In this second clip from my conversation with Dave Broadfoot, the Canadian comedy legend talks about his early influences. Among those who made him sit a little closer to the radio were Allan Young, a fellow Canadian who would go on to fame opposite a talking horse on Mr. Ed. A young Broadfoot used to watch Young tape his radio show at the Hotel Vancouver.
Broadfoot, who was at today’s Air Farce book signing in Toronto, also has a cool story about the guy who directed him in his very first TV venture in the ’50s–Norman Jewison. Fascinating, too, is his memory of the nameless CBC boss who wanted to clarify that the public broadcaster was “not in show business. We’re in the entertainment business.” Being in show business was all right by Broadfoot, who also always understood the value of a “hot, responsive studio audience.”
advertisement