Professor Peabody's Last Lecture

"Professor Peabody's Last Lecture" is a horror comedy television sketch set in the Cthulhu Mythos. It is the final segment of the eighth episode of Season 2 of Rod Serling's anthology show Night Gallery, and aired for the first time on November 10, 1971. The sketch was written by series producer Jack Laird, directed by Jerrold Freedman, and stars Carl Reiner as the titular ill-starred academic.
==Synopsis==
A professor of comparative religion gives a lecture on an ancient belief system centered around the Great Old Ones, who supposedly ruled the Earth before mankind. Far from taking the subject seriously, the professor repeatedly comments on how absurd and preposterous the cult of the Old Ones is, and makes several jokes about the deities. When a student points out that mentioning Hastur by name is a taboo, the lecturer dismisses his concerns and speaks the unspeakable's name aloud several more times.
At this point, a storm brews in the summer sky outside. The professor grows visibly nervous, but tries to hide it while continuing to make jokes. Finally, he produces a rare copy of the forbidden Necronomicon that he got from Miskatonic University and starts reading it, casually dismissing the book's warning about the "ghastly consequences". The storm rages while the professor continues to read the book aloud, until he is finally transformed into a monstrous creature before the shocked eyes of his students.
==Behind the Mythos==
According to Prof. Peabody, the Great Old Ones include Nyarlathotep, 'Umr At-Tawil, Hastur, Cthulhu, Azathoth, Shub-Niggurath, and Yog-Sothoth. He mentions that their cult has been active as recently as 50 years ago in Arkham, Massachusetts.
The three students who ask questions during the lecture are named Mr. Bloch, Mr. Derleth, and Mr. Lovecraft, after seminal Mythos contributors Robert Bloch, August Derleth and H. P. Lovecraft. Fittingly, Mr. Derleth is the one who points out that Hastur's name should not be spoken, as it was the real Derleth who came up with the deity's epithet "the Unspeakable". Also fittingly, Mr. Lovecraft is the one who asks questions about the Necronomicon, as the grimoire was Lovecraft's creation in real life. The end credits reveal that another student is named Miss Heald, after Lovecraft's frequent collaborator Hazel Heald.
==Trivia==
*"Professor Peabody's Last Lecture" was the only original Mythos story featured in Night Gallery, but not the only Mythos story overall, as the series also featured adaptations of "Cool Air", "Pickman's Model" and "The Return of the Sorcerer".
Category:Expanded Mythos Film & Television