Day: February 29, 2024

Happy Leap Day

unclescoopy

Go crazy, because “real life is for March.”


That clip left out some of my favorite parts, like when Alec Baldwin is visited by the ghosts of Leap Day Past, Present and Future. The dyed-in-the-wool Republican is horrified to see what happens in a future created by his parental neglect. Because he tried to make more money on Leap Day instead of spending time with his daughter, he must face his worst nightmare: she grows up to work for Habitat for Humanity!

I have a real soft spot for this episode of 30 Rock, which I would rank among the top twenty sitcom episodes of all time.

(Where is Chuckles the Clown now that we really need him?)

In addition to Leap Day and Chuckles, some of my other nominees:

  • The series finale of Blackadder. Funny and touching.
  • The “Communication Problems” episode of Fawlty Towers.
  • “The Contest” on Seinfeld.
  • “Flowers For Charlie” on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
  • “The Spanish Inquisition” on Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
  • “The Doll” on Curb Your Enthusiasm.
  • “Turkeys Away” and “Commercial Break” (the Mr. Ferryman episode) on WKRP in Cincinnati.
  • “Arthur After Hours” on The Larry Sanders Show.
  • “Kissing Your Sister” on Veep.
  • “Louie Goes Too Far” on Taxi.
  • My lowbrow darkhorse: “Castaways Pictures Presents” on Gilligan’s Island. The castaways find a camera and film, so they make a zero-budget movie and send it off on a raft or something. It is discovered, but does not help them get rescued. Their consolation prize: The French love their chaotic, incomprehensible gibberish, and it wins the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
  • No special episode, but any MASH appearance by Colonel Flagg. (I just never found MASH to be that funny, although it occasionally tugged at my heartstrings.)

I’m sure that I must be forgetting many. “The Adventures of Pete and Pete” isn’t a traditional sitcom. It’s an afternoon kiddie show from Nickelodeon, but I’d probably nominate at least three episodes from that show, which may be my favorite comedy of all time. I’d mention some episodes of Arrested Development and the underrated Go On (which one of you turned me on to), but I can’t immediately separate the episodes in my head.