Review of Cracking Up

Cracking Up (1977)
4/10
Cracking Up is hit-and-miss but worth seeing for the sketches involving Fred Willard and Harry Shearer along with Michael McKean and David L. Lander
23 July 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Continuing to review movies or TV specials featuring early appearances of "SNL"ers in chronological order, I'm once again in 1977 with the release of something called Cracking Up. There are two future cast members here: Harry Shearer, who joined for two non-consecutive seasons-1979-80 and 1984-85 (though he left mid-season), and Michael McKean, who joined near the end of the 1993-94 season and remained for the next one. At the time, they were both members of The Credibility Gap along with David L. Lander, who was also Michael's co-star on the popular TV series "Laverne & Shirley" at this time. Anyway, the sketches they perform are pretty funny with the highlight being a hilarious take on Abbott & Costello's "Who's on First" with Shearer as a rock promoter and Lander as a newspaper head of classified ads and involving the names of musical acts The Who, The Guess Who, and Yes. Their last sketch, however, is unevenly mixed with another one from another group that makes no sense. It has Shearer as Tom Snyder with Lander and McKean as guests and their material has some laughs but the "Impotent Lovers" sketch that's mixed there is for the birds. Another comedy troupe, The Ace Trucking Company, provides the only other funny material in this movie. Fred Willard was one of this group's members and he's very funny here as are the rest of his fellow players in sketches about getting a job with bosses who have involuntary movements, a diner that pretends to be a fine restaurant with a floor show, and a mattress store with the seller and a buyer mixing double entendres. Otherwise, you're stuck with a lame wraparound of an earthquake TV coverage and mostly unfunny TV ad spoofs. So on that note, this Cracking Up movie is recommend for the material I just cited. P.S. I was surprised by the number of people who appeared in this picture that also appeared in Tunnel Vision which I rewatched a few days ago.
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