Mr. Mike's Mondo Video

"Mr. Mike's Mondo Video" is almost indescribable in terms of its mind-blowing bizarreness. This is Michael O'Donoghue's vision unfettered and it's not a pretty sight. (This is, of course, not to discount the contributions of his fellow writers Mitch Glazer, Emily Prager and Dirk Wittenborn, but this is Mr. Mike's show through and through.)

This is definitely the sort of film that has a polarizing effect on its audience. You either love it or hate it; it's hard to feel indifferent about it. Personally, I think it's brilliant, even if each individual segment isn't. Some things -- like the Klaus Nomi dream sequence and the cat tossing -- go on a bit too long, but they're almost invariably followed by something which is outrageous and/or laugh-out-loud funny. (My favorite segments are the non sequitur-like commercial lead-ins --"Gig Young's groceries... Looking up Cheryl Tieg's dress.")

A must-see for fans of Michael O'Donoghue. As a cultural document it is irreplaceable.

Originally intended to be a one-shot summer replacement for Saturday Night Live, "Mr. Mike's Mondo Video" was never aired due to its aggressive, in-your-face humor: "Christmas on Other Planets," "The Church of the Jack Lord," "Laser Bra 2000," "Nazi Oven Mitts," and musical performances by RootBoy Slim and the Sex Change Band and by Sid Vicious. Never aired by NBC due to problems with the censors, instead it received very limited theatrical release. Beware the now-existing video version (if you can find it), as the Sid Vicious performance of "My Way" is missing audio-- instead you get a scroll over the video explaining that Paul Anka, who wrote "My Way" refused to give rights to the video. Too bad-- it was pretty damn funny.

The movie is sketch comedy at its sickest, not too different from the best of SNL or "TunnelVision": one of the funnier pieces ("Beautiful Women Love Disgusting Men") has Deborah Harry telling the audience that she thinks "it's cute when guys miss the toilet seat."

A must-see. Simply incredible.

Well, I didn't laugh even once at this muddled, unfunny heap of film, which begins with a very boring, very unsmiling skit that centers around Cat Swimming instruction. It moves into other tedious skits like `The Church of the Jack Lord" (a Church of the Sub-Genius styled farce that looks great on paper) and a moment with Dan Aykroyd's deformed feet, not to mention the highly dim-witted "Laser Bra 2000" and a montage of male commentary called "Beautiful Women Love Disgusting Men," where the film unloads all of its cameos at once: Jane Curtin, Carrie Fisher, Teri Garr, Joan Hackett, Deborah "Blondie" Harry, Margot Kidder, Wendie Malick, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner, and Loretta Tupper. That said, you can probably guess how misleading the box is that professes appearances from this bevy of stars! Dan Aykroyd is in some of the skits, and there's further cameos from people like Paul Shaffer and Bill Murray (who's even less funny here than in his cameo as Lefty Schwartz in `Loose Shoes'). Alas, not even the footage of Klaus Nomi, Sid Vicious, or Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band (which is way too long and utterly stupid – the Tubes they weren't!) helps this disorder. The one redeeming skit is called "Christmas on Other Planets.' "Tunnel Vision," `Amazon Women on the Moon,' `The Kentucky Fried Movie,' and even `The Boob Tube' and "Jokes My Folks Never Told Me" (groan) are much, much better than this!

For a modern audience to get and appreciate "Mr. Mike's Mondo Video", it would probably help to know its history. Otherwise, you will be totally confused when seeing this film. Then again, while you may understand this film, it may not make you laugh.

The eponymous Mr. Mike is Michael O'Donoghue, who was head writer for "Saturday Night Live" during what many consider to be its best years ever (1975-1980). Indeed, O'Donoghue was a comic genius when it came to writing, and really wrote great comedy bits that fit the on-screen personalities of such comic legends as Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and Gilda Radner to a T. However, as this film more than suggests, his genius was most definitely apt to be misunderstood.

"Mr. Mike's Mondo Video" is a random hodgepodge of comedy bits, short films, and bizarre vignettes. Some sketches are mildly amusing, such as Aykroyd parodying Reverend Jim Jones and preaching the gospel of Jack Lord (the actor who played Steve McGarrett on TV's "Hawaii Five-0"). I also liked the bit about beautiful women telling the camera what turned them on about certain men. O'Donoghue was able to round up an impressive roster of women for that sketch, most notably Jane Curtan, Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman, Deborah Harry, and Carrie Fisher. Then-unknown Wendie Malick (TV's "Just Shoot Me", "Adventureland" (2009)) also makes an appearance.

Yet a good 80% of the movie was just . . . weird. Sometimes weird can be funny, but most of the film just made me go, "Huh?" Mr. Mike himself even makes a Rod Serling-like introduction about how much the film will shock and offend me. Five minutes later, I was neither.

One such bizarre sketch showed a man teaching cats to swim by throwing them in a pool. I wasn't laughing as much as I was relieved (and surprised, for that matter) that the cats could actually swim. Another sketch showing Dan Aykroyd showing off his foot mutation (some of his toes are webbed, apparently) also left me wondering what the point was of what I was watching.

"Mr. Mike's Mondo Video" is actually a parody of the controversial 1962 film "Mondo Cane", which was an Italian documentary with footage intended to shock and offend its Western audiences. To me, though, it felt more like Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker's underrated "Kentucky Fried Movie" (1977), except not as funny and far more random. While I credit the film for its ambition and brevity in its complete disregard for the status quo, it just felt too random for me. It neither shocked nor offended me particularly, and further presented Mr. Mike as a rebel without a clue.

Apparently I was not the only one who didn't get this movie. According to co-writer Mitch Glazer, a man who went to the movies to see this film upon its original release not only walked out in the middle, but also beat up the ticket person in the box office! While I don't condone the man's reaction, I can't blame him for feeling disappointed.

If, based on the roster of famous comedians in the movie, you are expecting "Animal House", you will be sorely disappointed by "Mr. Mike's Mondo Video". Some people will completely get this film, but I did not.

I rented this last night, after having been impressed by the credentials and the fact that NBC refused to air it. Very rarely has a video failed to live up to such lofty expectations; then again, I may have expected too much.

Even though I knew from the first two sketches that this was going to be a very annoying and unfunny video, I stayed with it, expecting that, at some point or another, the show would connect--say something funny, make some sort of original statement, anything. Nothing. It aims to be shocking, but ends up extremely boring. (Throwing a cat into the pool is funny. Turning that one single act into a long, slo-mo montage of cats being throwin into the pool--well, it seemed like five minutes instead of two. And two minutes is about 100 seconds longer than this sketch had to be.)

Much of this is stream-of-consciousness in the vein of Monty Python, only without any of the wit. Most of the jokes seem to have been written by O'Donoghue at three a.m. while coked out in a room with only a typewriter. (Am I far from the truth? I'm not up on my SNL trivia.)

Watch this video as a lesson on how to take what is potentially hilarous and cut it off at the knees. It also stands out as a document that testifies to a very empty and decadent niche in our cultural history.

In short, it stinks on so many levels.