… a little seltzer down your pants.
Are you old enough or enough of a pop culture geek to remember that line? If so, enjoy your own private Mary Tyler Moore moment, laughing and crying at all the right and wrong times, as you remember the life and times of David Lloyd, who wrote the “Chuckles Bites the Dust” episode of The MTM Show and who died on Tuesday. “A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants” was the signature line of Chuckles the Clown, right up to the point that Chuckles was trampled by an elephant. Neither the Wikipedia summary of the episode, nor this YouTube clip, capture the full absurdity of the episode.  The genius of “Chuckles” was in the writing, and in the fact that a single elaborate joke was played out over the full half-hour. There was a beginning, a middle, and an end, but there was nothing immediate about it; you had to wait for the payoff. The “Chuckles” writing was 70s sitcom comedy at its absolute best.