A rather sad kick off to the weekend for comedy and Las Vegas, where both gentlemen resided during their final years.
Charlie Callas is most likely to be recognized by younger people from Mel Brooks’ movies. I forgot he was the foundation of the animated titular character in Pete’s Dragon but I vaguely recall him appearing in those Dean Martin roasts with Ruth Buzzi; what I have seen through Comedy Central are OK, Dean’s were more inventive since they had to work through the constraints of broadcast TV’s standards and practices. The last major thing I thought I saw him in on a regular basis was a kid show to promote the Metric System, obviously it failed. However, I’ll go with being wrong on this since imdb.com cannot verify it.
One major thing getting repeated in his obit was Johnny Carson banning him from the Tonight Show right there on the air over a shove. The details are here yet I doubt there’s easily found footage or if it exists; TV programs are taped ahead of time. Besides Carson wouldn’t want audiences at home seeing him being uncongenial. It’s too bad they didn’t have a reconciliation before their deaths, I liked both of them. Callas survived, he continued to work while Carson’s grip on the careers of stand-up comedians waned through cable television’s growth.
David Frye is more obscure yet I instantly recognized his name in the New York Times because my parents had one of his Nixon parody albums. As a little kid in the Seventies, I didn’t understand the larger picture of why it was funny but the original Tricky Dick came off like a human cartoon. There’s a few bits I remember quite well: an interview with Spiro Agnew, Nixon sings at Folsom Prison (like Johnny Cash!), Nixon’s apology and what really happened at the Watergate burglary (hint, Nixon escaped). Gabe Kaplan before he was known as Mr. Kotter contributed to it. I think he was the bailiff for the trial near the end of the record.
Unlike Rich Little, when Tricky Dick resigned, Frye’s career tanked. He couldn’t shift gears to get anything happening with Ford (clumsiness is visual, as Chevy Chase proved) and those who followed. Well, despite that, the Seventies wouldn’t have been the same for me without his comical imitation of the 37th president. Now I need to see if there are any legit downloads to find of the album my parents owned.