Joe Flaherty RIP

[Richard M Roberts]

Damn, we lost one of the real funny people again today.

I'm glad to hear other SCTV cast members saying that Joe was the heart and soul of SCTV. Behind the scenes, he was one of the most prolific writers and apparently was also the one who really shaped how the various episodes flowed. And of course, he played some of the most memorable characters like Count Floyd and Guy Caballero.

He also had a great ability to take on a pretentious introduction and manage to make it completely fall apart into non-pretentious babble, his attempts at Rod Serling-like speak in his HBO TV movie REALLY WEIRD TALES (a forgotten gem, featuring most of the SCTV alumni) are wonderful takes on hilarious lameness.

His best SCTV bits, they are many, but here's a couple of favorites, QUINCY CARTOON CORONER:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO_UM3rmzJc

and of course, GIVE `EM HELL LARRY:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyGsKGrXBKc

Rest in Peace, Joe.


RICHARD M ROBERTS