Oddity Archive: Episode 258 - Disco Beaver From Outer Space (& other Early Cable TV-isms)

[@brianhebert6152]

Early cable TV original programming like Disco Beaver from Outer Space feels like a fever dream induced from eating a can of decades-old-expired Planters Cheese Balls from the 80s

[@SailorMaxie]

Oddly specific, but makes sense.

[@rareblues78daddy]

When I was a smol kid in the early '80s, my Grandmother would take me grocery shopping with her... and she'd head directly to the Planters Cheese Balls... open the can before even buying it, and hand it to me just to shut me up. Then... she would pay for half-a-can of puffed balls. I was fairly hyper-active, and hard to quell. That memory, and those damn red "china pens" people used to use. (...or, "grease markers," for those who don't know.) So many memories just came back... all because of "Cheese Balls." Oy. Thank you, Brian!

[@catholiccontriversy]

"You're watching tv with a couple, and it's weird changing of channels and the content on the cable channels," sounds like the movie VHYes.

[@noneofyourbusiness4616]

Thank you, Disco Benny From Outer Cardboard!

[@rareblues78daddy]

...don't forget "Ed." He works hard as well.

[@plawson8577]

@@rareblues78daddy And sometimes Hans!

[@rareblues78daddy]

@@plawson8577 ...and Sergei. Can't "cata" the "combs" without him. KLAK wouldn't be the same if his voice was not there. In old country, we miss. He gives me "Fever of the Night."

[@plawson8577]

@@rareblues78daddy Why yes!

[@JSSMVCJR2.1]

Disco Benny and the Oddities.

[@celestinocamicia]

That Escapade programming roll at 12:36 seems to be made with the (then)-groundbreaking Chyron IV character generator...it was a game changer at the time because it could digitally display tons of well-known typefonts (Helvetica, Times New Roman, Handel Gothic, Brush Script...) as well as being able to store the channel's logo or other graphic elements! I recognized it because the exact same sort of formatting using drop shadows and a red background was used in my native Italy by Canale 5 (the first major nationwide private TV network) which acquired a Chyron IV in 1981 and used it at least until 1986 or 87. Meantime, RAI (the Italian equivalent to the BBC, basically, so technically a bigger TV entity than Canale 5) were still stuck with the Aston Character Generator (as used by the BBC in the 1974 Election broadcast) or even still hanging on to chromakey'd Letrasets well into the mid 80s! The parody programming on Disco Beaver, instead, seems to be generated by the Chiron II (notice the different brand name spelling!) from several years earlier, there's a demo of that one that you can find on KZbin, sourced from a 2 inch master. Possibly the National Lampoon people got hold of a Chiron II for cheapish after some TV station decommissioned it? How about an OA episode about the evolution and quirks of video titlers? Just a humble suggestion...😄

[@brianhebert6152]

I've seen a lot of old recordings of theme songs for Italian dubs of anime and they've always got the computer-generated or Letraset'd proto-screen bugs in the corner, a la the old RAI screen bug you occasionally see in recordings of Italo-Disco artists performing on TV shows

[@celestinocamicia]

@@brianhebert6152 the RAI screen bug was made with a Westrex character generator, and it used to move across the four corners of the screen because, before its introduction, several private stations used to broadcast RAI's sports events on their frequencies. It was essentially introduced as a watermark, during the 1978 Soccer World Cup.

[@TeeVeeGames]

Walter Sear's ear worm is going to be the soundtrack to my nightmares for weeks to come.

[@OddityArchive]

Alice Playten's theme song was the one that did it for me.

[@montyish]

I’m going back

[@yournamehere6002]

I taped this as a kid and watched and rewatched it over and over for a few years, wearing out the part of the tape where I paused and rewound the Breast Game.

[@alicesavage69420]

This movie never got released on home video but it DID get a Super 8 home movie release in the form of a 17 minute highlight reel from Universal 8. Seems to be uncommon.

[@OddityArchive]

Yep. I saw a copy that found its way over to the UK on fleabay making this episode. Had it not been for the $50-ish shipping rate, it would've been mighty tempting.

[@DanZero77]

New York TV in the 1970s was a thing to behold with the 3 major networks, 3 independent stations AND all the cool stuff you were able to find on early cable! Stuff that wouldn't fly today at all! But why does the HBO intermissions remind me of the footage from OA's experiment into Super 8 film?

[@hordakalpha]

Surprisingly many of these cable tvisms still existed in the late 80’s and early 90’s when I was a little kid. Back then I only had four analog stations locally and had an aunt who lived out of state whom I would visit every summer. To my young mind then her cable tv box was a magical path to all sorts of strange and wonderful channels I discovered, alongside all of those public access stations that had a lot of the crazy stuff you have covered in previous episodes. I discovered your show about a year ago and have been watching ever since. Its nice to know I wasn’t the only person who grew up with a fascination for old tv, commercials, vhs, vcrs, etc. I even owned one of the earliest vcrs of the 1980s once. Great show, Ben, please keep them coming.

[@derekjtaylor]

Prior to working with National Lampoon, Alice Playton was on Sid & Marty Krofft’s The Lost Saucer on Saturday morning TV.

[@metalstuccolath347]

She also did Broadway musicals, as recently as "Seussical". She was great in a forgotten show from the '60s called "Henry Sweet Henry" - there's a clip of her singing the song "Poor Little Person" from the Ed Sullivan Show which is weirdly wonderful. She had a huge voice which contrasted her tiny frame.

[@xandercruz900]

A total trainwreck! But cable TV back then was like the old days of KZbin, and that made it a blast!

[@yournamehere6002]

The Alice Playton Perrier bit, if I recall correctly, was a parody of a commercial with an intimate close-up of people relating their experiences with a specific wine.

[@OddityArchive]

It goes on for so long (and is so frequent), I chose to interpret it as a "talk show". ;)

[@plawson8577]

@@OddityArchive Hey Ben, remember the Perrier and Miller parody SNL did in ‘77 with Bill Murray? “Swill Mineral Water”?

[@TimbahOnToast]

love this channel

[@plawson8577]

It’s #1 in TED Talk!!!!

[@50shadesofbeige88]

The music in this episode is outstanding.

[@robmclean4352]

0:04 It's a good thing the listings refer to "Disco Beaver from Outer Space" as "comical (and) satirical", or I never would have guessed!

[@TheKnobCalledTone.]

Well, it _was_ aimed at Americans...

[@lensmann4002]

Neat fact, Dragula, Queen of Darkness was posted in National Lampoon Magazine Vol. 1, No. 20.

[@kyleolson8977]

The early cable stuff reminds me: It occurs to me you might want to track down Ferris Butler's Waste Meat News. I've got some discs but you can probably find him yourself if you search around (That's what I did, but I haven't checked up on him in a little while). Ferris was an SNL writer who did a public access show in NY, "Waste Meat News". It ran in the late 1970's and SNL drew heavily from it. A little too heavily, which is part of his future SNL story. Also, Butler's name's similarity to a certain character is not coincidence. Let me know if I you have some interest.

[@OddityArchive]

Actually, this is the first I've heard of it.

[@jamesslick4790]

@@OddityArchive I tried to leave a link about Ferris Butler, but it was deleted. But yeah- Check him out.

[@michielboland628]

These synth tunes are wonderfully nostalgic.

[@funakounasoul]

I love how this movie is basically a time capsule of sorts. Parodying/satirical, yes, but it's a good peek into those early days where almost anything goes. You know, like early internet and early YT! I miss some of it, but not all of it lol...But neat peeks into the culture is ALWAYS fun

[@EvaFull]

This is the type of contact that has not only made a superfan, but also a long time subscriber to the Archive. #LostMedia ❤❤❤❤

[@plawson8577]

I’ve been an OA fanboy since 2014. This channel may not be as Big as the Illuminaughi channel, but it’s Certainly Superior,More Transparent, and Ben and sometimes Ed and Hans seem to NAIL Research 100%. Blair and her team only nail it 80%. Ben has the TED Talk skills of a College Instructor, Blair’s are like that of a High School Homeroom teacher. That’s not to say her Channel is bad(I’m subbed to it), she’s Evolved since 2019, but there’s times were she’s often a bit too personal even though she’s trying hard to be transparent. (She’s still learning) And although I’m Not the type of person that would ever personally bring up someone’s disabilities, she has Dyslexia and Autism Spectrum Disorder. And I notice that some of her followers tend to be insensitive to her, not realizing that. Sometimes goading her for being unable to Enunciate or Elaborate. I will continue to watch her channel evolve and hope that she can learn how to balance her quirks and not let them effect her or let uncompassionate people pick on them.

[@proudsnowtiger]

Technical note: wood can withstand re-entry. The Chinese have used oak as an ablative heat shield.

[@ericn.wilson2345]

Appreciate you slipping that clip of The Big Giveaway in. I binged a few of those on the OVS channel several years back, and the ones I saw had a real low-rent charm to them...adjusting for the 1976 community standards, of course.

[@Z3R0FiR3]

That disco beaver theme is catchy AF.

[@matthewpaul6904]

There is a market, Ben They're called Oddity Archive fans

[@ChaunceyGardener]

People put so much time and effort on the most inconsequential things. Never give up, Ben.

[@larrylaffer3246]

This feels just obscure enough for the Vinegar Syndrome people to release it.

[@mr1000Cent]

I could only imagine Disco Beaver from Outer Space ending up just being thrown on the Night Flight Plus service randomly, with little to no fanfare, LOL. Then again, this could be a fun search to show to the local Discord group (and watch them up and leave, since it isn't pro wrestling or MMA related).

[@plawson8577]

Time Life was HBO’s Parent Company from 1973 to 1991. They were VERY stingy with their IPs and Programming and refused to share it with other Cable Channels. They weren’t fond MCA Television, as I recall.(The Hitchhiker was Canadian owned and thus an exception). So I’d say, in an AU, Disco Beaver ran one night on USA Night Flight in 1985.

[@mr1000Cent]

@@plawson8577 all true, kind of looking at it from the standpoint of some random company selling their rights to the movie to a Shout Factory! or Vinegar Syndrome or some other Craft distributors, and ending up in a "Cult Classics" bin on a random streaming service (in a way, kind of the only way I will probably get to see the original "Blood Circus", but even that also seems like an incredibly long shot to happen IMO). At least in Disco Beaver's case, there are other "means" to view the movie, and/or check out how incredibly bad early cable television was, you know, for "educational" purposes (like that one time I was "recommended" the "1976 World Mud Wrestling Championships" by a certain video platform that may or may not have been YT, LOL).

[@plawson8577]

@@mr1000Cent I totally agree! Regarding “Blood Circus” I’m pretty sure Santo Gold himself destroyed the original Negative after his 1989 Mail Fraud and Ponzi Scheme Conviction. I highly doubt we’ll EVER see it. If it still existed, Lost Media Wiki would have recovered it years ago. But who knows at this point? Maybe it’s still lying around in a Baltimore Lawyers Office, or again, Santo destroyed it after his Conviction. It’s also reported that Santo Passed Away a few years ago. But I cannot find a Single obituary or source confirmed his Death. Even the name Santo Victor Rigatuso turns up empty. As for Disco Beaver, MAYBE Shout Factory might get the DVD rights? I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

[@brianhebert6152]

I can only imagine their reactions: "He's just copying Brodus Clay's gimmick, but wearing a fursuit!" "Nary a botch to meme" "I wonder what Jim Cornette's reaction would be?

[@brianhebert6152]

​@@mr1000Cent I forgot to add that, in addition to Night Flight, it could have been aired on Adult Swim at like 2pm on a weekday early morning in 2008

[@markdickerson3771]

A St. Louis based company called Swank Motion Pictures, which provides 16mm films for colleges, schools, and organizations, released Disco Beaver on 16mm for playdates on college and university campuses, which had largely not been wired for cable at that time. I saw it on my college campus theater way back in the day, and found it curiously unmemorable. (Because of the short running time, our theater double featured it with "The Trouble with Tribbles" episode of Star Trek.) Swank Motion Pictures is still in business today, and Disco Beaver appears to still be in their catalog.

[@RickinBaltimore]

Also, the Perrier bit was actually done on the Lampoon's radio show prior IIRC. Oh and Misterpiece Theater also was a radio bit, "Roger Deswans" was a reoccurring character on the Lampoon's Radio Hour.

[@plawson8577]

And then later that year, SNL did a Commercial parody with Bill Murray combining Perrier,Miller and Heinz Ketchup called “Swill”.

[@kenlieck7756]

I'll only add that DBFOS also fell under the category of "experimental comedy", allowing for HBO, Showtime & Cinemax to solicit programs by the likes of the 'poon, Firesign Theater, and other hippie/edgy comedy troupes. One of the three even ran such shows under the blanket title of "Comedy Experiments", handily implying they might well fail. Oh, and you'd be stunned how many people of a certain age remember "Dragula", either from its Frank Frazetta & Neil Adams NatLamp magazine form or the Disco Beaver version. However, I would say at least half of those people falsely remember it as being called "Fagula"...

[@dkleiser559]

yessss, good to see Disco Beaver From Outerspace get some love

[@sf-dn8rh]

Disco beaver sorta reminds me of a now dead local public access channel in south Colorado. It paritied a few shows, most notable was a svengolie type show, that ended at the time of c19 shut downs. The channel now a info channel

[@GabrielleCenter2000]

Happy Oddity Thursday!

[@mightyfilm]

"Don't need no axe, don't need no saw, don't even need a cleaver, cuz he's a wood, chomping rodent, He's got the Beav- Beaver Fever!" Too bad there isn't a segment where Dragula attacks Clutch Cargo Anita Bryant.

[@plawson8577]

“I still See the X on Gays”.

[@charlesbennett7484]

When you say "Oddity Archives", you REALLY lean into the "odd" with this one! 🦫👍

[@leamanc]

Wow, I have some very distant memories of seeing this back in the day when I was very young. The Perrier addict was the bit I remembered the most clearly.

[@plawson8577]

“Swill, everything you’ve always wanted in Mineral Water, and More”.

[@senton412]

Same here. I saw it when I was 8 (Gen Xers had parents who just didn't care what their kids watched on TV). I didn't understand the adult jokes, but I still remember the Spud Brothers and The Backache Look, and got why someone cursed the Disco Beaver for giving him Canadian money (I knew Canadian nickels had beavers on them).

[@leamanc]

@@senton412 I would have been around 8 also. I can verify the parental attitude at the time. I remember it because my mom drank Perrier and I asked her, “You can’t get drunk off Perrier, can you?” and she explained to me that was the joke.

[@darrylu.4358]

Ben, National Lampoon actually did release a VHS of Disco Beaver From Outer Space via their website in the late 1990s/early oughts.

[@OddityArchive]

Are you sure those aren't the same bootlegs that "Lemmings" saw? Having said that, I can't find so much as a picture of the tape.

[@hayleywaalen2612]

I thought it would be an animal version of Saturday Night Fever but with a Beaver.

[@danmount9462]

Disco Beaver. Disco Beaver. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[@JL-sm6cg]

That music sounds like something from an 8-bit Nintendo game! LOL Brilliant!

[@gerrychaplin5773]

Wow, freaky!! I'm watching this just after you've posted this but one day before the anniversary of my father's passing and your next episode is about one of his favourite shows? My dad absolutely loved my mother the car, but when I was growing up, they never showed reruns of it in Australia - had to wait till youtube. Can't wait to watch.

[@OddityArchive]

Just a little joke. I've only ever seen a few minutes of it.

[@TheMoogleMaster]

There's also a Dragula directed by a exploitation director named Andy Milligan who's films were well known around 42d street, but it's not the one Disco Beaver used. That film seems to be a lost fim.

[@RocketboyX]

Not the disco beaver I was expecting.

[@bradmad8346]

OK, I didn't see any Leave it to Disco Beaver comments, so I get who the Beaver was, I think the vampire was Eddy Haskell who played the rest. just for fun, I like the TV show.

[@djhrecordhound4391]

Disco Beaver, Disco Duck, Dis-Gorilla, Mickey Mouse Disco...jeeeezzz, people really let disco go to the animals! (...hides my copies of all the above...) 😆

[@dorourke105]

Alice Pleyton was also the voice of Bebe Bluff on Doug

[@plawson8577]

Really?

[@dorourke105]

@@plawson8577 yeah in fact it was her final role until her death in 2011

[@plawson8577]

@@dorourke105 Fascinating. Who replaced Billy West as Doug and Roger when Disney brought Jumbo Pictures from MTV Networks in December 1993?

[@dorourke105]

sorry this late but i know Chris Philips played Roger and I can't remember who replaced Doug

[@MrScottbot101]

Late to the party, but i just watched a documentary on the National Lampoon, and it mentioned Disco Beaver briefly. Mainly, it was Ian Hendry asking, in a pained voice, “do I really have to talk about Disco Beaver?”

[@martysykes3221]

I remember Disco Beaver. My dad watched this and thought it was funny, especially the terminal flatulence (TF) sketch. It was a topic of conversation, years later, at the Thanksgiving table😂😂😂😂 !!!!

[@hollingsworth_hound]

I remember seeing this on HBO when I was a kid. It was such a completely different channel back in the early days.

[@ALWTunes]

Well, I went and watched Disco Beaver after seeing this video. It’s pretty hard to believe the Lampoon folks went on to do such great things based on this. It’s painful. Haha.

[@joearnold6881]

It’s no Disco Duck

[@plawson8577]

Thank God!!!

[@rapman5363]

Winona’s got herself a Big Brown Beaver!! And she shows it off to all her friends!!

[@rwdplz1]

We're reaching levels of vintage WTF that shouldn't even be possible...

[@vylbird8014]

Does this have any connection to Amazon Women on the Moon? They sound very similar, going with the same 'random channel-surfing' premise.

[@OddityArchive]

Not that I know of, though I'd imagine the makers saw Disco Beaver.

[@IanGorton]

Well there were some producers in there who also worked on Kentucky Fried movie

[@bunnybismuth]

Your followers said it was this. They were right.

[@Traumaqueenamy]

I always thought National Lampoon was just a comedy movie series. I didn't realize there was more to it. Also, that music sounds like a chiptune from some old 8-bit video game.

[@fangjokerLS]

Show me a substantial partion of your daily intake is cocaine without saying those words: "Disco Beaver From Outer Space."

[@mysfiring]

MOAR BEEVAR!

[@50shadesofbeige88]

MORROW BEVAR! 😅

[@JSSMVCJR2.1]

MOORE BIVALERR

[@closetman760]

If I had a guess as to why this special never got a proper home video release, it's most likely the fact this was going to be dated in the following years after release. Thanks for explaining most of the references! By the way, I heard a rumor that Disco Beaver from Outer Space was the lowest rated HBO program. Can anyone confirm that?

[@MrKenichi22]

He wasn’t an Angry Disco Beaver from Outer Space?

[@OddityArchive]

I can’t imagine what a Disco Beaver would have to be upset about. Sounds like a pretty good gig to me.

[@MrKenichi22]

@@OddityArchive I agree

[@ronaldwayne7092]

So who remembers "Dimmers and Switches" on Channel G?

[@TheKnobCalledTone.]

Does anyone know if/where there are any surviving episodes of Midnight Blue? Asking for a friend.

[@OddityArchive]

I've seen a few clips on YT, so theoretically there are some full episodes out there.

[@darrylu.4358]

Bill Lustig's Blue Underground released compilations with episodes of the show. Scour Google and E-Bay. He released an entire boxed set.

[@RickinBaltimore]

Say...nice beaver.

[@MALAKYT]

what in the absolute value of hell did I just watch… and why did I enjoy it as much as I did?? 😂 (Dragula dying from “exposure” to a beaver, however, made me laugh much harder than it probably should’ve, given that I myself am gay and detest the vast majority of gay stereotypes out there… and I LOVE IT! 😂)

[@PicaDelphon]

YAY Jail House Cell area H...

[@Dangerzone334ArchiveOfficial]

This aged well, she recently Anita Bryant recently passed

[@ProfessorRetro1976]

This reminds me of Amazon woman on the moon

[@hollingsworth_hound]

Just to add some context, at that time Perrier was kind of the newfangled thing in the US and was associated with yuppies and people trying to look sophisticated. I think the sketches themselves were making fun of a particular series of commercials. So much of that kind of topical humor ages poorly because the thing being joked about is often quickly forgotten.

[@cpnscarlet]

Where did you get that clean copy of "Manos"?

[@OddityArchive]

archive.org. The Blu-Ray is far cleaner--and from the original negative.

[@TG5455]

Dang, it...I thought it was inspired by that Rob Zombie song. 😩

[@V6Thema]

If I was just given the title "Disco Beaver ...." I would first assume it came out of the Troma stable

[@JSSMVCJR2.1]

That National Lampoon *Hated* HBO!

[@firewalker1372]

What in the hell did I just watch 🤣😂. Wow….

[@heidifedor]

Wasn’t there a lot of porn on NYC cable?

[@TG5455]

14:19 Whoa...Take it easy there this ain't Fox News or MSNBC. 😆

[@yournamehere6002]

You forgot TUNNELVISION!

[@Musicradio77Network]

And of course, “Amazon Women On The Moon”.

[@yournamehere6002]

@@Musicradio77Network No, that wasn't from the time period, it was years later. TUNNELVISION was within the same time period as GROOVE TUBE and DISCO BEAVER.

[@luisreyes1963]

And to think HBO went on to produce far better series like Tales Of The Crypt & Curb Your Enthusiasm. 😆

[@Musicradio77Network]

And don’t forget “Sex and the City”.

[@brianhebert6152]

And they had divisions that co-produced Everybody Loves Raymond and part of the Comedy Central run of MST3K

[@fjccommish]

Why do public youths need their own cable channel?

[@neilforbes416]

@21:37 I've had a gutful of this cable TV crap. Thank goodness we *never* had to put up with this *utter shite* on Australian TV!

[@jdenoe69]

What even is this?

[@neilforbes416]

12:25 At least you had the smarts enough to use the *proper* descriptive word, "homosexual" here.

[@plawson8577]

Benny is a Gentleman! In the 2020 Episode “Switched on Archive”(Which he released during Pride Month), he does a brief Segment on Trans Moog Musician Wendy Carlos “Walter Carlos, Henceforth Wendy Carlos” and referred to Wendy as a She pronoun.

[@pacmancdi]

​@@plawson8577 her Tron soundtrack is amazing.

[@plawson8577]

@@pacmancdi Cool! Didn’t know that Moog was still a thing by 1982!

[@neilforbes416]

Summing it up: *Leave it to Beaver* to fill screens with useless and worthless *dross!*

[@F40PH-2CAT]

Drugs are bad mkay

[@intergalacticmeow]

Meow

[@intergalacticmeow]

🪩 🦫

[@intergalacticmeow]

🪩 🦫🚀

[@djhrecordhound4391]

WOOOOF

[@miata1492]

Ben: The esoterica displayed here was sleep inducing and a turn off to your regular audience. Besides, the egos of NY City residents are already massively inflated. So maybe you should steer away from future similar displays as this one. (Just a loving observation)

[@DanJackson1977]

Screw that... this was fascinating.

[@OddityArchive]

@Miata149 Well, early Cable TV has been one of my most requested topics for many years now--don't know what to tell ya. And, it's the big city stuff (especially NYC and suburban Chicago and Detroit) that've had the best survival rate. Conversely, I'm sure the Massey-Ferguson episode last year didn't appeal to OA's more overtly urban viewers. It's just presenting the full scope of this stuff.

[@plawson8577]

@@DanJackson1977 Seconded. 1977-78 was WELL before our time. I’m actually fascinated by the Anita Bryant Homophobia parody though National Lampoon and Alice Payton. I’m curious to know if it holds up well.

[@TheKnobCalledTone.]

I'm part of OA's regular audience, yet I didn't turn off. Please don't speak on my behalf again.