We recently looked at how a sketch that was originally performed by John Cleese and Marty Feldman turned up in several forms and with several different performers on both British and American television. Today we have for you four (count ‘em — four!) versions of a sketch Marty F. did during his travels through both nations.
In case you're wondering, "Does Evanier really expect people to watch the same comedy skit four times?," the answer is Yes. Feldman gives a helluva great performance and I found it fascinating to note both the consistencies and the variations.
I don't have dates on all of these but I think I have them in chronological order. The first of these may be the first time he did it — on some British show, possibly It's Marty!…
Now, this next one was from a British show that was also an American show. In 1970, Dean Martin's popular NBC show (produced and directed by Greg Garrison) here was replaced for a number of weeks in the summer by Dean Martin Presents The Golddiggers In London (produced and directed by Greg Garrison). It was shot over there with The Golddiggers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Tommy Tune, Marty Feldman and others. Garrison later recycled some of the material from the London show and ran them on Dino's program…
A few years later, Marty guested on The Flip Wilson Show and the thing in the basket guested along with him. Wait'll you see who they have doing the punch line…
And finally —- and it wouldn't surprise me if Feldman did it on other programs —- here's the version done on the show Fridays in 1981. He died the following year so this was probably the last time he performed it. If you watch all four, I hope you laughed all four times. I sure did..