ABC Carnival '74
Across the Board
Baloney
Bamboozle
Be What You Want
Beat The Genius
Beat The Odds (1962)
Beat The Odds (1975)
Bedtime Stories
The Better Sex
The Big Money
The Big Payoff
Big Spenders
Blank Check
Body Language
Body Talk
The Buck Stops Here
Bullseye
Call My Bluff
Card Sharks (1996)
Casino
Caught in the Act
Celebrity Billiards
Celebrity Doubletalk
Celebrity Secrets
Celebrity Sweepstakes
Chain Letter (1964)
The Challengers (1974)
Change Partners
Child's Play
The Choice Is Yours
Combination Lock (1996)
Comedy Club
Concentration (1985)
The Confidence Game
Cop Out
Countdown (1974)
Countdown (1990)
The Couples Race
Crossword
Decisions, Decisions
Dollar a Second
Duel in the Daytime
The Fashion Show
Fast Friends
$50,000 a Minute
Finish Line (1975)
Finish Line (1990)
Get Rich Quick
Going, Going, Gone!
Head of the Class
High Rollers
Hollywood Squares (1965)
Hollywood Squares (1985)
The Honeymoon Game
Hot Numbers
Hot Potato
House to House
How Do You Like Your Eggs?
Jackpot (1984)
Jeopardy (1977)
Jokers Wild
Jumble
Key Witness
Keynotes (1986)
King of the Hill
Let's Make a Deal (1963)
Let's Make a Deal (1990)
The Love Experts
M'ama Non M'ama
Match Game (1962)
Match Game (1973)
Match Game (1990)
Match Game (1996)
MatchGame (2008)
Mindreaders
Missing Links
Monday Night QB
Money Words
Money in the Blank
Moneymaze
Monopoly (1987)
Nothing But the Truth
Now You See It (1986)
Oddball
100%
PDQ
Party Line
People On TV
Play For Keeps
Play Your Hunch
The Plot Thickens
Pot O' Gold
Pressure Point
The Price Is Right (1972)
Pyramid (1996)
Pyramid (1997)
A Question of Scruples
Quick as a Flash
Razzle Dazzle
Riddlers
Run For The Money
Says Who?
Scrabble (1990)
Second Guessers
Second Honeymoon
Sharaize
Shoot for the Stars
Shoot the Works
Shopping Spree
Show Me
Showoffs
Simon Says
$64,000 Question (2000)
Smart Alecks
Smart Money
Spellbinders
Spin-Off
Split Decision
Star Cluster
Star Play
Strictly Confidential
TKO
Talking Pictures (1968)
Talking Pictures (1976)
Tell It to Groucho
Temptation (1981)
$10,000 Sweep
Three of a Kind
Tic Tac Dough
Tie-Up
Top Secret
Twenty One (1982)
Twenty Questions
Twisters
Up and Over
The Waiting Game
We've Got Your Number
What Do You Want?
What's On Your Mind
Wheel of Fortune
Whew!
Whodunit
Whose Baby
Wipeout
Word Grabbers
Write Your Own Ticket
You Bet Your Life (1988)
You Bet Your Life (1991)
You're Putting Me On
Show a Random Pilot
Show Unreviewed Pilots
Bob Stewart Flow Chart
Comedy Club
Producer: Lin Bolen
Host: Jim McKrell
Assistant: Sheryl Bernstein
Announcer: Howard Stevens
Also Starring: Bill Gage, Wesley Hundall (they're listed in the credits, but I really can't figure out where they appeared)
Celebrities: Brad Garrett, Izzy West, Billy Riback, Grant Turner
Taping Info: around 1984 at the ABC Television Center in Hollywood
Made it to Air: No
If you flipped through cable television in the 1980s, you would undoubtedly run into some form of stand-up comedy, whether it was A&E's Night at the Improv or one of Gallagher's 315 specials on Showtime. So somebody had the idea to make a game show out of it, down to having the set look like a comedy club, albeit it a high-class, non-smoking one. Lin Bolen, considered either a credit to or destroyer of game shows, is your producer. Jim McKrell, doing yet another pilot, has the further indignity of not having his name spelled correctly — an 'a' was added on the chyron.
The game involved two players, assisted by the comedians in solving word puzzles. The first round saw one player asking to hear a story from a comedian after being given a prompting statement by Jim McKrell such as "it's hard to travel". The comedian's 30 second story would include one key word said twice. The player would then try to guess that word. If they guessed the word correctly, they then had a chance to try to guess what the words in the puzzle had in common for 10 points. If they were unable to guess the word, the opposing player had a chance to guess both the word and the puzzle for 5 points. Each player played this round once.
For the second round — known as the "Double or Nothing Round" — was worth 20 points. This time, both players played the puzzle simultaneously, alternating the comedian selection and the guessing. Since there are no other rounds, all that mattered was winning this round since the maximum awarded in the previous round was 15. The winner got a chance to play in the bonus game. The loser got $100 and an escort off the stage by assistant Sheryl Bernstein.
For the bonus game, the contestant moved onto the comedy stage. The contestant then had 60 seconds to say ten words in a story with a leading line given by Jim McKrell. Obviously, the player didn't know what words she needed. It was essentially Talkabout, but the contestant gave the words in the context of a story. There was no mention of how they would enforce the story structure rather than just giving words fitting a category for 60 seconds. After the bonus game, Brad Garrett played a small audience game where he gave a short comedy routine and gave somebody the audience $100. I guess there really wasn't a game there.
Comedy is hard. I've tried it. You're not laughing after reading the reviews on this website. And this show proves how hard it can be, since it really wasn't that funny. The show was very much a product of the 80s, down to the multiple Joan Rivers impressions and the use of "I Love L.A." as a theme. And if you were wondering what happened to the other comedians not named Brad Garrett: Grant Turner does a one-man show in Myrtle Beach, Billy Riback moved into sitcom writing and directing, and Izzy West stopped performing later in the 80s.
This pilot has been viewed 12040 times since October 6, 2008 and was last modified on Dec 12, 2009 14:46 ET
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