The Groove Tube

Starring:Kirtus Allen, Richmond Baier, Bill Bailey (II), Richard Belzer, Peter William Blaxill, Chevy Chase, Hal Fore, Laura Glicken, Lincoln Harrice, Berkeley Harris, Dennis Helfend, Lacey, Buzzy Linhart, Paul Norman (III), Leo Petrie, Lane Sarasohn, Roy Wallace, Jennifer Welles, Jennifer Zens
Studio: Henstooth Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

This collection of satirical sketches about television was released in 1974, the heyday of obvious pop-culture humor along the lines Cheech and Chong. With Saturday Night Live still a few years away, Chevy Chase made an appearance here, and one can see the acute sensibility that would redefine television comedy in its early form. Some of the gags work well but most are pretty dispensable; some are a bit crude. On the plus side, it's nice to see Richard Belzer (from TV's Homicide) in his sharp-tongued, formative stage. While not brilliant, the film did serve as one influence on the rise of ironic humor in the '70s. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

A little dated but still has its moments.......2007-04-04

I first saw this movie when I was in college in the mid 1970s. It was pretty radical for its time as it predated the original Saturday Night Live. It is made up of a number of individual bits, most of which were topical at the time. There are references to 2001 A Space Odyssey, the Watergate hearings, Vietnam, counterculture drug dealers, etc. and features the first screen appearances of Chevy Chase and Richard Belzer.
If you are nostalgic for those times and willing to suffer some misses along with the real laughs, this movie is for you.

Take It For What It Is.......2007-03-12

The movie was made quickly and "spontaneously," so it is not as slick as you might have come to expect from a full-out "movie."

That being said, for those who can remember what TV was like in the 1960s, this movie is a classic. And you get to see really funny samples of comedic talents when they were really young, such as Richard Belzer and Chevy Chase.

Loved it.

Feed Your Head.......2007-02-25

I'll probably revise this later because it's been many years since I saw this. But back in the 70's this was a late night and drive in favorite. Like I said I haven't seen it for many years and I'm guessing that it's probably not as funny as it used to be afer a few tokes, but I think it'll still be worth a watch because this was the beginning of the kind of humor we found later in SNL. Much of the humor is subtle and can easily go over your head if you're not aware of what's going on, but if you are then there's a lot of fun here. In fact I still remember having to take a second look at the end VD talk to realize what that puppet actually was...It was the absurdity that made it so funny....

How fun was the 70's?.......2007-01-18

Fun movie, some of the bits run a little long, but overall entertaining.

Funny movie, terrible DVD transfer.......2006-05-12

A lot of the skits are dated but the non-dated stuff is hilarious. Unless you are a baby boomer you won't get the dated jokes, unless you know about Pop culture of the early 70's. The DVD video quality is awful though, they could have did a better transfer. The video is dull and grainy. Its also a Pan & Scan 4:3 ratio! What happened to the widescreen??

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