Looking for a good summer read? This came out last year but I just got to it last week at the cottage: I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend by Martin Short (HarperCollins 2014). Short has had an amazing life so far. He grew up in Hamilton, Ont., dreaming of showbiz and fascinated by
This week, CHML’s Scott Thompson wanted to ask my take on the Oscars. We went on to gab for over 16 minutes and completely ignored the awards talk. Instead we got sidetracked yakking about last week’s epic Saturday Night Live 40th anniversary special. I got a call this week from my colleague Bill Carter who, in 1975
There was a lot of disappointment Sunday night, on Twitter at least, in Eddie Murphy’s return to Saturday Night Live. He was lionized by Chris Rock, walked out the door and down the steps past the band, and basically took a bow. It was anticlimactic, like when Dave Keon finally returned to Maple Leaf Gardens.
It is always a kick for me to grab a few minutes with any one of my comedy heroes from Canada’s greatest TV export–SCTV. So I quickly scrambled on stage at the end of the Mulaney press conference last July at the Beverly Hilton to scrum with Martin Short. The Hamilton native is quick and thoughtful
This week, CHML’s Scott Thompson asks about another radio voice: Don Pardo. Pardo died Monday at 96. He’s best known, of course, as the announcer on Saturday Night Live but he began his NBC career in 1944 as a radio man. We pay homage to Pardo for ten minutes, or about as long as it took
Born Feb. 22, 1918, Dominick George “Don” Pardo joined the NBC Radio Network as an announcer in June of 1944–or, as Lorne Michaels once pointed out, “before I was born.” Michaels hired Pardo in Sept. of 1975 as the original announcer for Saturday Night Live and, save for one season in the ’80s, he has
Howard Shore keeps an eye on Richard Crouse at Thursdays CFC event A packed house came out to hear Howard Shore Thursday night at the Bell Lightbox and he didn’t even play a note. The Canadian Film Centre hosted an evening with the three-time Academy Award-winning composer. Shore is a Toronto lad made good, scoring
Many years ago, this comedy team I know, Bullock & Brioux, worked a funeral. A friend’s father had passed away, and the family had gathered, and they needed to laugh. So a set was performed in a crowded living room.Bullock & Brioux never got bigger laughs, or put on a more rewarding show.People, as has