The whole 'Chief... McCloud' thing
What's this from? They do it a lot while they're making fun of the movie. I laughed anyway, but I get the feeling it's a reference to a TV series or something. Anyone care to enlighten me?
share"McCloud" was a series in the early 70's where a rough-and-tumble Western type (McCloud), who is a sort of bounty hunter-cum-detective is always getting into trouble with his (surprise!) gruff police chief, who hates his unconventional tactics. The character actor who plays the Chief (his name escapes me) had a gravelly-voiced delivery that Crow T. Robot is imitating. Inspired by a Clint Eastwood movie, and possibly one of the sources for early "The Simpsons" cop-parody "McGarnigle" (along with the Dirty Harry movies). "McCloud" was a fun, unselfconscious cliche series along the lines of Beretta or Mannix and other cop-dramas that flooded the airwaves in the "Me" decade and deserve a bit of riffing.
That's wonderful.
So why do they keep saying it? I guess it just became a running gag. I laugh, so it works.
We come into this world naked, screaming, and covered in blood. Why should the fun end there?
Dennis Weaver was the actor in 'McCloud'. I think it rotated by the week with "McMillan and Wife" and "Columbo".
shareDennis Weaver was well known as Gunsmoke's limping Deputy Chester Good back in the 50s. He also starred in one of Steve Spielberg's early flicks (I think it was his first, Duel which IMO is one of the most suspenseful and best m4tv movies ever made.
He always follows the creek.
Dennis Weaver was 'McCloud', he was not the Chief. The Chief was J. D. Cannon.
shareJ. D. Cannon played Chief Clifford in "McCloud." He was also one of the chain-gang inmates in "Cool Hand Luke."
shareYeah, I'm with the whole "Chief . . . McCloud" thing, but Servo's chuckling each time still gets on my nerves.
shareI got the reference... it just got damn irritating after the 10th time they did it and Servo's chuckling made it even more obnoxious.
I didn't even laugh the first time they did it.
That's because you have no soul.
shareOh. Well, there you have it.
shareI'm watching that episode now and it's getting pretty annoying. Every time a character is looking for someone, Joel and co start calling out names, leading up to the same "Chief... McCloud" punchline, followed by a cackle from Tom.
I'm glad that running gag didn't become a fixture of the series.
They DO tend to re-use a joke too much in an episode sometime. Likt "Neck Wattle" in "The Giant SPider Invasion" and "ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!?!?!" in "Laserblast". (Correct me if I have the movies wrong)
Those got far more irritating than the "McCloud" gag.
The "locked in the trunk" joke every time a car is shown in "Teenagers From Outer Space".
"A planet where apes evolve from men?!" variations. "Cave Dwellers", "The Unearthly", "Fire Maidens of Outer Space".