Two nights ago (Saturday) the CTV (Canadian Television) network ran an instalment of their public affairs/news program W5 about K-Tel, the famed mail order and distribution company from the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. Remember them? They marketed such things as the Patty Stacker, The Record Selector, fill-in-the-blank chart buster song compilation album, and pieces of other plastic and vinyl.
As described in the documentary -- featuring a voice over by SCTV alumnus Dave Thomas -- K-Tel made buckets of money. (They actually had $35 million in the bank in the early ‘80s. Can you imagine? That figure is cash, not just “what they are worth”, and translates to about $100 mill in today’s currency. How many companies today can withdraw one hundred mill-bills from their bank accounts?)
My point is -- you knew it was about time -- there was a specific segment on the ‘voice of K-Tel’, a Mr. Robert Washington. His somewhat bellicose beltings were much of the appeal of that company’s almost round-the-clock television commercials. “Star Power!” As the program went into talking about the famous voice-overs I suddenly remembered that Dave Thomas did wonderful imitations of Washington on a few SCTV skits… as “Harvey K-Tel“. After my mental memory trip, sure enough, the documentary and Thomas’s narration took us back to an SCTV ‘commercial’ with the man himself yelling out something about all the useless K-Tel, Popeil, and Ronco products sitting around your house and how to dispose of them by way of the “Crusher“. I was in stitches. Next was a clip from Saturday Night Live with Dan Aykroyd doing that show’s take on the whole thing. I did not laugh. What a difference.
4 comments:
The difference must have been Lorne Michaels' or NBC's fault. Aykroyd is as talented a comedian, if not more so, as Dave Thomas. Eric Idle said so!
Thanks for your comment but I think what we are really talking about is the material any given artist is working with. Even I could not have made that SNL skit funny... high school 'comedy review' level stuff, which is what a lot of old SNL fans say now when they look back at their beloved show.
Putting a whole (dead) fish into a blender is not inherently funny. You must do some spin on it -- if you'll pardon the pun.
If you didn't laugh at Bass-O-Matic, check your pulse, man!
Ackroyd was at his best as the sleazy marketeer with such great kid's toys as "bag of broken glass" and "railway spike through the head".
You make it sound funny. Good job. I guess the 'back story' on the character would help generate laughs.
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