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

[Ultimajock]

Also, the episode where EG Marshall guest-starred as the school principal, and had a scene with Mike, was mentioned as a 'big deal' in TV GUIDE as a sort of 'reunion' of the two stars of 'The Defenders'. While viewers in the '70s probably 'got' the writers' nod to the audience, once 'Defenders' disappeared from syndication, while 'Bunch' continued playing on, the significance of that episode diminished. Today, Marshall may be best remembered for his guest-appearance as the President in 'Superman II'.

And Clark Griswold's father in law on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

...and that little bit of method acting amid the roaches in Creepshow...

 

[johnbasalla]

"Get Smart" had one I just saw that wasn't all that funny - then or now. Maxwell and 99 are captured by a mad scientist who has found a way to resurrect Chaos agents from the dead. The mad scientist says... "I can only resurrect them before rigor mortis sets in". Max responds... "That leaves Ed Sullivan out".

 

[Ultimajock]

...actually, considering how stiff Sullivan was as a TV host, that's a fairly funny gag...

 

[anotherguyTN]

I saw that Get Smart episode as well. Considering Sullivan was still alive and probably still on the air at that time (late 60's?) it was funny, although a lot of people wouldn't get it now.

 

[BD Sullivan]

There's another Get Smart bit where Max is working at a toy store and a black customer comes in to order a poster of George Wallace. He then asks to buy some darts.

 

[onairb]

The 'Irish cop with an exaggerated brogue' joke, as seen with Chief O'Hara on Batman, and just about every movie or TV show made before about 1960.
There was a Beverly Hillbillies episode, where the Clampetts are visiting New York City, and decide to stay in Central Park. Granny is befriended by an Irish cop, who believes the Clampetts are also from 'the old sod', and the policeman promises to bring his sergeant to meet them. They leave shortly before he gets there, and the sergeant..played by Sammy Davis Jr., doing his best Pat O'Brien impression...says he's sorry he missed them...and breaks into 'Toora Loora Loora'. ;D

 

[KeithE4]

I saw that Get Smart episode as well. Considering Sullivan was still alive and probably still on the air at that time (late 60's?) it was funny, although a lot of people wouldn't get it now.

I take it that this episode was on NBC, not its last season on CBS.

 

[KyDXIn]

The 'Irish cop with an exaggerated brogue' joke, as seen with Chief O'Hara on Batman, and just about every movie or TV show made before about 1960.
There was a Beverly Hillbillies episode, where the Clampetts are visiting New York City, and decide to stay in Central Park. Granny is befriended by an Irish cop, who believes the Clampetts are also from 'the old sod', and the policeman promises to bring his sergeant to meet them. They leave shortly before he gets there, and the sergeant..played by Sammy Davis Jr., doing his best Pat O'Brien impression...says he's sorry he missed them...and breaks into 'Toora Loora Loora'. ;D

I've often wondered how that was arranged. Those cameos (John Wayne being another) on the Hillbillies seemed forced. On the other hand the appearances with Flatt and Scruggs seemed so natural, even with the beautiful wives of Lester and Earl.

 

[onairb]

The 'Irish cop with an exaggerated brogue' joke, as seen with Chief O'Hara on Batman, and just about every movie or TV show made before about 1960.
There was a Beverly Hillbillies episode, where the Clampetts are visiting New York City, and decide to stay in Central Park. Granny is befriended by an Irish cop, who believes the Clampetts are also from 'the old sod', and the policeman promises to bring his sergeant to meet them. They leave shortly before he gets there, and the sergeant..played by Sammy Davis Jr., doing his best Pat O'Brien impression...says he's sorry he missed them...and breaks into 'Toora Loora Loora'. ;D

I've often wondered how that was arranged. Those cameos (John Wayne being another) on the Hillbillies seemed forced. On the other hand the appearances with Flatt and Scruggs seemed so natural, even with the beautiful wives of Lester and Earl.

I didn't see Wayne's appearance, but I know that Hillbillies had a several-season storyline about the Clampetts investing in a movie studio, and Jethro repeatedly auditioning for roles. Presumably Wayne cameoed as himself, which would seem 'forced', like most such cameos, but if there was a 'making a movie' plot involved, it might not be as 'forced'(sort of like 'I Love Lucy' when the Ricardos spent a few months in Hollywood).
Sammy's appearance was definitely more 'forced', but he made plenty of appearances, either as himself, or in a variety of roles, all over TV in that era(of course, he's best remembered for 'being himself' on 'All in the Family').
One of my favorite 'forced' appearances was when Jack Benny went on 'The Lucy Show', playing a plumber whose showbiz aspirations were ruined because he wanted to play the violin, but looked exactly like...Jack Benny! Eventually, he stayed in the plumbing business, and hired an assistant...played by Bob Hope!

 

[cd637299]

^ OH BTW, didn't Bob Hope have a cameo on "Get Smart"? I saw an ep recently that had a hotel room service clerk that sure looked like him.

cd

 

[anotherguyTN]

This may be a little OT, but I hope it fits OK: Today I was watching the 1967 spy spoof In Like Flint with James Coburn on Netflix. One of the main plots was that the President had been kidnapped and replaced with an actor, and when Flint discovers this, he asks "An actor for president??"

I know Ronald Reagan was governor of California at that time, but was he already considering running for president, or was this just something that would turn out to be funny later when he actually ran?

 

[onairb]

^ OH BTW, didn't Bob Hope have a cameo on "Get Smart"? I saw an ep recently that had a hotel room service clerk that sure looked like him.

cd

Yes, Hope had an uncredited cameo in one episode, as a hotel clerk.

 

[cd637299]

This may be a little OT, but I hope it fits OK: Today I was watching the 1967 spy spoof In Like Flint with James Coburn on Netflix. One of the main plots was that the President had been kidnapped and replaced with an actor, and when Flint discovers this, he asks "An actor for president??"

I know Ronald Reagan was governor of California at that time, but was he already considering running for president, or was this just something that would turn out to be funny later when he actually ran?

I can't answer that for sure, but----

I've made this illustration before. When independent channel 39 came on the air in Miami in 1982, one of the first reruns they showed was a 30-minute "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in." Even in 1982 or 83 when I saw this, it was dated......Dan Rowan gave his "News of the Future" (this was a 1968 episode). Went like so: "News of the future, 1988, 20 years from now. U.S. President Ronald Reagan----" which followed with hilarity from the audience.

Well....whaddya know?

cd

 

[BD Sullivan]

^ OH BTW, didn't Bob Hope have a cameo on "Get Smart"? I saw an ep recently that had a hotel room service clerk that sure looked like him.

cd

Yes, Hope had an uncredited cameo in one episode, as a hotel clerk.

Johnny Carson also had a few uncredited cameos on GS.

 

[searadiofreak]

^ OH BTW, didn't Bob Hope have a cameo on "Get Smart"? I saw an ep recently that had a hotel room service clerk that sure looked like him.

cd

Yes, Hope had an uncredited cameo in one episode, as a hotel clerk.

Hope also appeared on The Golden Girls in a cameo in the 80's. Perhaps his last cameo, but not his last tv appearance.

 

[searadiofreak]

One show that mirrors today, is "All In The Family". It is amazing how some of the arguments seen on this show are still being argued today. Of course, "AITF" was way ahead of its years, and a similar show today would likely be spurned by network executives as being too edgey. Has TV evolved? No, not really.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

This may be a little OT, but I hope it fits OK: Today I was watching the 1967 spy spoof In Like Flint with James Coburn on Netflix. One of the main plots was that the President had been kidnapped and replaced with an actor, and when Flint discovers this, he asks "An actor for president??"

I know Ronald Reagan was governor of California at that time, but was he already considering running for president, or was this just something that would turn out to be funny later when he actually ran?

Only my personal memory working here but, yes, Reagan, or at least his handlers, tested the waters for a possible presidential run as early as the late '60s.

 

[bpatrick]

^ "I Spy" can be seen on Cozi TV if you have it, but I know there aren't many Cozi affiliates at this time....

As to the late Cosell, he was a frequent "___________" on Match Game, whenever the answer called for an obnoxious celebrity. And of course GSN ran MG into the 21st century! Despite that, MG was one of GSN's highest rated shows for a long time.

cd

P.S. BTW, kudos to johnbasalla for starting this thread....this can go quite some time!

Maybe off-topic, but when Mark Goodson was brainstorming "Family Feud," he put this question to an audience at a taping of "To Tell The Truth" in New York: Name somebody whom most people actively dislike. Top four answers: Richard Nixon, the Devil, Adolf Hitler, and Howard Cosell (I'm not sure this is the correct order although I know Cosell came in fourth). Goodson thought, well, New Yorkers don't think like the rest of the country so he put the same question to a "Price Is Right" audience in Los Angeles and got the same four answers. Still not convinced, he divided the country into four regions and had a market-research company conduct a telephone survey. Sure enough, he got the same four answers from all four parts of the country. That's when he realized he had a viable game.

But I wonder: if someone were to ask that question today, nearly 40 years later, what would the top four answers be?

 

[firepoint525]

This may be a little OT, but I hope it fits OK: Today I was watching the 1967 spy spoof In Like Flint with James Coburn on Netflix. One of the main plots was that the President had been kidnapped and replaced with an actor, and when Flint discovers this, he asks "An actor for president??"
I know Ronald Reagan was governor of California at that time, but was he already considering running for president, or was this just something that would turn out to be funny later when he actually ran?

And it was also spoofed quite nicely in that scene from Back to the Future, although the "soda jerk" incorrectly guessed that Jane Wyman would be First Lady. Since the earlier scene was from 1955, Reagan was already divorced from Wyman by then, since he had married Nancy in 1952.

 

[anotherguyTN]

I know MASH didn't have any Reagan jokes even though it was set in the 50's and ran into the 80's, other than some Bonzo movie jokes in the early years before he seriously began to run for president. Did any other show set in the past that ran into the 80's (Happy Days or Laverne and Shirley?) have any Reagan jokes?