Godfrey Cambridge's strong performance highlights MAKE ME LAUGH, a tale of a struggling comedian, Jackie Slater, whose act is so stale that he can barely keep five people in a bar attentive(it's such a sad sight to see members of the audience reading a newspaper, drunk, or asleep as Cambridge, sweating away jokes that don't register a pulse with anybody). A genie, Chatterje(Jackie Veron), offers Slater a wish so that he "can keep his license"(if he doesn't get a customer to accept a wish he could lose his job as a genie). Chatterje warns Slater that his skills as a genie often bring a negative reaction to those who receive their wish. Slater, desperate to hear the sounds of laughter, beckons Chatterje to give him a wish of success as a comedian. Sure enough, even when Slater greets folks, they break out in laughter, and while this seems to be exactly everything he could possibly have hoped for, appearing on the popular shows and selling out performances in packed venues, soon Jackie finds it all tiresome. Tom Bosley(Happy Days)has a small part as Slater's agent Jules Ketterman, who tries to remain his sole moral support, although even he eventually bails out on the comic when finding places willing to put him on stage were few and far between(as expected, once Slater hits the big time, Jules comes crawling back). When an attempt to star in a melodrama on Broadway fails due to those testing him laughing(the ultimate embarrassment is reading lines for dramatic effect causing those judging his performance to burst out in uncontrolled laughter), Slater wants his wish recanted with tragic results. The Munster's Al Lewis has a minor part as a bar owner who critically roasts Slater after a less-than-stellar performance(the opening of this episode is pretty tough to watch as Slater's flat routine bombs and he contemplates his failures to Kettleman who has obviously given up on his client). Directed by Steven Spielberg.
In Rod Serling's scripted CLEAN KILLS AND OTHER TROPHIES, Raymond Massey's lecherous miser, Colonel Archie Dittman, who has lived a long life killing game for pleasure, has arranged a clause in his will that states his son, Archie Jr.(Barry Brown), in order to receive an inheritance, must kill a deer. We get a glimpse at how Archie Jr. has been treated all his life as his disapproving father balks about his son's passions, the charitable work is scorned. This happens in front of Jeffrey Pierce(Tom Troupe), the attorney who has prepared the will, very vocal regarding his own distaste for the Colonel's extra curricular activities, the trophy room with all the dead animals on the wall as evidence of the thrill of the kill. Herbert Jefferson Jr is the manservant Tom, who practices voodoo and black magic, his culture and heritage reviled by Dittman, for the exception of how they killed to stay alive, perfecting it to an art. Tom agrees with Pierce that Archie Jr. shouldn't kill a deer, that such a deed would tear his soul asunder, because it stands against the young man's principles. Because Archie Jr hasn't picked up the rifle, willingly hunted prey for amusement and kicks, he's deemed weak and pitiful. But, the Colonel will get a taste of his own medicine when he raises the ire of Tom for forcing this upon Archie Jr.
In Rod Serling's scripted CLEAN KILLS AND OTHER TROPHIES, Raymond Massey's lecherous miser, Colonel Archie Dittman, who has lived a long life killing game for pleasure, has arranged a clause in his will that states his son, Archie Jr.(Barry Brown), in order to receive an inheritance, must kill a deer. We get a glimpse at how Archie Jr. has been treated all his life as his disapproving father balks about his son's passions, the charitable work is scorned. This happens in front of Jeffrey Pierce(Tom Troupe), the attorney who has prepared the will, very vocal regarding his own distaste for the Colonel's extra curricular activities, the trophy room with all the dead animals on the wall as evidence of the thrill of the kill. Herbert Jefferson Jr is the manservant Tom, who practices voodoo and black magic, his culture and heritage reviled by Dittman, for the exception of how they killed to stay alive, perfecting it to an art. Tom agrees with Pierce that Archie Jr. shouldn't kill a deer, that such a deed would tear his soul asunder, because it stands against the young man's principles. Because Archie Jr hasn't picked up the rifle, willingly hunted prey for amusement and kicks, he's deemed weak and pitiful. But, the Colonel will get a taste of his own medicine when he raises the ire of Tom for forcing this upon Archie Jr.
