I couldn't find a traditional still of Ron Carey, a very funny character actor who died Tuesday at the age of 71. I had to do a frame grab from the Mel Brooks film, Silent Movie, in which Ron played the sidekick to the bad guy played by Harold Gould. But that was kind of the way Ron's career went. He was always the sidekick, the buddy, the little guy who aided and abetted the hero or villain. In Mr. Brooks's High Anxiety, he was the chauffeur who drove Mel around and for his regular role on Barney Miller, he was the little guy everyone abused. He made a pretty decent living that way.
Ron was a stand-up comedian who started getting tapped for roles in commercials. He made so many of them that he largely abandoned stand-up and made the lateral move into acting. He was an enormously nice, funny man. I remember one time when — for reasons too boring to relate — I found myself on the set of a Barney Miller taping that had stretched to 4 AM, having started somewhere around dinner time. The producers and story editors were doing Rewrite #47 on the script and the cast members were alternately cursing and nodding off. All the energy on the set flowed from Ron Carey, who was scurrying about, telling jokes and keeping spirits up throughout what someone else (or maybe Ron) referred to as "The Bataan Death Sitcom." He only had a small role that week but his cheerleading did plenty to make it, as I recall, a pretty good episode.
I met him a few other times, often at meetings of Yarmy's Army, which is a local group of older comedians. I was a guest/outsider but Ron did an awful lot to make me feel welcome...and it wasn't just me. He was like that with everyone. Here's the L.A. Timesobit. As you'll see from the man's list of credits, Mel Brooks tried to use him in every film he did. This was, of course, because Ron was very good on screen but I'm sure it was also because Ron was just great to have around.
Mitchell Anthony has a new "Creating Success" podcast up...an interview with The Movie Trailer Guy, Don LaFontaine. Those of you interested in voiceover work might want to give it a listen. Click here to hear the MP3 file...or go to Mitchell's site to select it or any of his fine conversations with people from whom we could all learn something.
As mentioned in a recent link here, the White House Correspondents Association has selected Rich Little as the entertainer at their 2007 dinner. Here's part of this article about it...
Rich Little won't be mentioning Iraq or ratings when he addresses the White House Correspondents' Dinner April 21. Little said organizers of the event made it clear they don't want a repeat of last year's controversial appearance by Stephen Colbert, whose searing satire of President Bush and the White House press corps fell flat and apparently touched too many nerves. "They got a lot of letters," Little said Tuesday. "I won't even mention the word 'Iraq.'"
Little, who hasn't been to the White House since he was a favorite of the Reagan administration, said he'll stick with his usual schtick — the impersonations of the past six presidents. "They don't want anyone knocking the president. He's really over the coals right now, and he's worried about his legacy," added Little, a longtime Las Vegas resident.
I saw Little's "Presidents" routine a few years ago. As I recall, it skewed somewhat pro-Reagan but it was like a Bob Hope monologue: Nothing in there that could make any president the least bit uncomfortable. The jokes about the previous George Bush were about him not liking broccoli, as opposed to jokes about the Gulf War or Iran-Contra.
Booking him for the dinner sounds cowardly...but I think if I were the guy making the selection this year, I might play it safe. Something about this presidency is becoming downright unfunny. Bush had a low approval rating last April but he didn't have the air of gloominess and failure that now seems to hover over his administration and the war. Back then, he was down but he still looked like a guy who might turn it all around. Now, with members of his own party and other traditional supporters deserting him, he's lost a certain smugness and taken on the look of an injured animal. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve criticism and satire. I just think it'll be a lot harder for any comedian to come in and mock the man to his face. And by April 21 — after another three months of war and G.O.P. defections — it'll be harder, not easier.
Of course, if Rich Little has any guts at all, he'll get up there and say, "Thank you. I'd like to start with my newest impression...Stephen Colbert!" That would make for quite an evening.
January 20, 2007
