Short: (1951) A placid tour of the alphabet.
Movie: (1959) High-panted, cool-singing, truck-driving hepcat tangles with blonde bombshell, tries to solve his friend’s murder and becomes a courier for drug dealers.
First shown: 7/20/91
Opening: J&tB are marketing mad dogs gathered around the water cooler
Invention exchange: Dr. F is feeding the miracle growth baby; Joel shows off his air freshener mobile, while the mads demonstrate the alien teething nook
Host segment 1: Joel sings: “Hike Your Pants Up”
Host segment 2: J&tB reenact the drag race from the movie, with Joel getting killed a lot
Host segment 3: Joel is conducting a spit-take lesson, but the dumb guy from the movie keeps appearing on the Hexfield
End: Joel is studying the “Want some?” scene, Joel reads letters, and in Deep 13 the button doesn’t work
Stinger: “Couldn’t help ya if I wanted to, fella. Gym policy.”
(155 votes, average: 4.66 out of 5)
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• As the kids say, this episode is full of win (that is what they say, isn’t?). It is chock full o’ awesome. It’s got everything: a cheesy but watchable movie (featuring the high-panted Dick Contino) that even includes swingin’ musical numbers, great host segments, riffing that starts in high gear and stays there and a memorable closing segment. A classic.
• References.
• This episode will be included in Shout’s upcoming MST3K Collection Vol. XXXIII.
• If you’re playing along at home, this was number 30 on that 1995 Comedy Central countdown.
• Those who say host segments in the Joel years were more often related to the movie were probably thinking of episodes like this one: Just about ALL the host segments are not only related to the movie, they’re direct parodies or reenactments of scenes from the movie.
• The idea of the alien teething nook was taken up by this plush toy. It didn’t have the nipple, though.
• Again, that’s Tim Scott as the miracle growth baby.
• The blue tint is back. Ugh.
• The short is the first of many educational shorts (though some count “X Marks the Spot,” that short is more for adults) that would eventually become one of the most popular elements on the series.
• I love the way Joel imitates Dick Contino’s rictus grin as he sings.
• That lyric about Corey Haim in “Hike Your Pants Up” got a bit less funny in 2010.
• In the reenactment of the race, it’s interesting to note that Tom plays the guy and Crow plays the girl, for a change! It probably has to do with the placement of the guy and gal in the movie, but still, it’s a rarity.
• When they re-enter the theater, Tom covers the absence of the cars they were wearing by saying “Good thing we were thrown clear of those cars!”
• Callbacks: “Ya got me!” (Catalina Caper) “Chili peppers burn my gut” (Sidehackers) “Hey that’s from Catalina Caper!” “The driver is either missing or…” (The Phantom Creeps) “I don’t care!” (Time of the Apes)
• Is THIS the last time we hear the “Weiner Man” song? Similarly, is THIS the last episode with a mole person?
• Okay, Dick lost his license, but he doesn’t need a driver’s licence to race cars on private property, right? It’s a plot hole.
• Segment 3 features the first use of the hexfield viewscreen since episode 302. That’s Mike, of course, as the clueless Bruce.
• During segment 3, Tom’s Carmen Miranda hat almost falls off. Joel straightens it and they keep going.
• The lady in the club looks a LITTLE like Lou Reed from the Transformer album. It’s kind of a stretch, though.
• Little letter writer Christina, 7 when she wrote to the show, is now (assuming she is okay) cruising toward 30.
• The crowning glory of this terrific ep is the famous “broken button” bit, a gem people remembered for years. Unfortunately, in later years a lazy Comedy Central did not respect the bit and actually ran voice overs during it–an incident that sparked one of several major online protests among fans.
• The closing bit also features an uncredited mole person! Is THIS the last appearance?
• Cast and crew roundup: Director Lou Place was on the set of lots of MSTed movies. He was the assistant director for “The Undead,” played the police captain in “Swamp Diamonds” and was production manager for “It Conquered the World” and “Agent for H.A.R.M.” Editor Harold White also worked on “The Beatniks.” Makeup guy Carlie Taylor also worked on “Swamp Diamonds.” In front of the camera, actress Sonia Torgeson was also in “Teenagers from Outer Space.” Actor Bob Banas was the choreographer on “The Skydivers.” Dick Contino also appears in “Girls Town,” of course. Buttery Bruno Vesota wasm also in “Attack of the Giant Leeches,” “Gunslinger,” “The Wild, Wild World of Batwoman” and “The Undead.”
• CreditsWatch: Jim Mallon moves from writer to contributing writer for the rest of the season. Paul Chaplin joins the list of contributing writers. “The Pants Up Song” is by Mike and Kevin and Mike did the “baby music.” Trace and Frank are still guest “villians” (misspelled) and Dr. F’s name is still spelled “Forrestor.”
• Fave short riff: “But he’s got a brain like a chick pea!” Honorable mention: “It’s the Georgia juvenile correction system.”
• Fave feature riff: “On my ANKLE, like I SAID!” Honorable mention: “Do you like the names of lots of fish?”
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This is absolutely a stand out episode! It’s been one of my most favorites from the day it first aired. Even today I still think it’s much better than even a lot of the other fan favorites. I can’t even begin to count how many lines from the film or riffs from this episode that I use incredibly often in my everyday life, and the “piece of water” “glass of cake” part is my second favorite Frank thing ever (the first being his signature “uyuk-guuuuuh!” sound). Daddy-O is easily my most wanted episode to get a DVD release (and has been since they started releasing DVDs), but sadly it also appears to be one of those movies where it will be nearly impossible for them to get the rights to it now, so I don’t expect it to be on DVD anytime soon.
Daddy-O is one of my top 10 favorites. It reminds me of summer ’92 when my friends and I would gather together to watch the late Friday night showings.
Comments/Thoughts/Favorite Parts:
-Mostly, I just smile while watching this episode, chuckling at everything.
-Say!
-There’s not a single man in my organization who would tell that kind of lousy joke!
-Dr. F feeding the baby is classic
-The hell is chechure? (did I spell that right? lol) One of the greatest invention exchanges! I love the long pause
-I want a Clark bar!
-Introducing Morton Tuber as Mr. Potato Head (CAST & CREW ROUNDUP: Morton Tuber worked on The Unearthly as well)
-You want to go over to Lou’s Place?
-Hey Barney, give me a 30 count 200 mg Tagamet
-He’s blowing nuts?
-I think we talked over the only Dick Contino song in the whole movie (Untamed Youth reference!)
-Hike Your Pants Up, one of the greatest host segments and MST3K songs ever
-It’s the Sunday Night Mystery Movie! (3 references in this episode, including a McCloud!)
-Chili Peppers Burn My Gut
-Want Some?
-Where are you going? What are you doing? Why?
-Hey Daddy-O, can I borrow the car-i-o? MY FAVORITE RIFF, perhaps ever!
-Why couldn’t it be this guy on the plane instead of Buddy Holly?
-Some people had brothers, he had Sonny! (but due to the lack of character development, we’d never know how much Sonny meant to him. When you start to go this route into the story, the whole thing starts to fall apart. How well did he know Sonny if he didn’t know he was moving drugs? In their one scene together, it didn’t look like they were too chummy. I could go on…)
-Mr. Buddy Love!
-Sheldon Leonard! (Not a Big Bang Theory reference, because that would be impossible, but still related. Look him up)
-Host Segment 3, pure gold! Spit takes (see East Meets Watts), Juicy Lucy (ahh, Ricky), Mike as “That Guy” is one of his best performances! Why are you here? Just go away!
-Same plot as Mortal Thoughts (which we had just rented at the time this aired!)
-I’ve got the answer. HEY! (looks like he’s peeing)
-I Don’t Care!
-And we’ve never felt less like hearing you!
-Joel’s “Want Some” study at the end is brilliant! You know, no matter how many times I see it, I always learn something!
-Shut up you guys! I hate you! – I love letters like this! Hilarious!
-Questions, I need answers! (you’re not getting enough to eat)
-The never ending-ending is SOOO good! My favorite credits ever! Though It Conquered The World and Teenage Crimewave come close.
Mole people again! No you’ve got the problem! It took you over 30 days to burrow here with that pizza!
Frank’s spittake
Virtually everything I love about MST3K is contained in these closing credits. The Brains were really cooking with gas here. Material like this is why Frank is the greatest. I could go into long detail about this skit, but instead I think I’ll go get a piece of water, I mean a glass of cake.
We’re late. I remember. Alt-function 7!
Great episode all around. Dr. Forrester pulling Frank by the ear and Frank arguing with the mole-man about his pizza are my favorite parts of the ending credits.
I’m ashamed to admit that “Rock Candy Baby” gets stuck in my head every couple of months.
Also, I could have sworn that the mole-men made a comeback in Gamera Vs. Zigra when Dr. Forrester and Frank were playing their Gamera Heavy-Metal song. I think that the Mole People were playing guitars in the background.
@13 I always thought Tom was saying Y is for Yanni. Either way, it’s funny
@42 that callback in Crystal Skull put a big smile on my face
@44 Crusing, now that was one messed up movie!
@45 Jim Morrison was a crooner, and he was a badass (I know, I know, he came along well after this era, so it really doesn’t count)
@51 Daddy-O is my most awaited unreleased episode too, now that Master Ninja 1 & 2 are out.
@53 I’m pretty sure Clay talks to the Mole people during that metal song. Wait a minute, was that in Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster? Time for me to dig out some episodes and brush up…
I really love this one too. I watched it back-to-back with TIME of the APES last week and had a great time. A couple of classics.
I’m not holding my breath when it comes to a SHOUT! Factory release of DADDY-O but who knows. Had anyone told me before last Thanksgiving that we’d see the 5 GAMERA boxset this summer I would find it hard to believe. Or at least I’d humor said person, smile, and say “We shall see.”
I would now have egg on my face. ;-)
A very fun episode. Everything works and flows. This episode really shows everyone having a great time doing what they do best. The “Hike Up Your Pants” song especially.
The short and the movie were both top riff fodder. The movie was entertaining on it’s on with some well staged music numbers. The villians were a pretty inept lot. Although I’m no drug dealer that was a very small package Daddy-O was delivering. Wouldn’t be enough for a weekend in most cases.
Okay, I have changed the link to the FRONT cover of the Transformer album. The previous link was to the back side of the cover.
FYI, both of those people in that former image are Lou. (!)I assumed they were referring to Lou in drag since the lady was in a dress. But I guess it’s just her face we’re talking about. I still think it’s a bit of a stretch.Not to be a d*ck, Sampo (ah, too late, who am I kidding?), but I really don’t think either of those people on the back of Transformer are Lou. I Googled up and down and couldn’t find a single link that claimed that. This link (http://www.superseventies.com/spreedlou.html) suggests that they’re both a guy named Ernie Thormahlen… a name to conjure with, indeed. I think the “that’s Lou Reed in drag on the back of Transformer!” thing was just an urban legend.
Again, not trying to be that guy, but, well… I’m kind of a stickler for detail. ;)
HeatUp–You learn something every day!
Not really MST related, but I always get a kick out of the fact that James Ellroy cites Daddy-O as one of his influences when he was writing his LA quartet (Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential & White Jazz). He even wrote a novella called Dick Contino’s Blues.
Daddy-O is one of those episodes that I can watch, but not with the same enthusiasm as others. I’d rate it a 3.5 out of 5 episode. A good solid episode with great riffs, host segments, and the “Hike Up Your Pants” song was genius. This episode, with Dick Contino, always reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw many years ago that opined–“Use an accordian, go to jail–it’s the law”.
I really like this episode, but the reason it is memorable for me is that about six months ago I was in a thrift store and found a copy of Contino’s “Polka Time” on vinyl. I was stunned at what a vibrant, entertaining accordianist he was. And is. He’s based out of Las Vegas and still plays many dates every year. I’d go see him if he played east of Chicago, but he doesn’t seem to come this far. Watch some of his videos to see what an amazing musician he is.
“Rock candy baby, you’re mine!”
I can’t get that stupid lyric out of my head.
“Nimbus?”
DADDY-O is a classic MST episode, everything in it works. The riffing, Opening Invention Exchange, the Host Segments, the fun educational short, and the stupidly fun bad movie. Easily a 5/5 rating, the first (by my account) since #303 POD PEOPLE. Season 3 is just hitting its stride. . . .
Daddy-O (the movie) features many great things (singing! dancing! driving) but the greatest thing is Bruce, the pop bottle glasses wearing goon who lamely threatens our hero. “Gimme the key.” Although the least greatest thing in the movie is the scene where Bruce gives the fat, sweaty man a fairly ineffective looking massage. *Shudder*
All 3 Host Segments are solid gold. “Hike Up Your Pants” is a great song, “it ain’t hip till you’re in total pain.” The cutaway to Frank and Dr. F (which they rarely do during HostSegments) is great. “Zip it, Frank.” HS#2 is fast and funny, Joel changes them costumes quick! In HS#3 Mike gives one of his funniest (albeit most brief) guest spots as a visiting Bruce. The way he’s holding his head and says “Gimme the key” just kills me.
The “broke button” end credits sequence is what puts this one over the top. Classic beyond belief.
RIFFS, Short:
C is for Cat
Crow: “It’s evil!”
Servo: “O is for the obscene treatment of animals.”
during the squirrels feasting,
Joel: “That’s good stuff!”
RIFFS, Movie:
Servo: “John Williams! Must be before he heard Stravinsky.” Nah, I kid Stravinsky. . .”
Joel: “Got a stummy ache?”
flashlight in the window,
Crow: “Hey it’s the ‘Sunday Mystery Movie’ out there!”
Crow: “His mother was a SAINT!”
Joel: “You smell like Captain Kangaroo.”
CROW: “The driver is either missing or is. . .remember that one?”
Servo: “oh, that was a callback.”
Crow/Servo: “heheheheheheh”
Joel: “It’s Lou Reed from the Transformer album!” ——–>It doesn’t matter if that is or isn’t Lou Reed on the cover, what DOES matter is that ‘Transformer’ is the album that has the song titled ‘SATELLITE OF LOVE’ on it. :music:
fat guy in movie: “this envelope contains 750 dollars in it”
Joel: “and a Snoopy birthday card.”
Crow: “When is that butter going to get here?”
During one of the final car “chases” there is a reference to Elizabeth Taylor movie “BUtterfield 8” which I’ve not seen, but I noticed it, so there.
Crow: “It’s Orson Welles!”
Servo: “We will sell no dope before its time.”
during fight with Bruce,
Crow: “Beaker, no!”
during fight with fat dude,
Joel: “Red wine does not go with my lips.”
during the “broke button” credits,
Dr. F: “What in the Sam Scratch is going on here?”
and finally,
I have one question….
“WANT SOME?”
5/5
Matthew Shine says:
“I’m ashamed to admit that ‘Rock Candy Baby’ gets stuck in my head every couple of months.”
Yeah, I’m with you there, unfortunately. It’s really not a bad song or anything, but it’s still annoying. “Rock, rock, rock candy baby, rock, rock…..”
@ pondoscp, #52:
I believe it’s “We’re licked,” not “we’re late.” I heard “Y is for Yanni” too, but I must admit “Y is yawning” is funnier.
Is comparing a girl to rock candy supposed to be a compliment? I guess it’s better than NECCo wafers. Yuck.
Sharktopus – it’s a proven scientific fact that referencing Yanni makes things 70% funnier.
This one doesn’t do anything at all for me. I do like the short though…(the giraffe says “I want a clark bar!”).
Never been able to get into the rest of the episode. I rank this, along with ‘City Limits’ and ‘Hellcats’ as my least favorite episodes.
“Is comparing a girl to rock candy supposed to be a compliment?”
Must be, since Sammy Hagar did the same (in “Rock Candy” for Montrose in the ’70s.)
@60: “Not really MST related, but I always get a kick out of the fact that James Ellroy cites Daddy-O as one of his influences when he was writing his LA quartet”
What writer wouldn’t? There’s Joyce, Beckett, Nabokov, Hemingway, Austen–and Daddy-O
Every week I randomly select one episode for the week’s viewing. And, this week, I picked “Daddy-O”!
Doesn’t often happen that my rotation and the episode guide will mesh.
Alphabet Antics:
– Quick shot of the guy wildly reeling in his kite and J&TB responding like a panicked Oliver Hardy.
Daddy-O:
– “Listen Doll. You’re gonna kill someone driving like that”. Crow as Jana: “Thanks”.
– Always love the group effort when they do the old fed-up-with-life, crotchety guy “Nyaaaaahhh!!”, as they did for Barney.
– Trace’s excellent portrayal of Barney as Ed Wynn: “Excuse me! Pardon me! Pregnant lady coming through! Oh look, I’m thpilling! I’m thpilling! Oh!”
– Joel: “VANDALS!”
– Mike as Bruce: “Now uh, gimme the key fella”.
I’m a little late to this picninc. Just finshed rewatching Daddy-O.
Torn between 4 and 5. I’ll vote when i finsih typing a few quick notes.
Good movie, has a little place in my heart becasue of the connection to J. Elroy ( read Dick Contino’s Blues in Granta a long time ago ).
Broken Button is the best show closing credits ever ? maybe. it is wonderful.
I am surpised there was not more of a discussion of Checher (sp? ) and Nimbus, just a few passing references.
Fave Riff ( maybe a tiny bit obscure ):
Movie: Where’s Perez ?
Riff: He’s jamming with Lady Day
Perez => Prez => Lester Young “The President of the Tenor Saxaphone aka Prez” great jazz musician of the old days. Lady Day is of course Billie Holiday, another great jazz entity.
As for the subject film, I want to make the observation that Bruno Vesota and Jack McClure ( as Bruce Green ) are doing a servicebale rendition of Sidney Greenstreet and Elisha Cook Jr. in the Maltese Falcon… the round erudite criminal and the physically lacking semi-competant tough guy ( who are probably a couple ).
oh what the heck, I’m feeling warm and fuzzy… 5!
“THE HELL IS CHECHER?!!”
Curse you inanimate objects! You mock me with your silence!!
What, no comments about the facehugger/pacifier being a purchasable reality now? And reflections on the morality of using same on kidnicks? I checked if such existed last week in anticipation of this flick being next on the roster, but of course Sampo was all over it anyway…
Kinda meh on this one too. It just isn’t dazzling fun for me; still a good ‘un overall though.
I know I’m late to this party but I need to say that this is yet another one of the best J&TB episodes EVER/Episodes that made me a lifelong fan/Episodes that actually made me want to search for MST3K years later on the Internet;)
But the main reason I love “Daddy-O” FWIW is because this show is my Mom’s ALL-TIME favorite from MST3K (and yes we both still really want a DVD release of this ep. a.s.a.p.:) For “Hike Up Your Pants” & “Want Some?” alone it’s a true classic but thankfully the rest of the episode is equally great as well.
I really like the movie, but dislike the short intensely. For me it’s a snooze, an ANNOYING snooze. I feel the same way about the Rifftrax short about Dressing Up Kitty. Yeeks.
But I agree it was the beginning of a long, satisfying history with educational shorts.
Jana is, for me, the most irritatingly unlikeable leading lady in MSTory. She totally LIES about her actions in the opening scene, and continues needling Contino every chance she gets. I could never figure out why we were expected to feel any sympathy for her at all. I guess because she was good looking.
“Hike Yer Pants Up” is my favorite Joel song by a mile — love it.
In the “I want some answers” sketch at the end, Joel gets the sequence wrong EVERY time. Did you notice that?
Spoon-feeding an adult who is dressed as an infant is icky. I get the joke, and it’s well-played, but man was that gross.
I love the guy who played the over-weight drug kingpin with the highbrow attitude. I saw that guy on some film on TCM (or somewhere). He was also in The Giant Leaches. They got a lot of Orson Welles jokes out of that guy. I watch this one every once in a while because it’s so much fun. Man, that slang they used was sometimes incomprehensible. “what kind of scared?”
The baby thing from Frank and DR. F was bizarre to say the least. Not as much as the previous episode where it started. I think I remember the voice over the credits part but I’m not sure. It’s been a while. I love the Mike Nelson playing that guy with the bad eye sight sketch. “…now give me that key.”
All this and John Williams did the score. I assume he didn’t do the pop songs that guy sang. Ugh.
My head’s not an apple!
I’ll have the left side of the menu
Carlie Taylor is a guy, Sampo. His real name was Charles J. Taylor.
“X is for existential dilemma”
Hmm. Yeah, not a favorite of mine. The shorts good, and I really liked the end credits bit, but that’s about it. Not a fan of the movie all that much, and Janna (seriously, I had no idea she even had a name!) just irritates me. Hike Your Pants up was pretty good, but not one of their best songs. Bring back the giant turtle!
Sampo, you still haven’t corrected the erroneous statement about this episode introducing, “Saaaay!”
Personally, I think X Marks the Spot would count as the first educational short (since it was trying to educate).
Recall the moderator for the MST3K panel at San Diego Comic Con mentioned how he saw this movie with a friend and couldn’t stop thinking of Hike Up Your Pants.
Any time I see that Lou Reed pic from Transformer, I think of Daddy-O. One of the many random things in this wide world that permanently has an MST3K stamp. I’m so glad I watched this show at a young age.
off topic but found these on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmNizC3Vzq4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tLjxq6Oric
Couldn’t post a comment if I wanted to, fella.
‘Rock Candy Baby’ must be a good enough song if people here remember it so much. I like this episode a lot. I usually do other things while the short is running, it’s the movie that is the prize here.
I was watching television and you could see the guy who looked a bit like Orson Welles in some major movie. That’s a good sign for an actor, when you can pick him out a movie and say ‘I’ve seen that man before in another film’. You have to love ‘The Man who saw Tomorrow’ joke. It’s the main thing I knew about Orson Welles when I was a kid, that Nostradamus movie.
Also, if the question is “Want some?, I think the reply of which should of been “Who wouldn’t?”
Some people have funny comments, I had Sonny.
If anybody needs decent copies of the Godzilla eps, download ’em now while you can. They won’t stay up long.
Hard to believe from watching Daddy-O that that near-sighted gym lunkhead went on host a popular and influential late night talk show for a quarter century.
I’m really looking forward to this episode’s imminent Shout! release, because I really found this one fun. All the host segments landed with laughs, the movie was just incoherent enough to let the riffs through, but not painful. Some surprisingly good music too, in the vein of “Untamed Youth”.
Then there was the ending. I’d never seen this one before, so that took me completely by surprise. I wish they’d done that a bit more often.
Bruno VeSoto is good in anything.
A high pants cosplay is a must.
Just happened to Catch 204 – Catalina Caper over the weekend and they did it about three times. All scenes of bikini-clad beauties, no Oops takes.
Wrong thread, couldn’t delete.
See post #11 for the earliest use of that riff.
Sonia Torgeson’s in this! Her character isn’t anywhere near as horny as the one she plays in Teenagers From Outer Space though.
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Re-watched it last night on the new DVD set and it’s surprisingly solid. I’m not a huge fan of season 3 but this was one of the better ones.
One of my favorite jokes, which surprisingly wasn’t mentioned in the comments: “In you two pixies go, through the winda!”