Resarf Review of George Burns Comedy Week

George Burns Comedy Week (1985)

A punchline that has stayed with me for over 20 years

[10/10 · 8 November 2008]

The punchline for the episode "The Assignment" has stayed with me for over 20 years. Elliott Gould plays a legendary big game hunter assigned to track down the one remaining near-mythical "hopsgrisbot," so it can be made into a soufflé. He goes through many Indiana Jones-style perils but finally captures it, bringing it to Paris to the one chef in the world capable of making the soufflé - the chef is so excited he attempts to steal it, but is caught at the back door of the restaurant by Gould. The soufflé is finally made and Gould brings it back to the man who gave him the assignment, who turns out to be the warden of a prison. The warden brings the soufflé into a jail cell, presenting it to a prisoner. "You found it.... I can't believe you found it!", the prisoner says, horrified. The next scene shows the prisoner being led down a corridor towards an execution chamber; in a state of shock, the prisoner keeps saying over and over "I can't believe he found it", as a priest is giving him last rites. The warden turns to Elliott Gould and says "Let's hope the next guy is a meat-and-potatoes man."