Most people know Harry Anderson from his starring role in the series Night Court – or perhaps even before that in a recurring role on Cheers as the con man Harry “The Hat” Gittes. (Or even before, from a few appearances on Saturday Night Live.) To those who know his early work, you know that he actually got his start as a magician. And he not only was wonderful as a magician, but his act was extremely funny. If you’ve never seen his act – or haven’t for a long time but remember it fondly – this is as good as it gets. It’s a wonderful 1986 TV special he did for Showtime, Hello, Sucker! That was his on-stage persona, which was reasonably close to his Cheers character, a fast-talking street magician, out to scam you, often in as "geek" a way as he could. Though this shows you his work at its roots, it came from after he hit the big time with Night Court, that premiered in 1984. And in a nod to that, one of his guests is the show's co-star, John Larroquette. (It also features one of my favorite, if lesser-known comedians, the low-key, odd and wonderful Rich Hall, who doesn't do any comedy here but just has a brief appearance as a bartender.) This runs about 50 minutes, blending stage work and sketches and it's a joy.
3 Comments
Douglass Abramson
1/22/2022 06:54:29 pm
That was great, but I'm not sure why they "disguised" Larroquette as Frank Zappa. I streamed it on my TV and YouTube followed it with two more specials, a sideshow themed one he did for NBC later in the Night Court run and a carnival themed one that redid some of this one's bits that he did for CBS while he was doing Dave's World. All three had the same writing and producing team. I know that I didn't see the Showtime special, I couldn't get my Dad to keep HBO consistently around that time, Showtime was a non-starter, so thank you for posting it.
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Robert Elisberg
1/23/2022 05:06:13 pm
O tosh, the whole thing was stylized. While I of course don't know "why" they chose to dress him that way, but I can understand the sensibility of wanting a sort of riverboat gambler-type character.
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Douglass Abramson
1/23/2022 06:20:26 pm
I know the whole thing was stylized. I just found it a bit distracting from the actual program, but less so than sitting in the movie theater watching Star Trek III and going "That's one of the guys from Black Sheep Squadron playing a Klingon!" Even under five pounds of latex, you can't hide Larroquette's voice.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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