I knew about Rooney (forgot to mention him!) but I had thought Sid was dead. A quick search proves otherwise!
Aw, man. One of the last great Catskills style comedians is gone.
I loved him in THE MUSIC MAN and ACTION as the Uncle. “Morrie, shoot the iguana!”
I caught Sid helping out on a repeat of Whose Line not too long ago. He didn’t look all that great but he was still sharp as ever.
Uncle LONNIE in ACTION! Jesus, Peter’s gonna kill me.
“Hackett, who appeared for more than 50 years as a top act in nightclubs, in Broadway shows, on television and in movies, died at his Southern California beach house late Sunday or early Monday. He was 78. The cause of death was not immediately known, but his son said Hackett suffered from diabetes.”
Thanks Eve. Diabetes is a bitch…lost a very good friend to it a few years ago. Well, at least I caught Buddy on that reality comics show on Comedy Central a couple weeks ago. He sure was a funny man.
I didn’t know that
“He turned down an offer to join the Three Stooges to replace ailing member Curly, who had a stroke in 1946.”
I miss him already. I’m gonna do a TiVo search for his films and appearances tonight, and catch anything that comes up.
They should bury him on a ‘Big W’
They should bury him on a ‘Big W’
Oops. I meant ‘under,’ of course. And I only meant to say it once. Honest…
“My mother’s menu consisted of two choices: Take it or leave it.” – Buddy Hackett
A family member who met Hackett offstage told me he was a real asshole, having his bodyguards literally push people out of his way in the lobby of the hotel where he was working.
But onstage he was without peer. I never saw anybody work an audience with as great a skill unless it was the late Dick Shawn. A video of one of Hackett’s Las Vegas appearances still makes me laugh till I hurt, even though there are now no surprises.
“The woman who kisses on the first time out
is usually a hussy,
and the woman who kisses on the second time out
is anything but fussy.
But the woman who waits till the third time around,
head in the clouds,
feet on the ground,
she’s a very (special?) gal,
she’s his Shipoopie”
Great, now I have that Subway jingle in my head.
“She’s the girl he’s glad he’s found”
“His latter years were mostly taken up with Singita, a ‘no-kill, cage-free animal sanctuary’ for stray cats and dogs.”
When I saw this thread I flashed on an episode from Al Franken’s one-season prime-time sitcom. (what was it called? The Al Franken Show?) Franken plays a socially-conscious TV reporter who has succeeded in selling the network on a controversial piece about a labor dispute – and then finds himself preempted by a rumor of Buddy Hackett’s death! Which rumor turns out to be false, and Hackett, from his hospital bed, does not take the error in good humor and threatens to sue!
The best part is where the female reporter (forget her name) whom Franken counted on to be in his corner finally breaks down, gets the newsroom on the phone, and says (with guilt all over her face), “Get a video of The Music Man. Queue up ‘Shipoopie.’ Trust me!” And then the camera pans back to show the whole globe of the Earth, with all the world singing, “Shipoopie, shipoopie, shipoopie, the girl that’s hard to get . . .”
Buddy grew up in Brooklyn with my mom. In fact, Lenny, as she referred to him, used to bug her all the time to go out with him on dates. He was real funny then too, but not nearly as handsome as my dad.
So anyway…
What’s the wax job joke?