The Seven Best Reasons to Love Leslie Nielsen

Ah, Leslie, it’s sad to see you go from our world at the tender age of 84. Whether it was being a part of the funniest TV show in history ( Police Squad!) or being a part of the movie that proved Mel Brooks was no longer funny (Dracula: Dead and Loving it!), you were in there entertaining us, and so you get a send off from my blog.

Here now, the TOP SEVEN REASONS YOU SHOULD HAVE LOVED LESLIE NIELSEN.

Eight, if you count this photo.

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#7  He was Canadian, God damn it.

Or should I politely say “Gosh Darn it.” ?  Leslie was so damn Canadian his father was an actual Mountie and his brother was the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada in the mid-Eighties.  Seriously, look it up.

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#6  He was obsessed with his digital farting machine.

 

I'm not certain of Leslie's model of choice, but this is close enough.

Brought it with him on talk shows, and used it as a prop wherever anyone might be annoyed by it.  It was classy from moment one, and it stayed classy every time he let go with one.  Here’s an easily found clip of Leslie “farting” on a British talk show.

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#5 Leslie was an essential part of the great Canadian Conspiracy.

Back in 1985, CBC filmmaker Robert Boyd uncovered an astounding plot to overthrow the USA, secretly run by Lorne Greene, Lorne Michaels, and Leslie Nielsen. It involved infiltrating American show biz with the likes of Bill Shatner,  Anne Murray,  John Candy,  and others..all of whom had to report back to this trio of evil Canadian masterminds.  According to Lorne Greene, there was a reason ex-pat Canadians needed a “Green Card” to work in the States.   One of the funniest documentaries ever made.

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#4  He got paid to mess around with Priscilla Presley in the naked gun movies.

Picking up where the KING left off.

When the King of Rock and Roll dies, and you end up with his woman?  You get to strut and crow, my friend.  You get to strut and crow.

But safety first. You're hooking up with everyone ELVIS hooked up with...

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#3   Dr. Rumack from Airplane!, got half of the best lines in the film.

“Come with me, there’s something wrong in the cockpit.”

“The cockpit?  What is it?”

“It’s the little room up front where they fly the plane.  But that’s not important right now…”

Now repeat.

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#2  Leslie Nielsen was Captain Kirk before Gene Roddenberry thought of it.

Get me a Vulcan and a cranky doctor and I'll kick some ass.

In FORBIDDEN PLANET, Leslie played  Commander J.J. Adams, who went to a distant world, made  time with a swell gal, fought a mysterious scientist and a mysterious monster, and hung out with a cool robot.  It’s proto-Kirk complete with the hand phaser.  And Nielsen did it all with his own hair.  Just a couple of years ahead of his time….sigh…

This movie is so cool, they named a bunch of comic book stores after it.

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#1-  leslie nielsen was the first person to publicly stick his ass into O.J.’s face.

Glory, glory, hallelujah.

I have no idea how often this is currently done to O.J. in prison, I haven’t seen the statistical weekly averages for this kind of behavior behind bars, or O.J.’s “free time” schedule, but the above Nielsen moment happened years before the idea of “assing” the once-beloved NFL star was popular.

Once again, Leslie was ahead of his time.

So for a lifetime of good memories, and for having an ass that was CLEARLY clairvoyant, Leslie Nielson, I SALUTE YOU.
With Love, from Ty the Guy.

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Here now, your Leslie Nielsen comic book moment of zen:

Commander Adams phasers the space tigers. DAMN cool.

(for more Ty’s Top Seven lists click HERE)

Gumby Scandal Haunts Templeton

It has recently come to this journalist’s attention that, in an obit for Art Clokey, the writer mentioned Ty Templeton‘s portrayal of Gumby on Canadian Television in the 1980s, second only to Eddie Murphy’s SNL portrayal in fame and infamy. This scandal, which Templeton had hoped was long-forgotten, came about when he portrayed Gumby on CityTV on a number of episodes of Late, Great Movies.  Pretending to be Gumby walking through a book, Templeton remembers, “The host, Bob Segarini asked me what book I was next planning to walk through next, and I answered, “The Joy of Sex and Portnoy’s Complaint.” Within 24 hours, Clokey Productions called our show and said I was never to play Gumby again.”

Templeton points out that, unlike Eddie Murphy‘s unofficial portrayal, he was an officially-sanctioned Gumby performer.  The costume had been supplied by Clokey Productions to promote Gumby.  (The show had to supply Pokey, the horse.) Templeton is unclear as to why there was a promotional push for Gumby at this time, but it might have been linked to the comic book.

The obituary for Art Clokey (and reference to the shameful Templeton Gumby Scandal) can be found on www.comicmix.com.

This journalist shudders to think of the repercussions if any actual video footage of the offending incident were to be found and put on the internet where any innocent member of the Gumby-loving public could encounter it.

My inner Mad

When I put up those Harvey Pekar sketches last week, I mentioned that neither of the drawings were in my “usual” style of doing a likeness.  At this point in my career, I’m not sure I have a style, but I do have some vague idea of what sort of final drawing will look right to my eyes, and these ideas are usually rooted in Mort Drucker and John Severin…two of the great Mad artists of my youth.

As you can see by the drawing of a young Jay Leno (done for a Canadian TV Guide some years ago) and the Movie Spock (done for my own amusement last year), my line work tends towards Drucker’s when I’m just trying to make a portrait.

Oddly enough, when I fit a likeness into a story (as I did with these panels from various editions of the Factoid BIG BOOK series, or as I’m currently doing with my fun Dexter gig), I find my line work and sensibility tends towards John Severin.   Probably because Severin was slavishly realistic, and Drucker was more playful.

Either way, when you add the Jack Davis influence in the Pekar drawing below (coupled with a blatant attempt to inject a little R. Crumb in there, another Harvey Kurtzman protege), I’ve obviously never gotten over my early crush on Mad Magazine.

And I ain’t never gonna.

Ty the Guy

Ty’s Dead Celebrity Jokes

“I hear Patrick Swayze is working on the sequel to Ghost.”

“I hear the Dead Kennedys are getting back together.”