As great as Chase is in this, especially during the office scenes, I find that the standout is John T. Murray as Mr. Cronkite. He pulls off the role really well, playing someone who is obviously crazy, yet also has such a calm demeanor when saying these crazy things that it’s both funny and actually kind of believable that Chase would initially think that he’s a doctor. His calm demeanor leads to some really funny line deliveries, especially when he casually tries suggesting they kill Chase. Almost everything he says in this is hilarious thanks to the way he delivers his lines.
The only problem I have with this short is towards the end when his wife and friends go through this convoluted scheme to cure Charley. It just seems a bit too over-the-top, which is saying something considering that I usually enjoy over-the-top comedic situations. Here, I think the issue is that they suddenly introduce all these random characters that have nothing to do with the rest of the short and they fly by so fast that it’s hard to really take in what the actual joke was supposed to be. It’s kind of like Abbott and Costello’s “Crazy House” in a way, which is a routine I like. However, in “Crazy House,” the routine consists entirely of random people Costello has never met, while the over-the-top people here are supposed to be associated with Chase on a regular basis. It’s just a bit too weird, and while I suppose it does wrap up the storyline, it just somehow feels really out of place.
That one issue aside, this is still a really funny short for most of it. Again, Chase is funny and works well off of John T. Murray, but it’s Murray himself who really steals the show. Definitely worth watching just for his performance alone.
9 out of 10
