Take My Life...Please!

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“Red Snow”

The Twilight Zone episode

Episode no.

Season 1
Episode 53

Written by

Gordon Mitchell

Directed by

Gus Trikonis

Guest stars

Tim Thomerson : Billy Diamond
Ray Buktenica : Max
Xander Berkeley : Dave
Jim McKrell : Marty

Original airdate

March 28, 1986

Episode chronology
← Previous	Next →
"Red Snow"	"Devil's Alphabet"

List of The Twilight Zone episodes

"Take My Life...Please!" is an episode of the American television series The Twilight Zone.

[edit] Plot summary

Billy Diamond (Tim Thomerson), a successful stand-up comedian, steals a routine from Dave (Xander Berkeley), another comedian, and performs it on a TV talk show, to huge success ... enhancing his own career but harming Dave who originated this "bit", since he now cannot perform his own material without being accused of having stolen it.

While driving away from the TV studio, Billy is ambushed by Dave, who threatens him with a pistol and unintentionally shoots him dead.

Billy now finds himself in the afterlife, which turns out to resemble the backstage area of an extremely sleazy nightclub. A stage manager tells him "You're on!" and pushes him out onto a stage in front of a bored-looking audience. When Billy tells conventional jokes, the audience grows hostile and they taunt him with remarks such as "Tell us about how your mother died." In order to make the audience laugh, Billy must humiliate himself by recounting all the most shameful and degrading incidents of his lifetime. This produces laughter from the audience. His act is a success ... but now he learns that he must spend eternity performing this same act.