May 30, 2008

  • R.I.P. Harvey Korman

     Wow, this is really sad.  Another Mel Brooks staple actor has passed away.  I can't think of a single thing Harvey Korman was in that didn't make me laugh. 

    MaxandNormaOn the Carol Burnett Show, I remember his Erich von Stroheim bulter persona ("Max!") to Carol Burnett's Norma Desmond.  There was also a funny sketch where Tim Conway played a Royal Palace Guard to Queen Elizabeth II (Burnett) and Korman played her escort.  Conway was subbornly refusing to let the queen into her own palace, but the Queen urged Korman to go easy on the man, as he'd swallowed a live grenade and saved her life.  "Get out of town," Korman dryly replied to that in a simply hilarious and unreproduceable accent.  (The Queen proved it by opening Conway's mouth and shouting "Hellooo!" into it and hearing the canyon-esque echo return to them from his apparently hollow interior.

    And of course, the Mel Brooks movies.  His unfortunately named villain of Blazing Saddles, Hedley Lamarr ("Headley! HEADley!") was camp evil personified.  His "cattle call" style auditions for other malefactors to attack the town was hilarious.  IMDB thoughtfully included the quote I remember:

    [Bart, disguised as a Klansman, describes his qualifications as a villain]
    Bart: Stampeding cattle.
    Hedley Lamarr: That's not much of a crime.
    Bart: Through the Vatican?
    Hedley Lamarr: [smiling] Kinkyyyy. Sign here.

    Also, his effete Count de Monet in History of the World, Part I. 

    Count de Monet: My Lord, you look just like the piss-boy!
    King Louis XVI: And you look like a bucket of shit!

    And, lastly, for those that remembered, he was also the voice of the Great Gazoo from the Flintstones.

    His list of credits are unsurprsingly huge. I'm thankful so much of his best stuff is still widely available.  Funny, funny man.  He'll be missed.

Comments (3)

  • Great loss!  He was sooo funny with Tim Conway.  I dread the day Mel Brooks passes as all the comics who were funny without being dirty, derogatory, or sarcastic seem to be dropping by the wayside.  Possibly because they are more my generation then yours but glad you appreciated and were able to see them.  Not that I don't like dirty humor as George Carlin is still one of my favorites but his humor is truly standup, not with any other supporting comics. 

  • Mel Brooks is pretty dirty.  But more suggestively so than Richard Pryorishly filthy.  I mean, Madeline Kahn playing the Roman woman picking soldiers to go to the orgy with is pretty dirty! "I just love the way they . . . march."

  • yeah, I sorta thought Mel was too. he was my introduction to dirty.

    I haven't bothered to watch any of his movies in years, but History of the World Part I was a fertile addition to the knowledge accumulating in my young brain back in the 70's. For some reason, it's the chariot chase with a four foot joint that sticks in my mind the most still...

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