One of the funniest scenes in any sitcom is when Reverend Jim is taking his driver’s test. Taxi is smartly written and they use the ensemble much like The Mary Tyler Moore Show did. Reverend Jim played by Christopher Lloyd is my favorite character and one of my favorite characters of all time.
“Have you ever experienced loss of consciousness, hallucinations, dizzy spells, convulsive disorders, fainting, or periods of loss of memory?” “Hasn’t Everyone?”
“Psst. What does a yellow light mean?”
“Slow Down”
“OK. Wwwwhhhaaaat dooeesss aaaa yyyeeeellllowwww lllliiiight mmmmeeeannn?” “SLOW DOWN”
TAXI – Reverend Jim: A Space Odyssey
This is my favorite Taxi episode of all time. Jim is a child of the drug culture of the sixties and still feeling the effects. Taking something as simple as a drivers test and turning it into this, Characters: Alex Reiger, Elaine DeNardo, Latka Gravas, Louie De Palmer, Bobby Wheeler, Tony Banta, Reverend Jim Ignatowski, Tommy Jeffries, Jeff Bennett,
The cab drivers are hanging out at Mario’s when Christopher Lloyd as Reverend Jim Ignatowski wanders in. They recognize him but he doesn’t recognize them, even though they remind him he performed a wedding for Latka 8 months earlier. But when Latka started talking to him in his gibberish language, Jim remembered.
The cabbies want to get Jim to have a job, make something of himself, but what can he do with no skills and no education? Drive a cab. At first Louie will not hear of it, until Rev Jim slips a tranquilizer into Louie’s coffee. Louie becomes mellow, starts singing show tunes in the garage, and gladly accepts Jim.
The big hurdle, of course, was to have Jim pass the driver’s test. They go down to the DPS office with him, help him fill out forms, his name, his weight, height, and color of eyes. Finally Bobby says, “OK, Jim, now you are ready to take the test.” “What?”, says Jim, “I thought that was the test.”
He then takes the test and the below is what transpires…You can see Tony Danza and Marilu Henner trying unsuccessfully not to laugh.
The complete driving test scene
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0718525/
One of my favorite shows of all time! Thanks for sharing
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Very funny.
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That took me back! I usually don’t laugh early in the morning before coffee.
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Glad I can return the favor.
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Great show! Love it. Thanks for sharing.
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You know it’s weird – I liked that show and watched it pretty regularly but I don’t know that I can remember any one specific episode! I recall the main characters, but not the individual show stories. It was a funny one though
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I still watch it quite a bit. The writing in this show and Barney Miller is great. I would put the writing with anything today.
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Well, i would actually put them above anything today lol. Taxi, Barney Miller, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, Mary Tyler Moore etc. some of the greatest ensemble comedies ever done!
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I totally agree! I don’t see a show today that has the writing that those shows had….or the characters.
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So glad you shared this. Thank you
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Thank you for reading.
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Rev. Jim was one of my favorite characters from any TV show -the whole cast of TAXI was great!
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The same here with Reverend Jim… they used the complete cast instead of concentrating on one which was smart.
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He made that show. That’s one hilarious scene. Thanks for the laugh.
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Yet another TV classic.
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The classic episode of a good series. Still funny!
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