The first original tale by Rod Serling and it is a turd. Well, it is credited as an original, but it should say “Based on a story by Charles Beaumont” as it shares the same exact twist as A Nice Place to Visit from The Twilight Zone.
Godfrey Cambridge plays a comedian and it is excruciating to watch. OK, his character is supposed to be bad, but this is just painful. It is inconceivable that he is making a living at it. After his act, he talks to his manger Tom Bosley who has managed him for 16 years, also inconceivable. The club owner played by Grandpa Munster Al Lewis comes in and fires him — conceivable.
Cambridge tells his manager he would give everything he’s got just to make somebody laugh. Later in a bar he gets word his manager has bailed on him. A guru, complete with turban approaches him. He must perform one miracle a month. Cambridge asks the guru to make it so he can make people laugh.
The guru obliges. Soon Cambridge is hugely successful, but is left unfulfilled as people laugh at everything he says. His manager even comes back. When he tries out for a serious dramatic role, they all laugh at him.
This is the same revelation as in TZ’s A Nice Place to Visit — that there can be too much of a good thing. Actually it makes a little more sense here. In the TZ version, the small time hood finds himself in the “hell” of always getting the winning hand, always getting the perfect roll of the dice, and never having the dames play hard to get. OK, the thrill might have gone out of gambling, but did he really get tired of the girls?
In TZ, the character is revealed to be dead and in hell. In NG, Cambridge is alive, but we experience the hell of watching him. He begs the swami to give him a new wish — he wants to touch people, to bring a tear to their eye. That happens as he is hit by car. A woman selling flowers nearby sheds a tear of sorrow. The audience sheds tears of joy.
The real shocking twist here is that this episode was directed by Steven Spielberg. He didn’t write it or cast it, but he sure didn’t do much with what he was handed. There are stories of turmoil on the set and him being fired, but ultimately most of the scenes were directed by him.
Post-Post:
- Twilight Zone Legacy: None.
- Serling did already have one segment that was an original, the embarrassing Nature of the Enemy. I am doing his memory a favor by pretending that short “sketch” does not exist.
- Six years later, Cambridge was dead at 43. He had a heart attack on-set playing Idi Amin in Victory at Entebbe. Amin claimed his death was an act of God . . . the actor who replaced him lived to 81.
- If I knew this was the next act on the bill, I wouldn’t be so quick to boo Cambridge off the stage; I would keep him there like Jerry Lewis on the telethon. Ladies and gentlemen, the Rocky Mountain Rockettes:
Yikes!
Again, I say Yikes!
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Screw you, “yikes” – those women look great and aren’t the typical “Twiggy” size.
I’m glad you said what so many people must be thinking about the author.
says “that fat girl”
You join the growing ranks of disgusting people who thrive on negativity, derision and mindless comments about others.
I am very sorry that I took time to read your tripe. The world throws enough ugly judgmenatlism at others.
I won’t read any of your work again.
I absolutely endorse tha comments made by ThatFG.
It is interesting and TELLING that the author of this condescending, negative drivel does not attach his/her name to it.
I thought the episode was great. Those fat pig dancers need to cover up.
Yes
Hey Don-
I gotta play Siskel to your Ebert: I totally disagree. Firstly, I don’t think the twist endings of “Make Me Laugh” and “A Nice Place To Visit” are similar – in fact, the ending here is much, much darker.
This episode is well cast: Tom Bosley as the beleaguered agent; Al Lewis as the club manager (a complete departure from his ‘Grandpa’ role in The Munsters); Jackie Vernon as the “monkey’s paw” swami, and above all else, Godfrey Cambridge as the washed-up comedian yearning for a second chance.
Yes, Godfrey’s Jackie Slater is a little grating – sure, but that ingratiating persona is clearly a mask for his failure and self-loathing. The interaction between him and the swami (played by the understated Jackie Vernon – whose standup humor always belied a certain malevolence) brings up a number of psychological dilemmas concerning what you wish for, what you believe you deserve, and what sacrifices you are willing to make.
My only caveat with this episode is that the ‘twist ending’ comes too quickly, and is too tidy – something else should have occurred prior to his accident that would have informed Jackie that now, everything he says makes people sad and tearful. And there is something subtly macabre about giving the swami the last word: “I wonder if I’ll ever get the hang of it?” as he walks away from Cambridge’s body on the sidewalk.
Valid points as always. You are too generous making me Ebert in this scenario. You’re a better writer, like Ebert. Plus, I think I’m getting Siskel’s hairline. You should grab a domain name and start posting (I’m not being sarcastic).
I forgot Jackie Vernon was in this. I don’t usually like him, but I can imagine he was perfect in that role.
Good episode. Mr C and Grandpa Munster in it too.
Not a scary episode but a TZ type episode again. I actually like the joke How do you make a venetian blind…8 out of 10