Michael Nesmith in Television Parts

Having seen Elephant Parts in the early 80's, I looked forward to Nesmith's Television Parts as an NBC summer replacement program in 1986. Far removed from the usual style of comedy at the the time, Nesmith would introduce the program in a tongue in cheek manner and that would be followed by a series of comedy vignettes and original, well produced music videos.

One of the things I liked best about the programs was the mixing of familiar with up and coming comedians. Martin Mull would do a brilliant music video to be followed by a young Gary Shandling in a hilarious monologue, fully acted out, about the problem of owning a sports car. In fact, I can't remember one normal stand-up routine; the old single mike, brick background style. Each segment was performed sketch style, including the music videos. I especially enjoyed Whoopi Goldberg's Surfer chick routine, which I had never seen before. In fact, I don't remember Whoopi in anything before these shows.

Mr. Nesmith created a compilation video from these shows called "Doctor Ducks Super Secret All Purpose Sauce" which is somewhat of a *Best Of* that I highly recommend.