Sanford & Son revisited
Do you remember the series “Sanford & Son” from the 70s? It was a very edgy sitcom produced by Norman Lear, starring comedian Redd Fox, (who had a reputation for very blue live performances,) as Fred Sanford and Demond Wilson as his son Lamont. They owned and operated a junkyard in L.A.
One particular episode ranks in my personal top ten list of belly laughing, nose snorting, pee your pants hysterically funny comedy. And now you get to read about it, in greatly abbreviated detail.
The scene opens with Fred in the kitchen. He’s stirring a large pot, vapor rising from it, on the range. The camera pans in and a big old cow tongue comes into focus inside the pot. Now that right there is funny. I don’t know why. But it is.
Lamont enters the kitchen and notices what’s cooking. He is not remotely pleased. Lamont and Fred bicker. Lamont storms out of the kitchen.
There are a number of scenes of this subplot with Fred fussing around that cooking tongue during the show.
The final scene opens with Lamont coming into the kitchen, sitting at the table, and looking resigned to a tongue dinner. Fred grabs a long handled meat fork and spears the tongue. He forks the tongue up and down, moistening sheets of Green Stamps lying on the table.
I was rolling on the floor at that point.
(Green stamps were a nation-wide promotional repeat customer gimmick. Ya saved them up, pasted em in books, and redeemed the books for household items. There were actual brick and mortar redemption centers. Imagine that.)
It’s difficult to write comedy. My telling was not hilarious. The cow tongue visual is though.
One particular episode ranks in my personal top ten list of belly laughing, nose snorting, pee your pants hysterically funny comedy. And now you get to read about it, in greatly abbreviated detail.
The scene opens with Fred in the kitchen. He’s stirring a large pot, vapor rising from it, on the range. The camera pans in and a big old cow tongue comes into focus inside the pot. Now that right there is funny. I don’t know why. But it is.
Lamont enters the kitchen and notices what’s cooking. He is not remotely pleased. Lamont and Fred bicker. Lamont storms out of the kitchen.
There are a number of scenes of this subplot with Fred fussing around that cooking tongue during the show.
The final scene opens with Lamont coming into the kitchen, sitting at the table, and looking resigned to a tongue dinner. Fred grabs a long handled meat fork and spears the tongue. He forks the tongue up and down, moistening sheets of Green Stamps lying on the table.
I was rolling on the floor at that point.
(Green stamps were a nation-wide promotional repeat customer gimmick. Ya saved them up, pasted em in books, and redeemed the books for household items. There were actual brick and mortar redemption centers. Imagine that.)
It’s difficult to write comedy. My telling was not hilarious. The cow tongue visual is though.
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