Season: 2 (The Sonny & Cher Show)
Episode: 29
Guest(s): Jim Nabors, Debbie Reynolds
CBS Air Date: February 11, 1977
Also aired: Never re-aired.
Opening Song: “For Once in My Life” (Audio)
Cover of Stevie Wonder (1967)
They also sang this song previously on the Comedy Hour #23, and the Cher show #3 and #13. Sonny wears a kind of pink-maroon suit and Cher wears a matching maroon and pink quilted off-the-shoulder halter top and long skirt. In the middle of the song they do a little arm dance together. I don’t know if this is a Samba or a Chachacha. It’s a Carmen Miranda.
Opening Banter: They shake hands. Sonny says, “It’s good to see you and I’m seeing a lot of you.” Cher says, “this is my coming out dress.” Sonny retorts, “It is coming out.” Then he retracts and says “It’s all tucked away nicely….you weight is down.” Cher says yes. They’re talking about her baby weight from giving birth to Elijah. Cher has commented that it took her a long time to lose her pregnancy weight. Sonny, asked to see the back of the dress. Cher says she looks “like the Cher doll only bigger.” Sonny fixes the hair on her face twice. Cher looks annoyed. Sonny said people once assumed he did that on their old show because of affection. He says it was just distracting. The talk about how Elijah is doing. Sonny says, “Elijah’s a big kid.” Sonny asks about Gregg Allman and they talk about him being big, too. Sonny says, “He looks bigger every time I see him. Is he always that quiet?” Cher says he’s not quiet with her. Sonny says, “So he’s not scowling at me then?” Their body language is interesting. Cher’s got her arms folded and Sonny is playing with the rings on his hand. They talk about awkward backstage moments. Cher kids Sonny that he aways says “Hi, Buddy” to Allman. Sonny says, “He’s a nice fellah. He just doesn’t say much to me.” He asks Cher if that’s shyness. Cher tells Sonny that Allman doesn’t have much to talk to Sonny about but if Sonny wants they can go into a corner and compare notes. Sonny says he’s not interested in that. Sonny then futzes with Cher’s dress. Says there is a fuzz ball on it and “I didn’t think you’d wanna work with a little fuzz ball.” They laugh at that Sonny short joke. Cher tells an Uncle Luigi joke. Sonny tries to tell about one of Cher’s dresses going into the tri-centennial time capsule to be opened in 2076 but Cher flips her hair. Sonny tells her not to flip her hair when he talks about her, to be humble. And he pretends to flip his hair and he plays with his mustache. He is upset they didn’t ask him for an outfit. “I have a great body for clothes,” he says. Cher answers, “You do? Why are you using this one then?” Cher says her clothes aren’t so expensive and that she follows a budget. Sonny quips, “the defense budget.”
Skit: Barbara Nauseous introduces “TV in other lands,” this episode a Russian vaudeville show (Nauseous claims the Russians invented vaudeville) where Cher and Debbie Reynolds are Russian performers. The dance Russian dances and sing two original numbers and tell American jokes in-between. Reynolds tells the first one: “Why does it take two Americans to make popcorn? One to hold the pan and one to shake the stove.” Cher tells the other one: “Who wears a dirty sheet and rides a pig? Lawrence of America.” A white bear joins them for the second song and dance. The third joke I can’t make out. Something about a Russian author. Cher says the next one: “Last night I was told that the Russian government has cut down on its eavesdropping?” Reynolds asks “Who told you that?” Cher says, “My table lamp.” Reynolds tells about a Russian hotel that combines American elegance with Russian socialism, the Comrade Hilton.” (Joke on Conrad Hilton.) The last song is a spoof of “Give My Regards to Broadway” but with Russia.
Heartbreak of Psoriasis: Set up like an ancient Egyptian soap opera, the skit using puns from TV commercial taglines. Cher plays Psoriasis and Sonny plays King Neuritis. They complain about looking for water and instead finding oil. Sonny says one day all that sand will make them rich. They tell a Toyota joke (once you get your hands on a Toyota, you never let go). Jim Nabors and Debbie Reynolds arrive as Sinusitis and Lumbago. They are plotting against Sonny and Cher. They tell a Zenith TV joke (quality goes in before the name goes on) and a Brylcream joke (a little dab will do ya) and a Pillsbury joke (nothing says love like something from the oven). Cher is back with Sonny discussing household economics. She suggests swapping dachshunds for the great danes they have. She makes a Datsun joke (Datsun saves). Sonny is having a tryst with Reynolds and makes a Scope joke (once in the morning does it). Cher tells a Cheer joke (all tempa-cheer) and kids Reynolds for having a padded toga with a Chiffon margarine joke (it’s not nice to fool mother nature). Nabors tells a Winston joke (Winston tastes good like a cigarette should.) There’s a Meow Mix jingle joke, a Playtex 18-hour bra joke. Sonny tells an English Leather joke (all my men wear English Leather or nothing at all.) Cher tells a Schlitz joke (when you’re out of Schlitz, you’re out of beer). Sonny slaps Cher and she tells a Skin Bracer after shave joke (Thanks, I needed that.)
Concert: “Just You” (Video)
Cover of Sonny & Cher (1965)
It’s unfortunate this episode has never aired again. I feel this is an important song for them and have often scholar’d about it.
Sonny & Cher are back with their show’s musical director and long-time song arranger, Harold Battiste. They’re also back in their 60s-fits. Cher is actually wearing a replica of one of her old outfits, a layered white top and matching bell-bottoms. She’s also wearing a wig with wings (that time in the 60s where she had portions of her bangs growing out).
This time they’re talking about “the second record we ever did.” Sonny tells Cher she looks silly in her outfit and she says it kept her out of the army. Sonny makes a Cher hair flipping joke with his pageboy wig. Sonny introduces Harold Battiste again and explains how “Baby Don’t Go” was a hit in LA and San Francisco, which enabled them to get bookings in those towns. The problem was Cher was deathly afraid of flying at the time and Sonny would have to drive the 8 hours back and forth between the cities, sometimes on back-to-back days (it only a 45-minute flight Sonny laments). Cher even made a plane stop once. So Sonny makes a joke about how taxing all the driving was on his singing.
Here Sonny admits he used his record promotion job access (did he ever deny it?) to get their “Just You” in the pile of records for listeners to vote on at the local radio station. Sonny & Cher called up many times with disguised voices to vote. But honestly, it doesn’t sound like winning that radio contest with “Just You” changed their fortunes all that much.
We fade to the concert set with Cher, in a triangular violet (or blue?) afro wig, shimmery sheer top and black pants, and Sonny in a matching suit and ruffled shirt. They sing the song and Cher accidentally sings “I’ll die for you twice.”
The Prisoner:The guard Ted Zeigler tells Sonny he only gets 5 minutes with his girl. Rocco says he hates a clock watcher. Zeigler then goes into classic phrases for time flies, time marches on, time rolls its ceaseless course, time and tide wait for no man. Cher arrives wants Rocco to buy her new furniture for her new place. Rocco says he can’t buy her furniture from prison. Cher thinks he can because she heard he’ll be “getting the chair” soon and all she wants is a coffee table and a couch. (Oy.) Cher tells Rocco her apartment is $1,800 dollars but that she has four roommates (Lynn, Kris, Pat and….Bronco). Turns out these are football players. So Rocco says, “you know, I’m going to kill you when I get outa here.” Cher says she has to leave for bed check. Turns out this is a check left by her bed every night. Cher tries to comfort Rocco that she will move out when he gets out of prison but she warns him the football player plan to “kill him when he gets outa there.”
Guest Spot: Debbie Reynolds sings “Gee, But It’s Good to Be Here”
Great Lovers:
Great Lovers is a holdover from Sonny’s solo show, a chance for him to play Vamp-like characters.
+ Sonny is Don Quixote and Debbie Reynolds is Dulcinea. Ted Zeigler plays her bullfighter lover. They try to hide Zeigler from Don Quixote. There’s a spoof of the lyrics to “The Impossible Dream” and then Don Quixote attacks the couch, a chair and the grandfather clock. I actually think Sonny is very funny in this skit.
+ Opera singer Enrico Caruso (Jim Nabors) and his nagging wife (Cher). The intro song makes fat jokes. The wife doesn’t like it when Caruso is in a good mood. His singing breaks her glasses. His singing gives her a headache. He can only sing his lines. Cher says she wants to hear Caruso’s regular speaking voice. Nabors does his Gomer Pyle voice and Cher says she prefers the singing after all. She then worries about the opera singing breaking her heirloom vase from her grandmother but she ends up using it in frustration over Caruso’s head. It’s interesting to compare Cher’s spoofy Italian accent here with the more refined one she learned to do for the movie Moonstruck.
IGUB: Cher starts singing “I Got You Babe” and Sonny is talking to her through it. Sonny sings a lot of “babys” and Cher puts her hand over his mouth. Cher plays with his suit. They sing a lot of the song. They walk off.
Thanks to Jay for the information from the TV Guide for that week which says this episode was postponed from an earlier date. When Sonny introduces “Just You” he talks about doing the “Baby Don’t Go” history segment “last week.” So this theory seems accurate.
Highlights: A deep dive into the song “Just You.” Lowlight: no Cher solo. Sonny as Don Quixote and interesting opening banter about the backstage life of Cher, Sonny and Gregg Allman.
