A rising star at agri-industry giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Mark Whitacre suddenly turns whistleblower. Even as he exposes his company’s multi-national price-fixing conspiracy to the FBI, Whitacre envisions himself being hailed as a hero of the common man and handed a promotion.
One hundred superstar comedians tell the same very, VERY dirty, filthy joke--one shared privately by comics since Vaudeville.
Renowned documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker captures Otis Redding in his ascendancy, singing at the historic Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967. Comedian Tom Smothers introduces Redding to a crowd that is leaving -- until Redding grabs them with his charged rendition of "Shake." Redding's performance also includes "Respect" (which he wrote), "I've Been Loving You Too Long," "Satisfaction," and "Try a Little Tenderness." Tragically, Redding died in a plane crash six months later. An innovative filmmaker who started in the 1950s making experimental films, Pennebaker garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature in 1993 for The War Room, his behind-the-scenes look at Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign. His other subjects have included Norman Mailer, Bob Dylan, and David Bowie.
Ted E. Bear and friends host a newscast.
An illegal race that takes place over the United States and nothing will stop this bunch of racers except for the occasional cop or a damsel in distress. Jackie Chan's car is not in this one, but many new cars make up for that. Who will win? Who will crash? Who will not even finish? Sit down and buckle up for the ride of your life.
Queen Aggravain has ruled that none may marry until her son, Prince Dauntless marries. However, she has managed to sabotage every princess that come along. When Sir Harry and Lady Larken learn that they are going to be parents, wed or not, he goes off to the swamps and brings back Princess Winnifred ("Fred" to her friends).
The life and work of the enigmatic singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson.
This documentary explores Bob Einstein’s unlikely discovery and enduring career, sharing the many evolving layers of his comedy from the people that knew him best.
A former high school student who always wanted to be a cheerleader decides to reopen the cheerleading program at her former high school after years of closure for being targeted by a serial killer.
A young businessman goes to a magic expert to learn hardness and skill with his cynical and greedy collaborators. He becomes a very good tap dancer, but will he be able to get free of his old boss?
A man resists the California fads that his wife, friends and wealthy Marin County neighbors embrace.
While the rest of the world is getting ready for Christmas, all the bears in Bearbank are getting ready to sleep… except for Ted E. Bear. Ted gets curious about the holiday, and sets out to learn the meaning of it from Santa Claus himself.
Tribute concert held in 1987 at Carnegie Hall (and later televised on PBS), commemorating Harry Chapin's posthumous receipt of the Congressional Medal of Honor for his humanitarian efforts. Featuring songs and speeches by Harry's friends, family and peers.
Alice returns to Wonderland through the looking glass in this TV musical.
Featuring performances by popular artists of the 1960s, this concert film highlights the music of the 1967 California festival. Although not all musicians who performed at the Monterey Pop Festival are on film, some of the notable acts include the Mamas and the Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane, the Who, Otis Redding, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Hendrix's post-performance antics -- lighting a guitar on fire, breaking it and tossing a part into the audience -- are captured.
Jackson 5 TV special featuring comedic skits and live performances
Free to Be…You and Me, a project of the Ms. Foundation for Women, is a record album, and illustrated book first released in November 1972, featuring songs and stories from many current celebrities of the day (credited as "Marlo Thomas and Friends") such as Alan Alda, Rosey Grier, Cicely Tyson, Carol Channing, Michael Jackson, and Diana Ross, among others. An ABC Afterschool Special using poetry, songs, and sketches, followed two years later in March 1974. The basic concept is to encourage a post-60's gender neutrality, while saluting values such as individuality, tolerance, and happiness with one's identity. A major thematic message is that anyone, whether a boy or a girl, can achieve anything.
Tom and Dick Smothers play Bones Howard and Ryan Fitzgerald, a TV cameraman and intrepid reporter, respectively, involved in the race to find the buried treasure of Al Capone on Alcatraz Island at the former prison where he was imprisoned.
Before there were mockumentaries, there was this "Documentary/TV Movie" on the satirical 1968 Presidential campaign for comedy performer Pat Paulsen
This color 1973 educational film is about drug abuse. Tom Smothers and Christopher George are featured.This film shows how young people may attempt to deal with insecurities and inadequacies by taking drugs/alcohol. The film stresses that young people can help one another and find other ways than substance abuse.
An angel named Timmy with help of a dog and mouse tries to give a less fortunate Boy and Girl A Teddy bear and doll for Christmas.
A nervous ad executive creates havoc on his daughter's wedding day and becomes obsessed with a dream girl he keeps seeing everywhere but whom he can't catch.
A full musical comedy, originally done for the stage by Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury) and Elizabeth Swados. Sixteen interlinking musical numbers (mostly not rap) each attack some political position of 80s U.S. president Ronald Reagan's or examine the effects Reaganomics had on the American economy and culture of the 1980s.
A special examining America's fascination with celebrities. Based on the irreverent, satirical humor of "Spy Magazine." Comedian Jerry Seinfeld acts as spokesman for the humor magazine in a mock-scientific—actually a mock-everything—look at the phenomenon of celebrity.
A biography of comedian double act Bud Abbott & Lou Costello
Recorded in 2006 at the Casino-Rama outside of Toronto, this live show features classic bits and songs (complete with comedic interruptions) as only the Smothers Brothers are able to perform. The show is a solid reflection of the duo's later years, and helps solidify their longevity and climb to becoming comedy royalty.
Filmed live at Carnegie Melon University in 2002, This Land is Your Land features the biggest names in folk music.
The documentary consists of tape of Don's show (never been filmed before), interviews with Don's contemporaries, (Steve Lawrence, Bob Newhart, Debbie Reynolds, etc.), established comedians (Billy Crystal, Rosanna Barr, Robin Williams, Chris Rock, etc.) and young comedians (Jeff Atoll, Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, etc.).
A new craze is sweeping the nation! The “Yo-Yo” has come out of retirement and is back into the hearts and minds of every hard working, right thinking, up-and-coming, true blue American yo-yo lover. And there are millions of them. Emerging from his all knowing state of yo, Tommy Smothers of TV and stage fame, is the voice of the “Yo-Yo Man” and Dick Smothers is the voice of Yo. Hecan now come into your home in this brand new video for your entire family and friends to enjoy. Learn tricks like “Walk the Dog”, “Over the Falls” and “Loop the loop”. Fast forward the tape to color coded markers to watch and rewatch the “Yo-Yo Man” and the “Yo Master” Daniel Volk demonstrating each trick.
Lewis Black hosts a night of stand-up comedy live from the Warner Theatre in D.C. to celebrate the Bill of Rights.
Betty Boop runs for president in a loose storyline assembled from Fleischer cartoons redrawn by Korean animators.
The history of the irreverent "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" and the content battles it fought with its television network.
As Halloween approaches, the bears of Bearbank begin to fear an invasion of monsters from nearby Monster Mountain. As most of the bears prepare to leave the city, one brave little bear, Ted E. Bear, sets out to confront fear!
The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians is a 1970 American animated television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. After the Christmas special Frosty the Snowman (1969), it was Rankin/Bass' second hand-drawn animated work to be outsourced to Osamu Tezuka's Mushi Production in Tokyo, Japan. The show aired on ABC on April 7, 1970 before the airing of that year's Oscars. It was a tribute to early vaudeville, and featured animated reworkings of various famous comedians' acts.
PBS documentary examining the work of Jack Paar.
Examine the history of bluegrass music, from its origins to its eventual worldwide popularity, and hear from dozens of musicians who explain the ways bluegrass music transcends generational, cultural and geographic boundaries.
This is an interesting look at the Life and Times of car customizer/cartoonist Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. Through the use of many graphically enhanced photographs and "talking" cars, it is a loving look at the car culture in Southern California from the Early 50's to Ed's Passing in 2001.
Financial wizard "Doc" Fletcher is sent by crime boss Joe Fiore to buy a bank in Switzerland in order to more easily launder their profits. When he arrives, Fletcher finds that the bank, acquired by his associate Prince di Siracusa, consists of some shabby offices above a restaurant. To make up for this, the Prince suggests that Fletcher invests in a silver mine owned by Shireen and Agha Firdausi. This solves one problem, but the mine also attracts the attention of some of the most powerful people in the silver business. Fletcher must pull out all his wheeler-dealing skills in order to keep hold of everything he's worked for, in the process romancing a banker's discontented wife.
In this comedy, three middle-aged men renew their boyhood friendship at a stag party and hatch a crazy scheme that involves making money off of a luscious prostitute.
Through concert performances and interviews, this film offers us a comprehensive look at the British pioneer rock group, The Who. It captures their zany craziness and outrageous antics from the initial formation of the group in 1964 to 1978. It notably features the band's last performance with long-term drummer Keith Moon, filmed at Shepperton Studios in May 1978, three months before his death.
Modern comedians share their thoughts about Laurel and Hardy. Also includes archival footage of contemporary comedians. Hosted by Dom DeLuise.
John and Yoko in the presidential suite at the Hilton Amsterdam, which they had decorated with hand-drawn signs above their bed reading "Bed Peace." They invited the global press into their room to discuss peace for 12 hours every day.
Twenty-five years after Roseanne Barr’s groundbreaking number-one sitcom, Roseanne for President tells the tale of her 2012 grassroots campaign for President of the United States. While Roseanne may have revolutionized the way Americans talked about family, class, race, gender, and gay rights, this campaign trail adventure is a personal account of Roseanne’s thoughts on these subjects—and others, as we have never heard them before. What seems at first like a political profile quickly becomes a humorous and sentimental picture of an icon. This surprising journey uncovers raw and revealing moments from Roseanne’s private world, while juxtaposing her current influence as a politician with her role as a comedy leader in the '90s.
Spend a half-hour with fitness enthusiasts Tom Brokaw, Senator Ted Kennedy and others who will encourage, cajole, and even challenge you to get up and do something - anything! Featuring a common sense approach and solid medical advice from aerobics expert Dr. Kenneth Cooper, OFF YOUR DUFF successfully convinces viewers young and old that you don’t have to be a super-athlete to start getting in shape.
Jack Benny presents a variety hour with a carnival theme that stars Lucille Ball, Johnny Carson, Ben Blue, and Paul Revere and The Raiders. Cameos by The Smothers Brothers (as Joe-Joe, the two-headed boy), George Burns (as Martine, the Bearded Lady), and Dean Martin (as Rip Van Rinkle, the sleeping man). Songs include Lucille Ball singing "It's So Nice To Have a Man Around the House" and "Cleo" (to the tune of "Mame"), "Too Much Talk" and "Him or Me" sung by Paul Revere and The Raiders.
Flower Power blooms as Andy presents his second special of the season. Joining him on the flower-bedecked stage are Jose Feliciano; Donovan (who recites a fable about the lost continent Atlantis in addition to singing) the Smothers Brothers, who spoof food faddism; and the Ike and Tina Turner Soul Revue.
Tom and Dick Smothers are back in a network special after their separation last season from CBS! Written by Tom Smothers, David Steinberg, and Bob Einstein. Guests include Peter Fonda and Glen Campbell.
Tom and Dick Smothers Brothers host a special featuring Glen Campbell, Pat Paulsen, and the Flying Karamas Brothers.
A close look at television, the ultimate drug, that keeps society turned on and what to expect of the future.
Tom and Dick Smothers are joined by some of the nation's top rising young comedians, taped at the Roxy in Los Angeles.
The original Kingston Trio are joined by Tom Smothers, Mary Travers, Lindsey Buckingham, and current Trio members when they perform together for the first time in 20 years.
A man enjoys the salad days.
Mr. Bill heads west to cruise the strip in Las Vegas.
In the late 1950s, a fresh, unconventional style of standup comedy emerged in sharp contrast to the standard "Take my wife, please" approach. It tackled such previously taboo subjects as sex, religion, drugs, and politics, and ushered in an avant-garde era of comedy that was decidedly more cerebral, satirical, and improvisational than before. Here are many of the maverick comedians who took those big risks years ago and paved the way for today’s current crop of outrageous, in-your-face comics. Many of these rare television performances have not been seen in 30 or 40 years. Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks (1966) Jackie Mason (1961) Bob Newhart (1966) Shelly Berman (1966) Bill Cosby (1965) Jonathan Winters (1961) Smothers Brothers (1974) Steve Martin (1977) Rowan & Martin (1964) Lily Tomlin (1975) George Carlin (1967 & 1975) Richard Pryor (1967 & 1974) Andy Kaufman (1977) Hendra & Ullett (1966) Billy Crystal (1976) Jay Leno (1978) David Letterman (1979)