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Classic Comedy Moments: I Love Lucy – Lucy hawks Vitameatavegamin
You knew it would end badly, but you just couldn’t have imagined how stinking-drunk-like- Foster-Brooks-at-the-Friar’s-Club badly. Ricky is hosting a TV show, and Lucy lands a gig as pitchwoman for a swell new health tonic: Vitameatavegamin.
A beaming, pert Lucy holds a bottle of the tonic aloft and asks the home viewer, “Do you poop out at parties? Are you unpopular?” all while enticing them to guzzle Vitameatavegamin.
The Punchline: As scripted in the commercial, Lucy downs a spoonful. The expression on her face says, “I’ve just eaten a dead bird, but ralphing on national television is verboten.” Little does she know that this health tonic actually contains more liquor than Ted Kennedy’s glove compartment.
As the director asks for subsequent takes–and subsequent tastes–Lucy gets ripped. “Do you pop out at parties? Are you unpoopular,” she garbles, simultaneously getting laughs and handing Norm Crosby a career. Slowly, she grows to love Vitameatavegamin right before our adoring eyes. She wants more. She spills it all over the stage. We love Lucy.
Original Airdate: May 5, 1952