That's Quite a First Panel

 

Harry Anderson, star of Night Court, Dave's World, and a TV-movie remake of Harvey as seen on the left here, would've been 74 today. I didn't do any special post or anything but I did find this promotional picture from the aforementioned Harvey with a portrait of Anderson's Elwood Dowd and his mythological rabbit, Harvey.

Here is last year's Harry Anderson post featuring his appearance in the HBO series Tales from the Crypt. But if you like crap, then check out my post on Harry Anderson's first hosting stint on Saturday Night Live back in 1985. He doesn't call women at the gym whores but he does eat a guinea pig.

 

October 31, 1967

"Run up to bed"? It's five in the evening!

Did Brutus ask if something was unethical or dishonest again?

Brutus is doing his Other Mommy pose here. It's not quite the same.

This is honestly what would happen with me. "You and everybody else are exactly the same". Cool, that means that everybody sucks. Great.

Sleep Score Number: 23

Harry Anderson would've been 73 today. I posted my annual tribute to him back on Saturday where he plays Jim Korman, a comic book artist for Tales from the Crypt whose monsters start coming alive when he begins taking fertility pills. You can check out "Korman's Kalamity" here.

You can also check out all my Harry Anderson posts by clicking the tag.

November 30, 1966

Ha ha! Brutus didn't even forget his wife's name because Emily is beautiful (she is fairly normal and not a buxom beauty like you would expect) but because he's just a terrible husband!

Brutus has been having a lot of problems waking up in the morning. I don't know how to fix this. I hate waking up in the morning and only do it because I have to. I just wanted to comment that Brutus needs help. It's killing him.

Korman's Kalamity

Tales from the Crypt aired on HBO from June 10, 1989 to July 19, 1996. Based on the popular horror comic book series from EC that ran from 1950 until 1955, this was one of the last things William Gaines had a hand in, aside from publishing Mad before his death in 1992. Running for 93 episodes, Tales from the Crypt became a fairly popular series because, since it aired on HBO, a premium cable channel, it could actually show elements of horror along with swearing, graphic violence, sex, and nudity. In "Korman's Kalamity", Jim Korman, played by Harry Anderson, is a comic book artist whose art comes alive. "Korman's Kalamity" aired June 26, 1990 and was written by Terry Black and directed by Rowdy Herrington.

The episode opens with Jim working on Saturday to get a story finished for the magazine he works on: Tales from the Crypt. He's having problems drawing a corpse-eater. His wife, Mildred (Colleen Camp) bursts in and derides Jim for working on a Saturday, canoodling with secretaries (they are off today), and not taking his fertility pills so they can have a baby.

I love the costumes so far. Those are some fun shirts.

Anyway, Mildred is a ball-breaking shrew and even though Jim disappoints her at every turn since they got married, he is stuck with her. Defeated, Jim takes his pill even though he is worried about the side effects and believes the pills are messing with his brain.

Anderson clearly didn't draw in this episode. The comic book art
used throughout the series was done mostly by Mike Vosburg, although at
least one episode was illustrated by Shawn McManus.

Jim then goes back to work on the corpse-eater, which now seems to come to him easily. Cutting to a laundromat, a pretty lady (Cynthia Gibbs) is doing her laundry while Jim is finishing up his laundry. The two make eye contact but Jim heads out the door while the woman settles in to read while her laundry cleans.

While reading, the power in the laundromat goes out and a creepy guy comes in (Richard Schiff) saying that he shorted out the fuse box. Intending to rape and possibly kill this woman, she reveals that she's a police officer which doesn't impress him. Even being karate chopped and flipped over just makes him angrier. That's when a sudsy sea monster pops out of the washing machine, chews on the man's head for a bit and then just rips it off.

The police investigate but don't believe her story that a monster ripped the man's head off. I don't know how they think the head managed to be ripped off because I don't think she could do it. Look, you don't have to believe monster but how else could this happen? Also, are we ever going to give her a name?

While out on patrol, the officer comes across the most recent issue of Tales from the Crpyt which features a cover that looks very familiar to her.

Other covers she looks at also correspond to other weird sightings people are seeing across the city. She then decides to go see this "Jim Korman" who is apparently creating monsters that are roaming the city. Meanwhile, at the Tales from the Crypt office, Mildred calls Jim at work and begins henpecking him. Yes, he took his pill. No, he's not canoodling with the secretaries. Yes, I am working. He then begs her to give him a break. She threatens to break his neck when he gets home and hangs up on him.

Maybe he should go into hiding. There are places he can go that
can protect him.

After work, Jim gets in his car and finds that Officer Woman is in there, sitting in the backseat. That doesn't seem very police-y. They do recognize each other from the laundromat, which is good, because considering how fuzzy that scene was on YouTube, I could barely recognize them.

She couldn't just wait outside the car. Or come upstairs to the office?
And why isn't she in uniform anymore?

SHE HAS A NAME! Lorelai Phelps. She explains to Jim that monsters that have appeared on the covers of Tales from the Crypt have also appeared in reality and instead of thinking that Jim just has elaborate costumes and is himself the monsters, she believes his drawings are coming alive. Jim's skeptical, who wouldn't be, but Lorelai wants to do an experiment. They go back up to the office where Jim starts drawing a monster while Lorelai looks on. I'm sure Mildred would love this scenario. Anyway, Jim finishes the monster and it looks like this. Somewhere in the city, it's going to pop up.

No evidence of this monster is immediately apparent. Jim then hits on Lorelai, who backs away because he draws horrible monsters. Jim says he'll start doing romance books. Hmm. Mildred was right about him. He is a letch.

Jim, NO!!

Meanwhile, in a different part of the episode, a group of kids are playing war in a warehouse of some sort. One of the kids who was left behind, hears a noise from a refrigerator and noises coming from it. The kids can't get the door open, but the monster doesn't need any help. The monster scares off the kids and the monster starts stalking the streets. I assume. We never see this monster again.

Grandma?!

Back at the office, Jim is doodling romance scenes which disgusts his editor. His editor leaves and Jim receives a phone call from Lorelai. He suggests they meet for dinner at a nice, secluded restaurant just down the street. They were just thinking about each other. This spot has a nice view, good food, soft music, and as the camara pans around the artist desk...

SWEET VELVET FOG!! How'd she do that?!

Mildred goes downstairs to get a surprise for Jim while Jim, almost unconsciously, draws another monster that looks kind of like Mildred. When Mildred returns, her surprise is a gun. She then notices his latest monster looks like her and gets angrier. Jim tries to blame the pills when this happens.

"That's flattering, Jim. Is that how you picture me? As a rancid heap of garbage?

Mildred and the monster start fighting so Jim just walks out of the office, just as Lorelai shows up in a very revealing dress. Jim pushes her into the elevator as the monster gains the upper hand and, I guess slaughters Mildred.

He's gonna have to redraw this page.

Jim and Lorelai have a romantic date and the Cryptkeeper says they will live happily ever after which disgusts him. "Maybe Mildred should've been nicer to him and then she wouldn't have turned into such a monsterpiece!" Now, stayed tuned for Dream On, it's the breast show on TV!

Every episode of Tales from the Crypt was adapted from an issue of the EC horror library. This episode was originally presented in Tales from the Crypt #31 (Aug-Sep 1952) as "Kamen's Kalamity" by Bill Gaines, Al Feldstein, Jack Kamen, Graham Ingels, Johnny Craig, and Jack Davis. In the comic, Gaines and Feldstein hire Kamen whose art is too sweet. Kamen doses off at his table and dreams of committing murder before returning home to his wife and children. He then wakes up at home... Clearly, the name was changed from Jack Kamen to Jim Korman, although Harry Anderson would play a Professor Kamen in the Christian movie A Matter of Faith.

You can watch the full episode here. Harry Anderson would be 73 on October 14.

Harry Anderson's Sideshow

Harry Anderson would've been 72 years old this year. As I've done most years past, I'm using his birthday to celebrate some of the things in his life that isn't Night Court or Dave's World, his two sitcoms that helped make him a star.

After he died, I was reading a long obituary for him where they revealed that Anderson didn't necessarily like being a sitcom star. He was seeing other magicians getting TV specials and being awarded stardom just by being funny magicians--the main ones being the great Penn & Teller. Night Court allowed Anderson so showcase his comedy along with his magic but Dave's World, a family sitcom loosely based on the life of humorous newspaper columnist Dave Barry, did not. Anderson wanted to show off his magic, which is why he got into showbiz in the first place.

Shortly after Dave's World ended, Anderson and his new wife moved to New Orleans where he opened a magic shop and then a theater. The venture would be short-lived as Hurricane Katrina devastated the city and they moved to Asheville, North Carolina in 2006.

In 1987, around the height of Night Court's popularity, NBC gave Harry Anderson a special called Harry Anderson's Sideshow where Anderson could showcase his magic, comedy, and other strange attractions. The special premiered October 30, 1987 and pre-empted the series Private Eye which would be canceled in January after 13 episodes. I was unable to find ratings information for Sideshow but I would place it's viewership slightly above Private Eye but far below Night Court (at this point, in the top ten of TV shows).

The show opens with Anderson singing a song written by the famed Sherman brothers, "Canvas, Sawdust, and Dreams". The show immediately starts off by cutting Diedre Hall's head off in a guillotine. I hate when that happens.

The next show is the Amazing Acrobats of China. They can throw large vases and tables around with their feet. Anderson interviews Tommy Trio, a man with three legs portrayed by John Astin. Tommy absolutely does not want to talk about his three legs. Next is Charley Charles who does some stunts on a bicycle. He even rides a tiny bicycle, but his pants don't get caught in the chain and get pulled off.

Don't have to burn that seat.

Peter Scolari dances as diminutive Duke. It's kind of weird, maybe a little offensive, but Peter Scolari seems like he's having a good time. Anderson has turned Diedre Hall into Jan In the Pan while he works to reattach her head to her body. There's another performance from an Amazing Acrobat of China (this guy balances glass on his face and then climbs a ladder!) and then Marsha Warfield (Anderson's Night Court costar) comes out as Dynamo the Human Bomb. I love the banter between them "Harry, when you called and asked me to do this and I expressed very little interest, you said I could do what I want." She relents and does the trick when Harry hints he could get her kicked off of Night Court. Harry then blows up the box Warfield got in, but not until after she sneaks out while Harry has his back turned. I think it would've funny if Anderson, realizing he just killed his costar, would've said "We're gonna need a fourth bailiff" as kind of a joke to Selma Diamond and Florence Halop both passing away on Night Court before hiring Warfield. Maybe that would've been too mean or something.

Emma Samms plays Cloris, a beautiful girl flower. It's weird. But then we move to the death-defying feats of Pan-Tar and Maureen. He shoots arrows. He only does a couple tricks but they are pretty impressive. As the show concludes, Anderson thanks his guests and Diedre Hall has decided to embrace being a disembodied head and is thrilled to announce that she is joining the sideshow circuit with pitchman Tommy Trio!

At the end, we watch the acts clean up while we get a reprise of "Canvas, Sawdust, and Dreams" sung by Mel Torme. Credits roll (I'm assuming Anderson's daughter, Eva, playing the girl at the beginning of the special) and we end on Hick (voiced by Jay Johnson of Soap fame who also executive produced this special) making a joke about the special being too short for having paid 8 bits.

The end.

People Love Their Junk Mail

Harry Anderson, I don't think I have to explain who he is at this point, would've been 71 this year. I didn't plan a big post like some years past. You can read about his book here, his first hosting appearance on Saturday Night Live here, or his guest appearance on some awful Canadian kid's show named Noddy here. This year, just some fond memories and a dollar bill/cigarette trick from a 1981 appearance on SNL.

November 18, 1976

Agnes' last name is 'Dooley'. That tracks.

Does Agnes wear better clothes, get her hair out of her hair, and put out her cigar when soliciting her services door-to-door?

Yestiddy.

I was going to comment about how that seems like a lot of mail just thrown away and then I realized that we probably throw that much away without doing anything with it every week. Comic strip characters--they're written by people who are just like us!

"Boy, there are a lot of credit card offers in here. They know we have no money, right? Or is that what they're going for?"

The Magic Show

NBC Night Court publicity photo.

Harry Anderson would've turned the big 7-0 back on the 14th. While he's best known for playing Judge Harold T. Stone in Night Court, for years before that, he was a fairly prolific street magician. His performances would eventually lead to gigs on Saturday Night Live which would then lead to guest appearances on Cheers.

It was clear that magic was something that Anderson really wanted to do and acting was just something he had to do in order to perform his magic. On Night Court, his magic was very prominent early on but was put on the backburner in later seasons. Him performing magic was non-existent on his next show Dave's World. From articles and obituaries I've read, Anderson wanted to be known more as a magician and not an actor which prompted him to open a place in New Orleans to showcase his magic.

After Hurricane Katrina, Anderson and his wife moved to Asheville, North Carolina where he went into a kind of semi-retirement until his death in 2018. I love watching Harry Anderson on SNL or late-night talk shows performing his magic and being able to be a true performer. One of the weirder places Anderson showcased his magic was on the British/Canadian children's television show, Noddy.

Noddy premiered in 1998 and was set in an antique shop helmed by Noah, whose grandchildren hung out at the shop. Animation from the earlier series Noddy's Toyland Adventures was used when Kate, one of the grandchildren, told a story about something related to the main plot at hand. Anyway, Anderson plays Jack Fable, a magician whose car has broken down in Littleton Falls, so let's get into it.

We start out with the decent but saccharine theme song. While doing research, many said they loved the theme song. Again, it's decent. I like that it shows the cast. Not very many children's shows do that.

Bonita Flamingo wants to put on a magic show and needs both a magic wand and top hat in order to do that. The puppets then go off to find the box of magic tricks that are apparently in storage somewhere in the shop.

Warlow Weasel hints to the audience that he's going to sabotage the magic show by taking the magic wand. Just because he wasn't invited. That's a good message to send to children.

Meanwhile, Officer Carl Spiffy is telling someone to move their car, unfortunately they can't because it's broken down. Probably because it looks like a real-life Little Tykes car.

Officer Carl (Officer Spiffy?) begins writing this man a ticket because he's blocking traffic. The man, who we learn is Jack Fable, gets out of it by using magic and bribing the officer with milk and cookies he pulls from his coat.

Your human laws don't apply to magicians!

Meanwhile, Kate is upset because D.J. won't perform in the talent show with her and she wants her grandfather, Noah, to force him. Noah can't do that but when D.J. shows up, Noah asks if there is anything he would like to do for the talent show. D.J. says "Magic."

"Do you know any magic tricks?"

"Not really," is basically D.J.'s answer.

Noah and D.J. go to look for the box of magic tricks, unaware that the puppets (toys?) have already gotten to it so they can use it for their magic show. Noah apparently has a box of "mumblety-peg" in storage which I am just imagining as a box of knives.

Kate, being selfish, thinks D.J. should forget about magic and just sing and dance with her. Truman, Kate's younger brother, is wowed by magic and wants D.J. to teach him. Kate says that magic is bad and that you shouldn't play with it. "What happens?" "Bad, bad things. Things you don't even want to know about." To hammer this point home, she tells us a story about when Noddy got mixed up in the crazy, evil world of magic.

Noddy buys some magic from Sailor Sam so he can impress his friends. Almost immediately, Noddy spills the magic causing Tessie Bear's dog, Bumpy Dog, to disappear. Somehow, Tessie Bear is placed under a sneezing spell and I am already tired of this story. Noddy chastises Bumpy Dog for causing enough trouble but I'm pretty sure this is all Noddy's fault. Neighbor Tubby Bear steals one of the spells and spikes his mother's lemonade causing her to bark like a dog. After causing a toy sailboat to fly away and Mr. Plod (the local policeman) to constantly sing and dance, among other things, Noddy figures it's time to visit the smartest person he knows: Big Ears. Big Ears tells Noddy he shouldn't play with something he doesn't understand and then pistol whips him. Wait. No. He just takes the magic spells and burns them. Through deus ex machina, the magic is reversed and everything returns to normal and everyone even forgets what happened.

Overhearing Noah being unable to find the box of magic tricks, the toys agree to return the box to the humans and do their magic show later. D.J. scares Truman by "removing" his finger which impresses Jack who is roaming the store while his car is being repaired. Jack then shows D.J. a thing or two and after making Aunt Agatha disappear, Kate suggests D.J. ask Jack to teach him magic. "Yeah! He's the best!" D.J. agrees.

Jack refuses because a magician never reveals his secrets. D.J. says that Jack would probably teach his own kids which strike a nerve with Jack. Since he's a traveling magician, he doesn't really get home to see his kids very often. Jack then says good-bye and takes his leave.

Come back, Jack!

On the balcony that she reappeared on, Aunt Agatha finds the box of magic tricks. As D.J. goes through the box, Kate finishes the Noddy story which I decided to finish all in one chunk up above. Her tone with magic seems to change as she tells Truman that D.J. won't get in trouble like Noddy because Noddy was playing with a different kind of magic. Look, is magic the tool of the Devil or not. Pick a lane, kid.

He's back!

D.J. is having trouble doing magic. Luckily, Jack has had a change of heart and has returned. We then get a montage of Jack teaching D.J. magic while the toys sing.

I don't like how suggestive this is...

After teaching D.J. some magic, Jack takes his leave again, this time heading home to teach some magic to his own kids. Jack then gets in his tiny car and drives away. D.J., from the middle of the street, waves good-bye. There is no talent show. The episode is over. Roll credits.

He's gone for real this time.

There is a lot of stuff I didn't even comment on, wanting to focus on the plot and Harry Anderson. You can watch the episode on YouTube here.

And Your Host...

Saturday Night Live is an institution in this country. It's hard not to be after being around for 47 seasons. Over those seasons, they've had some ups and some downs. Depending on your era of SNL, you may think there's been more downs. Harry Anderson, who turns 69 (nice!) today, first hosted SNL on February 9, 1985 after making several guest appearances. It was the tenth season and this season was rough, which is saying something considering the series had been pretty rough since Lorne Michaels left in 1980. NBC almost canceled the show after this season but then-NBC president Brandon Tartikoff saved the show, renewing it, and hiring back Lorne Michaels.

This episode features Jim Belushi, Billy Crystal, Mary Gross, Christopher Guest, Rich Hall, Gary Kroeger, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Harry Shearer--who had actually left the show a month before but was retained in the opening credits, Martin Short, and Pamela Stephenson. The musical guest is Bryan Adams.

The cold open I don't even understand. It's a Ronald Reagan State of the Union speech with Rich Hall portraying Robert Latta, who was a meter reader who was able to get into the White House during Reagan's second inauguration by following the Marine band. I guess you had to be there and I guess this was a shtick Hall did quite a bit in 1985. Anderson's monologue goes into detail about how he's no longer Harry "The Hat" but Harry "The Judge" and there's going to be a new Harry Anderson from now on. No more sticking needles through his arm, no more dropping his pants, no more insulting the audience about their poor choice of clothes.

I mean, he's got his face on the cover of national magazines now.

Harry Anderson is now a family entertainer. And he brought a friend! A white Guinea pig named Skippy who Anderson says can do acrobatic tricks. Skippy's not on board and refuses to work. Anderson asks why Skippy won't do his routine and Skippy says it's because SNL has a Caucasian drummer. Anderson says that's too bad and that if you don't work, you don't live and scoops up Skippy, cramming him in his mouth.

Harry Anderson: Family Entertainer.

In the first sketch, Belushi plays Cecil who returns home from the post office to find that his wife (Gross), believing Cecil dead because he was twenty minutes late, has taken a new lover (Anderson). We then come to find out that she's done this before. To Albert (Hall), who had left that morning--for work.

The best part is Harry's robe.

The next sketch is Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest as Ricky and Phil. I'm assuming some people thought it was funny. Christopher Guest returns to give us the Saturday Night News. I'm assuming some people thought it was funny. Billy Crystal makes an appearance here, too. He insults Hawaiians and their food. Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Christopher Reeve make an appearance in the audience during Crystal's fake stand-up routine.

The next sketch features Anderson as a judge in 1600s Salem, Massachusetts. Martin Short portrays a public defender who tries to defend his client from reckless carriage driving, poaching deer, and consorting with the Devil, copulating with demons, and using the blood of Christian children. Anderson is mostly just a background character to Martin Short's energetic lawyer.

Harry then tells the story of how he became infatuated with hats and tells about his friend, Morris, who taught Harry that with a little bit of felt, you can have any hat that you want. It's an neat story and the different hats that Anderson can fold is impressive.

During the good-byes, Anderson makes sure we know that Skippy is alive and well. He tells his then-wife Leslie and daughter, Eva, that he loves them. He then says we're in this comedy business for one reason. Anderson goes into the audience and pulls Carol Burnett up on stage.

Bryan Adams performed "Somebody" and "Run To You" but since I was watching on Peacock, you don't see the musical guest along with a couple other segments. You can find bits of this episode on the SNL YouTube channel or watch it, for free, on Peacock.