The Gossipy Plumber Review: Loud, Wet, and Gloriously Dumb

If you have fifteen minutes to burn and a soft spot for dusty, loud slapstick, The Gossipy Plumber is absolutely worth a quick look. It is definitely not for anyone who expects high-art comedy or clean audio. 🪠

Basically, this is a relic of that weird transition period when movies first started talking. Everyone is shouting their lines like they are trying to be heard over a lawnmower in the backyard.

The plot is exactly what the title says. This plumber comes over to fix a simple leak, but he spends more time spilling neighborhood secrets than actually turning his wrench.

Robert Graves plays the plumber with this bizarre, high-energy twitchiness that is honestly hard to look away from. He just keeps talking and talking, and you can tell the other actors are just waiting for him to shut up so they can do their physical bits.

Speaking of physical stuff, we get the legendary Bud Jamison here. If you know old comedy, you know his face—he is the ultimate guy-who-gets-mad-at-idiots. His slow burn is easily the best thing in the whole short.

There is a moment where a pipe bursts, and the way the water hits him right in the ear feels totally unplanned. He does this little angry shimmy that made me laugh out loud.

It is not nearly as clever as something like One Week, but it has that raw, chaotic energy of early talkies where nobody quite knew what they were doing yet. It feels more like a stage play that got hijacked by a water hose.

Vivien Oakland shows up too, looking incredibly annoyed by the whole situation. Her character has this face that says, "I cannot believe my agent booked me for this."

Honestly, the writing by Charles Lamont and Arthur Wanzer is pretty thin. They just wanted an excuse to have people get wet and yell at each other. If you have seen The Pip from Pittsburg, you already know this specific brand of loud, domestic chaos.

The ending just sort of... happens. The plumber leaves, the house is a disaster, and the movie abruptly cuts to black. I kind of love how lazy that is.

Should you track it down? Only if you are a completionist for early sound comedies or just want to see Bud Jamison get soaked. Otherwise, you can probably skip this one and not lose any sleep. 💤