Room 101: Ross Noble

Room 101: Ross Noble
Channel Four
1 December, 2003
Talk Show
DVD
B-

Despite his dislike of cats, I mostly enjoyed the Geordie comic's interactions with Paul here.  He has a high success rate of banishment, ironically his only failure to get into the Room being his objection to people who look like cats.

Room 101: Julian Clary

Room 101: Julian Clary
Channel Four
10 September 1999
Talk Show
DVD
C+

Although this has its moments, like Julian telling Paul, "You're wasted in the heterosexual world," I would expect something better from two comedians who had worked together for so long.  This was, incidentally, the final episode of the fourth series, the first Room 101 series to be hosted by Merton.

Room 101: Caroline Quentin

Room 101: Caroline Quentin
Channel Four
15 September 1995
Talk Show
DVD
B

I was going to go with a B- on this, but the closing clip of a horribly choreographed '60s rendition of "Dancing in the Streets" bumped it up.  Poor Caroline gets only one item (rats) into the Room, but it is interesting to know that she was in the chorus of the first cast of Les Miserables, and that her then hubby Paul Merton was bad at gift-giving.  (The Teasmade does not make it into the Room either, but it is nice to finally see one after Tony Slattery referred to the product on an early Whose Line Is It Anyway? episode.)

Room 101: Tony Slattery

Room 101: Tony Slattery
Channel Four
8 August 1994
Talk Show
DVD
B

Host Nick Hancock has celebrities bring in a list of pet peeves that might be banished to the title location (a 1984 reference).  Tony fails to get his bad '80s soap Gems in there but does manage Snoopy and a couple other peeves.  This episode is laugh out loud funny, but I of course didn't get every reference, so B is as high as I can go.  Contains an adorable photo of "mean, moody, and magnificent" Tony at 16.  (Note, I would've reviewed this sooner but I was thinking all my Room 101 episodes were from the later Paul Merton era.  Obviously it would've been interesting to see Paul and Tony reunite but it was not to be.)

Politically Incorrect: "The Rules" [fragment]

Politically Incorrect: "The Rules" [fragment]
Comedy Central
Late 1995?
Talk Show
VHS
B-

Host Maher and his guests-- Joan Rivers, Martin Mull, and two people I've never heard of-- discuss the infamous book The Rules, which apparently only Maher had actually read.  This doesn't stop Joan from pontificating from her own outdated viewpoint.  I laughed some, including at her, but I was too annoyed to go with a higher grade, which I think was typical for what I've seen of the series.

Politically Incorrect: Sandra Bernhard et al.

Politically Incorrect: Sandra Bernhard et al.

The set was kind of weird
if you think about it.

Comedy Central

Early 1995

Talk Show

VHS
B-

The subject is "class" (as in taste, not economics) but it quickly devolves into a sometimes classless discussion of religion, when writer John Lofton tries to hijack the show.  At first Bernhard tries to be poised and dryly humorous, but by the end she yells at and spits on Lofton.  This is the sort of thing that made Maher's show memorable.  It does look a bit staged, or at least manipulated, in that they must've known what Lofton was like, but that's not to say that it's not entertaining.  Note that, although it's not directly mentioned, actor Christopher Lawford is the son of Peter and Patricia (JFK's sister).

Ricki Lake: Gloria Gaynor

She did survive, and continues to.

Ricki Lake: Gloria Gaynor
Syndicated
1993 or '94
Talk Show
VHS
C+

While it's nice to see Gaynor perform "I Will Survive," the idiot director decided to do some annoyingly '90s special effects, like one where the images stutter.  (It's not my VHS, it's a technique from that time.)

The Arsenio Hall Show: Siskel & Ebert and Miranda Richardson

The Arsenio Hall Show: Siskel & Ebert and Miranda Richardson
Syndicated
March 26, 1993
Talk Show
VHS
B-

Arsenio gets boxing gloves for Gene and Roger since this is right after the spoiler debate about The Crying Game, which Miranda has an opinion on of course.

The Full Wax: Episode 2.3

Probably looking forward to Women Aloud.

The Full Wax: Episode 2.3
BBC
26 March 1992
Talk Show
VHS
C-

When the "highlight" is poor Mo Gaffney go-go dancing, and not even a Teri Garr interview can save things, it's time to call it a day.  I realize this isn't a complete collection, but the four and a fraction episodes average out to a very low C+, worth tuning in to, especially if you're a Whose Line Is It Anyway? fan, but you'll probably want to hit the fast-forward button.

The Full Wax: Episode 2.2

The Full Wax: Episode 2.2
BBC
19 March 1992
Talk Show
VHS
C+

Confusingly, this has the same Tony sequences as we saw previously, except the longer one is heavily edited down, and the other guest stars are completely different, like James Belushi instead of Teri Garr.

The Full Wax: Episode 1.6

The Full Wax: Episode 1.6
BBC
1991
Talk Show
VHS
C

Other than a couple quips from McShane (one about Walt Disney), this episode with Joan Rivers et al. is pretty forgettable.

The Full Wax: Episode 1.5

The Full Wax: Episode 1.5
BBC
1991
Talk Show
VHS
C+

It's hard to know what to make of this, from Taffy Turner (Mo Gaffney)'s beauty pageant piece to the segment on buying a breast job for a viewer.  I taped it because of co-host McShane, who of course isn't given enough to do.

The Full Wax: Episode 2.2 [fragment]

The Full Wax: Episode 2.2 [fragment]
19 March 1992
BBC
Talk Show
VHS
B-

American comedienne Ruby Wax interviews celebrities but would rather talk about herself.  Mo Gaffney is tagged for her appearance as "Taffy Turner."  Tony in his two scenes is sexy, adorable, silly, and witty, but Teri is underutilized in scenes of her being underutilized.

The Pat Sajak Show: Jim Varney

The Pat Sajak Show: Jim Varney

CBS

March 26, 1990

Talk Show

VHS

C

That Sajak's talk show was cancelled soon after he had on the star of Ernest Goes to Jail is purely coincidental.  (And, yes, there was a time when I thought Jim Varney was even funnier than Louie Anderson.)

The Tonight Show: You Are the Author

The Tonight Show: You Are the Author

Different edition, from '91

NBC

1990?

Talk Show

VHS

B-

Johnny Carson reads aloud the studio audience's submissions for a romance novel.  I suspect these have been tweaked a bit by the staff writers, since it runs together pretty smoothly.  The best part is seeing the band break Johnny up.

The Phil Donahue Show: Jane Fonda [fragment]

The Phil Donahue Show: Jane Fonda [fragment]
Syndicated
September 1972
Talk Show
VHS
B

Phil's hosting has improved in the couple years since the previous episodes and this feels overall more balanced, politically and otherwise.  "Hanoi Jane" would still be controversial 45 years later, but even the woman in the studio audience who thinks that the Communists are going to take over the world recognizes that Fonda is earnest and sincere.  Jane also looks impossibly young at 35 and she does come across as naive, although many of her points, particularly about Nixon, are valid.  (She references Watergate and gets little response.)  This is the 500th B I've given to a TV show.

The Phil Donahue Show: Rev. Bob Harrington and Madalyn Murray O'Hair

The Phil Donahue Show: Rev. Bob Harrington and Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Syndicated
March 1970
Talk Show
VHS
B-

"The Chaplain of Bourbon Street" debates "the most hated woman in America."  It may be just my own biases, but Harrington comes across as smarmy and O'Hair as likable.  As in the Jerry Rubin episode, Phil is an awkward host, at one point facepalming over a simple phone call.  This is an edited together version of two episodes, one with a surprisingly good-natured one-on-one conversation between the two guests, and the other with the callers and studio audience.  Harrington is still a believer (he has a Facebook account); O'Hair was murdered, along with a son and grandson, in 1995, by a typesetter who worked for her organization, American Atheists.

This is the 1000th program I've reviewed from the 1970s!  And it won't even be the last.  But I promise I will get back to the '90s soon.

The Phil Donahue Show: Jerry Rubin

The Phil Donahue Show: Jerry Rubin
Syndicated
April 1970 (see below)
Talk Show
VHS
C+

As Phil himself says in the end, this is disappointing and could've been an interesting discussion.  This re-aired in 1988 as part of a "Golden Oldies" week, but, except for a brief introduction, the episode is basically intact from eighteen years earlier.  Rubin, a few years before he would indeed take the advice to cut his hair and put on a suit (he eventually became a multimillionaire and a Republican), spends most of his time ranting and not listening to other people.  It's clear this is a performance piece, and Phil, a relative newcomer, doesn't know how to balance the guest, the studio audience, and the callers.  The irony that Rubin sees Donahue as "plastic" is rich in retrospect of course, and certainly Phil by '88 had more left-of-center cred than Jerry did.

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns

This episode

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns
Movietime
Late December 1989
Talk Show
VHS
B-

This "best of" covers the nine months of the show, not every episode, but quite a few.  Ellerbee is tagged for the discussion of her Maxwell House commercial.  Burns concludes with a hope that WoM can find another home, but as far as I know it didn't.  Pity, since it would've been interesting to hear the panel react to the '90s.

As for the '80s, this probably isn't the last of my shows from that decade, since the '70s keep popping up.  But this is as good a place as any to get ready for another decade summary....

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns

Almost 20 years after this episode

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns
Movietime
December 14, 1989
Talk Show
VHS
B

I'm guessing since Burns ended the '80s look-back episode with a promise to look ahead at the '90s the next time, that this aired a week after the one from December 7th.  (Or maybe that's when these were taped.  No matter.)  In any case, they get some things right about the '90s, like the "nerding of America" and the increasing fragmentation of the television audience with the continuing impact of cable, and some things wrong, like the "moralistic" attitudes of computer nerds and, thank goodness, the marketing of videotapes with a very short shelf life.  This is the "next to last" episode, with the compilation coming up....