As the gang here in the Hudson Valley wishes we could take a Star Trek teleportation device - used or new - directly to the San Francisco Bay Area to enjoy the annual Charlie Chaplin Days event presented by the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum this weekend, we doff our Max Linder top hat to a lesser known but marvelous silent movie comedian, the great Poodles Hanneford (1891-1967).
We'll start with the following presentation by the Chapman Museum (pride of Glens Falls, NY) on the bareback ridin' movie comedian.
Edwin "Poodles" Hanneford, king of the circus bareback riders, entertained audiences for 4+ decades; his last onscreen appearance was in Charles Walters' 1962 film Billy Rose's Jumbo. Grizzled baby boomers may recognize Poodles as one of the circus performers from the 1935 Shirley Temple - Joel McCrea flick Our Little Girl.
The bio posted by the Chapman Museum adds: Originally from Ireland, Poodles was described by Life Magazine as “the world’s greatest equestrian clown.” He began working for Ringling Brothers in 1917, and appeared in films and on many popular U.S. television shows. He lived on Ridge Road and Kattskill Bay.
Wikipedia adds, "Praised by Buster Keaton as "the only trained acrobat I ever saw who could take a fall and make it look funny," Poodles is considered among the greatest trick riders in history. He was the first to perform a somersault from one running horse to another. He held a Guinness Book of World Records record for performing a running jump onto a horse and stepping off 26 times in a row."
Notably, in the following excerpt from Ain't It The Truth (1928), Poodles is wearing a Buster Keaton style porkpie hat.
Poodles did somersaults, handsprings and other acrobatics thought to be impossible (on or off of a horse) and even worked with slapstick king Roscoe Arbuckle when the big fella was directing 2-reelers as "William Goodrich." Here's Poodles with frequent Buster Keaton co-star "Big Joe" Roberts.
His astonishing skills as a bareback rider are the core of several classic comedy shorts Hanneford starred in, such as Circus Daze.
In the opinion of the silent comedy fans here, the very best 2-reelers produced by the Weiss Brothers/Artclass Productions are those starring Poodles Hanneford. With apologies to the frequently hilarious Ben Turpin and Snub Pollard, as well as the Hairbreadth Harry melodrama spoofs, the Poodles Hanneford comedies are the reason we recommend VCI Entertainment's Weiss-O-Rama 2-DVD set.
And, yes, it's true - Poodles Hanneford, acrobat, rider and comedian supreme, met Charlie Chaplin back in 1917. Happily, the beat goes on in 2026 with Tommy Chapay Hanneford, the latest generation of the Royal Hanneford Circus tradition.
In closing, and with another Max Linder top hat tip to physical comic and bareback rider supreme Poodles Hanneford, by all means, San Francisco Bay Area residents, do head over to the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum and the Edison Theatre at 37417 Niles Boulevard in Fremont this weekend for the 2026 version of Charlie Chaplin Days.
Obscure or lesser known movie comedians, anyone? Here's one of our favorites: Harry Sweet (1901-1933).
Harry Sweet was an uber-goofball slapstick artiste and writer-director-star in the 1920s and early 1930's.
Harry Sweet, gifted physical comedian and acrobat, starred in zany short subjects for Mack Sennett, Joe Rock, Century Comedies and most memorably RKO Radio Pictures.
Here he is with comedy queen (and prototype for cartoondom's Olive Oyl) Gale Henry in WHAT, NO SPINACH?
Why are we at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog wild about Harry? Because his starring vehicles, especially the early 1930's talkies, are wacky beyond belief! His uninhibited style is akin to comics from many decades later, from Jerry Lewis to the Pythons to Rik Mayall to Chris Farley to Melissa McCarthy.
Readers will note quite a few familiar faces from Hal Roach Studios and the Columbia Shorts Department in the supporting cast of the following opus from Sweet's starring series for RKO.
Am taken aback by how few Harry Sweet starring vehicles, both silents and talkies, have been posted on YouTube, Daily Motion, Vimeo, Internet Archive, even given that he passed over 90 years ago.
While he didn't, as Harold Lloyd did, headline a gazillion films, those Harry Sweet starring vehicles the gang here have seen (most via prolific YouTube poster Joseph Blough and San Francisco Bay Area filmmaker and vintage comedy expert Lory-Michael Ringuette) are riotously funny.
Sweet was most adept in the pratfalling art of physical comedy.
Invariably, Ed Kennedy 2-reelers written and directed by Harry Sweet are a hoot!
Shortly after writing and directing the hilarious Next Door Neighbors, Harry launched the "Mr. Average Man" series starring slow-burnin' Edgar Kennedy in 1931.
For more info, read the following Harry Sweet bio from the long gone but insanely informative Hollywood Oblivion website.
Meanwhile, we hope more long lost films Harry Sweet directed and/or starred in will miraculously turn up, as a Fox short subject starring wiseguys Bobby Clark & Paul McCullough did.
Today we pay homage to one of the great comic actors and Broadway legends, Zero Mostel, the gifted, versatile character actor, comedian and star of stage and screen, born on this day in 1915. Just in case one has not seen the larger-than-life actor in awhile, here's a reminder. . .
Zero is still celebrated for his musical comedy mojo on Broadway in Fiddler On The Roof.
As well as his stage and screen heroics in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.
And his role as the wonderfully conniving Max Bialystock in Mel Brooks' 1967 film of The Producers.
Zero's co-star Gene Wilder elaborates:
Found a couple of clips of Zero on TV from the late 1940's (on Ed Sullivan's Toast Of The Town) to the early 1960's.
Yes, it's true - Zero recorded an album. Like the review of it by The Comedy on Vinyl Podcast.
On January 30, 2026, an awful day capping yet another hideous week in a horrible year. . .
We got the sad news that Catherine O'Hara, one of our greatest comediennes, has passed at 71.
Loved her work over 50+ years!
Do we like ending this horrendous month saying farewell to comedy genius, improv champion and actress supreme Catherine O'Hara, most recently known for her role as Moira Rose on Schitt's Creek? NO!!!
There have been terrific tributes on the CBC.
First became aware of Ms. O'Hara through her stellar work on SCTV, my all-time favorite sketch comedy show.
It was always a pleasure to see Catherine on Late Night With David Letterman.
She was among the rare SCTV and SNL stars to be a guest star on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson.
And Stephen Colbert. . .
While Catherine O' Hara's best known role in movies is her memorable part as the absent-minded mom in John Hughes' Home Alone flicks, we remain absolutely floored by her acting in a bunch of terrific films directed and written by Christopher Guest and SCTV co-star Eugene Levy.
They feature an extremely talented stock company which includes Michael McKean and Harry Shearer (from This Is Spinal Tap and The Folksmen), Fred Willard, Parker Posey, Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Lynch, Bob Balaban and John Michael Higgins.
While it is tough to pick just one favorite among these films, the gang here is particularly partial to For Your Consideration.
Hoping the next time we post, it won't be more terrible news.
Until then, enjoy these excerpts from A Mighty Wind.
Thinking of a couple of outstanding comedians today. Michael McKean, currently plugging the 2025 Spinal Tap movie along with Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest and Rob Reiner, celebrates his 78th birthday today.
First and foremost, there's something about the very earnest cover of the Rolling Stones' Start Me Up by The Folksmen that cracks me up.
The blog shall toast Michael and the superb comedy he has helped bring to a weary and stressed-out world over many decades, and also toast another outstanding comic born on this date in Quebec City, Norm MacDonald.
Here's a terrific interview and overview of Mr. McKean's lengthy showbiz career. Thanks a million for this, SAG AFTRA!
Michael McKean's episode of Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast is a must-listen.
In the "I did not know that" department, the IMDB entry for Michael McKean notes: In early 1967, he was briefly a member of the New York City "baroque pop" band The Left Banke and played on the "Ivy, Ivy" single.
First heard about Michael McKean via the early 1970's improv group The Credibility Gap, which also featured David L. Lander and Harry Shearer.
The erudite and talented San Francisco deejay John Gilliland hosted a Sunday night comedy show on what was back then a top AM radio station and did us listeners the favor of playing very funny sketches by The Credibility Gap. Did not know until decades later than John was, at KRLA, an early member of the improv troupe in the late 1960's.
Michael and David L. Lander found their way from The Credibility Gap to the Garry Marshall sitcom LaVerne & Shirley as goofballs Lenny & Squiggy. Their best bits were the songs of Lenny & The Squigtones, although the then-prominent laugh track often drowns them out.
Was never crazy about Laverne & Shirley, even as a fan of previous Garry Marshall series (The Odd Couple), since by that time Monty Python's Flying Circus reruns, Saturday Night Live and SCTV were on the air. Still kept an eye out for Mr. McKean's appearances on Saturday Night Live a few years later, when Dick Ebersol produced the show.
The following sketches featuring The Folksmen and Spinal Tap is from the 10th season of SNL, the last produced by Ebersol. Ever so briefly, Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest were SNL cast members.
Love those clips of Spinal Tap's early years!
There's so much to draw from that we shall very likely be making additions and edits to this post all weekend. The Return Of Spinal Tap is required viewing.
And then there are the Christopher Guest feature films, in which Michael McKean is among a super-talented stock company, along with Catherine O' Hara, Eugene Levy, Jane Lynch, Fred Willard, Parker Posey, Jennifer Coolidge, Michael Hitchcock and John Michael Higgins.
To make the segue from Michael McKean to Norm MacDonald, here is Adam Sandler's song from the SNL 50 extravaganza. In the Sandman's nicely done hat tip to Saturday Night Live's casts and production crew which starts at 3:45, Michael and Norm are duly noted!
Devoted a lengthy post to Norm MacDonald, born October 17, 1959 at some length at the time of his untimely passing in 2021. Were there any clips not included in that post? Yes - this one.
If that isn't sufficient Norm, watch the following!
On December 1, 2024, the addled mind that writes this blog wanders to the question of who would be considered unequivocally the Godfathers of the Psychotronix Film Festival (which we hope just might MAYBE return to Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, CA sometime in early spring 2025).
One answer would be the highly original standup comedian and actor Dick Shawn, born on this day in 1923.
Many of us way back in the halcyon days of the 20th century first saw Dick Shawn dancing with the nimble and graceful Barrie Chase in It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World.
Shawn's character of Sylvester Marcus in It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World is the son of. . . an even more over-the-top character, played beyond the hilt by Ethel Merman.
And then there's Dick Shawn's performance as Lorenzo St. DuBois in Mel Brooks' 1968 movie The Producers.
Mark Evanier delves into the career and standup comedy of Dick Shawn, as well as the role of Lorenzo St. DuBois, in an outstanding post on his News From Me website. Unlike most of us writer/historian types, Mr. Evanier has the advantage of actually having seen Dick Shawn's standup act multiple times.
The earliest Dick Shawn appearances we've seen are from 1954-1955 on The Steve Allen Show.
It's true - Dick Shawn was a guest on The Judy Garland Show. These were two performers who went for broke; to use a hackneyed sports expression, they left it all on the playing field, only every time.
Didn't know there was still a Colgate Comedy Hour in 1967, but, instead of Bob Hope, Martin & Lewis, Eddie Cantor or Abbott & Costello as seen in its 1950's incarnation, here's Dick Shawn, introduced by another long-gone but not forgotten comedy great, Allan Sherman.
We especially love Mr. Shawn's role as Bing Bell the singing cowboy in the unique, inventive and comedian-packed 1972 western spoof Evil Roy Slade.
Dick Shawn appeared twice on the shows of Bill Boggs.
It is not lost upon us here that at the end of the following show, Dick Shawn shares the scene with a highly original and inventive standup comedian after his own heart, the indescribably hilarious Dana Gould.
Dick Shawn's last TV appearance would be on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson on November 11, 1986.
In closing, we note that Madame Blogmeister saw Dick Shawn do a standup comedy set three months after this Tonight Show appearance, and noted that he was having difficulties just maintaining a basic level of coherence, so the heart condition that took him out just a few weeks later was not the only severe health issue he was suffering from. This brings to mind what happened to another highly unorthodox, creative and brilliant standup comedian, the great Jonathan Winters, who officially retired nine years before his passing in 2013.
Noting that Father Time, as always, is undefeated, we'll close this post with kudos, bravos and huzzahs to Dick Shawn and a clip of him demonstrating the latest and greatest dance craze, "The Cockamamie," on The Edie Adams Show.
Thinking of the gifted writers from the Algonquin Round Table, while also thinking of vintage animated cartoons, so Robert Benchley and Walt Disney share the spotlight today.
One of the very best among that band of scintillating and seething scribes who quaffed, socialized and collaborated at the midtown Manhattan Algonquin Hotel was the great humorist Robert Benchley.
Benchley, columnist, New Yorker/Vanity Fair essayist and prolific reviewer of 1920's Broadway shows, was born on this day, September 15, in 1889. The Harvard Lampoon writer had no intention of going into show business, but to some extent was drafted by friends and colleagues at university into performing as an actor and comedian, due to his specialty of hilariously spoofing dreadful after-dinner speakers. Benchley would contribute a distinctively witty presence to stage and screen until his untimely passing in 1945.
Robert Benchley was one of the comedy performers who exemplified the transition to talkies - and actually preceded the reigning silver screen comedy mega-stars Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd in doing so.
Here's his brilliant sendup of corporate-speak in the 1928 Fox film The Treasurer's Report, which was based on the monologue Benchley first performed at the April 30, 1922 Algonquin Round Table stage presentation No Sirree.
In The Sex Life Of The Polyp, another early talkie produced by Fox in 1928, he cheerfully skewers inept lecturers.
In a film that still rings true in 2024, Robert Benchley lambasts arrogant financiers and "prosperity gospel" hucksters as he evaluates how the heck we ended up with the Great Depression.
The rather unexpected success of the Fox Movietone short subjects led to an even more unexpected movie career.
This included starring in short comedies for MGM and Paramount, as well as periodic stints as a character actor in such films as Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent.
He is yet another of the 1000 reasons the gang at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog loves the 1943 film The Sky's The Limit.
Now, as we are also - as always - thinking of vintage animated cartoons here at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, we note that not only did the Knight Of The Algonquin Round Table work with Walt Disney, Benchley played a role as himself in the entertaining 1941 Disney feature The Reluctant Dragon. As far as we know, he didn't know the other Uncle Walt, Mr. Walter Lantz. . . and that is too bad, as Lantz Studio director Shamus Culhane may well have jumped at the chance to collaborate with Robert Benchley.
In The Reluctant Dragon, Mr. Benchley tours the Disney Studio and learns how cartoons are made, so the 1941 film presents a most worthy addition to historian Charles Gardner's Cartoons About Cartoons articles from Cartoon Research's Animation Trails series.
It's tempting to wonder which was the more interesting first time meeting, Robert Benchley and Alfred Hitchcock or Benchley and Walt Disney!
Love the following paint-mixing segment (which, for some reason, reminds me of segments from Hugh Harman's 1936 MGM cartoon Bottles), although the YouTube poster's tampering with it via voice-over, frankly, leaves a lot to be desired.
That said, this sequence reminds us all these decades later, well into the 21st century, how outstanding the hard working Walt Disney Productions ink and paint staffers who meticulously painted countless cels were.
Not surprisingly, Benchley gets The Reluctant Dragon's closing laugh line, with an assist from Clarence "Ducky" Nash (note: don't know who plays the insufferable and verbally abusive wife).
For more, check out the Robert Benchley Society. Also recommend that readers get some Benchley books, especially Benchley At The Theatre, in the (not nearly as fun) 21st century way, purchasing them online - or by visiting your friends at the local public or university library, bearing an Algonquin Round Table book list. Way back in the halcyon 20th century days when sellers of used books and records were everywhere, especially college towns, this blogger and many other unrepentant bookworms sought out print copies of Benchley's excellent writings.
One of the key things, in addition to our pets, that got this household through many months of lockdown in 2020-2021 was watching The Silent Comedy Watch Party, presented with wit and panache by intrepid film historians, authors and curators Ben Model and Steve Massa on Sundays.
On this Sunday, St. Patrick's Day, the series will return to YouTube for its 4th anniversary extravaganza and episode #100 - HOORAY!
One of the many things I love about the series is that, unlike 99% of silent era comedy programs, The Silent Comedy Watch Party does not limit the focus strictly to The Big 3, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.
While we at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog love those guys, unquestionably the other silent movie laughmakers, lesser known but often hilarious, richly deserve kudos, bravos and huzzahs for their contributions to film humor.
It's noteworthy that acrobatic Al St. John, the ever-persnickety Johnny Arthur and wacky redhead of silents Alice Howell - all very funny performers - are featured in Silent Comedy Watch Party episode #100.
The following graphic for Silent Comedy Watch Party episode 50 shows just a few of the amazing comics featured in the series.
The dyed-in-the-wool silent comedy aficionados at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog extend big time thanks to The Silent Comedy Watch Party for repeatedly delivering big laughs during 2020, a difficult time (even for those fortunate enough to not lose family members and friends to coronavirus) and continuing to do so with good-natured enthusiasm in only slightly less bat guano crazy 2024.
Powerhouse comedian Chris Farley (February 15, 1964 - December 18, 1997) of Saturday Night Live and Second City Chicago fame has been gone a long time but still makes this writer laugh out loud.
Especially noteworthy: the Schiller Visions decaf coffee crystals sketch. . . No decaf for Chris!
With apologies to Tony Robbins, Matt Foley is by far my favorite motivational speaker!
A key assist on the following sketch, featuring Chris' proudly and defiantly unkempt "Bennett Brauer" character, goes to fellow comic and stalwart SNL cast member Kevin Nealon.
Particularly enjoyed the sketches in which Chris co-starred with Phil Hartman, arguably one of the greatest comic character actors ever in the Saturday Night Live cast.
The larger-than-life comedian's appearances on late night talk shows, especially those of David Letterman and Conan O'Brien, are frequently memorable.
Of his movies, Tommy Boy would be the one in which Chris transitions from pure Roscoe Arbuckle style slapstick to character actor in the same film. In addition to Farley's signature physical comedy, there is a vulnerability and likability.
He works quite well, especially in Tommy Boy, with SNL co-star and friend David Spade.
Adam Sandler paid tribute to his friend with this song.
Had Chris survived "comedians' disease" - which has been seen from silent movie comedians Lloyd Hamilton, Jimmie Adams, Charley Chase and bis brother, director/comic James Parrott to hard-partying standup comics too numerous to recount to Saturday Night Live's John Belushi - a second career excelling in character parts, a la John Candy, may well have been on the horizon.
Today this blogger's fancy and short attention span turns from silent movies (and the great Raymond Griffith) to the world of sketch comedy. July 1 is Dan Aykroyd's birthday, so we shall doff our always battered fedoras to the prolific comedian, actor and screenwriter.
First and foremost, here are a few of Aykroyd's funniest and most original SNL skits.
Of the dozens of Saturday Night Live players, he is among the few who made a relatively seamless transition from TV to movies.
Trading Places, due to the superb and hilarious character acting from Hollywood veterans Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy, lots of lively interplay between Akyroyd and the brilliant Eddie Murphy - and the presence of such SNL stalwarts as Al Franken & Tom Davis - remains my favorite.
Neighbors was an interesting homage to The Twilight Zone TV show. What makes it interesting? The Aykroyd and Belushi roles are reversed, with Dan playing the lunatic and John cast as a meek, mild-mannered nebbish. The excellent character actress Cathy Moriarty and fellow Second City/SNL alum Tim Kazurinsky are added pluses.
Spies Like Us, co-starring fellow SNL cast member Chevy Chase, is - like many movies featuring Saturday Night Live and SCTV cast members - in the flawed but still mostly funny category.
Dan was teamed with Tom Hanks for the 1987 sendup of Dragnet. All of us who watched the entire run of the unintentionally funny Dragnet 1967 TV show got a few laughs from this flick, and especially from Aykroyd's ability to mimic Jack Webb's distinctive walk and verbal delivery.
Last but not least, Dan produced, directed and co-wrote the creepiest and most nightmarishly disturbing of all 20th century horror-comedies, the Razzie Award winner Nothing But Trouble, a hallucinatory Beetlejuice-influenced compendium of Gothic grotesquerie.
The reviews of Nothing But Trouble were brutal, reminiscent of the In Living ColorMen On Film sketches in which David Alan Grier and Damon Wayans say in unison. . . HATED IT!
Described by Vincent Canby in The New York Times as "a charmless feature-length joke about the world's most elaborate speed trap," this haunted house flick presents an intermittently inspired one-of-a-kind fever dream. In the central role as the hideous 106 year old "hanging judge" of Volkenvania, Aykroyd presides as the ringmaster and frequently ventures into unabashed gross-out territory.
Why Warner Brothers released Nothing But Trouble to theatres in February 1991, instead of postponing it in October and specifically marketing the delirious American Gothic piece as a Halloween "monster movie," nobody knows.
Perhaps the suits concluded that Nothing But Trouble, originally pegged as a Christmas 1990 release, cost so much money to produce, it had to get out in the theatres post-haste to have any chance of recouping the investment. That strikes this writer as both a marketing failure and failure of imagination, as it is clearly a haunted house horror-comedy with a Halloween theme, even though David Lynch didn't direct it and the Three Stooges and Bowery Boys are nowhere to be found.
While Nothing But Trouble is a tad too grotesque to get laughs, it succeeds as American Gothic with garish flying colors, reverb-filled echoes of theremins and imagery a la horror-meister Tod Browning's The Devil Doll, Freaks and West Of Zanzibar viewed through a shattered funhouse mirror. . . with a musical number by Digital Underground thrown in for good measure.
We raise a toast of Crystal Head Vodka to Dan and hope he's doing well on his birthday. Cheers - and thanks a million for the laughs!
