The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians

*The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians*
The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians
	Official logo
Genre	Animated television special
Written by	Romeo Muller; (special material)
Directed by	Arthur Rankin, Jr.; Jules Bass
Starring	(See article)
Theme music composer	Maury Laws
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Producers	Arthur Rankin, Jr.; Jules Bass
Cinematography	Steve Nakagawa; (animation supervisor)
Editor	Irwin Goldress
Running time	25 minutes
Production companies	Rankin/Bass Productions; Atlantic Records; (Flip Wilson segment); Mushi Studios; (animation)
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	April 7, 1970

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.^[1] It was a tribute to early vaudeville, and featured animated reworkings of various famous comedians' acts.^[2]

Production and Marx Brothers

Most of the comedians provided their own voices for their animated counterparts, except for Chico Marx and W. C. Fields, both deceased, Zeppo Marx, who had left show business in 1933, and Harpo Marx, also deceased (though no voice was needed for him since his stage persona did not speak). Groucho Marx, 80 years old, was still playing himself. Voice actor Paul Frees narrated the show and filled in for those actors who were not able to do their own voices. Although Jack Benny's Maxwell automobile makes an appearance, it was not voiced by its usual voice actor Mel Blanc, and Frees provided the effects for the Maxwell as well.^{[citation needed]}

The show included a Marx Brothers skit, which was a reworking of a scene from their Broadway play I'll Say She Is (1924). The skit included their famous Napoleon parody, with Napoleon played by Groucho. The sketch featured animated representations. Romeo Muller is credited as having written special material for the show in addition to the original scripts that came from the various comedians' sketches.

This special and Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (released later that year) gave Rankin/Bass their highest TV ratings, even higher than Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964). More recently, Behr Entertainment was in talks to produce a similar show that would feature cartoon renditions of Jack Benny, George Burns, Abbott and Costello, and Bob Hope. Thirteen half-hour episodes were proposed.^{[citation needed]}

Plot

The majority of the special is an animated vaudeville-style show featuring numerous comedians performing the greatest skits at the palace.

Flip Wilson's "Columbus" sketch (with audio taken directly from his 1967 Atlantic Records album Cowboys and Colored People) is set to animation, as Queen Isabel Johnson sends Christopher Columbus to the New World to find, among other things, Ray Charles.
Jack Benny and George Burns take a trip in Jack's infamous Maxwell, where Jack attempts to weasel his way out of paying an increased bridge toll.
Groucho Marx recreates the Napoleon parody act from the Marx Brothers' 1925 Broadway revue I'll Say She Is, with Groucho reprising his role as Napoleon, and animated representations of Chico, Zeppo, and Harpo playing his advisors Alphonse, Francois, and Gaston, respectively.
W. C. Fields (voiced here by voice actor and comedian Paul Frees) has trouble trying to prove that he is a sportsman and impress a woman to marry her daughter at the ski resort, while at the same time he also has a comical encounter with a Saint Bernard.
The Smothers Brothers try their best to cooperate in singing a song to woo a princess, but their attempt does not go as planned.