Jonathan Katz aka Dr. Katz Professional Therapist rocks out

"Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist" is a sadly forgotten late 1990s Comedy Central show which helped put the network on the map, but was quickly discarded once "South Park" took off.  The show's auteur -- Jonathan Katz -- has been sidelined with health problems for several years.  But his work as a comedian and musician are both on-display in this hilarious episode, "Studio Guy."  One of the few times I've seen something touching on Comedy Central.  His son Ben (voiced by the great H. Jon Benjamin) contributes the perfect amount of clueless exuberance as the recording engineer.

The Presidents of SNL

Not sure how I missed this the first time: it's the intersection of almost all of the SNL presidential impressionists... Gerald Ford (Chevy Chase), Jimmy Carter (Dan Aykroyd), George Bush (Dana Carvey), Bill Clinton (Darrell Hammond), George W. Bush (Will Ferrell), and Barack Obama (Fred Armisen).  Sadly missing is Phil Hartman's (RIP) take on Ronald Reagan (RIP).  The only other castmembers to prominently play Reagan were Harry Shearer and Joe Piscopo... were they busy?  Instead, Jim Carrey (who failed TWO SNL auditions) steps in for the only blase moments of the piece.

New York City by Dreams (1970)

Filmmaker Ken Shapiro created 1973's "The Groove Tube" along with Chevy Chase, Richard Belzer, writer Lane Sarasohn, musician Buzzy Linhart and others.  Here's a write-up on the film's history (and its origins in the Channel One experimental theater).  Shapiro seems to have disappeared from the face of the Earth, although his (alleged) daughters did a cute song-and-dance in SNL's 13th episode (Feb. 14, 1976).  But back to the film: my favorite segment is at the end, in which Nat King Cole's version of "Just You, Just Me" is faithfully re-recorded and then used as a laughable montage of NYC.  As a bonus, another segment -- the cop-show parody "The Dealers" -- uses a re-recording of Dreams' 1970 song "New York City."  Here's the original, complete with some great NYC-session-cat jamming.

The Muppets v. Family Guy

Seth MacFarlane's obsession with The Muppets -- as well as Jim Henson himself -- baffles me.  Sometimes he seems to look back fondly, other times he's baffled by their appeal.  Here's a series of clips from the episode in which they mock the people who've voiced the Muppets since Henson's death.

Happy Days with three cameras

"Happy Days" was a Top 30 show for its entire run... except it's second (1974-75) and last (1983-84) seasons.  Near the end, they were getting trounced by "The A-Team."  At the beginning, it was "Good Times," which CBS programmer Fred Silverman purposely moved opposite "Happy Days" (both shows having debuted at mid-season, in January, 1974) to kill it.  Soon, Silverman moved to ABC and had to save "Happy Days"-- a wise decision considering all the hit shows that it spun-off: "Mork & Mindy," "Laverne & Shirley" (as well as the non-spin-off "Angie" from the same producers).
Midway through season 2, someone suggested filming "Happy Days" with three cameras in front of a live audience.  Previously, it was filmed on a closed set (no audience) with a single camera -- like a feature film.  The producers quickly tweaked the set to accommodate everything and shot one episode -- "Fonzie Gets Married" -- one of the funniest installments.  When the show returned for season 3, the set had been completely re-arranged so they could film every episode with a live audience and three cameras.  For now, enjoy this strange-looking episode of "Happy Days." #SNL4Kidz

Crazy Eddie RIP

I lived in New York City well after the Crazy Eddie chain of appliance/stereo stores imploded.  But I still knew of the company from its brief appearance in the 1984 film "Splash" (check the monitors in Bloomingdale's while Daryl Hannah exercises), and from the various SNL parodies of their commercials.  A whole bunch of the original commercials are on YouTube immortalizing DJ Jerry Carroll shouting his way through 30 seconds of sales pitch.  Prior to Carroll's frenzied take, they actually produced two very lavish 60-second spots: one of a doo-wop band (likely playing on the success of "Happy Days" and 50s nostalgia) and one parodying "Saturday Night Fever."  The tagline in that second spot, by the way, is straight from that film's actual promo.

The tale of Crazy Eddie's ridiculous fraud scheme is legendary, and well summed-up by this episode of a Canadian(?) true-crime show, Masterminds.

Don Rickles on SNL

Ben Douwsma is a Canadian photographer (I think) who has an amazing blog that is slowly filling with incredibly detailed reviews of every SNL from seasons 6-10.  Recently, he posted one on the 1984 episode hosted by Don Rickles.

This review was almost totally on-point... it's one of my favorite episodes!  One very minor quibble (which I will now devote a major post to) is that the monologue should really get 5-stars, not four.  Rickles absolutely SLAYS the audience (and I mean that both ways).  Having seen the man in-person, I am actually wondering if this is the only widely-available video record of his masterful stand-up.  Think about it...

Most of his TV appearances have been on talk shows (hilarious) or sitcoms.  Neither of those arenas lets him wander the stage and insult regular people (plus a few celebs), as he does in Vegas and did on SNL.  The only things that come close are.... his 1968 LP (audio-only) and his appearances on the Dean Martin Show and at Ronald Reagan's second inaugural (both audiences full of celebs, not regular people).  He came close during his early 1990s appearance on Comic Relief, but the SNL audience is so much more electric.  Seriously, if any non-Eddie Murphy segment deserves five-stars in the non-Lorne Michaels years, it's Rickles' monologue (which is also probably one of the best monologues in the show's history, period).

As a bonus, here's some of Rickles' finest moments in television... a good case for him to win the Mark Twain Price?