Ah, folks ... this one hurts more than I can say.
Back in the days of my youth, Saturday Night Live was all the rage with the kids at school. Yes, a lot of it is owed to the groundbreaking comedy brought to television well ahead of its time; but, frankly, I and those I hung out with kinda/sorta saw that preference as a fairly easy choice.
Instead, we stayed up a bit later, and after SNL came to its close, a little something-something out of Canada called SCTV (Second City Television) came on-the-air. Now, granted, the producers of the show didn't quite have the budget that perhaps the NBC juggernaut did; but what it had in damn near endless supply was an astonishingly talented cast that pushed their way through and made the material funnier because of it. Names like John Candy or Eugene Levy or Martin Short or Catherine O'Hara earned their time in the spotlight beyond SCTV, but sadly funnyman Joe Flaherty never really did.
It's hard being the straight guy; and -- more often than not -- Flaherty filled out those shoes (at least, that's my two cents on his career in sketch comedy). Every now and then, he delivered his own unique brand of lunacy -- you kids just Google 'Count Floyd' to see what I mean -- and it worked swimmingly. But, yeah, as the show's token straight guy it was probably hard for him to find the same kind of career traction that his co-stars did. Yet, I recognized him every single time he turned up in anything I watched since. His demeanor is that memorable.
Alas, none of us lasts forever ... and I just noticed word reaching the World Wide Web this morning of the comedian's passing. I wanted to post something in this space for readers who might've grown up in my era as I'm certain a number of them may've been aware of his talent. His was a unique personae, and I really do wish it had wider play when it truly mattered.
Our warmest prayers are extended to the family, friends, and fans of Joe Flaherty.
May he forever rest in peace.
-- EZ
Back in the days of my youth, Saturday Night Live was all the rage with the kids at school. Yes, a lot of it is owed to the groundbreaking comedy brought to television well ahead of its time; but, frankly, I and those I hung out with kinda/sorta saw that preference as a fairly easy choice.
Instead, we stayed up a bit later, and after SNL came to its close, a little something-something out of Canada called SCTV (Second City Television) came on-the-air. Now, granted, the producers of the show didn't quite have the budget that perhaps the NBC juggernaut did; but what it had in damn near endless supply was an astonishingly talented cast that pushed their way through and made the material funnier because of it. Names like John Candy or Eugene Levy or Martin Short or Catherine O'Hara earned their time in the spotlight beyond SCTV, but sadly funnyman Joe Flaherty never really did.
It's hard being the straight guy; and -- more often than not -- Flaherty filled out those shoes (at least, that's my two cents on his career in sketch comedy). Every now and then, he delivered his own unique brand of lunacy -- you kids just Google 'Count Floyd' to see what I mean -- and it worked swimmingly. But, yeah, as the show's token straight guy it was probably hard for him to find the same kind of career traction that his co-stars did. Yet, I recognized him every single time he turned up in anything I watched since. His demeanor is that memorable.
Alas, none of us lasts forever ... and I just noticed word reaching the World Wide Web this morning of the comedian's passing. I wanted to post something in this space for readers who might've grown up in my era as I'm certain a number of them may've been aware of his talent. His was a unique personae, and I really do wish it had wider play when it truly mattered.
Our warmest prayers are extended to the family, friends, and fans of Joe Flaherty.
May he forever rest in peace.
-- EZ
RSS Feed