Bobby Bittman

June 6, 2012 8:32 PM

In all seriousness, although Bobby Bittman (né Herschel Slansky) is famous as a funnyman and singer, he has also done heavy acting in On The Waterfront Again, Caesar, and The Poor Slob.
posted by Trurl (22 comments total)

Correction: Mefi's Own^TM Bobby Bittman
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:37 PM on June 6, 2012 [4 favorites]

HOWAHYA!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:58 PM on June 6, 2012 [6 favorites]

Wasn't she the hostess in Spinal Tap?
posted by Meatbomb at 9:47 PM on June 6, 2012

Bobby Bittman! The director of my favorite movie, Chariots of Eggs!
posted by bakerina at 10:43 PM on June 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

I love you, TheWhiteSkull, and I want to BEAR YOUR CHILDREN! HAHAAAAAAAHAHAHA!
posted by bakerina at 10:45 PM on June 6, 2012 [5 favorites]

If I could only figure out how to suddenly make this be about Bob Hope just as it's getting going.
posted by George_Spiggott at 1:53 AM on June 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

oh god the thigh slapping
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:29 AM on June 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh, Bobby Bittman! You're so funny, it's SCARY!
posted by Sidhedevil at 5:14 AM on June 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Sammy Maudlin is a national treasure and would make a fine head of state.

There. I said it.
posted by mazola at 6:36 AM on June 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

I miss SCTV. It wasn't always funny but they tried so many different things as opposed to SNL's non-stop celebrity parody/cast member bucking for a movie role spotlight.
posted by lon_star at 6:45 AM on June 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

SCTV was awesome. Lots of fond memories.

Also worth checking out the bits in the sidebar of the YouTube page here; Half-Wits is a particular favourite of mine.
posted by never used baby shoes at 7:07 AM on June 7, 2012

Yeah, but did he ever get a crane shot?
posted by Spatch at 8:00 AM on June 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

"Maudlin's eleven."
posted by No Robots at 8:07 AM on June 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

SCTV always seemed like they really understood what it was they were parodying. They were scabrously funny, but like a lot of great satire there also seemed to be a genuine affection for the subject. Unlike SNL, who they are compared to a lot, SCTV actually did something with their satire of celebrities. They used it to examine the entertainment complex and cut it open with a scalpel, though on occasion they were very effective at wielding a hammer also.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 8:45 AM on June 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

Growing up in Hamilton, we heard of Levy and Short from time to time. Short was in a McMaster University psychology video doing a funny bit, Levy looked much like Earl Camembert in my friend's mother's high school year book, etc. So it was nice to hear the reference to Hamilton in the clip.

My sisters and I also grew up watching SCTV. The Sammy Maudlin show is a great education for young minds about absurd side of celebrity as it were. The constant asides of praise for how great everyone is contrasted by how not so great most of them were was key, not to mention their act and style were so outdated and as inappropriate as some of the things they say. One of my nieces, currently 12, is getting similar insight into the same thing being an Alan Partridge fan. Moranis's Tom Monroe and Gerry Todd were also classic.

There are to many great routines and characters to site. Rick Moranis played Skip Bittman in the Maudlin's Eleven sketch reference above and in this one.

I absolutely loved the David Brinkley on pot sketch. It's genius.

Always loved Joe Flaherty's collection of characters as well.
posted by juiceCake at 9:20 AM on June 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

I think I paid less than $100 for the entire set of Shout Factory!'s fine DVD season issues. They're loaded with brilliance but I have a special fondness for the Canada episode, wherein they even bothered to make fun of Norman McLaren!
posted by hell toupee at 9:49 AM on June 7, 2012

It's been bugging me all day, I finally remembered that she's Bobbi Flekman.
posted by Meatbomb at 10:14 AM on June 7, 2012

It's a shame SCTV fell out of sight during the home video / DVD era, thanks to the near impossibility of securing the rights to the music they used on the show. It deserves to be iconic if anything is -- at least at the level of SNL and perhaps not less than Monty Python. It's nearly as quotable as the latter and a hell of a lot more artistically coherent than the former. And some of their Network 90 episodes, such as CCCP1, were masterpieces from beginning to end.

I'm glad to see it's finally reappearing on the cultural radar. Over the years, occasionally someone I know vaguely will astonish me by referring to something as "Dr Tongue's 3D House of [something]", and we'll laugh and do the motion and sound effect (I'm sure some of you know what I mean). And when I interned at a TV production facility we'd constantly do Gerry Todd impressions, and baffle people by describing something as "gud vuddio".

Also a Dave Thomas post has been lurking in the back of my mind. He's done some wonderful work and had a fascinating career even post SCTV (The brief Dave Thomas Show, The New Show, Inside America's Totally Unsolved Lifestyles, and his odd and rather unrepresentative turn as a regular on Grace Under Fire), but hardly anybody seems to know who he is. (If someone wants to do that post feel free to steal it. But promise to be thorough.)
posted by George_Spiggott at 11:43 AM on June 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

Such a huge influence on my comic sensibilities (such as they are)
PBS. Weeknights. 11:30 (after Star Hustler)

Taught me the joys of subtle comedy. It wasn't all just obvious punchlines and sight gags. Those were there too, but there was far more undercurrent in SCTV.

And yes, I love the legend Bobby Bittman.
My heart bled for both him and the Falkland's during that trying time during the invasion.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 5:26 PM on June 7, 2012

For those who may not know Dr. Tongue's 3D films: Scary stuff, kiddies!
posted by never used baby shoes at 6:21 PM on June 7, 2012

Richard Harris on Mel's Rock Pile.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:48 AM on June 8, 2012 [2 favorites]

LAST!
posted by Effigy2000 at 7:12 PM on July 6, 2012