answer

This sentence is really not that different from

That’s why when she smiled although I was sad I smiled too.

It could do with some commas, which becomes clear in the shorter version. All I have done is substitute:

"she smiled" for "included in last week’s A-list was a writer-director in cinema with a long list of credits"
"sad" for "unfamiliar with the titles"
"smiled too" for "anticipated a particularly scintillating Labor Day"

Grammatically, the only thing making it complicated is using long phrases without any parentheses or commas to help you identify the sort of nesting in the sentence.
If I put commas in the short version:

That’s why, when she smiled, although I was sad I smiled too.

I can try putting the same commas in the long one:

That’s why, when included in last week’s A-list was a writer-director in cinema with a long list of credits, although I was unfamiliar with the titles I anticipated a particularly scintillating Labor Day.

And I think that makes it more readable.

Analysing a sentence written by Woody Allen

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