Brink Family Vacation 2024-Hello Wisconsin!

I’m back y’all! Not only am I back from the vacation I took with my family, but also from the hiatus I took from blogging. I do owe my regular readers a bit of an apology for that. I drafted an announcement about my leave of blogging absence but failed to actually publish the dang thing. Whoops. I guess that says it all about my need for a break!

Anyhoo, I’m back to it now. I’ve got some ideas for changing things up a bit around here, but for now let’s talk about the recent adventures on vacation in Wisconsin. Ready to travel with me? Great. Let’s roll.

PART ONE: CHANNELING THE GRISWOLDS

Every vacation brings with it some risk of having at least a few things go wrong. Most of the time things go pretty well, with only a few small hiccups along the way, if any. Sometimes, though, you get a big ol’ monkey wrench thrown into the works. Fortunately, it happened on our first day, but this was not the start that anyone would want to their trip.

We chose to stay in the Midwest this year, visiting one of the Great Lakes, instead of going South like we often do. We booked our first Vrbo (which was quite easy and an excellent experience overall), and planned to bring our dog Zoey with us, partially to avoid kennel boarding fees, and also so she wasn’t alone over the July 4th holiday. The area we live in has so many fireworks it sounds like a warzone and scares the heck out of poor Zoe, so we wanted to make sure she felt safe and comfortable with us.

So we loaded up on Sunday morning and hit the road. We had a pleasant drive with a few stops at rest areas for Zoey to potty and the rest of us to stretch. We also got to stop at the original Wally’s for lunch. Everything was going along great…until it wasn’t.

While passing through downtown Milwaukee, the van made that horrible “ding!” noise that tells you something’s wrong. My info screen read “low tire”. Our tire are usually inflated to 35 lbs., but there was one in back reading 29. Okay, no big deal, I’ll get some air in it next chance I get. But then the reading went rapidly down to 27. Then 14. Then 10. All in the matter of under a minute.

Yup. Blow out- in the downtown area of a city I’ve never been in. Not great. So I found a gas station to pull into, unpacked the luggage, and got out the spare tire. Our minivan has an inflatable spare tire, so it needed to be inflated and put on. This was not an errand I wanted to try in a strange place with a vehicle I haven’t worked on before. The two people working inside the Mobil were not willing (or possibly not allowed, but I got the feeling that it was the former) to lend a hand. Well, insurance exists for situations just like this one. Roadside assistance is covered in our policy, so we made a call to State Farm and within about twenty minutes or so a guy came out, inflated the spare, and also checked to see if he could give the tire a quick mend. No such luck. Oh, well. Woulda been cool though.

Anyway, one tire change later we packed up the van and were on our way. Except we weren’t.

When I went to start the car, the electric parking break would not disengage and it also wouldn’t start, and since the tire guy was gone there was no one to give us a jump. Once again, we called the insurance company, and they sent out a tow truck. Miraculously we got the van on the truck and it went on its way.

It is now after 6pm, on a Sunday, and there is no one open to fix our vehicle. The insurance company randomly picked a repair shop to take the van to and drop it off for work the next day. Meanwhile we are left in the middle of downtown with all of our luggage, our dog, and no vehicle or accommodations for the night. We were able to find a downtown hotel that would accept our dog (not an easy task) and all five of us into one room. The only one available was a *really expensive* Hilton, which ate into our vacation budget, but what could we do?

We made a reservation and called a Lyft (which is also included with our insurance) to take us to the hotel. The driver they sent out was super nice, but his vehicle couldn’t fit us and all of our stuff. This was going to require two trips, when he only signed up for one. Fortunately he sympathized with our plight, and made the second trip. We offered to pay him for his time, and he accepted but only asked for $6.00. We gave him ten. I honestly expected the man to ask for more, but his kindness prevailed.

That’s one thing I will say about our brief layover in Milwaukee, we didn’t encounter a single person who wasn’t very nice. I mean, except the guys at the Mobil. More than a few people asked if we needed help, but State Farm had us covered so we declined. One person even asked if we needed any “financial blessings.” While our expenses were building up quick, my conscience wouldn’t allow me to take any money from a stranger. We have a credit card set aside for emergencies and that would surely get us through, so again I declined, but how great was that offer? It pains me to say that I’m not sure this level of kindness would happen in downtown St. Louis. In the suburbs, sure, but downtown? Maybe. I wouldn’t count on it though.

Everyone in Milwaukee treated us well. Even the homeless people asking for money were super polite about it. The hotel staff were able to squeeze us in last minute, the Domino’s pizza staff made our order quickly when we told them our story (that was all we could find open by the time we were in the hotel and ready for dinner that wasn’t a sit down restaurant.) So five stars to the citizens of Milwaukee.

From the small part of Milwaukee we experienced, it looks like a beautiful city. It’s very clean, and has interesting architecture. I’d like to explore it more under different circumstances. I did find a nice green square to walk the dog too, so that’s a plus. Speaking of the dog, Zoey was a trooper through this whole experience. Not a fan of elevators though.

Okay, cut to the next morning. We are in our room making phone calls about the vehicle. If you’ve ever tried to have a vehicle repaired on a Monday, you know it’s not an easy thing to do. Even when making an appointment, I generally have to go two weeks out to get a Monday slot, and walk-ins are an even harder proposition. The shop that had the van told us it might be a repair that needed to be done at a dealership, but they’d see what they could do. We contacted a few dealers in the area, and none of them would even look at it for DAYS, even considering our situation. Typical dealer crap-never trust a dealer’s service department. That’s a free tip from your old pal Dave.

Eventually we had to check out of the hotel, but were still waiting for a call from the shop. So we camped out in the lounge area of the lobby with our stuff and dog, waiting for some news. Finally the shop called with quotes on fixing the van same day. We got permission from them to bring the dog inside their waiting room, so we got another Lyft, and proceeded to wait a few more hours while they worked on the electric and replaced our battery, which had somehow fried out during all of this. Eventually we were paid up and done with the electric.

As for the tire, we have a replacement plan with Discount Tire, who have always been good to us. Since they were right down the road from the shop, we figured we’d just drive over on the spare and replace it at the D.C. where the tire would cost $32.00 as opposed to $130.00. We called in the morning and spoke with a manager who assured us that they had the tire in stock, and as soon as we arrived he’d get us in the rotation quick.

Well, we arrived a little before 2:00 to learn that the person we spoke with had gone home, and no-one else knew a thing about the situation. So we were put on the walk-in list, and of course they were slammed. Because Monday.

So we waited again. The tire place is located in a strip mall/shopping area so we were able to grab some lunch, take Zoey to a Petco for a while to give her something to do, and wait outside in a mostly shaded picnic area. It could have been worse, but by now we were all more than a little tired of waiting around and we were watching our whole first day of vacation disappear before our eyes.

Discount tire closes at 5:00. We picked up the van at 4:45. This still left us a two hour drive to the Green Bay area where we were staying, with at least one stop for the doggo to be factored in. Day one of the vacation was pretty much officially shot-and we all had plans for Saturday, so our four day trip became a three day pretty quickly. Sure, we were determined to make the best of it, but the overall mood wasn’t the best. Still, we were all safe and had functional transport so it could have been much worse.

All this time we had been in contact with our Vrbo hosts. They were very understanding. They’d even offered to extend our visit by a day for no charge since we missed Sunday night but we couldn’t make that happen, since we absolutely had to leave Friday. Still, once again, Mid-West nice comes out to shine.

The house itself was a duplex with three bedrooms and two separate living rooms on two floors, and included pretty much anything you’d need as far as cooking, laundry, and toiletries are concerned. It was a lovely space, and thoughtfully furnished. This vacation was beginning to turn around.

By nine o clock we were finally settled in and ready for dinner. After the day we’d had, we just needed some comfort food and to relax. So, being in Wisconsin we ate at Culver’s. Seemed appropriate. It wasn’t any different than the Culver’s back home, but it hit the spot.

Okay, end of part one. Did the vacation turn around? Were we able to make some fun memories? How did we work around the missed day? Did we get some cheese? Were there fireworks on the 4th to scare the dog? Did we get souvenirs?

All of these questions ( and maybe more) will be answered in part two-next time right here on Mon-DAVEs!

A Tribute To Roger Corman

Over the weekend we lost another great one, the legendary Roger Corman.

You’re forgiven if you can’t quite place the name. film geeks know all about Corman and his legacy, but regular folks? Not so much. still, I’d wager that pretty much everyone has seen a film that had Roger Corman’s fingerprints on it in some way, either because he directed or produced the film you are watching, or because it was made by people who learned their craft by working for Corman in their early days. Corman himself got his start in the 1950s, and worked through the 20-teens.

Roger Corman is often known as the king of the B movies. He made movies fast, and he made them cheap. It showed, but that was all part of the charm. Some of these movies were pure cheese, some were exploitation flicks, many were horror or science fiction. A lot of them are as cringe-y as they sound, but certainly not all. Lots of Corman flicks had interesting ideas and clever twists on their formulaic bases that made them much more interesting than the competition. He even had a series of (very) loose film adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories. I’m a fan of Poe, and of Vincent Price who starred in these films and is always awesome.

In 1970 Corman started New World pictures-a name known by many of us late night cable TV viewers back in the day. He made movies for other studios as well, along with TV movies, and an infamous “Fantastic Four” adaption that has never officially been released, but the story behind the film is a fascinating one. In fact, there is an entire documentary about the film called “Doomed” which I highly recommend.

Now all this would be enough to pay tribute to the man, but for many his legacy is not just in the movies he directed or produced, but the people who’s careers he jump started. Many actors and directors who went on to not only become household names but change the face of movies as we know them spent time with Roger Corman in the early days. The following is far from a complete list, but shows the eye for talent that Roger Corman had, and the quality that comes from sparse beginnings. Ready? Here we go:

Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard (as a director), John Carpenter, Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese, Penelope Spheeris, Jack Nicholson, Bill Paxton, Dennis Quaid, Pam Grier, Robert DeNiro, Sylvester Stallone, Alan Arkush, Barbara Hershey, Sandra Bullock, David Carradine, Diane Ladd, Joe Dante…the list goes on.

Oh, one more thing, Roger Corman is also responsible for importing films by international directors such as Ingmar Bergman, Werner Herzog, David Cronenberg, and Frederico Fellini just to name a few. Pretty impressive list for a guy who made “Attack OF The Crab Monsters” huh?

If you enjoy movies at all, you owe at least a little bit of thanks and respect to Roger Corman for being in the business and being an influence on multiple genres for so many years. the Corman name is synonymous with action, twisted humor and, yes, a little bit of cheap thrills along the way. His movies are always fun and interesting to watch, be they cheap, cheesy schlock, or rare, mostly unknown gems. King of the B movies? Maybe. The Godfather of Independent Cinema? Definitely.

Thanks for the hours and hours of entertainment, Mr. Corman.

Recommended viewing.

Some films feature Corman as director, some as producer. He made an insane amount of movies. Google it. A mind-blowing amount. The following is a small list of my favorites from the classic 1960s/70s period.

-The Corman-Poe Cycle: House OF Usher (1960), The Pit and The Pendulum (1961), Tales Of Terror (1962), The Masque Of The Red Death (1964)
-Rock N’ Roll High School (1979)
-Death Race 2000 (1975)
-It Conquered The World (1956)
-The Wasp Woman (1959)
-The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960)
-Dementia 13 (1963)
-Piranha (1978)
-Machine Gun Kelley (1958)
-X: The Man With The X-Ray Eyes (1963)

I’m going to go watch some old movies now. See you next time.

The One Where I Get All Enthusiastic About My Kids, My Past, The Theater, And A Man Eating Plant

This weekend, daughter Tessa’s high school put on their Spring musical, “Little Shop Of Horrors” which *might* be my favorite musical of all time. There are a few others that can give it a run for its money, but “Little Shop” is one I can always return to and be lost in. The stage play differs quite a bit from the movie musical (which I also love), and significantly from the original 1960s non-musical original movie, which is barely watchable but does feature a young Jack Nicholson and is a Roger Corman production so I have some healthy respect for it too. Anyway, “Little Shop” is a really fun show that also happens to be tragically beautiful amidst all the murderous mayhem, hungry plants, situational comedy, and certified showtune bangers.

It is also very special to me because this show gave me my first sizeable role in a production, back when we performed it at my high school in (gulp) 1988. I’d had a few walk-ons before, but playing Mr. Mushnik was my first big part. In some ways, everything I’ve done since, from Children’s Theater in college through stand-up comedy in the1990s, and even making music in various bands can be traced in some way back to that production. I owe a lot to “Little Shop”, and even more to our director Bob Fowler for seeing something in me and giving me a shot. Thanks, Bob, if you’re reading this!

So it is with this background that I went to see this current production. Tessa wasn’t onstage this time-though she very well could have been. She’d have made a great urchin! Instead, she used her years of dance experience to choreograph the show. You see, the Assistant Director bailed out-I think due to a contract situation but I’m not too sure on the story-and that left a big hole to be filled. So, since Tessa was already “Dance Captain” for the show, her director asked if she knew anything about choreography. Now, she just so happened to choreograph a few songs for a Summer Theater camp last year, and since she has been a dancer for years (and is a member of a dance company here in town), the answer was yes. Follow up question: would she like to be in charge of choreography for a few songs? Sure. Okay, great, how about the WHOLE SHOW?

So she did. Every song that had a dance number, it all came from her noggin. There were even a few that didn’t really need choreo, but over achiever that she is, she got it in there anyway. And it was awesome! I know I’m biased, but I heard other audience members talking about the dance numbers too, so it wasn’t just me. It’s a credit to her that she took on a large chunk of responsibility, quite unexpectedly at that, saw it through, and nailed it.

I’m not sure how I could be more proud. Strangely, though, my sense of pride didn’t stop with just her. Perhaps it’s because I love the show so much, or because I’m a grown-up Theater Kid, or I’m just becoming a sentimental old fart, but I was proud of all of these kids-most of whom I don’t even know. Some I’ve met briefly, or heard Tessa talk about, but I don’t actually know them.

Yet, I kind of do. I know what they went through to get to this weekend. I know all the hours spent at school in rehearsal. I know about spending your free time in the evenings running your lines by yourself or with family. I know how it feels to be a teenager, feeling simultaneously sure that you can do anything and that there’s no way you can do any of this. To be fair, that’s a lot of adulthood too, but I digress. I know the frustrations of putting on a show, the panic that sets in about two weeks before, the elation when things go right and the heartbreak when even the tiniest thing goes wrong. I’ve been there. That’s why I’m so proud of them that they not only did it-but did it well.

These kids stepped it up. Apart from Tessa’s choreo thing, not having an assistant director meant that the student stage manager had to do a lot more work with the actors and the crew to get this show running. Also, this production was very fortunate in that the props head is also a legitimate puppeteer-and she made the Audrey II plants used in the show. ALL OF THEM, from the littlest pod to the giant man-eating plant we see in Act Two. They were excellent. This is what happens when passionate people are allowed to follow their hearts, use their own creativity and unique skill sets, and make their ideas a reality. It’s a joy to see.

That’s what amateur theater is. Especially High School Theater. It is joyful. It is pure. It is theater in its truest form. The same can be said for community theater groups as well, but High School theater can be really special.

Was the show perfect? Honestly, no. However, it was very, very good. I mean, we’re not talking about a professional touring production here. There are going to be a few glitches here and there, but it’s easy to overlook and forgive. In any amateur production, the cast and crew are shooting well over their heads for the stars, and when it all goes right-even if just for a moment-they can by God touch ’em.

I was able to attend three of the four productions this weekend. I watched the show progress from the opening night jitters to the assuredness of the final show. This is what I love about High School theater. The drama/theater department is a home to these kids. It gives the misfit, the loner, the shy kid, the weirdos, the misunderstood, and all those who are searching a place to belong. There is a spot for everyone in troupe who wishes to be there. Sure, there’s the actors onstage, but there are just as many people, usually more, running sound, lights, publicity, props, costumes, make-up, ticket sales and concessions, you name it. There’s a job for everyone, and they are all important to a successful show. Often, people wind up doing tasks they never thought they could do. By the end of the process, everyone has grown and can enjoy a job well done.

My heart has been filled this week. guys, I think I might have missed my calling. I should have been a high school theater teacher!

Both my daughters have been in productions over the last few years, and I have been proud of them both, and thoroughly enjoyed them all. I’ve had fun running lines, giving opinions and encouragement, and watching the success of their shows. I have been content to watch with pride as my kids get experiences in the arts, and take away lessons for a lifetime. I would wax nostalgic on my theater days, but leave it at that. For some reason, though, this weekend I have (finally) realized just how much I miss live theater. I miss the camaraderie and the competition. I miss the creativity and the challenge, the frustrations and the celebration.

I miss my stand-up days a little bit, but not much. I still play music for fun, and am very slowly working on a new project, but it’s not all consuming. This weekend’s shows has moved me more than I thought it would.

This is the part where you’re expecting me to announce that I am going to make a triumphant return to the stage. Well, I don’t know. I’ve avoided doing much performing for a long time, since the rehearsal time and all the work needed would take me away from my family for a good chunk of the week. I’ve felt it would be irresponsible of me as a father to do all that.

But-

The kids are older now, they get what it’s all about. I’ve been saying that I need something new in my life-but maybe I need to bring back something old and make it new.

I’m promising nothing. But I am beginning to think about it, or as Mushnik would say, “mull it over.” It’s a daunting idea. But an intriguing one. Never say never.

I’ll be back soon with more stuff. See you next time.

Daytripper? Yeah!

Two weeks ago, the kids (and my wife, who is a teacher-have I told you that? She is.) were on Spring Break. So I took a little time off, too, and we had a few days of family fun. While we weren’t able to make a week long trip work this time around, we decided to do a day trip to our neighboring state of Illinois and visit Springfield to “do all the Lincoln stuff.”

In an effort to make things a little more special, we opted to take the Amtrak train instead of driving. It didn’t save time or anything, but it was kind of fun and different, and it gave the kids a new experience. I hadn’t been on the train since I was a boy, so it was fun for me too. For some reason, people don’t take trains very often around these parts, or at least you don’t hear about it much. Sure, some major cities have trains that you can ride around the city, like St. Louis’s MetroLink or the elevated train in Chicago, but as an option of travel from one city to another it falls well behind driving or flying. I get the impression that train travel is much more widespread in Europe, but what do I know?

Anyway, the Amtrak experience was, um, interesting. Not unpleasant, I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t quite what I expected. For one thing, security doesn’t seem to be a big priority. Now, I believe that security at airports can be a little too strict, but I don’t think there was much security at all. Our car was more secure in the parking lot than we were as travelers.

There were no metal detectors for one thing. Bring whatever you want on board, guys, it’s all good. Also, nobody checked our tickets at the St. Louis station. I’d like to think it was just a mistake made for our group, like a miscommunication between conductors maybe, and everyone else got checked. I don’t know that for sure, though. I do know that we didn’t need to bring all that ID that the website said would be required because nobody checked that either. That’s not a big deal either, but in an age where most people/businesses are overly cautious about everything, it just felt weird. Some would call it liberating, but I don’t know. It seems like there should be a middle ground between the TSA and pretty much nothing. There are signs posted inside the trains that read “If you see something, say something.” Well, the conductor didn’t see my ticket and I say that’s a little off putting. For the record though, the Spring field station did check tickets (not ID though), so there’s that.

I don’t want to dump on Amtrak too much, though, because I did enjoy the ride. I spent most of the trip staring out of the window, watching the countryside roll by, and spent very little time on my phone. That was kind of nice. It was also nice not to be in charge of the driving for once. I mean, I actually like long drives for road trips, but every once in a while, it’s nice to let that responsibility go. The ride was pleasant, the employees were all quite nice (even when having to break the news to large groups that they couldn’t sit together), and while we didn’t get anything from the dining car, others around us did and it smell pretty good!

Okay, so on to Springfield, Illinois. Springfield is the state’s capital and is pretty much Abraham Lincoln’s adopted home. He moved to Illinois with his family at the age of twenty one, and spent many years in Springfield before being elected to the White House. The city has embraced and capitalized on this fact. I mean, honestly, the Lincoln thing is really all they have, so they’ve run with it, but they do it well. As daughter Tessa said when asked what she thought of the trip, “That’s a lot of Lincoln.” True, but interesting and kind of cool. You know, in a history geek kind of way.

Springfield’s main draw is, of course, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. While we did not visit the library (which would have been interesting, I think), we did see the museum, and it is well worth the trip and price of admission. The exhibits are mostly divided into Lincoln’s early years (in the log cabin section) and his presidential years. Roughly one-half of the museum is devoted to each. The tour is a self guided, move at your own pace type of thing. Pro tip: try to go when schools are not in session, as the roaming groups of pre-teens on field trips made sticking to your own pace somewhat difficult. There were a lot of them!

Also, be sure to see the special multi-media shows if you ever go. The one entitled “Ghosts Of The Library” is particularly good. The gift shop is also excellent for those who care about such things. Lots of high-quality knick-knackery on display for the discerning souvenir shopper. That may be my favorite sentence I have ever typed.

Another Lincoln based attraction is the Lincoln house and neighborhood, which stands just as it was at the time (lovingly maintained of course. It’s not just a bunch of old neglected buildings, what kind of tourist attraction is that?) and is an interesting walk back in time. Pro tip #2: Get there early, as tours of the Lincoln house sell out quickly. We got to the Lincoln house around 11:30-and it was sold out for the rest of the day. So, go earlier than that, I guess. We didn’t tour the house, but we got to look at it and take a photo or two, so that’s all right.

Downtown Springfield is very walkable, though strangely empty. Perhaps Wednesdays in March aren’t exactly high season, but it felt a little ghost town-ish. There were lots of buildings and a theater, city parks, and some restaurants, so signs of life abounded. We just didn’t see much life. We did, however find a cool used book store that I forgot the name of, but it was a just barely organized, shambolic place that smelled of old paper and housed an old out of tune piano for no discernable reason. I love out of tune pianos, even when they have books all over them.

Lunchtime. We found an awesome spot called Obed And Isaac’s Microbrewery and Eatery, with the slogan “Eat well and drink better beer.” My kind of thinking! People who don’t go to breweries often don’t realize that the food is usually pretty phenomenal. Sure, microbrews can be an eye-opening and pleasurable experience for the beer drinker, but don’t sleep on the food, man. Obed & Isaac’s is all ages during the day (as most microbreweries are), so we got a table and got tucked into some eats. The kids had burgers made to order, which they raved about, and my wife had a brisket burger which she assumed would be a beef brisket sandwich, and the burger part was in name only. Nope. this was beef brisket on top of a patty. I had a bite and it was excellent!

My meal of choice was a “pony shoe” sandwich, which is a miniature version of the horseshoe, a Springfield staple. For those unfamiliar, a horseshoe is an open faced sandwich with thick sliced toasted bread, meat (usually beef or pork, but ham or corned beef versions are not unheard of) covered in cheese sauce and topped with french fries. Look, I said the food was good, not good for you, okay? I also had a “Fuzzy Slipper” milk stout beer made with chocolate and vanilla beans. Oh, and it was 9.75% alcohol, which they will only serve in 10 oz. pours due to its strength. It was actually way too sweet for my tastes, but it’s worth trying. In retrospect, I should have had the red ale. Anyway, we very much enjoyed the meal. A little bit on the expensive side (with five people, what’s not), but really good.

Before returning, we also toured the state capital building. It’s a beautiful building, though honestly, if I was an Illinois taxpayer, I’d be a little annoyed by the opulence of the place and the money it surely requires for upkeep. Remind me not to visit the Missouri capital building. Still, it was interesting to see. Also interesting were the many statues and portraits of Illinois governors. Illinois has quite famously had its fair share of questionable elected officials in that particular role over the years. This is not a political blog, so I’m not about to comment, but they’re all there on display if you ever want to see them.

Well, that’s about it for our trip. After about six hours of walking the city, we were quite ready to board the train, relax a little, and head for home. While I wouldn’t make a full vacation out of it, Springfield is a fun day trip for those who would like to take in a little bit of history and explore not only the life and times of one of our most famous and influential presidents, but also get a slice of small town Midwestern life.

Wherever you go and whatever you do, take care of yourself, and be good to everyone else. See you next time, MonDavers!

RIP Joe

Hey, all. Special edition of the blog tonight. Normally I publish on Mondays (duh), but as I was preparing a new blog last night I saw a post come across my Twitter (I refuse to call it X) feed that stopped me in my tracks. I knew I needed to write about it, but since the date was April 1st, I decided to put everything on hold and make sure there wasn’t just another hoax going around.

Sadly, this was true. Joe Flaherty has died. Another hero gone.

This name may not be immediately familiar to everyone-at least not in America. In Canada, he’s considered comedy royalty. In this country Flaherty is well known, but perhaps not as much as he should be. You’ve seen him though, and you have laughed.

Perhaps you know him from Freaks And Geeks, the 90’s show that was too good to survive more than one season. He played the dad, Mr. Weir. He was the ultimate dad: caring, funny and sarcastic.

If you were a kid in the 1990s you may remember Maniac Mansion from The Family Channel. Yep. The wacky Dad again, only this time he’s a scientist.

But maybe you’re a movie person. Remember the guy who delivers Marty McFly the letter in Back To The Future II? How about the Serbian border guard in Stripes? Or, maybe you know him best as the spectator who heckles Happy Gilmore. Better yet, how about his role as the blubbering bad guy Sid in Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird? One of my favorites, for sure.

Joe Flaherty had a habit of popping up lots of places, from television shows to movies to Saturday morning cartoons. He was never short of brilliant in anything. In fact, he often made an average scene ten times better just by showing up. Check out his Wikipedia page and do a deep dive. You’ll find lots of laughs along the way.

Now, apart from all that, what Flaherty may be best known for (at least as far as comedy nerds are concerned) is his genius run at the Canadian/American television show SCTV. It’s a cult classic certainly, but one that is a touchstone for generations of comedy. This show served as a big break for-you ready for this list?-Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Andrea Martin, Harold Ramis, Dave Thomas, and, of course, Joe Flaherty. Just think about all the talent that sprung forth from that pool. Joe may not be the biggest name in the bunch, but he was arguably the funniest-and he was often the glue that held it all together both on screen and off.

For those unfamiliar, SCTV was a show that centered around the broadcast day of a fictional television station. Not only did the viewer see the shows being “broadcast”, but also got a glimpse behind the scenes at the people who ran the station and starred in the shows. This was the genius of SCTV. Not only were the actors able to create their own characters, but they could do parodies of popular movies and TV, and impersonate the real life stars.

Back in the day (early 1980s this would have been), the cast was known mostly for their impersonations, which could be mercilessly accurate, though I believe mostly came from a good place. Watching this stuff nowadays, the parodies and impersonations take a back seat to the original characters and conceptual pieces. It doesn’t always age well (I sometimes don’t even know what or who the jokes are about), and some of it is very hit-and-miss, but SCTV is still a classic. Mostly because you are pretty much required to love these people, and I do.

Joe Flaherty is my favorite cast member. Many of the others have gone on to do bigger and better things, but in the context of the show at least, he was the absolute best. Want proof?

Count Floyd.

Yep, that’s Joe. The Count Floyd sketches are a masterclass in hapless comedy. These sketches are a parody of the “horror hosts” of the 1960s-70s who would present old, bad movies while dressed up in ghoulish attire. Count Floyd was colossally bad at his job. Not only did he get the worst movies-but he couldn’t preview them before air time, so he had to roll with whatever was available and try to convince all the kids watching that the film would “scare the pants right off of you!” Floyd was also under the impression that vampires howled at the moon. Class stuff!

Other great Flaherty characters included station owner Guy Caballero, who used a wheelchair “for respect”, and was smarmy, but also a soft touch and a decent guy underneath. Another favorite was small time criminal/businessman Vic Hedges who could rob you blind, but he’d “save your life in a minute.” I always loved watching the Farm Film Report (later Celebrity Farm Film Blow Up) with Big Jim McBob. Flaherty’s cheesy, old school show-biz talk show host Sammy Maudlin was always good for some laughs as well. When it comes to impressions, Flaherty did a great Bing Crosby, a hysterically over the top Kirk Douglas, and a bizarrely wonderful Gavin McCloud. If you know who that last guy is, then this show is for you.

SCTV is comfort food for me. When I was in grade school, the 90 minute version aired for two years on NBC, occupying the same time slot as SNL did, only one night earlier. I would stay up watching it with my dad until I fell asleep in front of the screen, both of us laughing at these crazy people and wild ideas, though I suspect we may have been laughing at different things. As a youngster, I don’t know that I truly appreciated what Joe Flaherty brought to the show, but now he’s my favorite thing about it. I watch through the (edited but still indispensable) DVDs once a year.

All Joe Flaherty has to do is be on screen and it makes me smile. Let him go on a tirade and forget it, it’s over, I’m laughing my head off. He was so prolific in big roles and small that he could and would just show up in any production that needed a little comic relief, or any comedy that needed a little extra class. It makes me sad to know that he won’t be doing that anymore.

Joe Flaherty had a good run, he was 82 when he passed. So he was a little older than his co-stars on SCTV. He’d done work with The Second City comedy troupe (of course), and appeared on at least one album and a few stage shows with The National Lampoon in the 1970s. I’ve been watching his work to different degrees for around 40 years now, so he’s been a comedic presence and influence in my life for almost all of it! The man had a long career, so you can’t really say that this is a case of someone being gone too soon. Yet, it does feel that way. Doesn’t it always?

I’ve been watching some of my favorite clips today-it’s amazing how one can be laughing so hard and feeling so sad. If you’re a fan then you get it. If you’re only just discovering Joe, get ready to laugh long and hard.

RIP Joe Flaherty. Thanks for all of it.

Thanks to you for dropping by, MonDavers. Come back next time for some happier stuff. And go watch some Joe! Plenty of SCTV clips are available on YouTube…as is a bizarre sketch called Abraham Lincoln and His Time Machine (not the animated one) which stars actors from SCTV, SNL and The Kids In The Hall, premiered on a “Toonces The Driving Cat” TV special in the ’90’s and concerns Abe Lincoln trying to prevent his own death…it’s dark, a little twisted, and a personal favorite.