ALONG ABOUT, oh say circa 1948, a young producer by name of Allen Funt, came up with a simple yet brilliant idea of secreting a recording microphone in the middle of some publicly accessible place and trap unsuspecting, commoners in certain gag situations. The resulting unscripted reaction occurrences made for great Radio Comedy and Allen Funt's HIDDEN MICROPHONE was born.
THE ADDITION of a hidden motion picture camera soon transformed the Radio show into CANDID CAMERA. First done as theatrical comedy short subjects; the format and resulting films soon were regular denizens of the new medium of Television. CANDID CAMERA was seen as a series, both Network and in Syndication for several reincarnations from 1940's to the 1980's and (we're quite sure)will be seen so far beyond the present day.
BORROWING THE concept over the years have been such as Dick Clark and Ed McMahon with BLOOPERS & PRACTICAL JOKES AND more recently that Canadian Production, JUST FOR LAUGHS,on ABC TV. The public a;ways wants to laugh and these low budgeted slices of Reality TV never seem to fail to deliver the goods.
THIS BRINGS US down to the more recent series, THE JAMIE KENNEDY EXPERIMENT; which supplied our household with plenty of n'yucks on many a weekday night in recent years.
SOME OF OUR favourite episodes were some with the young Mr. Kennedy impersonating a fictional Country Music Singer; who is to sing the Star Spangled Banner at the venue of a Minor League Baseball Park before the start of the day's game. The catch being that the would be Grand Old Opree star sang not just the usual One (1st) verse, but all Five (5) verses. He just would not quit. It got continuously funnier and funnier as both the crowd as well as the Ballplayers & Umps, all would sit or otherwise go on with their business; only to quickly and respectfully return to "as they were".
ANOTHER HAD an elaborate ploy pulled on the Mother of a Show Biz/Acting Family (names escape us)by the Husband (also a TV/Movie Actor) and the Coup;e's young daughter. In the sketch, the family was to convince the Mother that the Daughter would be taking off on a 2 year stint aboard a Cruise Ship with the Ship's no talent Magician/Ventroloquist/Lounge Singer; played to the hilt by Jamie Kennedy. You talk about persons getting "caught in the Act of being themselves!"
THE JAMIE KENNEDY EXPERIMENT may not have been any funnier in the long tun as was Mr. Funt's brainchild; but it certainly had a greater depth of characterization and cinematic techniques. The stunt sequences were "deeper" if you will. It was sorta lika having a CANDID CAMERA Show on an "A" Movie Budget. We were sorry to see that it wasn't brought back after a 2 or 3 year run.
COME ON Hollywood and TV Land; let's have it back!
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