Simon Dunn

Scriptwriter and Comedian

Me And The Chimp

They can’t all be hits. On 13th January 1972, Garry Marshall presented the world with Me And The Chimp, a sitcom starring Ted Bessell and a chimp called Jackie. This was a full six years before Every Which Way But Loose, so it wasn’t even a cash-in. Marshall later went on to create Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley of course.

I wonder how many outtakes there are of the chimp attacking people’s faces.

The thirteen episode run made it to the UK, by way of ITV, in 1974.

It’s worth jumping ahead to watch the ad break though. TV Land started in 1996, originally billed as Nick At Nite’s TV Land, and showed classic TV shows. But it also aired old commercials, as you can see. That Maxwell House one is lovely, though the Tootsie Roll one has an unnerving jingle at the end. I haven’t ever tasted a Tootsie Roll, but it looks disgusting.

 

,

<

>

Buy My Books
  • Nineteen 90s Shows
    Nineteen 90s Shows

    I wrote another book about television. I like television. I like television so much that the first thing I modelled and printed on my new 3d printer was this … I made some more after that too. There’s a few more, including TVS, ATV, and HTV, but I bought you here to talk about my…

Follow
Most Read
  • Re-Casting Keanu
    Re-Casting Keanu

    Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him eight years older than Clive Dunn was when he was first cast in Dad’s Army. But don’t panic, Clive Dunn was always playing much older characters than his own age. Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him seven years older than Stephanie Cole was when she was first…

From The Archive

Sign up for my FREE newsletter