There was one odd bit they did concerning Michael McDonald’s backup singing bit on Christopher Cross’ “Ride Like the Wind”. His only line is “…such a long way to go…”.
It had Rick Moranis as McDonald waking up and realizing he’s late for the recording session (which we see already in progress). Moranis fights his way through heavy traffic and gets to the studio just in time to sing his one line. He then turns around and goes home.
I did like Count Floyd and the Monster Horror Chiller Theater with the numeorus Dr. Tongue’s 3-D House of (something) movies.
My fave SCTV bit was the Lola Falana Christmas special. The glee with which filtered Christmas through Las Vegas showgirl sensibilities was hilarious. That said, the original SNL was better than SCTV, but many succeeding SNL’s were not nearly as good, barely registering as comedy.
Heck, my favorite all-time SCTV moment didn’t even come on the show.
During their 1981-1984 tours Rush had Count Floyd introduce one of their songs, The Weapon. I can still remember busting out laughing when he said…
“Kids! This is a scary SCARY song! And to be scared you got to have your 3-D glasses! If you don’t you’ll be watching this in ONE-HALF-D, let me tell you that!”
The sophomoric certainly has its place in humor. The douchebag sketch (the premise being a party of people who had something famous named after them, e.g. the Earl of Sandwich; invited to the party are Lord and Lady Douchebag) was pretty hilarious. Of course it was juvenile but who says comedy always has to be hi-falutin’?
I always adored Andrea Martin on SCTV. Libby Wolfson, Edith Prickley, the (IIRC) no-name Eastern European maid, and the crown jewel, Edna Boil. I loved Tex and Edna Boil and their organ emporium. “Right Tex?” “That’s right, Edna!” Remember the shock when Tex actually stopped playing the organ and told Edna “that’s wrong”!
Dave Thomas wrote a book about ten years ago on the whole SCTV experience. Lots of photos, remeniscences (sp?) from all of the then-surviving cast members and a number of the production people. Worth a look for even the casual SCTV fan.
I wish someone would have the balls to re-televise the shows in their original forms instead of the horribly chopped-down-for-syndication 30 minute versions. With the meta-story of the TV station there’s so much that just doesn’t work in the chopped format so it never gets shown. And the DVDs are ridiculously expensive.
My favorite moment on SCTV was when the Soviets took over the SCTV satellite and started using it to broadcast communist propaganda, including a show called “What Fits Into Russia?” where Rick Moranis had a huge magnetic map of Russia and he would take scale-sized maps of other countries and stick them to it and then laugh maniacally about how small they were by comparison.
Was there any connection between SCTV, and the Second City comedy troupe out of Chicago (which gave us, IIRC, Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray)? (I need to know for my thesis…)
Yes, the television show was an outgrowth of the comedy troupe franchise started in Toronto. I have been watching the bonus features on the DVDs, and Dave Thomas and others credit Del Close with the idea of a TV show about a TV station.
The original Second City troupe in Chicago gave us Burns ans Schreiber, and at least one movie, a very weird science fiction comedy called The Monitors, which I haven’t seen in eons:
[hijack]After reading the Second City history on the link above, I’m amending my thesis: all American* comedy derives from Second City and National Lampoon.
(*British humor has its own ancestry – Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Goon Show, Peter Cook & Dudley Moore, Monty Python).
True, but you shouldn’t underestimate the influence Python had on American comedy as well. It was much like the effect the 60’s British Invasion had on American rock n’ roll. (Although, it should be mentioned that there was a lot of cultural cross-pollination in both cases.)
It was already mentioned some of his other roles in smaller movies. I read an interview with (IIRC Eugene Levy) where he said at one point he and his family moved to LA to further his movie career. The first day he brought his kids to school he saw how they had to go through metal detectors in case they had weapons. At that point he said (paraphrased) “Forget it, I’m moving back to Toronto”. Perhaps that’s why he doesn’t have the big roles.
He played Woody Tobius Jr., who played Bruno. I say this not to nitpick but to set up one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite eps.
Woody Tobius Jr. is directing 2001 A Space Odyssey and Martin Short is playing the old man. The scene is shot as a documentary of a film in the making. Short is being interviewed and his comment, (in the voice he uses), is, “Woody Tobius Jr. is a perfectionist. Only, you can’t see it in any of his work.” Then he starts laughing to himself.
Then you have Eugene Levy playing Ernest Borgnine, “They’re not trying to hurt us, they’re trying to help us.” Mrs. Prefect and I still giggle over those two lines, whoever can fit them in to conversation is the king/queen of the hour.
Levy still has pitch perfect timing. A mighty wind has him playing a character every bit as funny and memorable as his classics.
Though it is no Woody Tobias Jr.
In explaining teh powerhouse of Dr Tounge and Francis Ford Coppala working on 3D Steak from the heart
TOBIAS JR: “With two greats like that working together you have to ask your self who’s gonna win,”
DR TOUNGE: “I think you mean how can you lose,”
TOBIAS JR: “I stand by what I said.”
My favorite moment and the pure genius of teh show is Levy playing (As he puts it) Post stroke Floyd the Barber (Andy Griffith show) asking “Don” Cabalero to break Opies legs. In the Godfather episode.
More than roles, Levy co-wrote all of those. I can’t comment on how much dialog each wrote, but the WGA gives him credit on all three, as well as the next one, For Your Consideration.