I’d be interested in knowing what other MSTies think is the least successful attempt at humor in a MSTied movie. Personally, my money has to be on the 40-year-old frat guy from “Ring of Terror,” who kept trying to do… well, I guess you could call them impersonations. When your schtick is so noxious it makes even the normally laid back Joel chant for your death, you know you’re in over your head.
I’m going to have to go with Bruno’s Heathcliff’s head-conking bit at the end of “Wild World of Batwoman.” Oh my sides.
What’s your pick?
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I’m going ‘nominate’ Sid Melton’s antics from ‘Lost Continent’ and the sleazy scenes from ‘AotTEC’ as dishonorable mentions, as they are bad, but nowhere near the worst.
while i’m tempted to line the whole ‘Catalina Caper’ cast up against the wall, i’m going with the ‘fingers’ O’Toole character.
Fingers O’Toole (“the stinky guy”) and his pratfalls from Catalina Caper comes immediately to mind.
Hobgoblins, every minute of it.
Dropo’s wacky antix in “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”.
I just watched Ring of Terror for the first time in a long time and forgot how unfunny the supposed “funny” pledge was. Painfully forced.
The movie “SIDEWAYS”. It got Oscar nominated for best picture back in ’05 or ’06, same year that Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Babies” won best picture. They said it was the only comedy to get nominated best picture that year. It’s the biggest piece of **** movie ever created. Comedy my ass! Completely unfunny from start to finish!! You didn’t say on the original FB posting that it had to be an MST film.
Clint Eastwood losing his lab rat and being shown up by John Agar in Revenge of the Creature. Of course Eastwood got the last laugh. Today he is more famous than Agar and has more Oscars.
Caddyshack 2
I read that everyone involved tried to get out if it but it was to late. Someone was going to make this movie and it sucked all the way around.
Comic A Go Go –
There was no …. Well, you know.
Failure is always an option when it comes to comic attempts in MSTed movies. From “Hai-Keeba” on to the Europy silliness in Diabolic one of the things I enjoy is how Joel, Mike, and the Bots take comedy lemons and turn them into fun!
Oh, Lord Feathered Boa from Quest of the Delta Knights hitting his head on the ceiling.
*clang* “Watch your heads.”
Crow: That was supposed to make us feel sad, right?
My choice for the worst: The poop-based comic scene in Boggy Creek II. That whole thing with the man asking his wife for a catalog, sitting in the outhouse, and then having to have his obviously soiled pants hosed down was just horrifying. Not everything should be turned into a visual.
Perhaps Tim’s wonderful humorous dialogue in Boggy Creek 2.
Bologna to eat? HAHAHAHAHAHhahahahah*bashes face on table*
How about “Women of the Prehistoric Planet” with one of the guys seeming to do stand-up in the middle of the movie? He’s the guy who says the immortal words “Hi-keeba”.
or the scene in “Mitchell” where he tries to outwit a kid who repeats everything he says…or is it the “sex scene” he has with Linda Evans? Maybe both.
“It stinks!”
It stunk.
Also in Wild Wild World of Batwoman:
The seance with the embarassing “Chinese” interruption of the seance.
That one really hurt a lot.
Hmmm…. lots to choose from, but on refection, maybe among the very worst was, well… pretty much EVERYTHING the incredibly inane talking motorcycle said in WotLW. Just wow.
I’m sure someone could come up with some specifics to flesh this out.
The Hi-keeba Guy from Women of the Prehistoric Planet, Inspector Pratfall of Catalina Caper, and the outhouse scene from Boggy Creek II have already been mentioned. I’ll add in the slapstick battle from the climax of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and Watney’s various antics in Outlaw.
British productions have some real weird attempts at humor I just do not get. Here are two examples;
THE DEADLY BEES At the end, a guy with a bowler, his first appearance, comes waltzing down the road accompanied by light humorous whistle melody. The music then switches suddenly to a more serious orchestra melody while the guy is still acting somewhat silly?! To sum up M&tB reactions, Crow barks out “What the hell?!”
THE PROJECTED MAN Drs Hill and Mitchel nearly crash into each other at the guards gate. Dr Hill tells Mitchel “You should watch where you are going!” and Mitchel’s response is “Pretty you may be.” As the guard checks Hill’s ID Crow riffs “He said ‘Pretty you may be.’ I don’t know why he said that”.
Tom “Driving she may be.” Mike “An exhaust system she may need.”
I’ll just pick Jim Stafford from “Riding with Death” and leave it at that.
Easily Droppo’s “wacky hijinks” from “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.” Just typing that previous sentence out made a slide whistle go off in my brain.
On the shorts side of the equation, there’s way too many to pick from. To this day, I have no idea if “Young Man’s Fancy” is supposed to be a sincere attempt at comedy, or an indirect dissection of crushing mundanity given a glimmer of hope with a new oven. Same with “A Case of Spring Fever” – is Coily supposed to make us laugh with his life-changing threats, or are we supposed to laugh at our protagonist’s descent into insanity that costs him his friends during a golf game?
I’m with ck on this one, the seance in Batwoman is terribly painful & more than a little racist.
Having just watched “Attack of the The Eye Creatures” I’d say our peeping toms in that one set both the U.S. Air Force and military-based comedy back 100 years.
Two words: Watney Smith.
Um… just had to chime in as a big fan of this film. Comedy is subjective so I won’t argue, but I do think you should re-read the original post. (BTW it actually won the Oscar for best original screenplay.)
Every scene in Roberto Rodriguez’s Santa Claus. It may have been the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, but that movie proved that not all that glitters is gold!
Alan Hale Jr. in The Giant Spider Invasion leaps immediately to mind. He’s talking to the camera most of the time, for God’s sake. Why is he doing that in a movie that Bill Rebane apparently wants to be taken seriously?
But yeah, I’m going to stick with Fingers O’Toole (yeesh) in Catalina Caper. At least Hale was mildly amusing in that he reminded us of his better days; Robert Donner’s half-assed Buster Keaton routine is just painful.
El Brendel/Olaf the Butler in The She-Creature; dude, dig a hole and bury your tired shtick. Also, the exchange between Mitchell and the Buzz Off Kid.
I have to throw in that Mexican Charlie Callas//Dime-Store-Demon, Pitch in Santa Claus. You can pretty much nominate any of his supposedly humorous “bits”, but the mincing jump down from the couch is a fine example of physical non-comedy.
I’m not sure if it was an attempt at comedy or seductiveness, but I’ll say the nightclub hulu-hooping done by Leah in Space Mutiny. Even Reb Brown looked embarrassed. “She’s presenting like a mandrill !!!!”
Me, I hear trombones: “WHAAAAAA WHAAAAaaaa Whaaaaaaaa waaaaaaaa…..” :laugh:
Lots of stuff from “Angels Revenge”: the cartoony sound effects in the fight scenes, April’s Olive Oyl impersonation, Jim Backus, Pat Buttram…
I was about to say the exact same thing. I also find the ditzy model girl’s comedy to be forced and pretty demeaning. And coming from THAT movie, it’s saying a lot.
Time Chasers…
When Nick reveals Mrs. Heinz as the skydiving grandma to Robertson in order to prevent the alternate future from happening.
I get what the filmmakers were attempting, but it is so painfully unfunny. But then again so are all of Nick’s quips.
Also, in Angel’s Revenge look at the cameos as a series of more and more
embarrassing “comedic” bits (Arthur Godfrey, Pat Buttram, Jim Backus, etc.).
Oh the horror! Oh the humanity!
Oh wait! How about poopie suits in The Starfighters? (Comedic gold—not!).
I would have to say the whole film CATALINA CAPER is one big failed comedy bit. I am surprised that Joel and the Bots made it out alive trying to riff that thing.
Raul Julia as Daisy the baboon in OATMB. Need I say more?
Satoris: #37
Well at least Raul wasn’t a filthy, disgusting anteater.
The scene in Future War where our hero fails to understand the difference between guns and flashlights.
Servo: “I guess this’ll have to pass for humor.”
Mike: “Until actual humor can be found, please accept this substitute.”
baby oil from Mitchell.
The Sinister Urge has two scenes that spring to mind: The first is when Lt. Carson wakes up his sleeping partner. The second is at the end when the detectives show Gloria that she shot the wrong man. In both cases there is a very slow build up with no real payoff. The best that Mike and the Bots can do is to patronize the scenes rather than riff them.
Worst movie attempt at comedy? Wild Wild World of Batwoman!
The entirety of The Wild Wild World of Batwoman. It fails at campiness.
I’m still surprised people don’t get this. That wasn’t his first appearance. He was the government agent in the beginning, sent out to investigate the letters threatening the release of the deadly bees.
The joke is that he gets there after everything is over. It’s still not funny, but it’s not hard to figure out.
Not done on MST3K, but did you know that The Room is supposed to be a “dark comedy”? I never would’ve guessed.
Wow! Huge slam on anteaters out of nowhere.
I think it is safe to say that every emcee in a MiSTied movie is terrible. *cough* Hobogoblins *cough*
But my heart goes out to the Hungry Mouth (?) emcee in The Incredibly Strange Creatures… because he seems like a genuinely nice man who is probably somewhat charming in real life. I think it’s an understatement to say that his jokes fall flat.
Whatever the hell that phone prank scene was supposed to be in Starfighters. Is the joke that they’re standing right next to each other, but talking on the phone about phony Italians coming to visit? I just…what?
(Santa blows soot up the chimney)
(Pitch gets faceful, makes wah-wahh take to camera)
Crow: (cartoony voice) “IT’S a living….”
Although Joel’s reaction as Donner’s bits seem to have punchlines missing, times it perfectly:
“Okay guys, get ready for this, this’s gonna be comedy gold…”
May I suggest the ‘corn de-tassler story’ from STARFIGHTERS? It’s like being stuck inside one of your uncle’s boring ‘Here, this is cool, clean fun!’ stories at Thanksgiving.