Short Ribbs

Last updated
Short Ribbs
Genre Sketch comedy
Directed by Michael Rann
Starring Billy Barty
Kevin Bickford
Jimmy Briscoe
Joe Gieb
Patty Maloney
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
Executive producer Billy Barty
Producer William Winckler
Production companiesBilly Barty Productions
Golden Orange Broadcasting
Original release
Network KDOC-TV
ReleaseSeptember 1989 (1989-09) 
November 1989 (1989-11)

Short Ribbs is a weekly local sketch comedy program that was broadcast in the Orange County / Los Angeles area on KDOC-TV. Featuring a midget and dwarf cast, The show starred veteran actor Billy Barty, [1] [2] whose production company produced the program.

Contents

The format of Short Ribbs was similar to Saturday Night Live, featuring take-offs of TV shows and commercials. The series was sponsored by 7 Up, and first aired on KDOC-TV on Saturday night, September 23, 1989, at 8:30 pm, running for 13 episodes.

Court case

While the program is relatively obscure outside of Southern California, it is known for the court case that followed the following year. In 1990, Barty was sued in small claims court by two of the writers of Short Ribbs, producer and writer William Winckler, and writer Warren Taylor. Winckler and Taylor filed separate lawsuits against Barty for money owed, and Barty lost both cases.

News of Barty losing in small claims court made headlines all over the world, with lead stories such as Barty Comes Up Short in Small Claims,[ where? ] and other such puns. Barty claimed the lawsuit news was the most negative publicity he ever got, and compared it to similar bad press Zsa Zsa Gabor received for slapping a Beverly Hills police officer. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Elliott</span> American actor, writer, and comedian

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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zsa Zsa Gabor</span> Hungarian-American socialite and actress (1917–2016)

Zsa Zsa Gabor was a Hungarian-American socialite and actress. Her sisters were actresses Eva and Magda Gabor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drew Pinsky</span> American media personality and physician (born 1958)

David Drew Pinsky, commonly known as Dr. Drew, is an American media personality, internist, and addiction medicine specialist. He hosted the nationally syndicated radio talk show Loveline from the show's inception in 1984 until its end in 2016. On television, he hosted the talk show Dr. Drew On Call on HLN and the daytime series Lifechangers on The CW. In addition, he served as producer and starred in the VH1 show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, and its spinoffs Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew, Celebrity Rehab Presents Sober House. Pinsky currently hosts several podcasts, including Ask Dr. Drew, The Dr. Drew Podcast on the PodcastOne Network, and The Adam and Drew Show with his former Loveline co-host Adam Carolla. From February 2019 - December 2023, he hosted Dr. Drew After Dark on the Your Mom's House network.

Sprockets (<i>Saturday Night Live</i>) Comedy sketch by Mike Myers

Sprockets was a recurring comedy sketch from the NBC television series Saturday Night Live, created by and starring comedian Mike Myers as a fictional West German television talk show. The sketch parodied German art culture in the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Barty</span> American actor (1924–2000)

Billy Barty was an American actor and activist. In adult life, he stood 3 ft 9 in (1.14 m) tall, due to cartilage–hair hypoplasia dwarfism. Because of his short stature, he was often cast in films opposite taller performers for comic effect. He specialized in outspoken or wisecracking characters. During the 1950s, he became a television actor, appearing regularly in the Spike Jones ensemble. In the early 1970s he was a staple in a variety of roles in children's TV programs produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. Also an activist for people with dwarfism, he founded the Little People of America organization in 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Jackson</span> American comedian (born 1959)

Victoria Jackson is an American actress and comedian. Jackson was a cast member on the series Saturday Night Live from 1986 to 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horatio Sanz</span> Chilean-American actor and comedian

Horacio Sanz, better known by his stage name Horatio Sanz, is a Chilean-American actor and comedian. Sanz is best known for his tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2006.

<i>Los Angeles Herald Examiner</i> American newspaper in Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Herald Examiner was a major Los Angeles daily newspaper, published in the afternoon from Monday to Friday and in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays. It was part of the Hearst syndicate. It was formed when the afternoon Herald-Express and the morning Los Angeles Examiner, both of which were published there since the turn of the 20th century, merged in 1962.

Mark John Geragos is an American criminal defense lawyer and the managing partner of Geragos & Geragos, in Los Angeles.

Wally George was an American conservative radio and television commentator. Calling himself the "Father of Combat TV," he was a fixture on Southern California television for three decades (1950s–1980s) as the host of Hot Seat, which began as a local show on KDOC Channel 56, a local Southern California based UHF TV station in Anaheim, Orange County in 1983. His other nicknames were "Mr. Conservative" and "Mr. America" in the 1960s–1990s and he represented the strong conservative fan base of Orange County and the Coachella Valley of California where he was also on their local TV stations.

Hot Seat was a Saturday late night syndicated, politically oriented, though often satirical and comedic television talk-show that began in the early 1980s, hosted by conservative commentator Wally George. It was shot in the studios of KDOC, a UHF television station licensed to in Anaheim, California. The first edition of the series aired on Saturday July 16, 1983.

KDOC-TV is a religious television station licensed to Anaheim, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area as an owned-and-operated station of Tri-State Christian Television (TCT). The station maintains studios on East First Street in Santa Ana, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KABC-TV</span> ABC West Coast flagship station in Los Angeles

KABC-TV is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Grand Central Business Centre of Glendale, and its transmitter is located on Mount Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Conway</span> British actor (1904–1967)

Tom Conway was a British film, television, and radio actor remembered for playing detectives and psychiatrists, among other roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Trenton</span> American radio broadcaster

James Trenton, nicknamed "the Poorman", is an American radio broadcaster. He is best known as the creator and host of Loveline on KROQ-FM in Los Angeles from 1983 to 1993. He currently hosts a morning radio program on KOCI 101.5 FM, a station located in south Orange County, California. "Poorman's Morning Rush" is also now in 4 markets. Three shows are taped daily M-F and KOCI is live five days a week.

Airline booking ploys are used by travelers in commercial aviation to lower the price of flying by circumventing airlines' rules about how tickets may be used. They are generally a breach of the contract of carriage between the passenger and the airline, which airlines may try to enforce in various ways.

KVME-TV is a television station licensed to Bishop, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles television market as an affiliate of Jewelry Television. It is owned by Weigel Broadcasting alongside Avalon-licensed MeTV owned-and-operated station KAZA-TV. KVME-TV's studios are located on North Main Street in Bishop, and its transmitter is located in the White Mountains, about 20 miles (32 km) east of Bishop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Stern television shows</span>

Howard Stern is an American radio personality who is best known for his radio show The Howard Stern Show. Stern describes himself as the "King of All Media" for his successes in the radio, television, film, music and publishing industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hopper (DVR)</span>

Hopper is a line of digital video recording (DVR) set-top boxes offered by the U.S. direct-broadcast satellite television provider Dish Network. First introduced at Consumer Electronics Show in January 2012, the Hopper was released in March 2012 as a component of the provider's whole-home DVR system, which networks the main Hopper unit with smaller "Joey" set-top boxes to form a client-server architecture.

<i>The Howard Stern Show</i> (TV series) American variety television show

The Howard Stern Show was an American late night variety television show hosted by radio personality Howard Stern and starred members of his radio show staff, namely Robin Quivers, Fred Norris, Gary Dell'Abate, Jackie Martling, and John Melendez. It aired weekly on Saturday nights from July 14, 1990, to August 1, 1992, from WWOR-TV in Secaucus, New Jersey, and was nationally syndicated by All American Television from 1991. It is informally known as "The Channel 9 Show".

References

  1. Pinsky, Mark (March 6, 1989). "A Little Humor". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  2. Pinsky, Mark (September 18, 1989). "A Small-Screen Natural". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  3. Los Angeles Times: "SHORT TAKES : Barty to Pay; Claims Victory"