The Buster Keaton Show: Unknown Episode Title 2 (1951)

Another episode of The Buster Keaton Show.  This one is quite a bit heavier on the physical comedy, with the sets and central premise both acting mostly as excuses for Buster to clown around.  It also borrows a fair amount from Battling Butler – as these things usually are, the original is funnier/cooler, but there’s still something delightful and a little heartwarming about seeing Buster still up to his old tricks, years later.

Buster’s friends have hired a trainer to help get him in better shape (I think for insurance reasons?  Like I said, whatever plot there is is just an excuse for Buster to do a lot of slapstick with gym equipment.)  Things go about as well as you expect, with Buster excelling athletically only when no one’s in the room to see it and failing spectacularly whenever anyone’s watching.  Also, as it happens, he’s due for a boxing lesson just after he’s inadvertently made his boxing instructor think he’s made a pass at his (the instructor’s) wife.  Because, come on – if it can go wrong, it’ll happen to Buster.

Some fun stuff here.  There’s a good sight gag with a rowing machine, Buster’s scene with the boxing instructor’s wife gets more and more hapless, and I really like an extended bit he does with a basketball.  With the latter, I just love Buster’s lamentable dribbling and overall form juxtaposed with the casual, almost dismissive way he makes increasingly-impossible shots, and the clincher (involving the trainer and a medicine ball) is terrific.  Even better is the studio’s audience’s reaction to this scene.  Years of single-camera sitcoms have made me wary of laugh tracks in general, but I enjoy hearing how completely they’re eating this up.

And yeah, I like the boxing sequence.  It makes me wonder if Battling Butler was a film audiences might have potentially seen in those days, or if it was still hiding in a stack of forgotten film cans somewhere.  Because for me, I view these gags as a fond echo from one of his silent films – even if it was middle-of-the-pack for that era of Buster’s work, it still has some fine comedy in it, and a lot of its best laughs are repeated here, albeit in a somewhat less impeccable fashion.  Regardless, that may be how the scene felt to people old enough to remember seeing the film in theaters.  But if Battling Butler hadn’t surfaced yet and been shown on TV, then that means this episode served as most viewers’ introduction to these gags.  Even though they’re not quite as impressive here as they were in the ‘20s, the sharp eye and quick wit behind them is just as good, and if this was the first most people had seen of them, it becomes more than just recycling; it’s Buster resurrecting pieces of his classic comedy, recreating them to give people a chance to see them in any way he can.

Still middling, but definitely better than the jungle episode.  While it’s certainly only for big fans of Buster, this episode is a pretty decent way to pass a bit of time.