The news broke last night but fatigue knocked me out too quickly to post anything. He made the headlines during the news breaks on NPR this morning to compensate. Death isn’t great yet it is nice to know Harvey made a difference in the world through his talent.
In many ways, Harvey was the precursor of Dan Akroyd and Phil Hartman, the comic every-man and foil for Carol Burnett, Tim Conway and Mel Brooks to use. He was definitely essential to the success of Blazing Saddles, High Anxiety and his minor part in the French Revolution from History of the World, Part One. It was a rough, sad final season of The Carol Burnett Show when he bailed. How his character (Eunice’s henpecked husband Ed) was written out of the sketch felt rather trite and forced. As much as I liked Dick Van Dyke when I was a kid, he was no Harvey Korman which is probably why Carol’s show ended with a whimper.
He certainly was talented. Harvey made even mediocre comedies amusing with his abilities to turn onions into onion rings: Americathon, The Star Wars Holiday Special (You thought the prequels were bad? Check out this stinkburger on YouTube or bootlegs.) and the umpteenth version of Huckleberry Finn, he played one the con artists in the Dauphin scam. I know I was cheering for the cartoon O. Ratz to be picked up as a series on CN during its run on the What a Cartoon Show because his voiceover work was distinctive and equally funny; remember, he was the Great Gazoo on The Flintstones.
If you look him up on imdb.com, you’d be surprised at all the dramatic roles he did. The problem was you’d keep expecting him to suddenly turn into Hedley Lamarr; this happened to me while seeing him portray the Russian ambassador on an episode of The Wild Wild West. I imagine other cast members and directors were guilty of this too. I certainly should take a second look at his serious work in Betrayal of the Dove, if it can be found.
This weekend, I am going to put aside the time to watch Blazing Saddles since his interaction with Mel during that cabinet meeting was a key reason why Ethan and I became quick friends; one of us picked up a cue during a dinner, thus irritating our easily irked comrade Garrett.