WB’s ‘Experiment’ Is a Candid Form of Flattery

What if you put some change in a vending machine and it talked back?

It was 1948 when a low-budget half hour titled “Candid Microphone” made its debut on ABC, relocating to newfangled television from radio.

A year later it resumed on NBC with another name, “Candid Camera,” and now, more than five decades later, Allen Funt’s goofy little hypothesis--that humor can be mined from snooping on unsuspecting citizens with hidden mikes and cameras--is still being copied in prime time. Funt is dead, but creative thievery isn’t, guaranteeing that his bit of genius will endure indefinitely, at times to viewer advantage.

The latest to mount this assembly line is “JKX: The Jamie Kennedy Experiment,” a new WB series affirming that you don’t have to be original to be funny. In this case, execution is what counts, with Kennedy’s hybrid of Funtisms and sketch comedy opening as a knee-slapping half hour. It begins with Kennedy in the guise of a rapper trying to impress the mother and sister of a college coed he plans to marry. He is hilarious, as are their stunned responses to the inspired silliness of this master scammer.

Just as funny is the second segment that has Kennedy pretending to be the insincere host of an infomercial selling a cooking appliance, with a studio audience getting suckered by this setup that closely resembles the real thing.

Are the “victims” here really responding spontaneously or are they as scripted as Kennedy? Who’s to know? This is TV in 2002, however, so viewers should be skeptical.

A third segment, capturing on camera a woman starting a new job with an employer who has a bit of a jaw problem, yields some laughs as well. Kennedy is talented, and his new show promising. For once, Funt the creator may not be twisting in his grave.

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“JKX: The Jamie Kennedy Experiment” premieres Sunday night at 8 and 9:30 on the WB. The network has rated it TV-PG-L (may be unsuitable for young children with a special advisory for coarse language).