If you watch only ONE episode of "I Love Lucy" your whole life, this is the one to see. This episode by itself justifies Lucille Ball's ranking as the absolute best comedic actress of early television. I have seen this episode probably a hundred times since it was first broadcast, and it never fails to send me into hysterics. I don't recall whether I saw it's first screening, but I suspect I did. I have this episode on videotape and on DVD, so every once in a while I dust it off and spend about half an hour laughing my head off for the umpteenth time. I even have a "Vitametavegemin" ornament for my Christmas tree. It's a DEFINITE 10/10.
10 Reviews
Vitameatavegimen - Spoon Your Way to Health!
babyfir7716 July 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Another of the most famous Lucy episodes. My opinion is that Lucille Ball's performance of the TV commercial is the best work in the entire series. She starts out enthusiastic, then due to the liquor content of the product, she starts to get drunk. It is a wonderful, delightful and believable performance!!
One of the great moments is when she first tastes Vitameatavegimen. It is awful-tasting and Lucy shows it! Another funny bit is near the beginning of the episode, in which Lucy is inside the Ricardo TV acting out a TV commercial.
I thought the last few minutes of the show really peters out, but despite the weak ending, it doesn't dampen the hilarity preceding it. Great show!!!!!
One of the great moments is when she first tastes Vitameatavegimen. It is awful-tasting and Lucy shows it! Another funny bit is near the beginning of the episode, in which Lucy is inside the Ricardo TV acting out a TV commercial.
I thought the last few minutes of the show really peters out, but despite the weak ending, it doesn't dampen the hilarity preceding it. Great show!!!!!
"Do You Pop Out At Parties? Are You Unpoopular?"
JosephPezzuto28 October 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Ricky (Desi Arnaz) is given the opportunity to host a television show, receiving a telephone call saying that he needs to find a girl to do a commercial spot for one of their sponsors. Naturally Lucy overhears this and wants in. After her husband sternly refuses, an undeterred Lucy wants to be in it now more than ever. She goes so far as to set up a mock commercial while Ricky is away at a band rehearsal. When he arrives back home, their neighbor Fred (William Frawley) is standing by the set to assist her and tells Ricky that an upcoming program is about to air. Lucy flips up a sheet covering the screen of the TV and poses as Johnny the bellhop of Phillip Morris fame, the then-sponsor of I Love Lucy. Ricky has had enough and goes behind the set and plugs the cord back into the outlet, causing a minor explosion and becomes angry soon after when he discovers that Lucy, piece by piece, took out each part of the set (rather than sliding out the chassis as a whole) for her to fit inside for the bit.
The next morning, Lucy is cross with Ricky. She will not speak with him as his mind is made up not to let her do the commercial. Ricky ignores this and tells Fred to wait for a phone call from the girl doing the commercial to tell her what time she needs to be at the studio and which one to be in. As Ricky leaves, Lucy sneakily says to Fred that she will wait for the call and deliver the message herself to the girl. Once the actress phones, Lucy tells her that she is not needed and goes down to the studio in person in place of the original one. The director explains the sales pitch to her regarding the "Vitameatavegamin" health tonic to Lucy in order for her to advertise the said product.
From here on out, what follows is classic comedic television history gold. Unbeknownst to Lucy and the director (Ross Elliott), the tonic contains twenty-three percent alcohol, making it in effect forty-six percent spirituous liquor, and that it is not meant to be taken more than once a day. The takes Lucy delivers do indeed brim with brightness and vivacity that is until the director is unsatisfied with each take and tells Lucy to take a repeated spoonful of the stuff. At first Lucy reviles at the flavor, but with each gulp the repulsive alcohol-induced treacle kicks in after a while and starts tasting delicious. After several more takes containing slurred speech, wacky grimaces, incorrect pronunciation of the product and even quaffing the stuff straight, the director is aware of what is going on and asks to have the intoxicated Lucy taken backstage to sober up before the program. When the show begins, Ricky comes out and starts singing "El Relicario". From backstage Lucy comes out before her cue, still suffering the side effects of the health elixir. Trying to keep her off-screen, she begins to sing along with him and begins delivering her pitch in the middle of his number. Ricky then carries her offstage after her goofy actions become quite obvious.
Aired in the US on May 5, 1952 for the CBS Television Network, this initial episode from the 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy was watched by sixty-eight percent of the television viewing audience at the time as American citizens had tuned in to see that famous dizzy redhead perform her latest harebrained scheme, in which she becomes dizzier than ever to the point of uproarious ingenuity. An interesting but of trivia is that the alcohol content for the medicine was originally supposed to be eleven percent, but was increased to twenty-three percent for the show as the tonic was actually apple pectin, found in many health food stores. Also, Vivian Vance (Ethel) is absent from this episode, as Fred mentions that she was going to see her mother. Over time, the word "Vitameatavegamin" has become a kind of shorthand for this episode and for the I Love Lucy show in general. Maury Thompson, who played the script clerk in the episode, was actually the real-life script clerk for the actual show! Ms. Ball had asked that he be placed directly in front of her in case she forgot part of the long spiel and needed prompting because this was a time before anyone in television used "cue cards." Lucy did mess up, of course. If you watch closely, however, you will note that when Mrs. Ricardo is her most inebriated that she jumps from the opening lines of the commercial, to the closing, then goes back and does the middle. Mind you this was NOT supposed to happen! Lucille Ball goofed up – but quickly realized what she had done and, while the cameras were still turning, went back and picked up what she had omitted...and did it so flawlessly that no one in the audience was aware that anything had even happened! Despite the alcohol being at the twenty-three percentage mark, the sloshed comedienne gave America a memorable dose of hilarity and gave a performance at a marked percentage of one hundred.
The next morning, Lucy is cross with Ricky. She will not speak with him as his mind is made up not to let her do the commercial. Ricky ignores this and tells Fred to wait for a phone call from the girl doing the commercial to tell her what time she needs to be at the studio and which one to be in. As Ricky leaves, Lucy sneakily says to Fred that she will wait for the call and deliver the message herself to the girl. Once the actress phones, Lucy tells her that she is not needed and goes down to the studio in person in place of the original one. The director explains the sales pitch to her regarding the "Vitameatavegamin" health tonic to Lucy in order for her to advertise the said product.
From here on out, what follows is classic comedic television history gold. Unbeknownst to Lucy and the director (Ross Elliott), the tonic contains twenty-three percent alcohol, making it in effect forty-six percent spirituous liquor, and that it is not meant to be taken more than once a day. The takes Lucy delivers do indeed brim with brightness and vivacity that is until the director is unsatisfied with each take and tells Lucy to take a repeated spoonful of the stuff. At first Lucy reviles at the flavor, but with each gulp the repulsive alcohol-induced treacle kicks in after a while and starts tasting delicious. After several more takes containing slurred speech, wacky grimaces, incorrect pronunciation of the product and even quaffing the stuff straight, the director is aware of what is going on and asks to have the intoxicated Lucy taken backstage to sober up before the program. When the show begins, Ricky comes out and starts singing "El Relicario". From backstage Lucy comes out before her cue, still suffering the side effects of the health elixir. Trying to keep her off-screen, she begins to sing along with him and begins delivering her pitch in the middle of his number. Ricky then carries her offstage after her goofy actions become quite obvious.
Aired in the US on May 5, 1952 for the CBS Television Network, this initial episode from the 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy was watched by sixty-eight percent of the television viewing audience at the time as American citizens had tuned in to see that famous dizzy redhead perform her latest harebrained scheme, in which she becomes dizzier than ever to the point of uproarious ingenuity. An interesting but of trivia is that the alcohol content for the medicine was originally supposed to be eleven percent, but was increased to twenty-three percent for the show as the tonic was actually apple pectin, found in many health food stores. Also, Vivian Vance (Ethel) is absent from this episode, as Fred mentions that she was going to see her mother. Over time, the word "Vitameatavegamin" has become a kind of shorthand for this episode and for the I Love Lucy show in general. Maury Thompson, who played the script clerk in the episode, was actually the real-life script clerk for the actual show! Ms. Ball had asked that he be placed directly in front of her in case she forgot part of the long spiel and needed prompting because this was a time before anyone in television used "cue cards." Lucy did mess up, of course. If you watch closely, however, you will note that when Mrs. Ricardo is her most inebriated that she jumps from the opening lines of the commercial, to the closing, then goes back and does the middle. Mind you this was NOT supposed to happen! Lucille Ball goofed up – but quickly realized what she had done and, while the cameras were still turning, went back and picked up what she had omitted...and did it so flawlessly that no one in the audience was aware that anything had even happened! Despite the alcohol being at the twenty-three percentage mark, the sloshed comedienne gave America a memorable dose of hilarity and gave a performance at a marked percentage of one hundred.
Public's Favorite!
summerfields15 April 2010
Warning: Spoilers
What more can be said about this famous gem which was voted TV comedy's #1 moment? The show has minor faux pas: the wee peek into the Ricardo bedroom and Lucy's "couldn't you just hire good musicians?" line sounds nearly flubbed - but nobody cares.
As most fans know, Lucy drank apple pectin in the Vitameatavegamin bottle.
This is Lucille Ball at her very finest: how she could hiccup on cue is beyond me - but she does manage it.
Ethel doesn't appear in this episode at all.
This is a universally loved episode dubbed in countless languages - it makes folks laugh from Kentucky to Cameroon!
As most fans know, Lucy drank apple pectin in the Vitameatavegamin bottle.
This is Lucille Ball at her very finest: how she could hiccup on cue is beyond me - but she does manage it.
Ethel doesn't appear in this episode at all.
This is a universally loved episode dubbed in countless languages - it makes folks laugh from Kentucky to Cameroon!
Iconic performance by Lucille Ball
kellielulu25 August 2022
The infamous drunken episode...
gregoryserrano29 October 2021
This episode is among the best of any series! And to think she accomplished this without Ethel! Everyone knows the story by now so I'll skip the synopsis and just add that I am hard to get laughing and she made me do just that. I'm a big Lucy fan but largely just because I love the series' naivety, not so much because I find it funny per se. But this is definitely an exception and there's a reason it's heavily promoted and hyped-and if you're one of the minority who haven't seen it, stop reading this and go on! Yes, right now. You won't regret it.
Megetables and Vinerals!
angelahptrio1 August 2020
If anyone who hasn't seen an episode of I love Lucy or hear the name Lucille Ball will remember her commercial bit. How often it's mimicked over the years including myself. I often copied the entire bit. I'm shocked it's not practiced from comedy courses because I think it should. The second funniest scene is her in the Television set (literally).
It's a classic for a reason
sheepandsharks7 May 2023
This episode is comedic perfection. I've probably seen it 600 times, and it STILL makes me cry with laughter every time.
Lucille Ball puts on a clinic of drunk acting. Everyone remembers the mixed-up words and chugging the bottle, but it's the little touches that really make it great: the unfocused eyes, the way she stares down the short producer, the goofy smile when she sees Ricky. It all still feels very modern too, because every great "drunk acting" actor (think Carol Burnett, Kaitlin Olson, Danny Devito) has taken something from this performance.
I also have to bring attention to the hilarious 15-second reaction Lucy has to her first tablespoon of Vitameatavegamin. My god, it is perfect -- and again, it feels very modern. I still see the same move from comedians all over TV and movies.
Lucille Ball puts on a clinic of drunk acting. Everyone remembers the mixed-up words and chugging the bottle, but it's the little touches that really make it great: the unfocused eyes, the way she stares down the short producer, the goofy smile when she sees Ricky. It all still feels very modern too, because every great "drunk acting" actor (think Carol Burnett, Kaitlin Olson, Danny Devito) has taken something from this performance.
I also have to bring attention to the hilarious 15-second reaction Lucy has to her first tablespoon of Vitameatavegamin. My god, it is perfect -- and again, it feels very modern. I still see the same move from comedians all over TV and movies.
The episode that won't leave your tired, run down or listless.
mark.waltz12 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Lucy's curiosity is peaked and Ricky goes into immediate Spanish when he discusses meeting a girl to do a TV commercial over the phone. Even without knowing, you know what's coming up, and that leads to probably the most famous episode of "I Love Lucy". Unfortunately, there is no Ethel in this episode, and Fred is they're too mainly help Lucy prepare to be not on TV, but in it. Without realizing it, she creates 3D TV, and in the process ruins the TV, having taken out all of the insides. But the most famous part of the series includes her audition which gets her intoxicated, leading to the live broadcast which she messes up while Ricky is performing. This show has been constantly spoofed and remade, but never equaled or improved upon. The audience (if there was one) seems to be well aware that they were viewing what would become one of the first TV classics.
The Definitive I Love Lucy episode
pdawgg-9346817 February 2023
It's one of the most legendary scenes ever to have been spawned from a TV series and one of pop culture's most iconic images - you've likely seen it before, being featured in hundreds of merchandise tichokes and countless classic TV retrospectives and homages produced over the years. It's been heralded and held as a standard for all television comedy so long, few have managed to surpassed it, even as I Love Lucy begins to slide into the 80+ year mark.
Of course, I'm talking about the classic bit of Lucy, desperate for a her bit break in showbiz, wanting the success and fame her husband Ricky's had for so long.
Despite his initial refusals, Lucy goes behind his back, and lands the role of a spokeswoman for a tonic, only for the shoot to go haywire as she slowly grows more incoherent and drunk by the second, sloshing down the Vitameatavegamin, unaware that it's loaded with alcohol and that's she's getting hammered hard by the stuff by the minute.
For many, this is the definitive I Love Lucy episode, it's impact is bigger than the other gems in the series that have produced those iconic images that have seen seered into the TV lexicon for years from the series, such as "Job Switching", "Lucy Meets Superman", "Lucy Goes to the Hospital", and "Lucy's Italian Movie", and it's not hard to see why.
The episode's not perfect as many herald it to be - the plot drags in some places, but it does have some of Lucille Ball's best pieces of physical comedy ever recorded on film, - such as the gag, where Lucy shows how desperate for the showbiz life she really is, by literally shoving herself inside a TV, considering it in her eyes as rational housewife behavior, only to drop the cigarette box, trying to crawl out of the set.
Then - of course, the highlight of the entire half-hour, Lucy deciding to go behind Ricky's back, getting the job, and becoming the Vitameatavegamin spokeswoman. For the first few takes, things go well. Then minutes in, the shoot goes downhill, and the comedy begins. Within minutes, Lucy, as the takes continue, goes from following the script beat for beat, to getting a little woozy, to becoming a complete stammering, hiccuping mess who's turned the set of the commercial into a pub counter. It's the perfect example of a slow buildup being used for a perfect payoff.
But alas, don't expect a hilarious bit of Ricky becoming flustered at his wife's scatterbrain antics back at the apartment, or any sense of narrative eloquentcy. This is one of those Lucy episodes, where instead of the writers wrapping their weekly antics with an often surprising or satisfying ending, the episode ends abruptly, with no real punch or resolution.
Overall, it deserves definitely its rightful place in the television pantheon, and is a prime example of slapstick physical comedy done right.
Of course, I'm talking about the classic bit of Lucy, desperate for a her bit break in showbiz, wanting the success and fame her husband Ricky's had for so long.
Despite his initial refusals, Lucy goes behind his back, and lands the role of a spokeswoman for a tonic, only for the shoot to go haywire as she slowly grows more incoherent and drunk by the second, sloshing down the Vitameatavegamin, unaware that it's loaded with alcohol and that's she's getting hammered hard by the stuff by the minute.
For many, this is the definitive I Love Lucy episode, it's impact is bigger than the other gems in the series that have produced those iconic images that have seen seered into the TV lexicon for years from the series, such as "Job Switching", "Lucy Meets Superman", "Lucy Goes to the Hospital", and "Lucy's Italian Movie", and it's not hard to see why.
The episode's not perfect as many herald it to be - the plot drags in some places, but it does have some of Lucille Ball's best pieces of physical comedy ever recorded on film, - such as the gag, where Lucy shows how desperate for the showbiz life she really is, by literally shoving herself inside a TV, considering it in her eyes as rational housewife behavior, only to drop the cigarette box, trying to crawl out of the set.
Then - of course, the highlight of the entire half-hour, Lucy deciding to go behind Ricky's back, getting the job, and becoming the Vitameatavegamin spokeswoman. For the first few takes, things go well. Then minutes in, the shoot goes downhill, and the comedy begins. Within minutes, Lucy, as the takes continue, goes from following the script beat for beat, to getting a little woozy, to becoming a complete stammering, hiccuping mess who's turned the set of the commercial into a pub counter. It's the perfect example of a slow buildup being used for a perfect payoff.
But alas, don't expect a hilarious bit of Ricky becoming flustered at his wife's scatterbrain antics back at the apartment, or any sense of narrative eloquentcy. This is one of those Lucy episodes, where instead of the writers wrapping their weekly antics with an often surprising or satisfying ending, the episode ends abruptly, with no real punch or resolution.
Overall, it deserves definitely its rightful place in the television pantheon, and is a prime example of slapstick physical comedy done right.
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