Primetime Glick

"You're an overweight, frustrated, unsuccessful, stammering, stuttering, sweating, y'know, completely out of your element individual."

—Jerry Seinfeld, to Jiminy Glick

Primetime Glick was a comedy series that aired on Comedy Central from 2001 to 2003. It starred Martin Short (in a fat suit and convincing facial make-up) as clueless interviewer Jiminy Glick, who would fawn over celebrities, despite knowing next to nothing about them (and frequently getting facts about them wrong). He also had a penchant for unknowingly insulting whoever he talked to. Jiminy was joined by his bandleader, Adrian Van Voorhees (Michael McKean), who was often the butt of his abuse. An elderly, cranky woman named Miss Gathercole (also played by Short) appeared in the studio audience of every show and often shouted complaints at Glick.

In-between the interviews were "Jiminy's Home Movies" (featuring Jan Hooks as Dixie, his chain-smoking, drinking, pill-dependent wife), "Lalawood Fables" (marionette reenactments of grisly Hollywood murders and other scandals), and fake commercials and trailers. Some arguably verged on being tasteless (Jiminy pretending to be an Asian stereotype at Bob Jones University) or not being as funny due to recent events (the Tom Green/Osama Bin Laden sketch being a prime example- keep in mind it was filmed only a few months before 9/11), but there were plenty of hilarious ones like the film parody "An American Pope" (featuring Martin Short as Tommy Lee Jones!) and Adrian's "Harp Accompaniment For Your Sensual Massage" CD, among others.

Much of the humor simply came from how bizarre Glick was. He would randomly lower and raise his vocal pitch, frequently stuff his face (to the point where he couldn't talk) while talking to the bewildered guest, fidget uncomfortably in his chair and fall over, and make out-of-nowhere non sequiturs. For instance, one time while interviewing Rob Lowe and asking why he doesn't have a Southern accent despite being from the south, Glick went into a string about Sinatra's ex-wives and ended by asking Lowe what his opinion was on Barbara Sinatra. Being that the interviews were improvised, many crazy moments could occur between Glick and the guests.

It ran for 30 episodes. Sadly, only five episodes from Season 1 and The Movie Jiminy Glick in Lalawood are out on DVD.

Tropes used in Primetime Glick include:

• Alliterative Name: Jiminy's four sons are named Morgan, Mason, Matthew, and Modine.
• All Musicals Are Adaptations / Title: the Adaptation: Spoofed—Jiminy tries to open one episode with a number from Apollo 13 -- The Musical; naturally it goes wrong.
  • Additionally, in the very first episode, Jiminy performs a song from the musical version of Twister, called "She's A-Blowin'".
• Berserk Button: Jiminy chews out Edie Falco merely for interrupting him. Once.
• Big Eater: And big choker, too.
• Biopic: In-universe example: Jiminy had a made-for-TV movie about his courtship with Dixie. George Wendt played Jiminy Glick. However, during the interview with Wendt, Jiminy admits that the vast majority of his so-called biopic is "just a lot of lies".
• Blatant Lies: As mentioned in Biopic, the vast majority of Jiminy's biopic is outright falsities to add drama to the film.
• Broken Record: In The Movie, while interviewing Ben DiCarlo, Jiminy remarks that Ben's made so many wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful... (Ben taps Jiminy's arm) films.
• Buddhism: Jiminy and Dixie are apparently Buddhists. However, they also exchange Hanukkah gifts for some reason.
• But I Digress: Happens quite frequently in Jiminy's interviews.
• Butt Monkey: Adrian Van Voorhees.
• Canada, Eh?: During the Eugene Levy interview, Jiminy makes tons of stereotypes about Canada, which Levy has to refute.
• Captain Obvious: Played for laughs. In his interview with Rob Lowe, Jiminy confirms that Lowe plays a speechwriter for the president. Jiminy adds: "But not for the real president; this is for a fictitious president?" Lowe just smiles while the audience laughs.
• Catch Phrase: Jiminy loves to say "Wonderful!", often numerous times in succession. Adrian opens each show with:

Adrian: I'm Adrian Van Voorhees, and am I the only one who needs a Glick fix?
Audience: No! We do!
Adrian: Damn straight! Ladies and gentlemen, Jiminy Glick!

• Cloudcuckoolander: Jiminy Glick, obviously. He has the weirdest trains of thought.
• Did Not Do the Research: Jiminy rarely knows much about his guests. In one instance, he even confesses that he hasn't seen a single thing his guest has done.
  • Additionally, Jiminy frequently makes assumptions about people that are refuted by the guests he's talking to, such as thinking Ben Stiller is mean and full of himself, Madonna is spoiled, and thinking Robert DeNiro bullies people on the set.
• Dysfunctional Family: And how. It's a miracle Jiminy and Dixie are still together, given how irritated Dixie seems to get with Jiminy.
• Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Jiminy is smitten with guest Lorraine Bracco because she speaks some French to him.
• Fat Suit
• Groin Attack: One of the kids hits Jiminy in the crotch during one of the "Lalawood Fables" sketches.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: During the Steve Martin interview, Jiminy remarks that he saw "Shop Girl". At the time, "Shop Girl" was only a book, so Steve was confused that Jiminy thought he saw a movie of it. A few years later, a "Shop Girl" movie was actually made.
• Hilarious Outtakes: The TV series didn't have any, but the movie featured a couple minutes of outtakes before the credits. Among the highlights were Jiminy calling Steve Martin gay for being a cheerleader in high school and making Kurt Russell laugh uncontrollably.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: In a deleted scene of his interview with Conan O'Brien, Jiminy made a bad pun while performing some improv with Conan: "I hope that there's tartar sauce, or this chicken ain't gonna fly!"
• Instrumental Theme Tune: Aside from a female chorus singing "I gotta have a Glick fix, ooh I need a Glick fix...", the theme is a rock instrumental.
• Is This Thing Still On?: In-universe example: Subverted; Jiminy often assumes certain celebrities such as Ernie Kovacs and George C. Scott are still alive. He's surprised when told by guests that they've passed away a long time ago.
• Jerkass: Jiminy Glick, though he's often unaware of it and is actually surprised to be called out on it.
• If You Know What I Mean: In the movie, Jiminy is pulled away from sex with Dixie by his talent agent. After their conversation, Jiminy says:

Jiminy: I have to go take care of some unfinished business, if'n you know what I mean.

• Large Ham: Like you need to ask who.
• Long List: One episode promises to feature all the Baldwin brothers, and there's enough time for two cutaways to Glick getting ready to go onstage before Adrian finishes reading the list (which includes such lesser-known Baldwins as Shlomo and Baldy).
• Mistaken for Racist: Jiminy pleads his case to the audience after his aforementioned Asian stereotyping at Bob Jones University.
• The Movie: Jiminy Glick in Lalawood. It wasn't well received.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Naturally, since Martin Short plays most of them, with heavy make-up. Among the actors he's impersonated are Tommy Lee Jones, Conan O'Brien, Tom Green, Al Pacino, and (perhaps his best one) David Lynch in the movie.
• Once an Episode: Jiminy in the steam room with one of the guests from the episode.
• Overly Long Gag: Whenever Jiminy struggles to start a sentence but can't formulate his thoughts and merely repeats "What..." over and over. Seen in the Damon Wayans and Nathan Lane interviews.
• Patriotic Fervor: In one episode, Jiminy is seen driving his truck, which has a giant American flag mounted on the passenger side door. Unfortunately for Jiminy, it's windy outside and the flag blows against his windshield, causing him to experience a car crash.
• Piss-Take Rap: Jiminy tries an amateur rap out on guest Ice Cube. Ice is embarrassmed by Jiminy's poor skills.
• Praising Shows You Don't Watch: Jiminy does this all the time. For instance, during the Damon Wayans interview, he thought Major Payne was a hilarious movie, even though he admitted all he saw of it was the poster. And in the Nathan Lane interview, he praises Matthew Broderick's work, but admits he hasn't seen anything he's done.
  • And of course, the ultimate example: Giving "Growing Up Ghandi" a glowing review in The Movie, despite having slept through most of it.
• Prequel: The Movie shows how Jiminy Glick got his start interviewing celebrities and moved away from interviewing small town people on a local Butte, Montana show.
• Prima Donna Director: Jiminy is this when he makes the made-for-TV movie supposedly based on his life. He annoys George Wendt (who plays Glick) so much with his constant scene interruptions that Wendt eventually chokes Glick while shouting, "Die, piglet, die!"
• Rule of Three: In The Movie, Dixie acting irrationally when Jiminy said he dreamed about being in bed with Miranda Coolidge. Made even funnier by the fact that Dixie apologies every time, then immediately repeats the same mistake.
• Running Gag: Jiminy yelling to Stacy (his assistant) that she got a fact wrong.
  • Also Jiminy's rivalry with gossip columnist Liz Smith.
  • Jiminy hitting his guests with a rolled up paper. Keep in mind he never does it out of anger.
  • Single episode example: During the Janeane Garofalo interview, Jiminy keeps asking her age (at the time, it was 36) and is surprised each time, like it's the first time he's heard it.
• Significant Birth Date: Jiminy frequently tells his guests that they share a birthday with someone else that's famous.
  • During the Janeane Garofalo interview, Jiminy seems to think there's something significant about Janeane being (at the time) the same age as Marilyn Monroe when she was found dead, in the nude.
• Smoking Hot Sex: Played with in the movie; Dixie actually smokes DURING sex. She seems relatively bored, too.
• Sound Effect Bleep: After Jiminy finishes interviewing Mel Brooks, Mel remarks: "This is the craziest (fuck)ing interview I've ever done in my life."
• Special Guest: Besides the scheduled guests, occasionally there would be surprise guests, such as Bob Hope (played by Dave Thomas).
• Spell My Name with an "S": Julia Louis-Dreyfus mentions that her last name is spelled with one "S", while Richard Dreyfuss's last name is spelled with two "S"s, in order to correct Jiminy's mistake that the two are married.
• Strictly Formula: Act one was always Jiminy delivering his monologue to the crowd. Act two was with his first guest in the studio. Act three was "Out and About With Jiminy Glick", which was another interview, only in a hotel room or other locale. Occasionally the formula was different (such as the Regis Philbin episode, where the "Out and About" interview occurred in act two), but for the most part it was broken down the same way for each episode.
• The Talk: Jiminy has to give his sons Matthew and Modine the sex talk in The Movie. Matthew and Modine are both 13, and Jiminy's annoyed that they still don't know where babies come from.
• Talking to Himself: Jiminy Glick talking to David Lynch in The Movie. Both parts are played by Martin Short.
• This Is Sparta: Many of Jiminy's shouted lines fall into this.
• Toilet Humour: Jiminy's rant about being able to do a "stinky" in adult diapers during his Steve Martin interview.
• Tongue-Tied: Done deliberately by Martin Short for comedic effect.
• Too Much Information: Anytime Jiminy openly discusses his sex life with a guest.
• Unfortunate Implications: In his interview with Ice Cube, Jiminy says, "Here's the first question out of the gate, boy." Anyone who's not familiar with Jiminy's casual use of the word "boy" might wonder why he's seemingly calling Ice Cube a racial slur.