John Cleese -- Happy 75th Birthday!

On the long list of TV series we simply couldn't imagine living without, Monty Python's Flying Circus and Fawlty Towers are near the top, thanks in part to the brilliant comedic sensibility of John Cleese.  He's celebrating his 75th birthday today, an impressive life milestone alongside all his professional milestones spread out over an accomplished 50 years in show business.  Cambridge-educated Cleese began his acting and comedy work at the college, his performing talent soon eclipsing his desire to study law.  Growing up in a time where anarchy was on the loose in British comedy (particularly on radio, thanks to The Goon Show and talents like Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan), Cleese and his comic contemporaries were well-poised to continue the tradition and then establish their own creative beachhead the likes of which has never been equaled.

You can read about Cleese's life all over the internet, and he's got So Anyway -- an autobiography of his first thirty years -- coming out next week.  Finding out about his life is interesting and important, and you will probably quickly learn that he's maybe not the jolliest fellow or the nicest Python but possibly the smartest and definitely the most introspective, yet that in the long run means little. What he's going to remembered by are his comedic gifts, the moments he created either as a writer or as a performer, that will stay with us forever.

Here's a pre-Python TV-appearance by Cleese, alongside comedy great Marty Feldman, on At Last the 1948 Show (he was also a writer on the show) ca. 1967:




And here is a very random selection of some classic Cleese moments from Monty Python's Flying Circus:


















Fans have kept the dozen episodes of John Cleese and (his wife at the time) Connie Booth's series Fawlty Towers at the top of their favorite lists since 1975, too.

















There's so much more to his career, so many more clips on online, so many episodes that you must revisit!

Happy 75th Birthday to John Cleese, one of the world's most precious comedy assets!

Summer Nose-talgia #25: The Incredible Mr. Don Knotts -- July 21, 1924 - Feb. 24, 2006

Don Knotts had the perfect face and body for comedy -- skinny, wide-eyed, expressive hands and voice just made for playing the high-strung characters he became famous for.  From his days honing his comic persona on The Steve Allen Show to his long-time reign as one of TV's funniest characters on The Andy Griffith Show and later on Three's Company, West Virginia-born Don Knotts never missed a comedy beat or failed to infuse his portrayals with humanity.

Especially Barney Fife.  Without Knotts' tremendous skill as an actor, Barney would have been just a nervous wanna-be with delusions of grandeur, a pipsqueak bully with a badge.  It was Knotts who allowed us to see Barney's vulnerabilities, and Andy Griffith who understood that playing straight man to Knotts would be the key to success for his new sitcom.  Sheriff Andy Taylor was Barney Fife's rock, and Fife knew it.  And America's TV viewers knew it, too.

So here's a little Don Knotts for you.  A brilliant comedian, a talented actor, a funny guy.


































As is written on Don Knotts' headstone, "He saw the poignancy in people's pride and pain and turned it into something hilarious and endearing" -- so true.

We fondly salute Don Knotts, born this day in 1924.

Summer Nose-talgia #22: The Great Phyllis Diller -- July 17, 1917 - August 20, 2012

Comedienne Phyllis Diller was a legend, a fixture in the childhoods of so many of us with her skinny legs, miniskirts, cigarette holder, crazy hairdo and raucous laughter -- a true original.  She was a funny woman on TV at the time when you didn't really see them much other than in sitcoms, and of course they reigned there.  For stand-up comedy, there was Phyllis Diller, Joan Rivers, Totie Fields and a few others that you could see on The Ed Sullivan Show, but there was nobody quite like Phyllis!

Here's a selection of clips, not necessary in chronological order, of the super Miss Diller --

On You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx, very early appearance:



From The Merv Griffin Show in 1965:




From The Flip Wilson Show:



The Pruitts of Southhampton  1966 - 1967  ABC -- Phyllis' short-lived sitcom but with an incredibly catchy theme by Vic Mizzy that I remembered all my life and way before we could see the credits again on YouTube!







On The Red Skelton Show:




On The Hollywood Palace:




Commercial for Snowy Bleach  1967:




On a Bob Hope Christmas Special with Loni Anderson:




On Super Password game show:




On The Hollywood Palace with Phil Harris, Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello from  1967:




On The Sonny and Cher Show:




Phyllis Diller on her legacy, from her interview at the Archive of American Television;  her full interview is available by clicking here:




Phyllis on The View about five years ago:




The reporting of the death of Phyllis Diller:








Phyllis Diller passed away two years ago on August 20, 2012 at the age of 95.  To read the excellent obituary from The New York Times, click here.

Summer Nose-talgia #4: Gilda Radner & "Saturday Night Live"' June 28, 1946 - May 20, 1989

What a sad day it was just a little over twenty-five years ago when actress and comedienne Gilda Radner passed away from ovarian cancer.  Who would have thought, 43 years earlier when she was born on June 28, 1946, that she had entered this world seemingly destined to bring us laughter and left an unforgettable legacy of talent and grace behind her.

Michigan-born but first flexing her professional comic muscles while living in Toronto, Canada, Radner consorted with a cadre of budding comedian/actors including Martin Short, Bill Murray, Dave Thomas, Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi and others from the Second City school of comic actors who were all beginning their careers.  As a result of her impressive work with this budding generation of gifted performers Gilda Radner was chosen in 1975 to be a member of the initial cast of NBC's new late-night comedy/variety show Saturday Night Live which debuted on October 11, 1975.

Here's an interesting clip of NBC late-night host Tom Snyder just days before the SNL premiere as he interviews creator Lorne Michael and his nascent group of comedy innovators:



Gilda Radner's five-year stint on Saturday Night Live gave us characters which are still part of the comedy canon: Emily Litella, Roseanna Roseannadanna, Baba Wawa to name but a few.  She was singled out and won an Emmy Award  for her work during the 1977 season in addition to becoming a beloved audience favorite.  Viewers fell in love with her all-around performing prowess which combined musical talent, a knack for physical humor, general cuteness and spot-on comic instincts which gave her trademark characters the spark of life plus an extra dimension of comedic relevance.

Let's look at a couple of examples of her work on SNL, beginning with this enthusiastic intro:



This is one of Bill Murray's lounge singer bits with the entire cast participating, including Radner:



There's not a lot of Gilda Radner-era Saturday Night Live material on the web, but you can find a small selection if you look:  the famous Steve Martin/Gilda "Dancing in the Dark" comic dance routine is available for viewing at this link (click here), and Yahoo Screen has a selection of high-quality clips including "Nerd Prom" and several Baba Wawa sketches available at this link (click here).

 

Radner was also among the pantheon of celebrities who made a guest appearance on the long-running The Muppet Show, hers in 1978:

Gilda featured her collection of characters in a one-woman theater showcase Gilda Radner: Live from New York which ran in August and September of 1979 and was filmed -- thank goodness -- and is still availble for purchase.  Here are a few bits from the well-received production:





After leaving Saturday Night Live Gilda transitioned into an short big-screen career including 1982's Hanky Panky where she co-starred opposite actor Gene Wilder.  They ended up falling in love, marrying in 1984 and making a total of three films together.  It was while on location in England for Haunted Honeymoon that Gilda fell ill and ultimately, after months of misdiagnosis, learned she had ovarian cancer.  Her treatments afforded her a remission and gave her the time to pen her autobiography It's Always Something. In May of 1989 she recorded the audio version of the book, and only a few weeks later she passed away on May 20, 1989.

Here is a short excerpt from the book backed by some photos (not sure it's Radner's narration, though):



Close to the year's anniversary of her death Gene Wilder appeared on Face to Face with Connie Chung talking about Gilda's legacy:



Part of that legacy was the Gilda's Club cancer support centers which have offered assistance and camaraderie to countless people over the years.  There was a controversy a couple of years ago over at least one chapter moving to change its name, ostensibly because they thought Radner's name had ceased to be relevant.  There was also a merger with the Cancer Support Community but many Gilda's Club locations proudly retain their original name, as does the NYC chapter.

The Gilda Radner-era of Saturday Night Live was a high point for the series, a more innocent time perhaps -- notwithstanding the tales of rampant drug use -- that was the perfect incubator for the sweet and immensely talented spirit that infused her work.  The Flaming Nose remembers her fondly on what would have been her 68th birthday.

Gilda Radner, gone much too soon...