Remembering George Wendt
George Wendt passed away this week at the age of 76. I can't say I knew him -- but I did have a memorable tale about crossing paths with him.
First a little backstory.
The Second City comedy troupe in Chicago has a range of especially-classic sketches in their repertoire that they periodically include in their revues of new material. One of the most famous has to do with a funeral and #10 tin can of Van Camp's pork-and-beans, which originally starred a young John Belushi. One of my favorites is the "PTA Meeting", a very clever (and funny) piece where all members of the cast -- but one -- go out into the audience and take an empty seat. The one remaining stays on stage as the moderator of the meeting, which the other scattered members play parents. My very favorite was "A Short Talk on the Universe" with the legendary Severn Darden -- though that one was unique to Darden and really couldn't be repeated by anyone else.
Anyway, back to the tale. One evening, several decades ago, I was at the Second City, when they did "The PTA Meeting." And as it happened, there was an empty seat next to me. And when I looked over, I saw that one of the cast members had taken the seat. And it was George Wendt. He hadn't been in Cheers yet (as I said, it was several decades ago), but I obviously recognized him from the evening's cast -- and always remembered him because he was so good and funny.
What I remember from the sketch and sitting next to George Wendt was how totally committed to the scene he was. (I would imagine all the actors were, as well.) But there was no nodding a "Hello" as he sat. And throughout the sketch, it wasn't that he stayed in character quietly until it was his turn to speak, rather -- even though the only person who could hear him was me -- he kept muttering and mumbling to himself, reacting to all that was going on around him in the scene.
It wasn't much of an occasion for meeting him. But it was memorable. Noted for remembering it for all these many decades.
George Wendt is not in this recording -- in fact, I think this may be the original version of the sketch. The cast includes some people who are well-known today, along with several you'd recognize by sight -- Jim Fisher, Joe Flaherty, Harold Ramis, David Rasche, Ann Ryerson, Eugenie Ross-Leming, and Jim Staahl. So here, in George Wendt's memory, is "The PTA Meeting."
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