ASK me: Len Cella

Dana S. wrote to ask…

What was the name of the bit that Carson would do on The Tonight Show? Some guy would send him an 8 or 16mm reel of film that had a bunch of little skits on them. They'd have a title, then the guy would act out what the title was about. Example: "How to annoy Your Neighbors." Then there would be a movie of a guy I don't think he ever showed his face) sitting on a sawhorse with his legs dangling in two metal trash cans, swing them around making a lot of noise. There'd be several of these per reel. I can't remember what he called them.

The guy was a filmmaker named Len Cella and he called his little films "Moron Movies." Carson ran them on his show for a while and then they wound up on TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes, a series Carson's company did in partnership with Dick Clark's company. They were called "Silly Cinemas" over there. Here's an example from when they had the former name…