"Life in the Slaw Lane" is comedian Kip Addotta's pun filled music video, along the same lines as his cult short "Wet Dream" but, in the opinion of the Betagems channel, actually a lot funnier (and a much more hummable tune). It's hard to understand why "Life in the Slaw Lane" is so hard to find online, we've seen people nearly pass out from laughing at this terrific little short, which was once a staple on USA Network's 1980s cult series Night Flight. The crazy animation clips are from Ladisla Starewicz‘s rarely seen 1933 surreal stop-motion film The Mascot, which you can also find on the BetaGems channel. Kip Addotta is one of the funniest standup comedians ever to appear on Night Flight, his Daily Joke emails were groundbreaking in the early days of social media, and there's frankly not nearly enough footage of his many TV appearances online.

BetaGems are culled from an archive of over 1000 beta video tapes recorded between from 1983 into the 1990s. Most feature live music performances broadcast on television in San Diego CA, though there are also rarely seen commercials, comedy clips, and other material that doesn't seem to be anywhere else on Youtube or online. Most of the tapes were recorded on a Sony SL-HFT7 Super Beta Theater Hi-Fi Stereo - the same model was refurbished and is being used for these digital transfers and uploads.

In rare occasions where a BetaGems clip does appear elsewhere, we're only uploading if our own beta master is better quality or contains material not seen previously. Much footage comes from public television and public access broadcasts that the taper, who worked for a local cable TV production company in the 1980s, monitored nightly for several years. Some of the programming is strictly regional, mostly from the San Diego area.

свернуть