Synopsis of Saturday Morning Show

"He stands for justice, he has no fear..."

How do you spoof a spoof? When in doubt, use monkeys. Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp debuted at the tail end of spy spoof Get Smart's long and successful primetime run. Cranking things up a few notches from even that show's lofty levels of lunacy, Lancelot Link featured an all-chimp (and one orangutan) cast, with off-screen humans dubbing in the voices.

The show's premise had good agency APE (Agency to Prevent Evil) up against the bad guys from CHUMP (Criminal Headquarters for Underworld Master Plan), led by Baron von Butcher. Lancelot Link was APE's chief operative, assisted by the lovely (in relative terms) Marta Hairi. The two came up against a cadre of the Baron's cronies, including Wang Fu, the Duchess, Ali AssaSeen, Dr. Strangemind and von Butcher's lackey, Creto.

In the first season, the show ran an hour and featured two additional elements: old Daffy Duck cartoons and new musical numbers from Link's chimp rock band, the Evolution Revolution. The extras were trimmed in the following season, when the show was cut to half an hour. After one more season, the show went off the air completely, leaving a chimp-size void in the TV lineup that wouldn't be filled until B.J. and the Bear seven years later.

"Oh, Lance Link, what'cha gonna do?"

Release History

9/12/70 - 9/2/72 ABC

TV Sub Categories

live-action
animated
variety
comedy

TV Studio

Sandler-Burns-Marmer

Television Cast

Ape Voice Dayton Allen
Ape Voice Joan Gerber
Ape Voice Steven Hoffman
Ape Voice Bernie Kopell
Ape Voice Malachi Throne
Narrator Malachi Throne

Other Saturday Morning Links