"Testing, Testing"

"Testing, Testing"
December 13, 1979
B+

Kenny Rich, who'd do one more episode, wrote the story and Chris Thompson did the teleplay, but I'd like to think the cast had input on their scenes, because there is a freshness and insight here that has been sorely lacking this season.  In fact, this is arguably the funniest L & S episode ever, and the only reason I won't go A- or higher is because Shirley-Cindy is the weak link.  Not that her stuff is bad but it is a bit of a falling off.

I thought that the plot was going to be about Laverne's work injury, both hands cut on bottles, but that's treated almost like the kitten subplot in the recent Angora Debs gang episode, present in multiple scenes but not the focus.  Instead the workplace is subjecting employees to psychological tests, first on paper and then oral.  We don't see the written part but we do hear that they had to draw houses, although poor Laverne's looked like a cow.  Squiggy drew a slum and Lenny copied off of him, while Shirley drew a dream home with no people, just dogs.

The scene of the four of them in the waiting room has wonderful chemistry, the performers playing off each other like the best of sketch comedy, but with almost an improv-going-well feel, too, and some of the lines do sound like ad libs.  I'm going to pretend, unless I hear otherwise, that Marshall, Williams, McKean, and Lander worked this out in rehearsal, keeping the best bits.

The psychiatrist, Dr. Gentry (Charles Thomas Murphy, who would return in the role), calls them in one by one, in reverse alphabetical order.  I particularly had to rewind the episode for Lander's bit because I was laughing so hard, like when the doctor asks if he's paranoid and Squiggy answers, "I'm German."  Lenny's bit is funny, too, of course, like the sincere question "Are you the Wizard of Oz?", but McKean infuses some of the pathos underneath, like when Lenny talks about his childhood and says the other kids made fun of him because his mother abandoned him and his father smelled like fish.  Shirley does her best to seem happy and normal, but she's of course trying too hard.  Laverne wins the doctor over with her humor and attitude to life, like how she's an "adjuster," making mistakes but adjusting them into wins.

When we return to the break room, the four coworkers are discussing the tests and then Dr. Gentry comes in, leading to a triple spit-take by Squiggy, Shirley, and Laverne.  Lenny takes out goggles and drinks some more of his coffee.  It turns out that Dr. Gentry is writing a paper, and he reads the the conclusion to the foursome.  They expect to be fired, but it turns out to be a celebration of the working class, their resiliency and their loyalty as well as their hard work.

And then in the tag we find out that Carmine's "house," which represents his personality, shows silhouettes of either himself and Shirley in lewd positions, or of Ozzie and Harriet in lewd positions.  Mekka is given the last line, about Ozzie finally taking off his sweater, and he sells it.

He also made me laugh in the scene where the girls are talking about the tests and Laverne denies that she always thinks about sex, while Shirley indicates she never thinks about it, which Carmine vouches for.  Laverne asks the psychiatrist if he thinks it's OK to kiss on the first date, and he says sure, so Laverne reports, "He told me I could go crazy on my first date."  Squiggy laughs and says he loves it, and Lenny, yes, bites his hand. 

And earlier in that scene, Lenny asks, "How's your little hand there, Laverne?"  When he emerged from his session and revealed that he lacks confidence, Laverne got up and lightly stroked his chest with one of her bandaged hands, calling him "you poor lug."  So, if my theory is correct that the cast had input, then I think we can credit Marshall and McKean for some of the Lavenny as well.

Frank and Edna are absent but not really necessary in this episode.