Flaherty was a kind, comic genius
Local comedians say ‘SCTV’ star was generous to a fault
Joe Flaherty was not only a master of impressions but knew how to leave a good one.
Local comedians described the beloved Pittsburgh-born Second City and “SCTV” star, who died Monday at the age of 82 after a brief illness, as not only a genius when it came to sketch, improv and character acting, but generous and dependable to a fault.
“I’ve seen the outpouring of love on social (media),” said Naomi Snieckus, a Second City alumnus who served as a mentor on the 2007 CBC program “The Second City’s Next Comedy Legend” along with judge Flaherty.
“I think he’s influenced so many people and so many comedians in our careers, not only for his comedic work, character work and actor work, but for his generosity in this community. He was just somebody that if I had his email and reached out, he’d be like, ‘Yeah, what do you need?’
“He was extraordinary,” she said. Toronto’s Seán Cullen, who has hosted his own Comedy Central special as well as his own self-titled series on CBC TV, echoed the sentiment.
“I’ve met him a couple of times and he was always so generous, friendly and open,” Cullen said. “It wasn’t like you were meeting somebody who was unapproachable. He was always willing to talk about the work and I got to do a couple of sketches with him, which was really great. He was just so available and so open, such a kind person.
“Some of his characters were harsh, but he wasn’t like that at all.”
“Mad TV” alumnus Ron Pederson said Flaherty’s generosity helped launched his own Hollywood career.
“I grew up in Edmonton and worked with a troupe called DieNasty, an improvised soap opera run by Second City alumnus Dana Andersen. Joe and Dana had worked together years ago, so Joe guested on Die-Nasty and I got to improvise with him. I was 18.”
Pederson said that Flaherty — who filmed three seasons of “SCTV” in Edmonton — loved DieNasty so much that he launched his own improv soap opera at Second City Hollywood and invited Pederson to join the cast.
“I went down there thinking I’d be there for a month or so and I ended up getting to play with Catherine O’Hara, Fred Willard and Martin Short,” Pederson recalled. “That is how I was discovered and ended up staying in Los Angeles and working with ‘Mad TV’ and the Craig Ferguson show. He totally paved the road for me to have a career in Hollywood.”
Pederson said Flaherty was a master improviser.
“He was fun and well-versed in the tenets of improv and saying ‘yes.’ He had a really adventurous life. He got around a lot because he said ‘yes’ to a lot of things.”
Toronto’s Colin Mochrie — best known as one of the veterans of the improv comedy TV series “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” — said one of Flaherty’s gifts was delivering the most with least.
“Joe Flaherty could create a completely funny character with one word, one look, one gesture,” Mochrie said in a statement. “The gratuitous knee slapping of Sammy Maudlin, shouting ‘Jackass!’ at Happy Gilmore; the subtle panic of ‘Half-Wits’ Arthur Andrew Leggett, Joe was a master at comedy minimalism.”
Snieckus said the beloved characters he created — “SCTV” station manager Guy Caballero, Count Floyd and talk-show host Sammy Maudlin among them, as well as his “Freaks and Geeks” role as Harold Weir — revealed his great versatility as an actor.
“The thing that I loved most about Joe is that he’d go from these outlandish characters that were on ‘SCTV,’ but then he’d do a turn on ‘Freaks and Geeks’ that would just break your heart,” said Snieckus. “He had the ability to ride both waves and that, to me, was just genius, not only as a comedian but as an actor.
“If anybody grew up with any level of ‘SCTV,’ you’re going to know his characters because they were all so detailed and so different. As a comedian, I just loved how he embraced and embodied these characters. And then he was able to flip on a dime and just hit your heart.”
Cullen said he loved Flaherty’s celebrity impersonations, often set in strange situations.
“His Kirk Douglas impressions were hilarious,” remembered Cullen. “His impressions especially were a strength and a brilliant portion of the show. A lot of people did impressions, like Rich Little, but with him you’d take this character and put him in a weird milieu.”
Cullen said he watched “SCTV” religiously and said the cast, especially Flaherty, offered him a glimpse of his own potential.
“It was so great to see a Canadian show that was that good and funny,” said Cullen. “And the whole world that was created — Guy Caballero and all the impressions and stuff like that — were something that made you think, ‘Oh, I can do that: maybe grow up and be a comedian one day.’ ”