Jokebook
| Jokebook | |
|---|---|
 On-screen title card. | |
| Network | NBC |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera |
| Original release | April 23—May 7, 1982 |
| Starring | Don Messick Lennie Weinrib |
| Producer(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera Harry Love (co-producer) |
| Music composed by | Hoyt Curtin |
| Director(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
Jokebook is an American animated television comedy skit sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera for NBC. It ran in 1982, airing 3 episodes that spanned one season, although additionally the series had 7 episodes made, only 3 episodes were aired due to lack of viewer interest.
Production
Development
Harry Love, one of Joseph Barbera's closest pals and confidantes at the time, was in charge of story content for the series, as he was looking to create a cutting edge cartoon comedy series. After executives at NBC saw the first rough cut, they were aghast and refused to air the series, which caused Hanna-Barbera to scramble and try to reanimate some of the material, including major sections of the episodes having to be thrown out, forcing HB to go on a frantic search for animated short films to pad out the Jokebook episodes.[1]
Segments
Music
The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin.
- Opening theme song lyrics
Join-in
Oh yeah, yeah
Shally-a-dupitty-dupitt-a-dupitt
Oh yeah.
Remember life is a jokebook, nothin' but a jokebook.
Even though the joke is on you.
And if you start feeling old, there's only one way to go.
Only one thing you can do.
You gotta open up your jokebook.
Writing up your out-book.
Things aren't as bad as you think.
Your going laugh, shake, give your smile a break, and put a little joke in your life.
Oh yeah, put a little joke in your life.
Chapadey-push-some-jo-and-some-ke
in your life!
Ha, ha, ha!
Episodes
| Title | Original air date |
|---|---|
| 1x01 | April 23, 1982 |
| 1x02 | April 30, 1982 |
| 1x03 | May 7, 1982 |
| 1x04 | Unaired |
| 1x05 | Unaired |
| 1x06 | Unaired |
| 1x07 | Unaired |
Cast
- Henry Corden
- Scatman Crothers, who sang the theme song
- Joan Gerber
- Bob Hastings
- Joyce Jameson
- Don Messick
- Sidney Miller
- Bob Ogle
- Ronnie Schell
- Marilyn Schreffler
- Hal Smith
- John Stephenson
- Janet Waldo
- Lennie Weinrib
- Frank Welker
Legacy
Some clips from seemingly unavailable episodes were later used for some of the HBTV music videos, particularly of the Lovebirds segments.
Although the series was never rebroadcast on either Cartoon Network or Boomerang—likely due to its adult-themed nature–it was featured in the unaired ToonHeads special, "The Best of the Worst Cartoons Ever."
References
- ^ Yowp Don M. (May 18, 2012). "The Failure That Really Was". Yowp. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
