[Old piano music]
[VO] This is a story of a holiday, and home.
[Allison] Happy Thanksgiving! What a rough decade this year has been.
[Fart]
As we slide over to Christmas and then into a new year,
us Americans pause for one day to eat a ton of food,
and give thanks for all the good things we have.
But mostly we just want pumpkin pie.
[VO] We know mother knows how to cook it, and father knows how to cut.
[Allison] I can't say Thanksgiving has had a lot of watching traditions for me.
I never really did the "Planes, trains and automobiles" thing,
maybe I'd catch the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special,
and the Macy's Day Parade might have been on in the background.
But it was never a big deal like Halloween or Christmas to me.
And so in the nine years I've been doing videos
I've not taken the time to review anything particularly Thanksgiviny,
And then I remembered, actually, the most awesome Thanksgiving special ever.
I'm honestly surprised at myself that I've never talked about this show before.
This is the American Thanksgiving and what's more American than Bruce Campbell?
[Jack of All Trades intro]
[Singing] In 1801 the Revolution had been won!
[Allison] "Jack of All Trades" is an awesome show.
Back in the late 90s to early 2000s, Xena and Hercules were coming to an end,
and Renaissance Pictures was looking for a replacement to fill the void.
So the whole evil dead crew created another program starring Bruce Campbell
that would feature the same type of formula: an action period piece,
skewing toward broad slapstick comedy and full of modern-day anachronisms.
Using the same locations and the full set of about 20 rotating New Zealand actors,
"Jack of All Trades" was born.
This is one of those shows that's gonna explain the whole premise with the theme song,
and believe me, it's one of the best TV themes ever.
No, really, they were nominated for an Emmy for it.
But here's the short summary: Bruce Campbell is Jack Stiles,
an American spy who has been sent to a French colony in the South Pacific
to keep a check on Napoleon Bonaparte.
He must deal with the culture clash of not only the stuffy French bureaucrats
but his partner, a stuffy British spy named Emilia Rothschild.
Oh, and also he has a Zorro-like alter ego named the Daring Dragoon. Outstanding.
"Jack of All Trades" is a smart show that knows it's dumb
It's part satire of extreme American patriotism,
part wildly inaccurate historical goofs, and part fart jokes.
[Fart]
And that's what's great about it. It's not meant to put on no highfaluting airs.
Fun action, clever dialogue, lots of chin. Exactly where Bruce Campbell excels.
-I've recreated the Statue's blueprints from memory. Impressive, aren't I?
-Oh, big deal. You're not the only one around here with a pornographic memory, sister.
Which brings us to their possibly most red-white-and-blue episode.
All 20 minutes are full to American capacity, their Thanksgiving special. This is:
Here's the very first shot of the episode.
-Is everything clean enough for you?
-Everything but my thought, sugarplum.
Hehehe, a scoundrel with a heart...
[Chorus] A scoundrel with a heart!
[Allison] Let's set the stage here. Napoleon Bonaparte is played by Verne Troyer,
which you're either gonna think is the greatest casting ever, or roll your eyes and groan.
Me personally, I'm happy to see him playing a media role,
because he was a great actor and his take on Napoleon was very, very funny.
-Look, there's a man falling to his death.
-Where?
[Scream]
And I will never not laugh at someone turning into a dummy for a stunt.
So good ol' Napoleon strolled into town with his latest scheme:
the Statue of Liberty, which he plans to send to America as a Trojan horse.
Dun-dun-dunnnnn.
As is usual with "Jack of All Trades", Jack and Emilia know the plan,
but can't let on that they know the plan,
all while buddying up to Napoleon in trying to foil the plan.
And I mean, it's not that hard to figure out he's up to something. Dude's got no chill.
[Cricket sounds]
Napoleon explains that the statue is just a goodwill offering. All he wants now is peace on Earth.
-And I just want peace on Earth and goodwill towards man.
And while all of this is happening, Jack is trying to put on a great Thanksgiving,
which is not exactly an appealing idea to Emilia.
She's pretty straightforward with her thoughts on the matter.
-Yes, Thanksgiving, the day you befriended the Native Americans so you could swindle them out of their homeland.
-Well, hey, at least we thanked them.
America!
Sure, we displaced the Native Americans, but did you ever think about this counterpoint?
-Well, it's an excuse to get out of work and stuff your face. It's the American Way.
Check and mate, Britain.
But Emilia can't be that high on her horse, because she is a little bit vain in this episode.
Okay, so statue invasion equals bad,
but Napoleon wants her to be the model and she can be totally immortalized forever.
There are many great things about this scene.
One, the fact all they need to do is complete the face
but she is still draped in a sheet and holding a torch.
Two, Napoleon is apparently a sculptor now.
Three, the face is as big as his entire body and he still says there will be an enlarged version for the statue.
And four, it looks nothing like her and seems entirely pointless.
And this line.
-And what will you call your masterpiece?
-I'll name it in your honor. It shall be called the statue of
Jack's insisting on getting this Thanksgiving thing going.
In fact, he's so preoccupied he doesn't even notice the giant statue being erected right outside his window.
-What?
I love visual gags like this.
Lucky for him, Napoleon's dumb brother is all for Thanksgiving feast
to celebrate their new nam-bee-pam-bee peaceful attitude.
So it's up to Jack to show them how it's done.
This feast is ridiculous. Jack has dressed himself up like a pilgrim,
and Napoleon's servers are like a bunch of Vegas showgirls and sexy maids.
Reality starts shifting as the characters break the fourth wall to tell us what they're grateful for.
And Jack's is straight up Bruce Campbell talking about things he likes.
-Miniskirts. The Wonder Bra. Penicillin.
-Oh, and those little donut holes you can get twelve for a buck.
[Ding]
And then while everyone's doped up on turkey,
Jack and Emilia can check out the blueprints for the statue and figure out how to destroy it.
Jack is offended no one tried his pie.
-I can't believe no one tried my pie.
So far things are not that out of the ordinary for an episode of "Jack of All Trades".
It plays a perfect balance of period piece with just enough modern influence
to wink to the audience while staying in their own world.
And then, you know, they have a football game.
-Time to turn on the juice.
This is completely ludicrous, even for this show, and probably the hardest I ever laughed at it.
Just the image of everyone from the 19th century dressed in football pads and flag jerseys.
And the stuffy French guys playing dirty while Napoleon cheats, the cheerleaders...
It's beautiful.
There is absolutely no attempt to even pretend these things come from the same time period.
Not in a wink to the audience 'they-invented-this-before-it-was-invented' kind of way,
all of these things just exist in this universe.
He is doing the worm! What is happening?
-You were lucky tis time, Leon.
-Yeah, I'm lucky you suck.
I. Am. Dying.
Oh no, once Jack is injured, suddenly the Daring Dragoon shows up. Who could this be?
I don't actually know why he does this,
the whole game was a distraction so they could put a bomb inside the statue,
and they disguised the bomb as a football, but they could have also like,
hid it in the bushes and not drawn attention to themselves. But whatever.
Guess I don't know anything about covert operations.
"Ha ha, time to plant the bomb, I guess."
-Sayonara, Leon.
-Nooooooo!
I was in tears.
This could have ended right here and it would have already been hilarious.
But then suddenly it's Planet of the Apes?
Why was "Jack of All Trades" cancelled after 22 episodes?
You damn fools didn't know what you had.
-You bastards...
Wait, why is Jack in worse shape than Napoleon when he jumped off
and Napoleon was like right next to the bomb?
Well, that tears it, this show makes no sense.
Ironically enough, I do find it hilarious this was probably the most serious the show ever got,
and it was all because of an explosive football on the statue of 'Ooh, what-a-rack'.
Also, I super forgot the entrance to their secret lab was covered by, I don't know, a hologram or something.
I definitely was not expecting them to walk through the fireplace, the end.
I don't recall that being recapped in the title song.
[Chorus] Just ask the bloke right next to ya - damn right! It’s Jack!
[Allison] This episode was hysterical and so is the show.
I hadn't watched this in a long time and it still holds up. So maybe it's time for a rewatch.
And if you're anything like me the theme song is now stuck in your head so, you're welcome.
If you liked what you saw here, please check it out. You'll be thankful you did.
[Yankee Doodle music]
-You were lucky this time, Leon.
-Yeah, I'm lucky you suck.