One of the most memorable examples of slapstick comedy to air on
television, "Lucy Does A TV Commercial" is an episode of the iconic "I
Love Lucy" series.
The story in a nutshell:
Lucy secretly envies Ricky's success in show-business. When the
opportunity presents itself to do a commercial spot for Vitameatavegamin, a
vitamin tonic, Lucy jumps at the chance. The script of the commercial
basically introduced the product, discussed the health benefits, and finishes
with Lucy taking a tablespoon full of the stuff and exclaiming, "Tasty, too!"
Now, Vitameatavegamin (a phony name) was to have contained a substantial
amount of beverage alcohol, as did many of the tonics of the day. The
fun starts when Lucy forgets her lines and has to do another take. After
four takes, she's intoxicated, and begins to mispronounce the product name, etc.
so she must do yet more takes.
Lucy: "Are you tired? Rundown? Listless? Do you poop out at parties?
Are you unpopular? Well the answer to all your problems is in this little
bottle. Vitameatavegamin. That's Vita-meata-vegamin.”
The tagline at the end of the script involves her taking a spoonful of the stuff and saying "It's so tasty, too!” But at first, Lucy grimaces when swallowing the foul-tasting stuff.
Four takes later: “Are you popped out? Are you unpoopular?? The answer to all
your problems are in this bittle lottle...
little bottle
...and it's tasty, too!” (Lucy foregoes the tablespoon and swills a
shot right out of the bottle) -- followed with a brief comic pause, then she again tries to convince the viewer, "Just like candy, honest!”