Cracking Up | |
---|---|
Directed by | Rowby Goren Chuck Staley |
Written by | Ace Trucking Company Peter Bergman The Credibility Gap Neal Israel Philip Proctor |
Starring | Harry Shearer Fred Willard Michael McKean |
Distributed by | American International Pictures |
Running time | 84 minutes/69 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Cracking Up is a 1977 American independent anthology sketch black comedy film, directed by Rowby Goren and Chuck Staley. The film was a collaboration between numerous comedy troupes of the 60s and 70s, many of which were former Second City members, including Ace Trucking Company, The Credibility Gap, The Graduates, and The Pitschel Players. The frame story for the sketches is that after California is devastated by a 9.7 earthquake two television reporters Walter Concrete (Philip Proctor) and Barbara Halters (Peter Bergman) conduct interviews with survivors, serving as introduction to the sketches.
The movie features music by The Tubes, which the TV Guide review called a highlight of the film. [1]
The credits states that "the actors who appeared in this film were performing their own material," but the credited writers are Ace Trucking Company comedy troupe, Peter Bergman, The Credibility Gap, Neal Israel, and Philip Proctor. The film was released in 69 minute [2] and 84 minute runtimes.
"Like a number of other films made for college-age audiences Cracking Up was test marketed in Champaign, Illinois." [3]
A retrospective mixed review of the film compared it to Saturday Night Live . [4] "Various alumni from such improvisational groups as The Ace Trucking Company and Firesign Theatre here attempted a parody of television news and sitcoms revolving around a newscast about a California earthquake." , according to American International Pictures : a filmography. [3] TV Guide called it a "weak laugher". [1]
Ruggles of Red Gap is a 1935 American comedy film directed by Leo McCarey and starring: Charles Laughton, Mary Boland, Charlie Ruggles and ZaSu Pitts and featuring Roland Young and Leila Hyams. It was based on the best-selling 1915 novel by Harry Leon Wilson, adapted by Humphrey Pearson, with a screenplay by Walter DeLeon and Harlan Thompson.
The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles, California. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improv techniques were taught by Del Close and other members of the Second City, located in Chicago and later St. Louis. They used these techniques to produce sketches and improvised scenes. Its name is taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act III, Scene II: "...to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumbshows and noise." In 1975 the troupe purchased and moved into its location on Melrose Avenue.
The Firesign Theatre was an American surreal comedy troupe who first appeared on November 17, 1966, in a live performance on the Los Angeles radio program Radio Free Oz on station KPFK FM. They continued appearing on Radio Free Oz, which later moved to KRLA 1110 AM and then KMET FM, through February 1969. They produced fifteen record albums and a 45 rpm single under contract to Columbia Records from 1967 through 1976, and had three nationally syndicated radio programs: The Firesign Theatre Radio Hour Hour [sic] in 1970 on KPPC-FM; and Dear Friends (1970–1971) and Let's Eat! (1971–1972) on KPFK. They also appeared in front of live audiences, and continued to write, perform, and record on other labels, occasionally taking sabbaticals during which they wrote or performed solo or in smaller groups.
Dynamite Chicken is a 1971 American comedy film. Described in its opening credits as "an electronic magazine of American pop culture", it presents a series of interviews, stand-up comedy, countercultural sketches, documentary segments, and agitprop relating to the peace movement, based around a stream-of-consciousness free-form format.
Roger Wendell Bowen was an American comedic actor and novelist, best known for his portrayal of Lt. Col. Henry Blake in the 1970 film M*A*S*H.
How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All is the second comedy album recorded by the Firesign Theatre. It was originally released in July 1969 by Columbia Records.
The Credibility Gap was an American satirical comedy team active from 1968 through 1979. They emerged in the late 1960s delivering comedic commentary on the news for the Los Angeles AM rock radio station KRLA 1110, and proceeded to develop more elaborate and ambitious satirical routines on the "underground" station KPPC-FM in Pasadena, California. Richard Beebe's wife Heidi came up with the name "The Credibility Gap" due to the news being published that seemed to have gaps.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a 1987 American road trip comedy film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes and starring Steve Martin and John Candy, with supporting roles by Laila Robins and Michael McKean. It tells the story of Neal, an uptight marketing executive, and Del, a well-meaning but annoying salesman, who become travel companions when their flight is diverted, and embark on a 3-day odyssey of misadventures trying to reach Chicago in time for Neal's Thanksgiving Day dinner with his family.
Proctor and Bergman was a comedy duo consisting of Philip Proctor and Peter Bergman. The two started performing in 1973 while taking a break from the four-man comedy act The Firesign Theatre, with the comedy album "TV or Not TV", on which they based a short film in 1978. They reunited the Firesign Theatre in 1974, but resumed their duo act in 1975 during a second temporary split of the Firesigns, and continued to perform as a duo during several breaks of the Firesign Theatre until Bergman's death in 2012.
Americathon is a 1979 American comedy film directed by Neal Israel and starring John Ritter, Fred Willard, Peter Riegert, Harvey Korman, and Nancy Morgan, with narration by George Carlin. It is based on a play by Firesign Theatre members Phil Proctor and Peter Bergman. The movie includes appearances by Jay Leno, Meat Loaf, Tommy Lasorda, and Chief Dan George, with a musical performance by Elvis Costello.
Stephen Stucker was an American actor, known for portrayals of bizarre characters, notably the manic control-room worker Johnny in the early 1980s Airplane! movies and the stenographer in the courtroom sequence of 1977's The Kentucky Fried Movie.
This Is Tom Jones is an ATV variety series starring Tom Jones. The series was exported to the United States by ITC Entertainment and was networked there by ABC.
Aces Go Places 3, also known under the titles Aces Go Places 3 - Our Man from Bond Street and Mad Mission III, is a 1984 Hong Kong action comedy film directed by Tsui Hark as the third installment in the Aces Go Places film series.
Muthupettai Somu Bhaskar is an Indian actor and dubbing artiste who appears in Tamil films. His career begun as a theatre artist, and made his debut in 1987 in a minor role in the film Thirumathi Oru Vegumathi, followed by several minor roles in the 1990s. He got breakthrough in Engal Anna (2004), then he became a regular cast and widely recognized supporting and comedy actor in Tamil cinema.
Rowby Goren is an American writer specializing in comedy. He was a part of the writing team of the comedy series Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, created by George Schlatter. Goren's writing talents range from variety shows to situation comedy, game shows, cartoons, as well as directing Joe Roth and Neal Israel's comedy feature Cracking Up. Goren was Creative Director of Joe Roth and Neal Israel's cult video Tunnel Vision. Goren won an Emmy for writing Hollywood Squares. He also wrote for numerous animated series including Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, The Berenstain Bears, Tiny Toon Adventures, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Busy World of Richard Scarry, The Adventures of Paddington Bear, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!,Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog as well as Saturday morning series such as various Sid and Marty Krofft's H.R. Pufnstuf series.
Come Play with Me is a 1977 British softcore pornographic film, starring Mary Millington and directed by George Harrison Marks. Its cast list contains many well-known British character actors who were not previously known for appearing in such films. The film is regarded by many as the most successful of the British sex comedies of the 1970s. It ran continuously at the Moulin Cinema in Great Windmill Street, Soho, London for 201 weeks, from April 1977 to March 1981, which is listed in the Guinness Book Of World Records as the longest-running screening in Britain. A blue plaque on the former cinema's site commemorates this.
Silvio Peter "Tino" Insana was an American actor, producer, writer, and comedian.
Ace Trucking Company was an American sketch and improv comedy team formed in New York City in 1969 and active through at least 1977, consisting of Michael Mislove, Fred Willard, George Memmoli, Patti Deutsch, and Bill Saluga. It was one of many splinter groups formed in this period by former The Second City performers, along with such groups as The Committee and The Graduates.
Boarding House Blues is a 1948 American musical race film directed by Josh Binney which featured the first starring film role by Moms Mabley. It was the penultimate feature film of All-American News, a company that made newsreels about black Americans.
Cracking Up may refer to: