"The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine" (1971) TV series

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Writers:

Chris Allen (writer)
Rudy De Luca (writer)

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

12 April 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Marty Feldman

...

Various Characters (14 episodes, 1971-1972)

Runtime:

60 min (14 episodes) | USA:30 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

BBC Elstree Centre/ATV Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Associated Television (ATV)

Trivia:

Terry Gilliam's animation contributions for this series were the opening and closing credits. The opening was a production line making identical looking mannequins/men, one eventually gets Marty's head, and is ejected into a rubbish bin. (This sequence appears in Gilliam's "Animations of Mortality" book.). The closing credits were various people saying "Good Bye!" and having horrible things happen to them. (i.e. A train conductor pulls a level and gets run over by a train, Mickey Mouse-type thingy gets smashed in a rat trap, etc... )

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Directors: The Films of Barry Levinson (#2.11)" (????)

Classic comedy that needs to be revived

I remember watching this show when I was in high school and thinking it was some of the funniest stuff I ever saw. This was about 3 years before Monty Python ever made it to this side of the Atlantic. When they arrived I assumed they were copycats of Marty Feldman! It is a shame that these shows are sitting idle and not being released.