The Groove Tube

"The Groove Tube" was initially shown on video, in the first "video theaters" here in Boston. In one room, there were TV monitors on high stands, with old movie theater seats, in small groups facing the monitors. There were old refrigerators stocked with Pepsi, and baskets of York Peppermint Patties. In a second, smaller room, there were no seats, just large pillows. That was the 'smoking' room, i.e., people got high in there. That act only added to the hilarity of the video.

I was a 'frequent viewer'; the scenes I liked most and remember to this day are: Koko The Clown, The Kramp Family Kitchen (Kramp Easy-Lube Shortening), Safety Sam/ VD PSA, the Chevy Chase hitchhiker w/ nude runs through the woods, the Finger Ballet on what was eventually revealed to be the nude body of a woman. The last item was very reminiscent of the late, incredible Ernie Kovacs. Now, I've lost a lot of readers that are under 48 ("who is Ernie Kovacs??") but trust me, it's funny stuff.

One reason I was a 'frequent viewer' was that I, and my friends, would bring other "Groove Tube" virgins to see it. We would sit and slyly watch the faces of the 'virgins' as the "Safety Sam" PSA would play. As the camera slowly zooms in on "Sam", we would wait for that "OH!" of recognition on the 'virgin's' face. Each time was more hilarious than the last. And then that 'virgin' would then bring a friend to see the show, repeating what we had done. To get this joke, you must watch the video.

Yes, some of it is dated, but most plays, film, television, and now videos are. Just look at any video made in the 1980's.

I did see "The Groove Tube" in a theater as a film, a grainy transfer from the original video. It had been cut, and was missing some of the original high-point scenes.

The first "Saturday Night Live" show, featuring Chevy Chase, elicited instant remarks of, "that's the guy from "The Groove Tube" ", so it was a precursor for Chevy.

I can't look at a can of shortening without hearing the voice-over, "coat your hands with a generous amount of Kramp Easy-Lube shortening..." and thinking of the "Kramp Holiday Loaf" recipe. Always gets me laughing in the Baking Needs aisle in the grocery store.

The early 70's were parlous times; "The Groove Tube" was fresh, new, and really 'got' the humor of the times. It offered a 'hip generation', humor that wasn't available in any other format/medium. MJH

An R-rated "Yellow Pages--let your fingers do the walking" ad. A bizarre kitchen cook show. "The Dealers." "Mumble" jazz music over the Watergate hearings. Koko the Clown. Dated stuff, but occasionally funny stuff, and arguably stranger than either Kentucky Fried Movie or Tunnel Vision. I was surprised to hear that this movie was originally rated X, when it contains less nudity and sex than Kentucky Fried Movie. Perhaps the full frontal nudity of both the hitchhiker and the girl nailed the rating.

Of the skits, The Dealers contains some inspired moments and leads up to a great punchline. Koko the Clown is hilarious. However, the 2001 spoof at the beginning drags on too long, and like Kentucky Fried Movie, the movie is a bit too obsessed with the act of sex. Writer/director/star Ken Shapiro pretty much dropped off the face of the Earth after this movie, unless of course if you count Modern Problems, more "family friendly" than Groove Tube but weird in its own right.

If you liked "Kentucky Fried Movie" (predecessor to the Zucker's "Airplane") you need to see the original 'skit' movie. The 'Groove Tube' is the GREAT GRANDADDY of the skit movies'. Nothing but one comedy skit after another. Many are very funny, some are a little dated. But hey, if you don't like one, the next is sure to get you. I saw the thing when it first came out, and 25 years later, when we are working in the kitchen, I STILL tell my wife to "Take the cherry pits... and put them in the olives... and garnish with a small American Flag!" Crazy.

When you view this movie you should keep in mind that it was written and filmed in the early 1970s. Pretty dated but real damn funny for it's time.

For those of you that are in your early twenties, it should give some of you an idea of what your parents thought was funny and in your face back then.

Most people didn't have cable TV and those that did didn't have 100 stations to choose from and it was 7 years before Mtv was invented. Most of us were relegated to watching 3 channels if you watched TV at all.

This is also why anyone over 40 will tell you the first 5 years of SNL are better than all of the others combined.

The best segments are the Cooking Show, Brown 25 and KOKO the Clown.

In any case you may find humor in some of the segments or not. It is still worth watching from a nostalgic or historical perspective.

How can a movie that features the singing of Curtis Mayfield be bad? It can't! The Groove Tube is a series of scatological black-out sketches that makes fun of anything from 2001 to the olympics. The highs, (Koko the clown, the easy lube recipe) outnumber the lows (an all too long "The Dealers"), but even the lows are funny. Best of all is Ken Shapiro's manic dance down a busy Manhattan sidewalk.(That is Shapiro, not Nat King Cole singing Just You, Just Me). Definitely dated now, but at the time The Groove Tube was irreverent, bold, shameless and hysterically funny. Ken Shapiro made this minor cult hit, then 7 years later made the Christmas day opening bomb, Modern Problems (though I enjoyed it} and since then, unfortunately, nothing.(He could possibly be playing drums in a jazz group) The Groove Tube remains to me an unending burst of positive energy, a movie that 26 years after my initial viewing, still brings me real joy!