Action Family is an episode of "The Cinemax Comedy Experiment" anthology series written by and starring Chris Elliott as a Private Investigator named Chris Elliot who is juggling work and home life. The show's overarching theme is that it is in fact two shows in one, and has sudden dramatic tonal shifts that affect everything from the way the characters act to the type of cameras used. His home and family life are a parody of a late 1970s/early 1980s saccharine multicamera sitcom shot on cheap 3 walled sets with an audience that often loudly comments on the action. When he goes to work as a hard boiled PI, the show switches tones entirely to dark, gritty, and violent, the camera switches to film stock, and the audience laughter vanishes. Regardless of which tone the show is taking at the moment, the action and dialogue is all completely absurd, and everything that happens is heightened for comedic effect or to service a joke or gag. Though there is a thin murder mystery plot, it takes a back seat to the comedy, and is eventually brought to a completely nonsensical conclusion. The show ends with the family dressed as the Partridge Family lip syncing to a Partridge Family song.
The show includes cameo appearances by David Letterman, whose show Elliott had been a writer and performer on for many years, and they engage in the exact same type of banter as on Late Night. Bob Elliott, Chris Elliott's father, also makes a cameo as a hot dog salesman.
Elliott followed up Action Family with another episode in 1987 of The Cinemax Comedy Experiment, called FDR: A One Man Show. This time Elliott played a fictional version of himself portraying Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a one-man stage show discussing mostly fictional events of his life before a mostly live audience of senior citizens and cardboard cut-outs. This concept had been discussed by Elliott on Late Night, when his "Guy Under the Seats" character emerged dressed in the FDR costume.
Action Family and FDR: A One Man Show were eventually both packaged together and sold on VHS on October 6, 1995, but have never seen a DVD release.
The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th century onward, the rise of illusionism in staging practices, which culminated in the realism and naturalism of the theatre of the 19th century, led to the development of the fourth wall concept.
The Partridge Family is an American musical sitcom created by Bernard Slade, which was broadcast in the United States from September 25, 1970, to August 24, 1974, on ABC.
Christopher Nash Elliott is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, and author, known for his surreal sense of humor. He appeared in comedic sketches on Late Night with David Letterman (1982–1988), created and starred in the comedy series Get a Life (1990–1992) on Fox, and wrote and starred in the film Cabin Boy (1994). His writing has won four consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards. His other television appearances include recurring roles on Everybody Loves Raymond and How I Met Your Mother, starring roles as Chris Monsanto in Adult Swim's Eagleheart (2011–2014) and Roland Schitt in Schitt's Creek (2015–2020). He also appeared in the films Groundhog Day (1993), There's Something About Mary (1998), Snow Day (2000) and Scary Movie 2 (2001).
David Mirkin is an American feature film and television director, writer and producer. Mirkin grew up in Philadelphia and intended to become an electrical engineer, but abandoned this career path in favor of studying film at Loyola Marymount University. After graduating, he became a stand-up comedian, and then moved into television writing. He wrote for the sitcoms Three's Company, It's Garry Shandling's Show and The Larry Sanders Show and served as showrunner on the series Newhart. After an unsuccessful attempt to remake the British series The Young Ones, Mirkin created Get a Life in 1990. The series starred comedian Chris Elliott and ran for two seasons, despite a lack of support from many Fox network executives, who disliked the show's dark and surreal humor. He moved on to create the sketch show The Edge starring his then-partner, actress Julie Brown.
Alan Gordon Partridge is a comedy character portrayed by the English actor Steve Coogan. A parody of British television personalities, Partridge is a tactless and inept broadcaster with an inflated sense of celebrity. Since his debut in 1991, he has appeared in media including radio and television series, books, podcasts and a feature film.
Dante Daniel Bonaduce is an American retired radio personality, actor, television personality, and professional wrestler. Bonaduce is the son of veteran TV writer and producer Joseph Bonaduce. Bonaduce became famous as a child actor of the 1970s on the TV sitcom The Partridge Family. He co-starred as Danny Partridge, the wisecracking, redheaded middle son of the singing family band, and he portrayed the fictional pop group's bass guitar player.
A laugh track is an audio recording consisting of laughter usually used as a separate soundtrack for comedy productions. The laugh track may contain live audience reactions or artificial laughter made to be inserted into the show, or a combination of the two. The use of canned laughter to "sweeten" the laugh track was pioneered by American sound engineer Charles "Charley" Douglass.
A cold open is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In North American television, this is often done on the theory that involving the audience in the plot as soon as possible will reduce the likelihood of their switching from a show during the opening commercial. A cold open may also be used to recap events in previous episodes or storylines that will be revisited during the current episode.
The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, was a comedy radio program which ran on NBC from 1948 to 1954 starring Alice Faye and Phil Harris. Harris had previously become known to radio audiences as the band-leader-turned-cast-member of the same name on The Jack Benny Program while Faye had been a frequent guest on programs such as Rudy Vallée's variety shows. After becoming the breakout stars of the music and comedy variety program The Fitch Bandwagon, the show was retooled into a full situation comedy, with Harris and Faye playing fictionalized versions of themselves as a working show business couple raising two daughters in a madcap home.
The single-camera setup, or single-camera mode of production, also known as portable single crew, portable single camera or single-cam, is a method of filmmaking and video production.
The Jon Dore Television Show is a Canadian mockumentary-style comedy television series, created by Jon Dore and John Brunton. The show stars Canadian actor and comedian Jon Dore, of recent Canadian Idol co-host fame. The Comedy Network ordered 13 half-hour episodes of the series, which premiered on October 17, 2007 at 10pm ET. The second season premiered on January 21, 2009. A third season was supposed to be premiered in 2010 until Dore confirmed the series' cancellation. The show also aired on the Independent Film Channel in the United States.
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-genre, macro-genre, or micro-genre, such as soap opera, police crime drama, political drama, legal drama, historical drama, domestic drama, teen drama, and comedy-drama (dramedy). These terms tend to indicate a particular setting or subject matter, or they combine a drama's otherwise serious tone with elements that encourage a broader range of moods. To these ends, a primary element in a drama is the occurrence of conflict—emotional, social, or otherwise—and its resolution in the course of the storyline.
Limmy's Show! is a Scottish surreal comedy sketch show broadcast on BBC Two Scotland, written, directed and partly based on the 2006 podcast Limmy's World of Glasgow by Brian "Limmy" Limond, who stars as himself and a variety of characters in a series of observational, surreal, dark, and bizarre sketches. Limmy frequently breaks the fourth wall by directly talking to viewers through the camera. The show stars Brian Limond, Paul McCole, Alan McHugh, and Kirstin McLean. The first series featured a completely different supporting cast, consisting of Debbie Welsh, Tom Brogan and Raymond Mearns. The show has amassed a cult following since its release.
The Fast Show, known as Brilliant in the US, is a BBC comedy sketch show that ran from 1994 to 1997, with specials in 2000 and 2014. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams, John Thomson, Arabella Weir and Caroline Aherne. Other significant cast members included Felix Dexter, Paul Shearer, Rhys Thomas, Jeff Harding, Maria McErlane, Eryl Maynard, Colin McFarlane and Donna Ewin.
"Trading Places" is the 13th episode of the ninth season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on March 20, 2011. The episode follows the Griffins as they decide to switch roles, in order to teach each other a lesson about responsibility, with father Peter and mother Lois becoming the children, and son Chris and daughter Meg becoming the parents of the household. They each discover hardships in their new roles, however, as the switch causes a strain on the family's relationship, and eventually resulting in the ultimate consequence.
The Max Headroom Show is a television series that debuted in the UK in 1985. It was produced by Carlton TV and aired on Channel 4, with an initial series of 13 shows. It featured actor Matt Frewer playing the role of pseudo-computer-generated talk-show host Max Headroom. It returned in 1986 for a second series of six episodes plus a Christmas special. The final series aired in 1987.
"Live from Studio 6H" is the nineteenth episode of the sixth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 122nd episode overall. It features a return to live broadcasting from the season five episode "Live Show", both of which were directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller, and co-written by series creator Tina Fey. The episode originally aired live on the NBC television network in the United States on April 26, 2012, with separate tapings for the East Coast and West Coast audiences. "Live from Studio 6H" featured guest appearances by comedian Amy Poehler, musician Paul McCartney, and several actors associated with 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live.
Cinemax Comedy Experiment is an anthology series broadcast on Cinemax throughout the mid-to-late 1980s. Every episode was written and directed by a different standup comedian.
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