Back in the 1950s, Joseph Renfield (Donald O’Connor) and his puppets Koko the Clown and Cowboy Clyde were the biggest show on TV. Now, however, Joseph is an infirm shut-in who makes puppets all day and talks to Koko as a voice in his head. He’s also incredibly jealous about his wife Ellen (Patricia Charbonneau), refusing to let her leave the house. Then, Joseph gets the offer to appear on a tribute show.

“Oh, hello boars and ghouls. I hope you’ll excuse me if I don’t get up. I’m a little stiff today. Then again, I’m a little stiff every day! Actually, I twisted my neck playing croak-et. But it wasn’t hurting the way I thought it should, so I called my chiro-hack-ter. Of course, some people look elsewhere for their pain, like the old man in tonight’s terror tale. His idea of an anti-die-otic was to marry a younger woman.sure) Ahhhh. I call this plasma play: “Strung Along.””

The one day a week that Ellen can leave is for her acting class and that’s where she meets David (Zach Galligan). She suggests that he be her husband’s assistant for the show and as they grow close, he soon learns that his wife is cheating with someone named Rick and not even going to her lessons.

This being an E.C. Comics story, David is really Rick and they make a fake murder using Koko, setting up him “killing” Ellen. Joseph has a heart attack, but yes, this is Tales from the Crypt, so the real Koko appears and does away with the lovers.

Directed and written by effects artist Kevin Yagher, this is a pretty fun episode. You should never cheat on anyone around the Crypt Keeper. This was co-written with Yale Udoff, who is pitched the Batman TV series. He also wrote the TV movie Hitchhike! and the Nicholas Roeg film A Sensual Obsession.

This episode is based on the story “Strung Along!” from Vault of Horror #33. It was written by Al Feldstein and William Gaines and drawn by Graham Ingels. There isn’t cheating in that story, but there is a wife who tries to sell her husband’s puppets.