The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians
The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians is a 1970 American animated TV special from Rankin/Bass. It is a tribute to early vaudeville, featuring animated versions of famous comedians’ acts. After their 1969 Frosty the Snowman, Rankin/Bass outsourced the hand-drawn animation to Mushi Production in Tokyo, making this their second such project.
The show aired on ABC on April 7, 1970, just before that year’s Oscars. It presents comedians performing their famous bits in animated form. Most provided their own voices, but Chico Marx, W. C. Fields, and Zeppo Marx could not participate (Fields and Chico were deceased, Zeppo had left show business). Harpo Marx was also deceased but required no voice work. Paul Frees served as narrator and filled in for missing voices.
A Marx Brothers sketch is included, reworking a scene from I’ll Say She Is (1924), with a Napoleon parody where Groucho plays Napoleon. Romeo Muller wrote material for the special in addition to the original sketches.
Rankin/Bass’s special, along with Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, gave the company their highest TV ratings, higher than Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Behr Entertainment talked about a similar idea with cartoon versions of Jack Benny, George Burns, Abbott and Costello, and Bob Hope, proposing thirteen half-hour episodes.
The program mainly shows animated vaudeville acts, with interludes of jokes from comedians such as Henny Youngman, Jack E. Leonard, George Jessel, and Phyllis Diller. It also includes silent cameos by Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Ray Charles, Charlie Chaplin in silhouette, The Beatles, Queen Elizabeth II, Ronald Reagan, The Munsters, Jed and Granny Clampett, and cartoon stars Popeye, Charlie Brown, Tom Cat, Jerry Mouse, and Yogi Bear.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 04:40 (CET).