Kimmel was ‘transfixed’ by SCTV as a kid
Comedian in Toronto to moderate stage show saluting surviving cast
As far as Jimmy Kimmel is concerned, SCTV “is the greatest sketch comedy show ever.” The host of Jimmy Kimmel
Live is thrilled to be in Toronto to moderate a stage show saluting surviving SCTV cast members Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short and Dave Thomas.
“An Afternoon with the Cast of SCTV” takes place Sunday at the Elgin Theatre and will form the basis for a documentary — premiering in 2019 on CTV in Canada and to be seen worldwide on Netflix — being directed by Academy Award winner Martin Scorsese.
Reached by phone in Los Angeles, Kimmel is coy as to whether clips will be shown and would not share any other details about Sunday’s show.
“We’re going to have to leave that a mystery,” he says. “I don’t feel comfortable sharing because it’s not my show … but it will be great, don’t worry.”
Scorsese — who will also be in Toronto — met Kimmel for dinner to go over ideas for the show.
“He’s very hands on,” says Kimmel, who points out that the director’s previous documentaries include penetrating looks at Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and George Harrison.
“The fact that Martin Scorsese is doing a documentary about a show that hasn’t been on television for 40 years and is Canadian is a pretty great endorsement.” It was another Martin — Short, not Scorsese — who asked Kimmel to take part in the project.
“There is no better talk show guest,” says Kimmel, who jumped at the chance when Short invited him to one of his annual, celebrity-packed Christmas parties last December in Los Angeles.
That’s where he really got to know SCTV veterans O’Hara, Thomas, Levy and Martin.
“They were all there,” says Kimmel, who was knocked out by their wit and energy.
So why aren’t they all still working together, he asked Short.
That’s when he learned about the documentary and immedi- ately volunteered for any role in the project.
Kimmel, 50, was born just nine years before SCTV first started tossing TV sets off apartment balconies in1976. He discovered the series in syndicated reruns on a local station while growing up in Las Vegas.
“I was up all night watching television — really preparing for my career,” he says, half joking. “I would watch and I loved it, especially at that hour of the night. I was transfixed by it.” Kimmel never met the members of the troupe who have died, including John Candy and Harold Ramis. Sunday’s show will also be his first time meeting Moranis and Flaherty, and he can hardly wait.
He calls the cast “the Murderer’s Row of television. All you can compare it to is the1992 U.S. Olympic basketball dream team where you have Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson playing on the same team.”
He agrees that it is astounding that these talented people — along with Gilda Radner, Paul Shaffer, Dan Aykroyd and others — all found themselves in Toronto in the ’70s. “It’s like destiny drew them to each other or something. I guess if you can compare to anything it’s like if the Beatles had nine people in it.”
There are two SCTV sketches that always make him laugh out loud: the one where Rick Moranis is playing former Doobie Brothers lead singer Michael McDonald.
“It’s his turn to sing and he rushes to the mike, sings four words, and then goes back to being casual and chatting with the engineers.” Kimmel says he could watch the sketch “100 times in a row and laugh every time.”
He actually cues the sketch up for his own talk show writers, using it as a comedy clinic.
The other sketch that always cracks him up is one of Levy’s signature bits: Mel’s Rock Pile.
The cheap and tacky goof on American Bandstand did a sketch where a young man wins a dance-off competition. The crowd gets ugly when it becomes obvious that the winner is Mel’s nephew.
“Mel turns on his nephew like it is his fault,” says Kimmel, laughing at the memory.
The series premiered more than 40 years ago and even some members of the troupe question whether SCTV would resonate today with millennials. Many of the sketches spoof TV personalities and conventions that were very specific to the ’70s.
But funny is funny, says Kimmel. “It is one of the few sketch comedy shows that holds up.”
Young fans don’t need to know what “PBS’s Battle of the Network Stars” or “The Bob Hope Desert Classic” is specifically making fun of, he adds. “The impressions are so odd and iconic that you don’t even need to know who they’re imitating to enjoy them. In a way it might be better if you don’t know — they become a completely original character.”
Of course, Kimmel has a previous connection to Toronto. At the height of his frenzied fame, former Toronto mayor Rob Ford was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The talk show host still has a Ford bobble head in his Hollywood office. The comedian has heard Ford’s brother, Doug, is a candidate to become the premier of Ontario. Kimmel met Doug during his brother’s talk show visit.
“Shenanigans aside, I always liked Doug a lot,” says Kimmel. “He obviously really loved his brother. I keep in touch with him from time to time. I don’t know anything about what’s going on politically up there, but he was always a very friendly guy.”
When it comes to brother acts, however, it’s clear Kimmel prefers the Shmengies.
“I was up all night watching television — really preparing for my career.” JIMMY KIMMEL HOST OF JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!