Episode I: The Mark Hamill Show

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It was originally intended to be a half-hour show, and on the scripts writer Garrett Gilchrist called it "Episode 1: The Mark Hamill Show," just in case he should want to continue it as a series, but to everyone else it was simply "Dr. Fred's Amazing Exploding Cow Show." As it happens the final show was feature-length, at one hour and twenty-five minutes. And due to the huge success of its premiere at Masuk's Art Expo in 1998, almost two years after work first began on what was supposed to be a quick and easy project, the team did do sequels, much-improved sequels, two of them, as well as two unrelated movies, "1381" and "The Animal Game." But all that was running through a young Garrett Gilchrist's mind in the summer of 1996 was that he wanted to do a show with real people in it.

He had been struggling to learn animation since recieving a Minolta camcorder as a Christmas present four years earlier. Despite a lack of equipment, he did get several small projects finished, and the first 10-minute episode of his claymation series "The Izzy & Bud Show" aired on Charter 21 cable access during Christmas 1994, getting him a misspelled write-up on the Prevue channel and some local recognition. A fine Christmas present indeed. But while working on a second "Izzy & Bud," entitled "The Izzy 500" and never to be aired, Garrett got the idea to do a genuine live-action comedy show, one which could be as funny as he could make it, without being restricted by the limitations of stop-motion and plot, and that people his age would enjoy. That day he called up three friends named David [Ashe, Brown and Gordon] and asked them if they'd do a show with him. None of them had really acted before.

Bored in a summer art class, Garrett took out his notebook and began to jot down pssible titles for the show: "Sugarhigh," "Lagomorpha," "The Patient Elephant," and "Exploding Cows and the Woman Who Love Them." He wanted something that the Prevue channel wouldn't misspell and would draw people's attention immediately. From the list he especially liked "Dr. Fred's Cavalcade of Lies," and what was instantly his final choice, "Dr. Fred's Amazing Exploding Cow Show." There would be no actual "Dr. Fred" in the show, although there would be exploding cows. He preferred to leave "Dr. Fred" a fictional entity who existed only in terms of the title, choosing "Doctor" as a title of respect and "Fred" as a simple, uncommonly common first name. His vision for the show was inspired by "Monty Python's Flying Circus" in that sketches did not necessarily have to be self-contained, and could change into another sketch when they became uninteresting, as well as return unexpectedly later to get a laugh. In the editing room one year later, he would alter and refine this style into something entirely new, a way of looking at comedy that was uniquely Fred.

Puppets, animations and unreliable announcers linking the entire show together, and quick, constant cutting from one unrelated scene to another, broken up by bands of static when the sketch had to be truly broken-off. The style sometimes gave the appearance of watching television while half-asleep, and spotting only strange-seeming portions of programs in a relaxed state. Editing also gave the program sly hints of a plot, with recurring motifs like the Tiger, who tries to advance his career with a catchphrase, and Plastic Feet, a pair of red shoes who seem to gradually take over the Dr. Fred world. Many of the better sketches were devised by David Ashe, who never wrote his many ideas down but who relayed them to Garrett, who then had to make some sense of them. Ashe translated private jokes he'd been muttering about for years [often with Justin Bielawa and David Brown] into sketch ideas, like "Sugar Schlockins." In fact, Ashe nearly had the name of this cereal changed, lest the man who inspired it see it and become angry. He also devised "Big Fat Waste of Your Time" and the never-produced David Brown sketch "Owlboy." "Plastic Feet" was revived from a file of unproduced "Izzy & Bud" scripts.

Since the friends who volunteered to act in the show usually couldn't show up for tapings very often, footage was gathered in bits and pieces over the course of a year, usually with only one or two people there to appear in it. Disappointed in his own producing abilities, Garrett let David Ashe arrange schedules one day, and on that day three people, the main Dr. Fred cast, al showed up, a major coup for the show. Large portions of the show were shot that day, and Ashe would go on to produce the Dr. Fred sequels, with a real steady cast.

Still, the problem of having never finished the script remained. The performances of the cast were naturally funny, but it didn't add up to what had originally been written. After more than a year's frustration, Garrett finally decided to edit what he had, changing the show greatly in the editing stage. He did this mostly alone. Unable to get Justin Bielawa to reprise his role as Boink the gnome in a later sketch, Garrett simply had Boink killed off. Along the way the show bloated from the planned twenty-eight minutes to a forty-five minute rough cut to the final eighty-five minute show that made Dr. Fred a legend in the annals of local comedy.

"Dr. Fred's Amazing Exploding Cow Show" was an Orange Cow Production written and directed by Garrett Gilchrist. Reload this page to cycle through 36 different randomly-selected photos from the movie, or VIEW ALL THE PICTURES HERE. For video and audio clips, check out Fred Goes Multimedia.

Selected scenes from the original Dr. Fred movie were seen on the Dr. Fred cable access show. If you'd like a tape of this old stuff, send $10.00 to our street address, or pay with credit card using Paypal below.

Dr. Fred's Amazing Exploding Cow Show volume 1 VHS video [NTSC] - 2 hours Starring David Ashe, Garrett Gilchrist, Justin Bielawa, David Brown The no-budget sketch comedy series (shot in Garrett's basement) that started it all. Episodes 1-4 from the reedited cable access series. Contains material from both "Dr. Fred's Amazing Exploding Cow Show" and "Dr. Fred Strikes Back." more ordering info

Send orders, until may 2002, to: Garrett Gilchrist 2637 Severence St. Apt #303 Los Angeles, CA 90007 Remember, this address expires may 2002. All proceeds go to a good cause -- they become the budget of Orange Cow's next movie.

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