Mary Tyler Moore - Chuckles Bites the Dust

[Amasov]

I just saw this episode of MTM - what a riot. That poor clown!

Lou: How much of a crowd is there?
Ted: If this were my funeral, it'd be packed.
Murray: That's right, Ted. Its just a matter of giving the public what they want.

---

Lou: I wonder which ones are the other clowns.
Murray: I'm sure we'll all know soon, they're gonna jump out of a little hearse.

---

Priest: Do you remember when Mr. Fee Fi Fo's arch rival, Senior Kaboom hit him with a giant cucumber and knocked him down? Mr. Fee Fi Fo would always pick himself up, dust himself off, and say, "I hurt my foo foo." Life is a lot like that. From time to time we all fall down and hurt our foo foo. And what did Chuckles ask in return? Not much, but in his own words, "A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants."

---



I've never seen much of this show, just clips here and there. From what I have seen, it's hysterical. Ted Knight provided me with the most laughs. The way he thought so highly of himself was simply brilliant.

I enjoyed this so much!

 

[TGTheodore]

This is considered by most critics I've read and people I know to be the classic episode in a series which contained so many great episodes.

I just started cracking up again from the few passages you quoted.

Thanks for reminding me of some of TV's best laughs!

--Ted

 

[Amasov]

Yeah, they were so priceless.

I saw a clip on YouTube where Ted is trying to comfort Mary - who is sitting at her desk in tears. Ted says, "You want to see what I do to stop Georgette from crying?" the second Mary looks up, Ted throws up his arms and yells, "BOO!" which scares Mary to death and worsens her mood. Ted then says, "Ohhhh, no, that's for hiccups!" to which he hands her a handkerchief and high-tails it out of there.



EDIT:

Found it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejcvnF88VQk - FYI, close it right after Ted walks out. There's a loud dog inserted at the end of the video made to mimic the MTM productions logo. It's insanely loud and scared the hell out of me the first time I watch.

 

[Kryton]

Oh to be shelled to death!

 

[Obi Wana Jones]

One of the funniest moments in TV history.

I think it ranks right up there with the "Turkey Drop" from WKRP, and
Vitameatavegimin from I Love Lucy.

Classics.

I don't know about being shelled to death, but Kryton's avatar is sending me to the brink of a stroke.

 

[Mistral]

Back in 2000 TV guide rated the top 100 episodes from 20th century television in various categories-this episode of MTM took #1 for comedy. (Lucy got 2nd).

 

[Sakrysta]

I'd put Mad About You's "Giblets for Murray" pretty high on my list of all-time funniest episodes of TV.

 

[Amasov]

I'd put Mad About You's "Giblets for Murray" pretty high on my list of all-time funniest episodes of TV.

When she tossed that turkey out the window...

 

[Sakrysta]

^ "Why did you do that?!?!"
"I PANICKED!!!"

I looked up the MTM episode on YouTube and watched it. The funeral scene was what really got me, but I have to say I didn't find it as funny as I thought I would from the build-up here.

 

[Amasov]

What little of MTM I've seen, Ted Knight is really who sells the show for me.

He's such a bumbling buffoon who is so full of himself.

Murray: I mean what I have, is wonderful. Why do I want something that's different?
Lou: Well -
Ted: [to Lou] Can I interrupt you? [to Murray] Let me put it on terms you can understand. Let's say you're the Minnesota Vikings and everytime you play the Green Bay Packers, it's a great game. But that doesn't mean that that's the only team you want to play. I mean, you don't want to play them every single Sunday for the rest of your life! Need a little Chicago Bears... Kansas City Chiefs... maybe some Houston Oilers....

 

[mrcoaster]

You think it's funny now, you should have seen how hilarious it was when it first aired!

 

[Amasov]

You think it's funny now, you should have seen how hilarious it was when it first aired!

Oh, I can only imagine.

That night's whole lineup was a winner!

All in the Family, MASH, Mary Tyler Moore, The Bob Newhart Show, and Carol Burnette.

Who went out on Saturday nights?!

 

[CaptJimboJones]

One of the funniest episodes in TV history. Great stuff - up there with Seinfeld's "The Contest," the WKRP Turkey episode, the Dick Van Dyke Show's "It May Look Like A Walnut" episode and the Lucy episode mentioned earlier.

 

[mrcoaster]

Yeah - sometimes it's hard to convey to people like my daughter what life was like without iPods and cell phones, 3000 channels, dvds, etc. We stayed home and watched all those shows and laughed our butts off. A lot of the comedy holds up, some of it can be dated (or seem not as edgy), but all those shows you mentioned are classics.

Chuckles is one I haven't seen in a long time, but it's definitely one of the classics to this day.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

From what I have seen, it's hysterical. Ted Knight provided me with the most laughs. The way he thought so highly of himself was simply brilliant.

Baxter has become a pretty enduring touchstone in popular culture.

Knight once said that when he'd travel doing publicity for the show, the news people at whatever TV station he was visiting wanted to meet him - and some of them would invariably confide "we have our own 'Ted Baxter' here."

Recently Rush Limbaugh remarked to a New York Times reporter of a well-known TV "conservative commentator" that “somebody’s got to say it - the man is Ted Baxter. He's an embarrassment.”

Now, if the local newscasters had been talking about a reporter at a rival station or if Limbaugh had been talking about a liberal reporter or commentator, the comparisons wouldn't have been quite so perfect. Part of "Baxter's" aura is the sense that "He's an idiot and gosh darn it he's our idiot."