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March 29, 2024, 02:53:00 PM

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I'm rewatching Police Squad!

Started by Johnny Yesno, April 21, 2020, 08:51:20 AM

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Captain Z

Quote from: notjosh on April 21, 2020, 04:53:21 PM
Red Rock Cider adverts

Some decent gags in there.

The pool table! Has that gag ever been done elsewhere? It's very elaborate for ~2 seconds of advert footage.

notjosh

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on April 21, 2020, 05:19:58 PM
Nielsen was an amazing deadpan comedy actor, but it's so embarrassing when you watch him mugging a la Jerry Lewis in some of those later comedies he made. That wasn't the man's forte.

u wot?


The Culture Bunker

I've seen stuff like Spy Hard and Repossessed, which I found a bit "meh" in large part - did Nielsen do any top quality comedy work after Police Squad!/Naked Gun films (I enjoy the first two of those, perhaps due to warm glow of nostalgia from seeing them when I was a lad).

notjosh

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on April 21, 2020, 05:49:54 PM
I've seen stuff like Spy Hard and Repossessed, which I found a bit "meh" in large part - did Nielsen do any top quality comedy work after Police Squad!/Naked Gun films (I enjoy the first two of those, perhaps due to warm glow of nostalgia from seeing them when I was a lad).

I think Mel Brook's Dracula: Dead and Loving It is probably the best. I also have a soft spot for his bad golf videos.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

QuoteAll the Naked Gun films are generally more unfunny than funny too,  especially the third one.

Shut the absolute fuck up, twat off and fucking die.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on April 21, 2020, 05:49:54 PM
I've seen stuff like Spy Hard and Repossessed, which I found a bit "meh" in large part - did Nielsen do any top quality comedy work after Police Squad!/Naked Gun films (I enjoy the first two of those, perhaps due to warm glow of nostalgia from seeing them when I was a lad).

Nah, it was all rubbish. Just ditched the deadpan acting and went straight into the pratfalling and gurning and referencing his resemblance to Phil Donahue. I've already mentioned " 2001 : A Space Travesty" , which is worth watching , just the once , for how astonishingly bad it is, so bad that it also has a role for that unfunny Italian bloke who did " Silence Of The Hams". Also has a role for  top sit- com actor Peter Egan, bet he's chuffed to bits he appeared in that.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on April 21, 2020, 05:57:09 PM
Shut the absolute fuck up, twat off and fucking die.

Surely, you can't be serious?

popcorn

Why is this so funny and A Touch of Cloth so not?

madhair60

Airplane! isn't funny either. Not a single funny joke.

neveragain


madhair60

Actually I remembered I already did the Airplane thread hijack ages ago so I'll just leave it.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: madhair60Airplane! isn't funny either. Not a single funny joke.

I take back all the horrible things I said about your mother. There are worse things I now wish to say about her.

Bad Ambassador

Quote from: Lisa Jesusandmarychain on April 21, 2020, 06:00:25 PM
Nah, it was all rubbish. Just ditched the deadpan acting and went straight into the pratfalling and gurning and referencing his resemblance to Phil Donahue. I've already mentioned " 2001 : A Space Travesty" , which is worth watching , just the once , for how astonishingly bad it is, so bad that it also has a role for that unfunny Italian bloke who did " Silence Of The Hams". Also has a role for  top sit- com actor Peter Egan, bet he's chuffed to bits he appeared in that.

He mentions on one of the commentaries on the Ever Decreasing Circles DVD that it's the worst thing he's ever done.

Bad Ambassador

Quote from: Captain Z on April 21, 2020, 05:25:09 PM
The pool table! Has that gag ever been done elsewhere? It's very elaborate for ~2 seconds of advert footage.

There's something very similar in Star Trek V, from 1989.

lankyguy95

The first Naked Gun film is really good.

Anyway, I re-watched all of the Police Squad episodes a couple of weeks ago and found every one to be great. It feels like the joke is king but the tone of the show remains consistent and Nielson's performance is obviously absolutely perfect.

I love Johnny the Shoe Shine Guy.

Cold Meat Platter

The "men working round the clock" gag is one of my favourites. Fantastic series. Agree that pure deadpan Nielsen is best Nielsen. Can't take him seriously when he pops up in Columbo.
The wandering eyes when confused or awkward is a personal fave.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: lankyguy95 on April 21, 2020, 07:56:47 PMI love Johnny the Shoe Shine Guy.
I'm surprised they didn't bring him back for the films - the gag about someone asking for exact advice on their specific field, and Johnny being the fountain of all knowledge (not just some neighbourhood snoop) was pretty good. Particularly liked Dick Clark asking about ska, then taking some special cream to keep him looking young.

lankyguy95

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on April 21, 2020, 08:06:32 PM
I'm surprised they didn't bring him back for the films - the gag about someone asking for exact advice on their specific field, and Johnny being the fountain of all knowledge (not just some neighbourhood snoop) was pretty good. Particularly liked Dick Clark asking about ska, then taking some special cream to keep him looking young.
Yeah the Ska one was my favourite.

I've always enjoyed the scene-linking jokes. "No progress was made over the next ten hours"

madhair60

Quote from: Cold Meat Platter on April 21, 2020, 08:02:02 PM
The "men working round the clock" gag is one of my favourites.

Let me guess, there are some actual men working in the vicinity of an actual clock, or literally "around" it.

Ha ha ha ha ha.

chveik

Quote from: madhair60 on April 21, 2020, 06:12:43 PM
Airplane! isn't funny either. Not a single funny joke.

this man knows

Gulftastic

The first Police Squad film is great! I remember laughing my arse off in the pictures. 'Hey! It's Enrico Palazzo!' works in so many circumstances.

ollyboro

"Yeah, well when an adult male chases a female with intent to commit rape, I shoot the bastard. That's my policy" - Dirty Harry.

"When I see five weirdos dressed in togas stabbing a guy in the middle of the park in full view of 100 people, I shoot the bastards. That's my policy." - Frank Drebin.


And that's why Police Squad/Naked Gun can never be considered to be great. Far too derivative. Er.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: ollyboro on April 21, 2020, 09:20:16 PMAnd that's why Police Squad/Naked Gun can never be considered to be great. Far too derivative. Er.
Not going to comment on Naked Gun films, but the whole "Jim Fell/Jim Johnson/Phil Din/Ralph Twice/etc" routine from Police Squad is a brilliant bit of writing.

neveragain

The Dirty Harry line wasn't a joke though, was it? Clint Eastwood didn't shoot up a performance of Shakespeare in the park.

Uncle TechTip

Well, spurred on by the thread i watched ep1 tonight and it was ok but not as good as i remembered. A bit dreary slow in places. The kids hated it. I think i prefer the Goes Wrong Show.  And that was the best episode!

popcorn

Quote from: Uncle TechTip on April 21, 2020, 10:51:08 PM
Well, spurred on by the thread i watched ep1 tonight and it was ok but not as good as i remembered. A bit dreary slow in places.

To be honest that's how I remember it too - loads of amazing gags to quote, but when you sit down and watch a few episodes they get a bit dull.

Johnny Yesno

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on April 21, 2020, 04:23:43 PM
First time I think I remember seeing Nielsen do a somewhat "straight" part (oh-err) was in Due South, where he was an old Mountie colleague of Fraser Snr hiding out in Chicago, bitter and beat up from life. Then everytime they brought him back, it was playing the same character but as a Canadian Frank Drebin, Naked Gun version. Always thought that was a bit of a shame, much as I enjoy a good fart joke.

I also remember that in that initial Due South appearance, he looked in great shape for a guy in his mid 60s.

The first time I saw him do straight acting was in Forbidden Planet. It was odd because he was no different at all from how I was used to seeing him and I kept expecting something daft to happen in the background. Very distracting.

Johnny Yesno

Quote from: DrGreggles on April 21, 2020, 04:46:41 PM
It was also part of ITV's 'Night Network' in the late 80s.
That would be where I first saw it - and 'The Monkees'.

Yes, that's where I first saw it too.

Johnny Yesno

That interview with Nielson is good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaPbDmZe-lg.

His ideas about why the series flopped seem pretty spot on. It's a shame because the visual gags, like the Florida keys and the turkeys at the key cutters, are much better suited to the current technology where you can pause the video and read the bits of text at your leisure. I would think most people saw Police Squad! as a live broadcast at the time.

Are there any other shows prior to this where there's so much going on in the background? It seemed like such a fresh idea at the time, but I was young and ignorant.