This week: The Kentucky Fried Movie

o boy. Just last week we were talking | about how people mistake this space for

a cooking column, and just when they were starting to learn otherwise, | go and advertise take-out...

Oh, well. The Kentucky Fried Movie (or KFM, if you think “fried” creates a negative image of the product) is a collection of skits performed

by the (largely unheard of) Kentucky Fried

Theatre troupe. The skits range from amusing but dull all the way up to really funny, but they all share a common theme: they mercilessly skewer at least one movie or television conven- tion every two minutes.

Now, | know what you’re thinking. Parody is old hat, right? People don’t flock to see spoofs anymore, right? Well, tell that to the producers of Hot Shots! Part Deux! This little epic KFM, produced in 1977, was the first movie made by some of the same people who went on to do Airplane! or Naked Gun, where the jokes come at you every 5.86 seconds, Airplane!, officially

clocked at an average ofa gag every 7.5 seconds (pretty slow by Shots standards), which looks like warp speed compared to the KFM (I’ve got lazy fingers, okay’).

But damn the speed, what about the jokes? Who gets ripped to bits and how? It’s likea new Friday the | 3th flick: you know they're gonna get sliced into julienne fries, but need to see all the gory details (by the way, | have never watched a Jason flick).

Okay, I’ll spoil the thrill of discovery and tell you! Crying Game fans should skip this part; | know how you are about surprises.

Nobody who was anybody in the 1970's was safe from John Landis and people who wrote this film. Any and all entertainment mediums they could think of get the hatchet job. Three (okay, four) of the best skits:

The Self Help Album: Remember records? Those big black circular things that had ABBA on them? Back before videotapes and books be- came the big self-help craze, instructional records were a big thing (even Raveen had his own set). They really get the axe in this skit. A young, nerdy, obviously virginal couple prepare to make love for the first time with the help of “The Joy of Sex Album”. Their tender, romantic, loving mood is continually interrupted by things the narrator forgotto mention. At one point he interjects that the woman should stop now-- right in the middle of the fun -- to go insert her

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Apothecaries Lounge

corner of Queen & Grafton... downstairs

Runaway Jupiter Straw- Scott Cheap Train Wise berry & | Parsons, Jug

Down, no Night, no cover no

a cover cover

Monday to Friday: Star Tre

k Specials 5:00 - 6:00 (Sat. 7-8)

All week... 6:00 - 10:00 Super Jug Special

September 23, 1993/X-Press/19