The Cthulhu Mythos, Played for Laughs

Dwight and I were watching episodes of Night Gallery, and in addition to the extremely good “They’re Tearing Down Tim Riley’s Bar” (with a fine turn by the late William Windom), we also watched “The Last Lecture of Mr. Peabody,” in which a professor of comparative religion lectures on The Great Old Ones, including reading aloud from the Necronomicon, with somewhat predictable results. The Mythos is mostly played for laughs and in-jokes (including students named Lovecraft, Bloch and Derleth), but it may be the first time the name Cthulhu was ever mentioned on network television.

It’s a little broad, but it does have its charms:

The episode was written by Jack Laird, who seems to have adapted a number of Lovecraft stories for Night Gallery.

A deeper appreciation (and the nifty following screen grab) can be found here.