A thread for Phil Hartman

Alec Baldwin says that he didn't always like some of the more juvenile sketches he appeared in (like the "Schwetti balls" one), but there was a scene he was in where Hartman simply tugged at him with a look of manic desperation in his eye and said "Take me with you" that caused Baldwin to totally lose it.

His best moment was him as Reagan during the skit where he was a manic, mafia type guy behind the scenes, but that sweet old man to the press. (This was in the midst of the Iran-Contra scandal.)

...Compulsion.

The little car made out of clay.

"Gaybee? What the hell is a gaybee?"

"You'd have to buy a Ram Van for that!"

too late.

Ally OTM, still a tragic void, all the years later....

"Jon Lovitz:

"I'll tell you a story about Phil. You know, we do that sketch Jim Downey wrote, 'Tarzan, Tonto, and Frankenstein.' So they did it once where it was like a talk show and Nora Dunn was doing the 'Pat Stevens Show' with Tarzan, Tonto, and Frankenstein. And Phil is Frankenstein and all of a sudden he starts laughing, right, like he just completely broke up -- ha ha, you know, he laughed out loud. And then he stopped.

"And then about fifteen seconds later, he just completely lost it. So then of course we all started laughing, because he's just losing it. And I'm thinking, 'What is he doing? We're on live television. It's not the Groundlings.' . . . So afterward I asked him, I said, 'What happened? What was so funny?' So he said, well, he was sitting there as Frankenstein and something happened, and thinking about how silly the sketch was, you know, just the idea of it made him laugh all of a sudden. So he started laughing. And then he stopped, right? And then, he said, he was sitting there thinking how funny it must have looked to see Frankenstein laugh like that. And then that just made him like lose it."

Ed OTM about the Zapp Braningan thing too. That was the plan, that Groening wanted him for the voice, but then he passed away, so when Billy West showed them the voice he could do for it they were flabbergasted.

"Quoth the raven - what a shine!"

"Jon Lovitz:

"I'll tell you a story about Phil. You know, we do that sketch Jim Downey wrote, 'Tarzan, Tonto, and Frankenstein.' So they did it once where it was like a talk show and Nora Dunn was doing the 'Pat Stevens Show' with Tarzan, Tonto, and Frankenstein. And Phil is Frankenstein and all of a sudden he starts laughing, right, like he just completely broke up -- ha ha, you know, he laughed out loud. And then he stopped.

"And then about fifteen seconds later, he just completely lost it. So then of course we all started laughing, because he's just losing it. And I'm thinking, 'What is he doing? We're on live television. It's not the Groundlings.' . . . So afterward I asked him, I said, 'What happened? What was so funny?' So he said, well, he was sitting there as Frankenstein and something happened, and thinking about how silly the sketch was, you know, just the idea of it made him laugh all of a sudden. So he started laughing. And then he stopped, right? And then, he said, he was sitting there thinking how funny it must have looked to see Frankenstein laugh like that. And then that just made him like lose it."

-- Rickey Wright (rrricke...), September 8th, 2005.

That's a great bit - "Succinctly Speaking"

Host: Tonight's topic -- fire. Tarzan?

Tarzan: Fire good.

Host: Tonto?

Tonto: Fire good, keemosabe.

Host: Frankenstein?

Frankenstein: fire BAAAAD!!!!

Hartman grew up in Connecticut and L.A., where he pursued a career in graphic art. (Hartman designed several album covers, including Steely Dan's Aja, as well as a logo for Crosby, Stills and Nash.)

from http://www.laweekly.com/ink/98/28/tv-shulman.php

Now, I can'ty find that fact about Aja anywhere else. Is it true??

that german impressionist bit had me crying with laughter. oh my god.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/bb55b081bd/player-with-yourselves-club

I hope his wife is burning in hell
blunty6feetunder 3 months ago

How heart-breaking is that odd sketch with and Jan Hooks where she plays an old woman that goes to a safety deposit box to reminisce? She puts on some pearls or something and is transformed into a young woman and dances with Phil Hartman while they sing a duet, and then at the end she becomes the old woman again, and the bank security guard puts his hand on her shoulder and its Phil as an old man...? This summary doesn't really do it justice, but when they aired it after Phil's death there wasn't a dry eye in (my) house.

Spot on. Bless ya, Phil:

http://vimeo.com/23450183

"He fancied himself a master thespian - the actor's actor. His performances had more filigree than a Gothic cathedral."

...fifteen years. Jesus.

:(

still remember hearing about this on the radio while coming home from a family vacation -- my mom and i were both seriously bummed out.

Simply the best.

I was at work the day it happened, and part of my job was actually monitoring the AP and other newswires for news about our clients, and I saw this come across. I was dumbfounded. I still can't believe he's dead sometimes.

I was just recently re-watching some season 3 Simpsons, and watched the one where Bart is accused of murdering Skinner. Lionel Hutz is so great in that episode, esp. when Skinner turns up alive at the end. "Your honor, do I still get paid>"

I hope that, in honor of the anniversary yesterday, Jon Lovitz went out and beat up Andy Dick.

Would have been 65 today.

go with god you big palooka

There's a book coming out Tuesday. Excerpt about the murder: http://www.salon.com/2014/09/21/phil_hartmans_final_night_the_tragic_death_of_a_saturday_night_live_genius/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

I've already got it coming in the mail (hopefully today).

seein him in Pee Wee's Playhouse episodes makes me miss him all over again

http://www.avclub.com/article/maura-tierney-affair-newsradio-and-being-fired-gro-210942

AVC: Do you have a definitive Phil Hartman story?

MT: Um. [Long pause.] I don’t know. I do remember one thing he said to me. Joe Rogan was being so fucking mean to me one day—and mostly we were all friends, but Joe could be a weirdo—and I was sort of upset about it, so I was just sitting over in the corner. And Phil came over and put his arm around me, and he said, “You know, I just want to tell you you’re loved.” Isn’t that really nice? I know you expected me to tell some wacky story about Phil, but he was like that, too. He just put his arm around me and said that. He was so sweet. He was a really nice man.

:)

20 years ago today.

Didn't remember him doing Trump (and Jan Hooks as Ivana) on SNL...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1gC912LUq0

Also: Somebody uploaded a mastercut of the Max Jerome ads

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jlvK3Uc7e4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BdwxUXRbTk

Would have been 75 today...

Joe Rogan was being so fucking mean to me one day—and mostly we were all friends, but Joe could be a weirdo

Nice to know he was always like this.

Yeah, looking again at Newsradio in recent years and it's pretty much all there already, except his character is generally regarded by the show as an idiot and tool.

Wasnt he an afterthought/change of actor anyway? ISTR the pilot had anoter guy.

Sort of. They originally cast Ray Romano as the handyman/tech guy, but he was dismissed before the pilot was filmed, and was replaced by an actor named Greg Lee, who was then replaced by Rogan when the series was picked up. Lee's character was a little different from Rogan's, which was probably tailored to his existing style (Rogan had already been doing standup and had other similar TV roles)

IIRC Rogan's character is depicted and constantly called out as a paranoid nut who's into crazy conspiracies. Anyway, that show has one of the craziest casts - it's pretty cool how they were able to tap into the best-known ensembles from that era due to the connections each actor had with either SNL, Kids in the Hall, the Ben Stiller Show, etc. with all of their other alum doing good guest turns, but so many of the main cast had these ridiculous fates. I guess everyone knew Andy Dick was a nutty creep, but Hartman getting murdered, Foley's horrendous divorce and Rogan's rise to fame, influence and billions of dollars....who would've guessed.

connections each actor had with either SNL, Kids in the Hall, the Ben Stiller Show

^all those fall under SNL either by SNL itself or Broadway Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjNP3tiE6N8

Here's something really amazing from Tom Snyder's show from the night after...an excerpt from an earlier interview wherein Hartman explains how easily impressions came to him by demonstrating how he, John Wayne, Jack Benny, and Jack Nicholson have the same voice projected from different places (clip at 2:50)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciDcWCDXxas

The whole original interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thBO3PG5GPQ

xpost They also had a lot of the Mr. Show cast on, though that’s another SNL connection obv

^^Was just thinking thinking of that ep with Odenkirk, Posehn and Cross as Dave's college Acapella group.

Oh my god, I completely forgot about the thing where Bill McNeal was Mark Russell in the elevator....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FvW66hEjyo

Bonus Early Lauren Graham Action!

The Dana Carvey & David Spade "Fly On The Wall" pod just dropped two episodes (around 5 hours total) recorded live at The Groundlings' Tribute To Phil.

^^Panel Discussion w/the hosts, Kevin Nealon, Julia Sweeney, and Jim Downey.

Thanks!!!

He was a really nice man.

Not many SNL cast members you could say that about.

Here's those SNL Change Bank ads with Downey they go on at length about. Hartman's in the second one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXDxNCzUspM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KodqIPMbyUg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0w2R2JvZ7U

"She gave me several options"

Here's that hostage sketch Downey was enthusing about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8PLGXHW5gY

and the follow-up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1ZyffcKxu0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEtrT3E4vb8

The Album Art of Phil Hartmann

I didn't know he did that Harvey Mandel cover. I love that one.

Martin Mull was also an extremely talented painter/designer

Simply imagining Phil Hartman saying the word "Poco" kinda cracks me up for some reason.

In the mid-'90s, NBC used to run these little "Did you know?" interview featurettes about their stars under show end credits sequences, and one of them was about Hartman's album covers, primarily the one for History and Legend, which--like in that blog post--he cited as his favorite.

He talks more about it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od4fr-92lOI

god he’s so funny in jingle all the way

Balthazar… -_-

:D

also: “Here, have some non-alcoholic eggnog.”