THE GROOVE TUBE (1974), written, directed and produced by Ken Shapiro, is a low-budget comedy film that satirizes television and the counterculture of the early 1970s. The film was originally produced to be shown at the Channel One Theater on East 60th St. in New York, a venue that featured R-rated video recordings shown on three television sets, which was a novelty to the audiences of the time. The film stars Shapiro, Richard Belzer and Chevy Chase, and features "Move On Up" by Curtis Mayfield in its opening scene. The news desk satire, including the signature line "Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow" was later used by Chase for his signature Weekend Update piece on Saturday Night Live, although in the film he does not appear in this segment.
Among the skits are:
"The Dealers," a lengthy feature about a pair of urban drug dealers (Shapiro and Belzer) introduced by a wildly overdone, hip title segment."
Koko the Clown," a mock children's television show in which Shapiro, as the show's Bozo-esque host, reads erotica (specifically a page from Fanny Hill, with promises of Marquis de Sade the next day) on air during "Make Believe Time."
A public service announcement for venereal disease that covertly (though more and more obviously as the camera zooms in, to humorous and/or shocking effect) used a real penis.
A parody of sponsored television cooking shows in which Shapiro, as a female baker seen from the shoulders down, mixes and bakes a special 4th of July "Heritage Loaf" while repeatedly using handfuls of the fictitious "Kramp Easy Lube" brand of shortening, a spoof of the "Kraft" name.
Several spoof TV commercials are featured, including a few for the fictional Uranus Corporation (pronounced with the stress on the second and third syllables). One Uranus commercial touts the amazing properties of its space-age polymer product "Brown 25" (which looks suspiciously like human feces): "It has the strength of steel, the flexibility of rubber, and the nutritional value of beef stew."
The Groove Tube was originally released with an X rating.
KOKO THE CLOWN
KRAMP TV KITCHEN
JUST YOU JUST ME
TV NEWS
BUTZ BEER
FOUR LEAF CLOVER
and a FULL MOVIE in a similar vein:
VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED (1998)
Ted Smith is a young man with multiple personalities who goes to his
psychiatrist as a completely new person for each visit. He mentions that
he sometimes views his life as a scene in a TV show, which leads to a
series of movie and TV spoofs between each of the psychiatry segments.
In addition to the obligatory horror movie parody, there are also riffs
on game shows, cable news channels and commercials.
COPYRIGHT 2007-2014 OH BOY! 3LAWNVIEWAGOGO / ALL RIGHTS RESERVED MR.E.
ED SPRINGSTEAD, JR.
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