I Can't Talk Now, I'm On The Phone

[london2z]

This show makes me laugh until tears run down and I must look like an idiot.

[JBobVN]

Norman Lear came up with some pretty hilarious material before he became a political bore.

[nanceenurse]

I loved this show. Great memories!

[irishace11]

Does she remind anyone of Michelle bachmann or is it me?

[allenbroadway]

yes. and everyone is on drugs now, too. they have been on drugs since history began. what else is new?

[aweises]

This is fucking great, amazing stuff. I'm mexican and i just discovered this show and i can really tell that it surprised me, it has an unique sense of humor, and Mary freaks me out a little, her faces, her voice, her passivity. OUTSTANDING TV SHOW

[kentgraovac]

I was 7-8 when this was on and only got to see it during Xmas vacation and Spring Break etc. and for me, even at that young age, it was an EVENT! I am not sure why I was so drawn to Mary; perhaps because of her slow, childlike deadpan delivery and inability to comprehend most of the chaos constantly occuring around her. Anyway, GREAT offbeat show.

[PigsCanFly2day]

I'm sure this joke made more sense before the invention of call waiting. :P

[cheeriosinabowl]

@PigsCanFly2day

... yes, it did. Back in the 70's, a phone was a phone, and that was it. No fancy extra stuff added.

This show was a blast !

[cheeriosinabowl]

Mary Hartman made you laugh, when you least expected it.

Loved this show, miss it alot.

[StevesWifeCharlo]

Everything shut down in our building during this show. We all gathered in my apartment on 21st Street and watched with such intensity. Love it! We need it now, it was way ahead of it's time.

[exeuroweenie]

Wait,isn't this the actress who played Sheila Goldfarb's friend in Requiem For A Dream?

[trippyhop]

@exeuroweenie Yeah. She played Ada, who then goes to visit her at the end. (/tears)

[exeuroweenie]

@trippyhop Oh ok,thanks.

[trippyhop]

@exeuroweenie Yeah. She played Ada, who then goes to visit her at the end. (/tears)

[Lurvy1963]

Ah yes! This was one of the episodes of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman the Carol Burnett Show lampooned with a sketch of their own. Mary does look like the kind of person who would live in a cupboard underneath the kitchen sink, as Carol portrayed her to be.

[EscapeNewJersey]

This show was about what goes on in a sick Jewish mind!

[A1l2l2e2n4]

@EscapeNewJersey

Are you referring to Norman Lear's mind?

[SFLRailFan]

Call Waiting... ;-)

[ThoughtTraveler]

I am 41 and I remember this show coming on after 11PM and my bedtime. I wanted to watch it but my mom said this show was for "Adults". Why "Adults" - nobody ever got naked in this show. They just all acted like they were on dope.

.

WE all in the 21st Century need to be as medicated as these people were in the 70s. If so you would not give a crap about the Gulf Oil spill.

[atlasshrugged2u]

This show was a "druged out" show, you had to be on drugs to understand it...I remember it being so fucking boring and strange, but then again I was just a kid, my mom used to watch it, why? I don't know

[pictureisup1]

I remember this when I was about ten years old. Louise teaches acting now.

She was also on called It's a Living.

[RIGOREBERTO]

hard to believe i watched that garbage

[RIGOREBERTO]

hard to believe i watched that garbage......lmao

[Babaziba]

You felt like you were in an elite club because you got the jokes. Cerebral yet silly, taking the soap opera to the insane asylum. Best. Show. Ever.

[MightySaturn5]

@Babaziba well said...like many that were 10-13 at the time of its run I too didn't get it, of course in hindsight its one of the funniest tv spoofs ever

[dereka79]

Sgt. Dennis Foley was HOT!!!

[TheDangergirl35]

lol this was suposed 2 b a night time soap rite

[409409ed]

The views are by people like me who were there when the show aired and couldn't belive it either! It was a great, well-written send-up of soap operas.  And, it had a great cast. You won't find something this strange in prime time today. People would say, "I don't get it". And, that was the fun of it. Thanks for posting!

[Jezmanrulz]

I think Mary is HOT!

[Bestmanme08]

Martin Mull (Garth Gimble) in great new bio (Charlton Heston: An Incredible Life: Revised Edition) at amazon!

[fancynot]

exellent !

[stereoclinique]

haha...was Everybody on drugs in the 70s?

Mrs. Hartman was definitely on ludes...

[payless1981]

I read in a Hollywood True Life book that the woman playing Mary was a big coke head.

[ritter89]

@stereoclinique No, no, this show was depressing, big time. I watched it as a kid and would get the blues afterward. The main character was so slow and lethargic, the lighting was really dim, no laugh track, odd close up camera angles, strange music and a bizarre opening sequence in which some old woman shouts her name twice "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman!". Most shows weren't like this one. It's almost like British humor

[StevesWifeCharlo]

@stereoclinique --yes and Cocaine. Our Drug of choice.

[DrTazMage]

@stereoclinique ahhhh quaaludes..loved those when I was a teen....wish I could still get them...ugh.... :))

[Peg4Life]

I use to love this show! It's still funny:)

[BestManMe09]

Peg, realize please(!) that Mull is naturally lobotomized in reallife!

[BestManMe09]

Martin Mull (also of MHMH) has a weird physical condition in reallife that is like a natural lobotomy. He admitted in a 1978 Newsweek interview that he never yelled in realife! Count yourself normal if you ever get angry and yell!

[taragruber22]

Too funny! This clip actually made me laugh out loud!!

[Iminy]

Glad to see this back! I was 14 and I even didn't know why I liked it but I did.

[andrewdcarter]

I was about 14 also and like it for some reason....i guess because it was so wacky and like nothing else on tv..

[TeriJoSSNorway82]

I would come home from highschool and my mom was watching it, so i ended up getting hooked, and i am turning 50. It was ahead of it's time, i didn't know they had dvd's of this, thanks all....

[rrbond07]

My cousin and I was totally hooked on this show. The one I most remember is the guy in Mary Hartman's closet. When she opened it he fell over with the Christmas tree stuck in his back. OH, we laughed so hard!!

[TeriJoSSNorway82]

I was looking for that one, the guy who was in the closet was the martin mull character, who they said was garth, and then barth was the brother. I guess they figured out not to kill such a funny person off.... (If my memory is correct)lol, i ordered the dvd, should be here next week, i can't wait to see these shows again!!!

[channelthre3]

Recently purchased the DVD of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and LOVED IT! I was too young to watch it when it originally aired, but after watching the first 25 episodes I was hooked. Here's hoping for more episodes on DVD! :)

Thanks for the post! It's one of my fave scenes.

[dunskie]

Did it take all 25 to get you hooked?

[origen01]

yah dude, thats all there is

[dinkwinkerson]

I think that young people today may have no idea how funny that was back then. I was about ten yrs old and I KNEW I was missing a lot of it. I think this show may have actually taught me how to recognise that low key humor. Same goes for Fernwood Tonight but I was much quicker by then.

[subwaysleuth]

My favorite show

[ardalsgirl]

''I can't talk now, I'm on the phone.'' Lol that is funny. :)

[idiggravez]

WOW! I loved this show. Used to watch it. So bizzarrrrre. Thanks for the clip! :)

[timmytickles]

oh my gosh, i *love* MARY HARTMAN MARY HARTMAN...especially Lorretta Haggers!!!

[lamancha2]

As someone else has pointed out, this was never shown in the UK because of a television strike; it would be great to see a sample of an episode.

[spacetimecontinuum]

This was shown in the UK,twas how I became hooked at aged 5,didn't know a lot of what was going on,just knew I had to see it every week :)

[happynurse63]

I was 11 or 12 when this came out, and due to how racy it was, it was on past "my bedtime"!

OOOOOh it made me so mad, cuz I wanted to watch it!

Although I would sometimes sneak in an episode!

[GijaRamo]

Ugh I hate you I want to see it again!!!!!I also saw his follow up(bruce solaman) show the rabbi one...and someone close to me got to meet hangout with Marys dad .I hope someday someone posts some eps.

[GijaRamo]

Sgt Foley was cute back in the day

[makemp01]

I had such a crush on Dennis Foley when this show was on. I just finished the three discs in Volumn One and it took me right back to the feelings on watching the show for the first time. I loved every scene with Mary & Sgt Foley, especially the ones when they shared their first kiss.

All of the characters were so unique, that you never knew what to expect.That show was a classic and I can't wait for the rest of the shows to be released.

[billyguns2]

Thanks SO much for posting this gem; please post many more, including the episode where an overwhelmed Mary crawls underneath her sink.

[leoconvoy]

odd, very odd

[pekoe]

SO TOKED OUT 70'S............