For years I kept hearing that the worst comedian of all time was Al Joy. This seemed to me a rather intriguing statement, since I have seen a lot of awful comedians in my time, from Minerva Courtney, who simply remade Chaplin shorts with herself in the starring role, to Paulie Shore. But Al Joy was..... beyond obscure. Apparently he had made some starring comedies which were never distributed, so when some of his titles turned up at the UCLA Archives, people were intrigued. Various people with connections used to get together to run obscure titles and one or two Al Joys were screened. And, because they had never been distributed, they were in pristine condition. And, naturally, this infuriated the lovers of silent comedy who saw them: Laurel & Hardy's HATS OFF is missing, even a Chaplin film is missing, and there are plenty of great silent comedians -- like Raymond Griffith -- whose stuff has been allowed to decay. Al Joy, however, is in great shape.
But I am nothing if not persistent. And annoying. And so, I was interested when Slapsticon, the annual festival that occurs in Arlington Virginia had this particular comedy slotted in when something else was missing. Actually, I was standing in the lobby when a certain person stalked past me and barked "Be careful what you wish for!"
He was right. This is a bad, bad comedy: there's one long gag, but it has nothing to do with the ill-named Mr. Joy. Al Joy, although nominally the lead comedian, doesn't do much of anything. He has little personality and no funny gags as the inept handyman.
But I will give this a couple of points for the beauty of the print; and really, anyone who managed to stay awake through the poorer sitcoms of the 1970s will find this painless. It's not long enough to be sufficiently boring to put you to sleep or make you wish for your time back. And I will await with some mild interest the next Al Joy comedy. If only because it will annoy some people.