Comedy/sitcom jokes that people won't "get" anymore

[KeithE4]

A lot of the comedies that focused on black characters or black families in the early to mid 70s, would make references to Rodney Allan Rippy and his Jack In The Box comercials, that where big in Southern California at the time but were forgeign to the rest of the country at the time. How could George Jefferson in New York or JJ Evans in Chicago know about Rodney Allan Rippy when those comercials aired mainly in Southern California?

I don't know about New York, but Jack In The Box was in the Chicago area until about 1980. And Rodney Allen Rippy was featured on several network shows during his 15 minutes of fame. Fortunately, he didn't suffer the sad fate of many other child actors. He graduated from college in 1995 and has done fairly well for himself.

 

[johnbasalla]

I believe that the lack of success of "Laugh-In" in syndication was precisely because they tried to take all of the topical jokes out. In syndication they were a half-hour show, in primetime it was an hour long show. The people who would want to watch Laugh-in would be those who would want to relive those days and that program, and deleting all or most of the topical jokes was an incredibly dumb thing to do. The reason that was so dumb is that all that was left was silly, non-sequitar, mildly slapstic-humor with no base to it. The syndicators who cut the show in half tried to make it relevant for everyone, but the much of the non-topical humor was lame, and that's all they had. So, it became relevant to no one.

 

[Tom Wells]

A lot of the comedies that focused on black characters or black families in the early to mid 70s, would make references to Rodney Allan Rippy and his Jack In The Box comercials, that where big in Southern California at the time but were forgeign to the rest of the country at the time. How could George Jefferson in New York or JJ Evans in Chicago know about Rodney Allan Rippy when those comercials aired mainly in Southern California?

I remember Jack In The Box being in Detroit in the 1970s. they was all closed down (in Detroit) by the mid-late 70s. and across from the "Dixie Square Mall" in Harvey IL, there was a "Jack In The Box".

There was also a Jack In the Box in Calumet City, about 2 blocks east of the River Oaks mall. It became some kind of other hamburger joint,
tied to the name of some "ancient" history baseball player...can't remember now.....but Jack in nthe Box did not last long in the midwest, maybe
2 or 3 years.

As Artie Johnson said on Laugh In "Verrry Interestingk.....but stupid."

People (GOP Republican) still like the Bob Hope joke about Democrats....I forget which movie it was in but someone describes somebody
bereft of direction, not knowing what they do, and Bob sez, "You mean like Democrats?"

I don't see the the "topical chronocentric" jokes as a problem at all. They are part of what we need to know about the world as experienced
by those before us. It's important to play "Der Furhrer's Face" by Spike Jones.

These are important lessons in historical background and reference that should be cultivated, not suppressed.

 

[cd637299]

About regional....

Not just Jack in the Box, but ISTR watching "Hollywood Squares" in its heyday in the 70s, and Charley Weaver used to make cracks about Cal Worthington. The audience laughed, but of course that was L.A.

Cal Worthington owned car dealers in California & Alaska. I got to see him pitch his wares while stationed in AK.

cd

 

[cd637299]

Two come to mind:

On an episode of "The Honeymooners" Ed Norton is describing
the three times a man wants to be alone; the third "is when he's
in the isolation booth on 'The $64,000 Question.'"

There's a Bugs Bunny cartoon where Yosemite Sam, trying to catch
Bugs, keeps banging on a door, hollering "Open the door! Open the door!"
Sam then turns to the audience and says, "You notice I didn't say Richard?"
(The reference is to a 1940s r&b song called "Open the Door, Richard," and
decades later had kids asking their parents, "Who's Richard?".)

Also there was a Honeymooners reference where I think Norton asked a question and got an "obvious" response from Ralph that in 2013 would get a "Duh!" comment---but Norton responded, "You have reached the first plateau!" (a $64k Question reference)----and the crowd howled.

I loved the Yosemite Sam/Richard line....it made him not-so-mean, ya know!

cd

 

[landtuna]

Cal Worthington owned car dealers in California & Alaska. I got to see him pitch his wares while stationed in AK.
cd

Cal Worthington and his dog Spot also owned, very briefly, a dealership here in Phoenix. Unfortunately, we already had, and still have, Tex Earnhardt and "this ain't no bull".

Cal may have run into Vinnie the Legbreaker as he departed the Valley quickly and in the dead of night.

 

[cowboybud]

A lot of the comedies that focused on black characters or black families in the early to mid 70s, would make references to Rodney Allan Rippy and his Jack In The Box comercials, that where big in Southern California at the time but were forgeign to the rest of the country at the time. How could George Jefferson in New York or JJ Evans in Chicago know about Rodney Allan Rippy when those comercials aired mainly in Southern California?

Jack In The Box was nationwide at the time. When the company went into bankruptcy in the late 70s, they focused on the western US and Texas, and have only in the last few years started to expand further east.

 

[visaman]

About regional....

Not just Jack in the Box, but ISTR watching "Hollywood Squares" in its heyday in the 70s, and Charley Weaver used to make cracks about Cal Worthington. The audience laughed, but of course that was L.A.

Cal Worthington owned car dealers in California & Alaska. I got to see him pitch his wares while stationed in AK.

cd

He also owned a dealership in the Seattle area, so I grew up watching his ads.

 

[visaman]

Yeah, regionalism is an issue, too. Whenever I see something related to Carl's, Jr., I know that that is Hardee's here in the volunteer state. 8)

I went to my first Carl's Jr, in 2008 when I was visiting Portland Or. ;D

V[email[/email]

 

[Ultimajock]

...any reference whatsoever to Dave Garroway, Arthur Godfrey, Milton Berle, Jack Paar or John Cameron Swayze. Each were among the biggest names in America in the '50s, yet people my age (I'm 51) have to be taught who they were if a gag on a black&white sitcom rerun on Antenna TV or MeTV includes said names...

 

[onairb]

I used to read MAD magazine, both new and back issues, and I saw a number of jokes from the mid-70s about Rodney Allen Rippy. I think my mom was the one who explained about his Jack in the Box ads. I'm 39, so didn't see them originally, but I remember seeing him in an ad in the late '80s. I also saw him in a Six Million Dollar Man rerun, so I at least was familiar with him. However, MAD also used to joke about Mason Reece being 'everywhere' on TV in the mid-70s, and it was years before I found out about him and 'Underwood deviled ham'.

 

[Tim L]

This is why "Laugh-In" isn't seen anymore in syndication...no younguns understand Nixon and hippy jokes.

You bet your sweet bippy! An you can look that up in your Funk and Wagnall's.

Sock it to us, Lkeller! 8)

Just the other day I made reference in a Facebook post that whenever I think of Funk and Wagnalls, "Laugh-In" immediately comes to mind..

 

[visaman]

I used to read MAD magazine, both new and back issues, and I saw a number of jokes from the mid-70s about Rodney Allen Rippy. I think my mom was the one who explained about his Jack in the Box ads. I'm 39, so didn't see them originally, but I remember seeing him in an ad in the late '80s. I also saw him in a Six Million Dollar Man rerun, so I at least was familiar with him. However, MAD also used to joke about Mason Reece being 'everywhere' on TV in the mid-70s, and it was years before I found out about him and 'Underwood deviled ham'.

Yeah, I think you have to be at least my age (48) to get the references. That's why we are called Generation X, caught at the tail end of the Baby Boom and the beginning of the Baby Bust.

 

[ronald54321]

Topical jokes don't last. That's why "I Love Lucy"and "Abbott and Costello" are so popular.

 

[landtuna]

Topical jokes don't last. That's why "I Love Lucy"and "Abbott and Costello" are so popular.

IIL was much more physical than stand-up and A&C were essentially vaudeville but I'm not certain I'd call either one still "popular". I used to watch both when I was a kid but haven't seen either one in over 30 years now. I don't recall anyone in my family watching either.

Some topical jokes do last although perhaps not as well as the original. If you've ever watched Bob Hope in one of his WWII or Vietnam USO shows they can be just as entertaining as they were to our fathers and grandfathers but it is usually because he brings his subjects with him (and right behind him as in the case of Joey H.). His stage shows were tailored more for the Las Vegas crowd so the humor in those ages much more rapidly.

 

[bpatrick]

Christmas Day GSN had a "Match Game" marathon and on one of
the shows (from 1977, IIRC) one of the panelists used Cal Worthington
as an answer; Gene Rayburn had to take time out to explain to those of
us outside Southern California just who Cal Worthington is. I get the Los
Angeles ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates on satellite (I dropped Fox because
it seemed like everytime I turned on KTTV I was getting "I Love Lucy") and
was somewhat disappointed to see Worthington's commercials; I expected
them to be funnier.

Re Jack in the Box I remember them in Texas in the late '70s; I recall they
had a pretty good steak sandwich.

 

[onairb]

I believe that Jack in the Box's dropping (around 1980) and then reviving(mid 90s) the clown 'mascot', coincided with the chain contracting, and then expanding, its operations.
I vaguely remember the ads where the chain 'blew up the clown', and grew up with their ads with that distinctive plucked violin tune. They were definitely a 'West Coast yuppie fast food' chain back then.
Once they brought Jack back, they started 'beefing up' their presence outside of California.

 

[landtuna]

Jack In The Box is pretty popular here in the Phoenix metro area.

 

[KyDXIn]

I think the "Andy Griffith" show has remained popular due to the lack of topical jokes. Most of the shows dealt with evergreen topics. One episode where Aunt Bea and her women's club get drunk on the tonic has a topical joke. When Andy comes into the house and Aunt Bea is playing the piano, she says, "Look here girls, it's Matt Dillion! Where's Chester?" I think that was left in the show because of the popularity of "Gunsmoke".

 

[LKellerIII]

I think the "Andy Griffith" show has remained popular due to the lack of topical jokes. Most of the shows dealt with evergreen topics. One episode where Aunt Bea and her women's club get drunk on the tonic has a topical joke. When Andy comes into the house and Aunt Bea is playing the piano, she says, "Look here girls, it's Matt Dillion! Where's Chester?" I think that was left in the show because of the popularity of "Gunsmoke".

And both shows we're on CBS, so a little publicity for another network show couldn't hurt.

Imagine how odd it would be if I Love Lucy had been more topical. We'd have to sit thru jokes about Kruschev, Eisenhower playing golf instead of working, Nixon's dog Checkers, and the hole in Adlai Stevenson's shoe.

Oh- go look it up! ;D