D.C. Follies

I do so wish that DC Follies had a much longer run on network television. It was certainly a unique show, I've never seen another like it on the little screen.

Fred Willard played a bartender at a Washington, DC establishment where not just the political elite, but everybody came to drink. Everyone who the Sid&Marty Krofft puppets could caricature. The writing was just excellent and the puppets were delightful. My best memory of the show were the then ex-presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter all gathering to compare notes on each other's time in the Oval Office.

As for Willard it might have been a bit disconcerting to be a really good comic himself, but here he just served as straight man to all the puppets. But it was the best thing he ever did. I wish he would bring it back for the Obama years.

I was sitting in a boring, warehouse-type building, working as a security guard for a well-known firm dealing with banks and valuables. We would wait for service calls, and respond to them. This was the "swing shift" and nothing ever happened. As I recall, it was Friday or Saturday night, and we usually played poker or hearts, when Dave brought a black-and-white TV set in. We would often watch Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Jake the Snake and the other retard wrestlers so popular to the missing chromosome set of that time period. I stumbled upon "D.C. Follies" while walking up and changing the channels. At this point, my memory becomes quite clear. Nixon, Ford, and Carter sat around a table. Nixon was always plotting a money-making scheme (e.g. "Bookmobile, and everyone gets a free chest x-ray), Carter was his usual sanctimonious self, and Ford would often just laugh and fall backwards in his chair, feet and legs exaggeratedly flying up to the sky. HILARIOUS! The first episode I remember was ol' Tricky Dick playing the keyboards at the very end, throwing in synthesized crap for effect. WE ROLLED AROUND ON THE FLOOR AND COULDN'T ANSWER THE DAMN PHONE FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES AFTER THE SHOW ENDED...HAND TO GOD! If I don't get copies of these episodes soon, life will no longer be worth it!

At the time of writing, this, and the far superior show it was ripped from (Spitting Image) are neck and neck in terms of viewer rankings. How? Spitting Image was a trendsetting classic, this was a cheap knock off by folks who should stayed on Saturday Morning. The Krofts made a ton of great shows for various Saturday Morning blocks, top of which was the way ahead of it's time "Land of the Lost." But DC Follies falls totally flat, proving that the Krofts needed to stay in their niche and not try political humor. Fred Willard can't even save it, or was he even trying? One wonders if he knew how off the mark it was and there picking up a quick payday, Cheap, unfunny, and not worth your time.

DC Follies was the place to go in the 80s for fantastic political humor. The characters were funny, and the writing was very sharp. It's unfortunate that we have so little political humor on TV these days. I would like to see this show on DVD.

I recall my parents used to tape this show for me when I was younger, as it was on late at night. I remember it being quite funny, though I would probably get more of the jokes now.

The one episode I remember well involved Nixon investing the bartenders money in the stock market and losing it. He tried to raise money by selling his "precious bodily fluids" (as he called it) to people who couldn't pass drug tests, and by writing a children's book with himself as the hero.

There were cameos by all the living ex-presidents and many of the celebrities of the day. It also had some witty lines, and some funny physical comedy involving the Gerald Ford puppet. I really hope to see it on DVD one of these days.