For the second film in our pairing of unabashedly, gleefully whimsical comedies, we move to the opposite end of the 80s for the 1989 Weird Al Yankokvic-written treasure that is "UHF!" Starring Yankovic as George Newman, alongside David Bowe as Bob Steckler and Michael Richards as Stanley Spadowski, the film tells the story of a long-suffering dreamer who gets a dream job: Running a tiny UHF television station! George and Bob, with the help of their new janitor, Stanley, try to figure out how to turn around the failing "U62" TV station. When they unexpectedly succeed, however, they begin to threaten the powerhouse VHF station, Channel 8, run by the cruel and merciless R. J. Fletcher (Kevin McCarthy). Add to this mix Victoria Jackson as George's girlfriend Teri, Fran Drescher as receptionist/report Pamela Finklestein, and Anthony Geary (of "General Hospital" fame) as Philo, the station engineer, and this becomes a "Secret Life of Walter Mitty"-esque comedy with great performances, music, and comedy that'll leave you singing the theme to the "Spatula City" commercial long after you've finished the film! And the trio reveal which two 1980s vampire films made their Halloween pairing for this year!
Our next pairing is pure balm for whatever is causing any stress you're feeling, as they are two comedies that hold nothing back and are just genuinely funny! First up, for Episode 224, it's 1980's classic film spoof "Airplane!" Directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker, the movie is based largely on a 1957 thriller called "Zero Hour," that the three caught on VHS tape by accident! They were so taken with how over-the-top the melodrama was in "Zero Hour," that they decided to turn it into a comedy, and created one of THE comedies of the 20th century! Starring "serious actors" like Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridges, Lesley Nielsen, and Robert Stack, and partnering them up with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julie Hagerty, Robert Hays, Lorna Patterson, and Stephen Stucker, this movie wove its comedy into the straight-faced performances by its entire cast and created a classic that's just as funny today as it was when it premiered! This film also gave us an absolute treasure-trove of memorable lines to quote from here to eternity! A classic that still makes all three hosts laugh!
Episode 223 is the second of our look at Peter Sellers films with, arguably, his finest performances. Yes, plural. Sellers, in fact, plays three separate roles in the film, all three very different! The film is a perfect satire of cold war paranoia and the military's love affair with nuclear weapons, and features some of the most biting commentary on, at that time, modern military thinking ever captured on celluloid. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-starring George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, Peter Bull, and featuring the very first cinematic appearance of James Earl Jones, this is one of those movies we think everyone should see at least once! And the trio reveal which "balls-out" comedies they're pairing up for the next two episodes!
For the next two episodes, we're focusing on the genius that was Peter Sellers! Episode 222 is the film that started a franchise that Star Wars has only just matched: 11 films! We are, of course, talking about 1963's "The Pink Panther." The film was supposed to be a starring vehicle for David Niven, but after Peter Ustinov was replaced with Peter Sellers, things changed. Sellers and director Blake Edwards bonded over a shared love of early silent comedy, and the role of Inspector Jacques Clouseau was re-written as a hapless, bumbling detective, and he ended up stealing the film from Niven! Also starring a very young Robert Wagner, Capucine, Brenda de Banzie, and the stunning Claudia Cardinale, the film is, at once, comedy, mystery, bedroom farce, and more!
Episode 221 is the second in our look at the films of Charlie Chaplin with his 1931 hit, "City Lights!" The film Chaplin himself named as his favorite (and the trio agree), this film too stars his famous character known as the Tramp, this time wandering a big, modern city. There, he meets a lovely but blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) and falls in love. He allows her to believe he is a rich man, and shortly thereafter meets an actual rich man, an Eccentric Millionaire (Harry Myers) to be exact who, after being saved from a drunken suicide by the Tramp, declares them fast friends! Unfortunately for the Tramp, this friendship is only felt when the Millionaire is drunk - when he's sober, he doesn't remember his friend at all! More entertaining hijinks occur, but this film also results in a happy ending... maybe. It's left up to the audience's interpretation. And the trio reveal what comedic superstar their next pairing will focus on, who arrived some three decades later!
For the second film in our pairing of unabashedly, gleefully whimsical comedies, we move to the opposite end of the 80s for the 1989 Weird Al Yankokvic-written treasure that is "UHF!" Starring Yankovic as George Newman, alongside David Bowe as Bob Steckler and Michael Richards as Stanley Spadowski, the film tells the story of a long-suffering dreamer who gets a dream job: Running a tiny UHF television station! George and Bob, with the help of their new janitor, Stanley, try to figure out how to turn around the failing "U62" TV station. When they unexpectedly succeed, however, they begin to threaten the powerhouse VHF station, Channel 8, run by the cruel and merciless R. J. Fletcher (Kevin McCarthy). Add to this mix Victoria Jackson as George's girlfriend Teri, Fran Drescher as receptionist/report Pamela Finklestein, and Anthony Geary (of "General Hospital" fame) as Philo, the station engineer, and this becomes a "Secret Life of Walter Mitty"-esque comedy with great performances, music, and comedy that'll leave you singing the theme to the "Spatula City" commercial long after you've finished the film! And the trio reveal which two 1980s vampire films made their Halloween pairing for this year! 
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