No Laughing Matter

Steve Martin's first network special for NBC offers part concert footage (shot at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles) and part sketch comedy.

Jeff Goldblum and Forest Whitaker star as New York jazz musicians, forced to confront a life beyond their hedonistic existence when a personal crisis strikes.

Gypsy Smith, is a gunfighter and a bounty hunter. When he leads the US army into a Cheyenne camp to capture a suspected Indian renegade, a long train of events begins that finally lead to that 'good day to die'. White Wolf, only a child, is one of the few survivors of the massacre of his tribe that day, and Gypsy brings him to live with the Maxwell family, where he grows up not fully Indian and not really white but a bit too close to Rachel, the Maxwell daughter. Gypsy now reappears, leading a group of Black settlers from the post-Civil War South to start a new life in a town of their own - Freedom in the Oklahoma Territory, its first black settlement. White Wolf (or Corby as a 'white' name') is now with his people, but all of these parts come back together in conflict, violence, loss, and Pyrric triumph.

Steve Martin's second NBC special was made up entirely of sketches. Highlights include: Marty Robbins' "El Paso" with monkeys; "The Death Of Socrates"; and "Bizarre Oddities Of The World."

After discovering he's not really black like the rest of his family, likable dimwit Navin Johnson sets off on a hilarious misadventure that takes him from rags to riches and back again. The slaphappy jerk strikes it rich, but life in the fast lane isn't all it's cracked up to be and, in the end, all that really matters to Johnson is his true love.

Jonas Mekas’s film captures The Living Theatre’s stage production of The Brig, an unflinching portrait of life inside a U.S. Marine Corps jail in Japan in 1957. Over the course of a single day, prisoners endure relentless drills, abuse, and dehumanization, exposing the brutality of military discipline with stark immediacy.

A privileged rich debutante and a cynical struggling entertainer share a turbulent, but strong childhood friendship over the years.

Teacher Alicia Adams wants her group of overachieving high school students to focus less on grades and more on experiencing life.

Rabbi Avram arrives in Philadelphia from Poland en route to San Francisco where he will be a congregation's new rabbi. An innocent and inexperienced traveller, he is tricked by con men to pay for the trip to go west, then they leave him and his belongings scattered along a deserted road. He is befriended by a stranger, Tommy, who is a bank robber and have many adventures during their journey.

Satire spoof about a "National Enquirer"-type tabloid, featuring a cast of celebrity look-alikes.

A man resists the California fads that his wife, friends and wealthy Marin County neighbors embrace.

Fred, a commercial director, decides to learn the flute to relieve his stress. His music teacher is none other than Isabelle, a flutist he once saw playing in the subway. He falls under her charm.

An 'Airplane!'-style spoof of hospital soap operas—a brilliant young trainee can't stand the sight of blood; a doctor romances the head nurse in order to get the key to the drugs cabinet; and there's a mafioso on the loose disguised as a woman.

Insane asylum inmates escape their confinement and hole up in a deserted Belgian farmhouse, where they cook large quantities of eggs and condemn one of their own in an impromptu court. Accompanied by a frenetic original soundtrack by the great Ornette Coleman and starring The Living Theater.

Nixon and Agnew played as Laurel and Hardy.

A television series titled Black Bart was produced for CBS based on Andrew Bergman's original story for Blazing Saddles (Black Bart was the movie's original title). It featured Lou Gossett, Jr. as Bart and Steve Landesberg as his drunkard sidekick, a former Confederate officer named "Reb Jordan". The Humour was much more toned down than it's feature film predecessor Other cast members included Millie Slavin and Noble Willingham. Bergman is listed as the sole creator. CBS aired the pilot once on April 4, 1975 as a CBS Special Presentation. The pilot featured guest appearances by Gerrit Graham and Brooke Adams and was written by Michael Elias and Rich Eustis. Elias and Eutis later created and executive produced the ABC sitcom Head of the Class (1986-1991).