« Previous Post | Main | Next Post »

Happy birthday, Harry Shearer

Filed under: Imported

Although C. Montgomery Burns appears to be well into his second century by now, the man who provides that old dastard's voice-- along with a dozen or so others on The Simpsons-- is a mere 60 today, which means that he now begins his seventh decade in show biz.

At an age when most of us are finishing sixth grade, Harry was already a seasoned pro in both radio and TV. He acted with Barbara Stanwyck on The Lux Radio Theater and was a regular cast member of The Jack Benny Program during its final years. (He was a member of Jack's scout group, The Beverly Hills Beavers.) He also appeared as young Jack on an early episode of Benny's TV series and-- his last TV work until the '70s-- he was in the pilot for Leave It to Beaver. (Beavers seem to be the recurring motif in Harry's early days.) Also, he got to hassle Lou Costello in the first scene of Abbott & Costello Go to Mars.

I became a fan of Harry's in the '70s, even though it took awhile before I really knew who he was. He was a fourth of a very funny radio troupe called The Credibility Gap (I still have both their albums), and worked on the faux talk show America 2-Nite with Martin Mull and Fred Willard. (He once did a character who was the president of the Tom Snyder fan club, and his imitation of ol' Tom was countless times better than Dan Aykroyd's.) I especially loved his work with Albert Brooks-- he co-wrote Albert's first feature film, the innovative Real Life, and A Star is Bought, one of the funniest comedy albums of all time, where Brooks tries to come up with a track for every existing radio market, from talk to classical. (For the latter, they wrote lyrics to Ravel's "Bolero". such as "There'll be no pregnancy here/I'm as potent as a warm glass of beer.")

You know the rest: This is Spinal Tap, 14 years of The Simpsons, all the way to A Mighty Wind this past summer. (Harry's final moment in Wind was probably its funniest, and that's saying something.) My favorite of all his recent projects, though, continues to be his one-hour radio program, Le Show. It's a throwback to "casual" broadcasting, like the shows of Jean Shepherd, mixed with some of the best audio comedy being done. (His on-going soap-opera Clinton-something was the main reason I wanted Bill to be elected for another four years, because the series would continue, too.) In the past two years, however, Shearer's humor has become even more pointed, and he did great programs after both 9-11 and the beginning of the war in Iraq. He closed the 9-11 show with a chilling quote that I heard nowhere else, from an unnamed Army General regarding the attack on the Pentagon: "We never thought of that."

So happy birthday, Harry, and may you have many more. Now, as Monty would say, Get to work!

A more recent picture of Mr. Shearer, from the webpage of photographer Paynie.

Posted by Steve Monaco at December 23, 2003 11:59 PM

« The Monday Movie Quiz-- closed for the holidays | Main | The Outbursts of Everett True by Condo and Raper (1907) »