In 1972, Woody Allen scored a surprise success with his audacious sketch comedy film "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)." This rambunctious collection of ribald bits was both uproarious and deceptively off-handed. Suddenly, there was a market for loosely stitched-together, adult-skewing yuk-fests. These movies could be made fast and on the cheap because you didn't need production value to get a belly laugh out of dirty jokes or gratuitous nudity. This was smash-and-grab comedy, and it thrived throughout most of the decade.
One such practitioner of this scandalous style was Ken Shapiro. The counterculture satirist had created an underground comedy hit in New York City with his Channel One Theater, an innovative live show that barraged audiences with tawdry skits via three television sets. With Allen's movie, Monty Python's "And Now for Something Completely Different" and Brian De Palma's "Hi, Mom!" making untoward hay in movie theaters,...
One such practitioner of this scandalous style was Ken Shapiro. The counterculture satirist had created an underground comedy hit in New York City with his Channel One Theater, an innovative live show that barraged audiences with tawdry skits via three television sets. With Allen's movie, Monty Python's "And Now for Something Completely Different" and Brian De Palma's "Hi, Mom!" making untoward hay in movie theaters,...
- 4/6/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Mariska Hargitay, Ice-t, Christopher Meloni, Laraine Newman and Billy Crystal were among the Hollywood notables paying tribute to Richard Belzer, longtime Law & Order: Svu star and beloved comedian, who died at the age of 78.
Belzer, who writer and longtime friend Bill Scheft confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter had died Sunday at his home in Bozouls in southwest France, was facing health issues.
The performer was known as a legend on the stage and screen, making his movie debut in 1974’s The Groove Tube and warming up audiences in Saturday Night Live‘s early days. A regular detective on the small screen, Belzer’s Homicide character, the recognizable John Munch, first appeared in 1993 on the series’ first episode and made his final appearance in 2016 on Law & Order: Svu. He would appear on the long-running Dick Wolf Law & Order spinoff for nearly 15 years, with Munch retiring from the NYPD in...
Belzer, who writer and longtime friend Bill Scheft confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter had died Sunday at his home in Bozouls in southwest France, was facing health issues.
The performer was known as a legend on the stage and screen, making his movie debut in 1974’s The Groove Tube and warming up audiences in Saturday Night Live‘s early days. A regular detective on the small screen, Belzer’s Homicide character, the recognizable John Munch, first appeared in 1993 on the series’ first episode and made his final appearance in 2016 on Law & Order: Svu. He would appear on the long-running Dick Wolf Law & Order spinoff for nearly 15 years, with Munch retiring from the NYPD in...
- 2/19/2023
- by Abbey White
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ken Shapiro, writer and director of Chevy Chase’s debut film “The Groove Tube,” died of cancer at age 76, TheWrap has learned. Released in 1974, “The Groove Tube” was a cult hit indie comedy that satirized TV with a series of lewd skits and parodies of commercials. Among them was the skit “Koko The Clown,” a parody of “Bozo The Clown” in which Shapiro, in full clown attire, reads erotica during the show’s “Make-Believe Time.” The film launched the careers of Chase and Richard Belzer, the latter of whom appeared alongside Shapiro in another famous skit from the film called.
- 11/27/2017
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
Ken Shapiro, who directed, produced, co-wrote and starred in The Groove Tube, the seminal 1974 sendup of television that marked the movie debuts of Chevy Chase and Richard Belzer, has died. He was 76.
Shapiro died Nov. 18 at his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico, after a long struggle with cancer, his friend Arthur Sellers told The Hollywood Reporter.
Shapiro also directed Chase in another comedy feature, the sci-fi fantasy Modern Problems (1981), which he co-wrote with Sellers and Tom Sherohman.
The Groove Tube employed a hilarious series of skits that spoofed everything from commercials and public service announcements to...
Shapiro died Nov. 18 at his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico, after a long struggle with cancer, his friend Arthur Sellers told The Hollywood Reporter.
Shapiro also directed Chase in another comedy feature, the sci-fi fantasy Modern Problems (1981), which he co-wrote with Sellers and Tom Sherohman.
The Groove Tube employed a hilarious series of skits that spoofed everything from commercials and public service announcements to...
- 11/27/2017
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Anchor Bay Entertainment is re-releasing writer/director Ken Shapiro's 1981 sci fi comedy "Modern Problems", starring Chevy Chase, on DVD :
"...'Max Fielder' (Chase), a high-strung air traffic controller has a bad day that is about to get worse. His girlfriend (Patti D’Arbanville) moves out, his ex-wife falls in love with an old friend and a splashing truck full of toxic waste makes him glow a very odd green.
"But when Max discovers that the radioactive sludge also gives him the power of 'telekinesis', he sets his mind –and various other flying objects – to winning back his girlfriend and getting some wildly outrageous revenge..."
Also starring are Dabney Coleman, Mary Kay Place, Brian Doyle-Murray and Nell Carter.
Music is by Dominic Frontiere ("Star Trek").
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Modern Problems"...
"...'Max Fielder' (Chase), a high-strung air traffic controller has a bad day that is about to get worse. His girlfriend (Patti D’Arbanville) moves out, his ex-wife falls in love with an old friend and a splashing truck full of toxic waste makes him glow a very odd green.
"But when Max discovers that the radioactive sludge also gives him the power of 'telekinesis', he sets his mind –and various other flying objects – to winning back his girlfriend and getting some wildly outrageous revenge..."
Also starring are Dabney Coleman, Mary Kay Place, Brian Doyle-Murray and Nell Carter.
Music is by Dominic Frontiere ("Star Trek").
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Modern Problems"...
- 4/10/2012
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
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