Comedy Tonight

Robert Klein and Jerry Lacy, among others, hosted and participated in skits satirizing movies and television shows. It is a fore-runner to "Mad TV". Four hosts, Klein, Lacy, etc., would sing the title song, and then sit back in their chairs, looking like four news anchors. "Dean Martin Presents" tried a similar concept, in which Andy Kaufmann was first featured.

Shelley Berman was one of the producers of this summer replacement show. It had a laugh track and no live audience. Robert Klein, as host, did some stand-up (with the laugh track, which was kind of weird) that included some bits later released on his albums, and the rest of the show was blackout sketches.

For a while, I had at least one episode on audio tape, so I remember some bits. One funny bit they did was the "travel snob." Barbara Cason spent some time boring Laura Greene with news of her trip to Europe. Then Marty Barris cut in and said that in order to deal with a travel snob, "all you need is the ability to make up names quickly." Then the conversation resumed and turned to Greece, and Greene started saying things like, "Oh, then you must have been to Epididymis ... you know, just past the Thoracic Duct ..." and on and on, until Cason walked away crying, unable to compete further.

Another sketch featured Klein as a kid at camp, reading letters out loud that he was writing to his parents, and that got progressively worse until finally we saw MacIntyre Dixon reading a letter he was writing, saying "Bobby will be out of the in-fir-ma-rary ... in a week .. just as soon as he dries out."

Barris's catchphrase on the show was, "Ooh, am I gonna get yelled at!"

In the late 60s, Rowen & Martin's Laugh-In revived skit comedy television with a fast paced psychedelic vibe that was the talk of television. Despite the comedic brilliance of Arte Johnson, Ruth Buzzi, and Lilly Tomlin, and the giddy charm of Goldie Hawn, when the new decade arrived, the silly psychedelic appeal of Laugh-In began to fade. In a summer trial, Robert Klein hosted this deeper and more old fashioned paced comedy skit show, and it may have been the funniest series on TV I ever saw. Although, it owed its trial to Laugh-In, it's sophistication owed more to Cid Ceaser's Your Show of Shows and predated Saturday Night Live by a half decade. I can't explain why it took so long for that level of sketch comedy to recapture us. The talents of Madeline Kahn and Peter Boyle stood out, so it was not surprising they were the two artists from the Comedy Tonight troupe who went on to greater fame.

I was courting my now (and always) wife when this show came on in 1970. We used to sit in her folks non-air conditioned apartment and roll in laughter.

This was our first exposure to Robert Klein, after which we became big fans.

I remember one sketch where a Doctor is at an anatomy chart, using a pointer to review for his audience the steps for a very serious procedure.

(I'm paraphrasing) "After appropriate anesthetic, we will proceed to make the incision, pull back the skin in question, and commence with the procedure. . . " He goes on with this, detailing a very complex surgery filled with drama and risk.

Then, when he is finished and takes a breath, he turns to the audience and states, "UnLESS the patient is a Capricorn." . . .

I wish I had that clip from 40 years ago.

Great show for its time.

Artie

The "Brit" who snidely berated this program is further proof of why they should stick to trying to master the apparently lost art of dental care.

American humor (or "humour", as they bloatedly spell it) is different from the brown-toothed British variety. That is, it is actually funny.

While some of us on the advanced side of the Atlantic may find Monty Python to be marginally funny, British humor consists of actors speaking in squeaky voices, and men dressed as women --- somewhat akin to today's Democrat Party. Except, the Democrats are occasionally funny.

And, while Benny Hill may have been considered funny, his act consisted of Red Skelton knockoffs. Furthermore, his lonesome decline and decay need no further mention.

In short, the brown-toothed Brits should remember that the humor of this program is best critiqued by someone who culture is closer to that of the program itself.

That is my opinion. I do NOT welcome yours.