FIRE BAAAAD! There can never be enough appreciations of Phil Hartman:
“There is no Costello without Abbott,” explained Mandel, who went on to become an executive producer of Curb Your Enthusiasm. “They called him Glue for different reasons, but one of them was you can’t have that Matt Foley character if Phil Hartman isn’t there to be the dad reacting off it.”
They also called him the Glue for his willingness to cloak his own personality — which perhaps came easy to Hartman. It’s the defining trait of SNL glue guys, starting with Aykroyd and running through Joe Piscopo, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, and Taran Killam. “That’s the way he was like Danny more than Belushi,” said Rosie Shuster, a former SNL writer. “He poured the Phil out and morphed into the madman inside of his character.” ... What the ’70s SNL offered in danger and snorting ambition, the early Hartman years matched with consistency and professionalism. In Carvey, Hooks, and Hartman, the show had three actors who might have time-traveled from a ’50s sketch show, and a writing staff that was happy — after updating a few references — to treat them as such.
His death (and life) was one of those I researched for that Scandals show I worked on. He had an interesting series of jobs, but did really always seem to be searching for something. He was beloved, though. Everyone I talked to about him ended up in tears. It was heartbreaking. One of the interviewees had kept in touch with the kids, and said they were doing very well, which was great to hear.
ReplyDeleteI'm so, so happy to hear that about his kids.
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