All Commercials... A Steve Martin Special

"All Commercials...A Steve Martin Special" is a very high energy hit or miss show from 1980. In many ways, it's much better than Martin's next special, "Steve Martin's Best Show Ever" because of its energy and goofiness. The fourth special was very slickly made, had lots of very famous guests and was produced by Lorne Michaels. This one lacked all that...but was funnier because of its energy and lesser-known guests (which included pre-Pee Wee Paul Rubens, Antonio Fargas and Louis Nye).

The theme of the special are television commercials and the show pokes fun at many from that era. Because of this, it WOULD help if you are older and remember the ads they are lampooning. In addition, there is a nice pop song by The Dirt Band. Overall, very uneven but like "Laugh-in", it comes and goes so quickly that the flat jokes are soon forgotten.

Steve Martin's salute to '70s television commercials took shots at everything from "Suzie Chap Stick" to Palmolive to advertising agencies while showcasing his genius for physical comedy. This was back in the good old days of variety specials showcasing legendary comedic talents that we now see as legendary like Lily Tomlin, Bill Cosby, and Dick Van Dyke. I remember seeing this special as a kid and laughing hysterically at the "Okra Cola" sketch. It mostly pointed out how advertisers seemed to blatantly insult the intelligence of the American public while asking them to buy their product. This show truly reflected the attitudes of the television watching public of its time who were inundated with ridiculous and mundane commercial television before being set free by HBO and the VCR. If only this could've been a short series or something filling enough to make it to DVD today.

With a huge cast of "stars" I never heard of, except Paul Reubens, Martin laid an egg here. I am familiar with most of the commercials they spoofed and I laughed maybe twice. It just wasn't funny. The studio audience must have been high because they laughed constantly.