SCTV - Election Central

[@darkoanton5]

Rest in Peace, Joe Flaherty. Thanks for all the laughs and the iconic characters.

[@geriatricraver]

this skit is soooooo relevant today

[@donnajocatlady3839]

100%

[@canaisyoung3601]

Because not much has changed.

[@keithmartin1328]

It certainly is in 2024 Britain.

[@charmedcookie1537]

OMG! The more things change, the more they stay the same. Spot on!

[@edwardpate6128]

Viewed today this is scarily accurate!

[@kellywatts248]

Yes, accurate and those two work perfectly with each other. Are you still watching? How are you?

[@stvitalkid7981]

I always loved the Monty Python election episode, but this one is even better. I actually co-anchored a small market TV election night show in Saskatchewan in the mid 90s. I wish I could have prepped by watching this one for inspiration.

[@gracegrace2107]

cool

[@walruswasrob]

Also, Johnny LaRue, the original Rob and Doug Ford.

[@brianmouland209]

The Fords are winners

[@petersack5074]

? nifty comparison....? you got a couple people, to go-along, with diaper donny trump ?.....wandering....er wondering... I'm thinking, of the movie '' the 3 amigos ''....

[@trinoromo6619]

Dave Thomas was spot on in America’s military industrial complex.

[@powerbite92]

the US govt was bankrolling its communist enemies and all the comedians would do was poke fun at any criticism

[@Yankees24]

Phrases like that are from 100;years ago

[@QuadMochaMatti]

Amerika subcontracts all its military development to China these days, but keeps it on the QT. The US is actually China's largest colony, but Beijing has allowed the sham government in the US to continue to exist, like a false front.

[@TripleA44]

Rest in comedic peace Joe Flaherty, you were magnificent!

[@BayviewFinch]

Rob Ford based his political career on Johnny LaRue.

[@milascave2]

bayview: Republicans based their strategy on that missile silo guy.

[@curtismammolite9746]

BayviewFinch lol

[@accam6734]

I prefer Johnny.

[@directive0]

@Bagelbutcher Jenkins wow hit a nerve there, lol

[@lw1391]

Don't insult Johnny like that

[@Knards]

Never a bad skit! This was huge comedy! Loved every episode!

[@plazaofthemind]

LaRue would have had my vote!

[@c1ph3rpunk]

As an American that grew up never having access to see this, I feel robbed. I so miss when comedy was allowed to be funny.

[@carolyngair7051]

This skit is soooo relative RIGHT NOW!

[@fjccommish]

Exactly. However, as over the top it is, it doesn't hold a candle to the reality of Biden and the left.

[@Seeker0fTruth]

And NOW!!!

[@sillynt77]

God I miss this show with this cast.

[@ludabanko4894]

I know. SNL is so lame.

[@michaelmccullough456]

I agree

[@starbuckanderson9564]

I remember when John Candy passed away and all I could think was Johnny LaRue finally got his crane shot.

[@wmbrown6]

@@starbuckanderson9564 - And now LaRue is reunited with Guy Caballero . . .

[@717rocket]

This cast was just naturally funny.

[@EdwardT9]

Please make this the top of KZbin Nov 3

[@MrAitraining]

Johnny Larue not giving a shit and smoking during the debate.

[@ctrlzyx2]

Uhh, with Jonny larue in the debate, the contest is already over

[@greenfaery22]

Thank you for this. I love this show!!!

[@jeffolson7853]

Saturday Night Live couldn't hold a candle to SCTV. Johnny La Rue was one of my favorite characters on the show. Count Floyd was awesome too

[@fjccommish]

awoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@fancybobbybob]

Asian hordes are coming, boy did he nail it.

[@aliben-jacob9111]

sheer genius.

[@ScottFromCanada]

Oh LaRue, how we miss you!

[@DizzLexic]

Damn! I saw a glimpse of the Max Lax Coffee commercial... I've been looking everywhere for that one with no luck!!

[@davidbcalhoun]

Found it here! kzbin.info/www/bejne/nau6c2BodriUpqs

[@DizzLexic]

@@davidbcalhoun haha .. That's awesome!! thanks for sharing that with me!! Was a nice childhood flashback!! :D

[@guillermosanchez8843]

Johnny LaRue 5 votes! Go Johnny!

[@robertcombs55]

STILL better than ANYTHING on TV today!!!

[@myleshagar9722]

It is a very accurate satire on election reporting today.

[@Neville60001]

Really? And truly? Have you seen anything else on TV *today* besides _SCTV_ to say that?

[@Neville60001]

Again, I say: Really? And truly? Have you seen anything else on TV *today* besides _SCTV_ to say that?

[@wmbrown6]

@@myleshagar9722 - The subplot of Earl being Johnny LaRue's campaign manager while he was supposed to be covering election returns seems a satire of the situation of Lisa Howard (1926-1965), an ABC News reporter and midday anchor who, in fall 1964, got together with other New York liberals (including Gore Vidal) to form a group, Democrats for Keating, which endorsed the re-election bid of incumbent GOP Senator Kenneth Keating against his Democratic opponent - Robert F. Kennedy. ABC suspended her on Sept. 29, 1964, over what they deemed "public partisan political activity" and violation of journalistic ethics, then after the election fired her outright (there were other issues, one built on top of the other, involving her particular conduct in other matters, but her political activities in this realm were the final straw for the network). She filed a $2 million lawsuit against the network for defamation and what she saw as damage to her career over her firing, but the New York State Supreme Court threw out her case; that, plus a miscarriage, sunk her into a deep depression which led her to commit suicide by drug overdose on July 4, 1965, at age 39.

[@maxplanck1423]

Perhaps the best depiction of the murky world of municipal politics where future opportunities for higher office are spawned.

[@fjccommish]

Some of Larue's campaign workers voted against him.

[@danielerickson5175]

If you are going to go down with the ship, it may as well be the Titanic

[@xaviercolon8393]

We now know where Chris Wallace, Steve Sully, Savanah Guthrie, snuffleupagus, & whomever was picked for the 3rd debate, got their moderator work ethic from....

[@wmbrown6]

I can tell you where Earl's particular "ethics" came from: The late Lisa Howard of ABC News, who was fired from the network in 1964 after she became actively involved in a group, "Democrats for Keating," that supported GOP incumbent Senator Kenneth Keating of New York against his Democrat opponent, Robert F. Kennedy (who eventually won), and her involvement continued even after repeated warnings from network management about her "public partisan politics." (Her gig as anchor of the five-minute afternoon "News with the Woman's Touch" would be given to a newcomer to the network, Marlene Sanders.)

[@craptastic3632]

I voted La Rue but it was rigged.

[@roadking0073]

This is pretty much any Town Council election in LaBroquerie, Manitoba. Same candidates, same dismal turnout and same pre-election shenanigans behind the scenes.

[@JiveDadson]

11:00 I thought he was going to say, "Frankly, I _did_ win this election. It was rigged. The biggest rig in history."

[@lukassales6681]

Wooooooow, what a mind.....!

[@fjccommish]

You mean like Hillary and the left still say about 2016 with 0 evidence of rigging while there is tons of evidence on the 2020 election steal? You mean like Stacy Abrams still claiming the election was stolen from her, even as she leads the Dem/leftist efforts to steal elections?

[@wendycohen9038]

The current crew at SNL are not good actors. They don't have characters, they just try really hard to BE funny. So they're not. They could learn a lot from SCTV.

[@AConquerorsVendetta]

Agreed! Especially Keenan and that Asian guy, they both suck something awful 😔

[@daver5120]

I still can't believe Johnny didn't win this one in a landslide.

[@pangoprime8674]

I know right, how is this even possible! Melinvillonians are out to lunch! lol

[@cyryc]

they must really hate God's special creatures in Mellinville

[@batman1169]

In 2022 as well

[@QuadMochaMatti]

Just like the prison-bound Trumpasaurus Wrecks, in the 2020 election, or his endless court cases.

[@pardwayne]

This was meant to be entertaining; not an instruction video, Chris Wallace.

[@ferrallderrall6588]

Whoever said that can eat there shorts

[@jimmyguitar2933]

Everybody has quarantine hair.

[@aeyb701]

Earl Camembert reminds me of Irv Weinstein ( dark hair, bow tie, glasses, voice) on WKBW tv news from Buffalo, whom some of us growing up in southern Ontario will recall from the seventies.

[@wmbrown6]

Eugene Levy openly admitted that Weinstein was his inspiration for his portrayal of Earl. Now, as for Joe Flaherty's Floyd Robertson: He has never indicated whom he modeled Robertson as SCTV News anchor on - odd I.M.H.O., given that he'd grown up in Pittsburgh where the big name in local TV news was KDKA-TV's Bill Burns. I've heard some other Pittsburgh TV news names bandied about as other possible bases for his Robertson characterization, i.e. Adam Lynch of KDKA, WIIC (now WPXI) and finally WTAE. Burns did have a reputation for bluntness on the air at times (such as “300 people killed last week and they say it’s not war” as he noted during the course of the Vietnam War, or “How do you like that when two young punks can rob someone" when reporting on a mugging - and often letting Senators and Congressmen have it during said war when he participated in "Pennsylvania News Conference" installments that aired on Westinghouse radio stations in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia), which seemed to manifest itself in Floyd's brusqueness towards Earl.

[@richardgates7479]

The Great Debate - a modern day parody, how did they know? I think we've been here before.

[@michaelglickman1300]

Earl, Bobby Vee sang "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes", not Gene Pitney.

[@wmbrown6]

True. He must've confused that with the similarly-tempo'd song Pitney DID sing - "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance."

[@wmbrown6]

P.S. Both anchors were challenged in terms of such knowledge. Remember when Earl wore a blue suit that blended in with the chroma-key background and Floyd told him, "You look like Cosmo Topper." What was wrong with that was, Topper wasn't the ghost, but rather the one haunted by ghosts.

[@michaelglickman1300]

@@wmbrown6 Who's Cosmo Topper?

[@FuzzyMemoriesTV]

@@michaelglickman1300 - Come now, you mean to tell me you're not familiar with the "Topper" movies of the 1930's or the 1950's TV series? A fictitious character, played on the TV show by Leo G. Carroll, a decade before becoming the boss to the characters played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum in "The Man From U.N.C.L.E."

[@seandmoore6922]

The faces have changed, but this is American politics in every decade.

[@QuadMochaMatti]

Going clear back to the 1700s. Maybe we should have just remained as part of the Commonwealth. Things couldn't have been much worse than what they've become.

[@RD2564]

Those two dudes Earl Camembert and Floyd Robertson are the BEST ...!

[@aeyb701]

Catherine ohara foreshadowing Moira on Schiits Creek.

[@wmbrown6]

Oh? I thought in this sketch she was channeling Shirley MacLaine at her most eccentric and flaky. After I pointed this out, one viewer of this sketch saw the comparison right away.

[@bobmanp8653]

Doug Ford is Johnny Larue

[@louisbourett2370]

Still relevant today

[@tested123]

could you guys help me find a sctv clip?

[@johnunkerman]

SCTV ...the best kept secret of comedy.

[@robynrodriguez6237]

That's the truth

[@PhillipZacharyZac]

When John Candy was doing the LaRue bit it reminded me of Dan Akriod from the Great Outdoors

[@hammer86_]

Oh this brings back fond memories. This was my favorite show as a kid. First the 30 minute syndicated show, then the 90 minute NBC show, which I loved. I was crushed when NBC replaced it with that stupid Friday Night videos. I wonder if the 90 minute shows are available anywhere.

[@floydman6939]

Alot of them are here on youtube!

[@michaelglickman1300]

Ugh, don't watch the NBC or Cinemax episodes. They're just botched beyond repair story and comedy wise. Believe me, just stick to the episodes that were shown on Global, at least they actually are quite humorous.

[@iancurtisspectre3744]

+Robert Sumner you related to Barney or Gordy? two really fine PoliceOrder kinda guys

[@daveparkinson1]

10:28 - Election night at Doug Ford's campaign headquarters...

[@elmell3643]

Yes johnny and you swallowed alot of aggression and alot of pizzas

[@marcschneider4845]

I'm crying from laughing so hard.

[@wallaceb9120]

Love the cigarettes!!

[@pangoprime8674]

Go Johnny, you can do it!

[@anthonyfreiier5348]

Larue got screwed!! I demand a recount

[@niallfoody97]

Well this became unexpectedly relevant

[@NevadaBoss]

1-2-3-4 who are we for? Johnny! Johnny! Johnny LaRue! You bunch of dirt farmers!!!! );

[@puppydog12000]

sounds like today

[@tuxguys]

Among the dozens of recurring characters the 7-9 of them played, Floyd/Count Floyd and Earl were always my favorites: I knew people just like them... Local news anchor teams that could not stand each other. Johnny LaRue was an interesting anomaly: SCTV's biggest "star," drawing the biggest salary, having a succession of failed TV series on the network, and yet network president, Guy Caballero, never got rid of him... ...and even his failed foray into politics never got him fired.

[@wmbrown6]

In real life, Earl's involvement with LaRue's campaign would have gotten him fired from SCTV - just as what had happened to ABC News reporter Lisa Howard in 1964 after she became publicly involved in the New York Senate race between incumbent Kenneth B. Keating (R-NY - whom she supported as a member of the group "Democrats for Keating" which also included writer Gore Vidal) against Democrat Robert F. Kennedy (who would win). I wonder if that aspect of Ms. Howard's career was what was spoofed with Earl. Even ABC considered her actions "public partisan politics." I know Eugene Levy based Earl's persona (and particular journalistic ethics, values and sensibilities) on Buffalo, NY TV news anchor Irv Weinstein; I thought I detected at least of bit of Pittsburgh news anchor Bill Burns in Floyd (given that Joe Flaherty grew up in Pittsburgh), but Donald Cowper (the child actor in "SCTV's" first season, and nephew of John Candy) doesn't know who Floyd was modelled after. I know that the two anchors were archetypes of the opposite poles of where TV news was headed in that decade; Floyd was the traditionalist in the Cronkite mold who reported on the "important" stories around the nation and the world, while Earl was completely schooled in the tabloidy, "Happy Talk" style of news presentation, what with its emphasis on fire, crime, sex, tear-jerkers, animal stories and an obsession with the occult, plus the "all about me" aspect - often at the expense of national and international news items.

[@tuxguys]

@@wmbrown6 If you know Pittsburgh broadcasting, then you know that Floyd's moonlight at the network, being Count Floyd on "Monster Chiller Horror Theatre," was based somewhat on WIIC's Bill Cardille, who put in a loooonnngg night on Saturday Night, hosting the 90-minute "Studio Wrestling" from 6-7:30, and then hosting "Chiller Theatre" from 11:30 (or whenever the local news ended, after NBC's "Saturday Night at the Movies" had run its unedited/lots of commercial breaks course), always a double feature, usually finishing around 2-3AM, LIVE from the SAME studio.

[@wmbrown6]

@@tuxguys - I knew that part, but apparently Count Floyd was also partially based on an earlier horror host, George Eisenhauer (longtime KDKA-TV staff announcer), who appeared on-camera as "Igor" in a late 1950's Friday night horror movie showcase, "The 13th Hour." (The accent and possibly the howling as well.) But my question had to do with which of the old-school TV anchors Floyd Robertson was modelled after.

[@murraykelm5691]

Flarety's character was based on Lloyd Robertson who was the top national anchor in Canada for 30 years.

[@wmbrown6]

@@murraykelm5691 - Floyd sure got his name from that longtime CBC and CTV anchor, that's for sure. His persona, however, had little to do with Lloyd. And as Flaherty grew up in Pittsburgh, my money's on Bill Burns as one of his main models (especially as both Flaherty and Burns had some Irish Catholic in them).

[@southernman22]

Second city was the funniest over sat night live.

[@antoniosscalemodels.]

Hold it out we still have back bacon

[@diaz5292]

Ya that 300 acres of land was a huge issue in that election. It really drove the crowds to the polls that fateful day. It was hotly debated right up to the closing of the polls.

[@princeofcupspoc9073]

"We need a war to bring the people back together again." Makes you cry that we knew it was coming back in the 80s, and did nothing to stop it.

[@studdedsail7126]

I can't believe THIS guy is primer of Ontario

[@unclvinny]

I could go for a spot of Camembert, Grommit.

[@tested123]

johnny la rue.......rob ford?????

[@KCFlyer2]

5:32 You can't do that today, but I couldn't stop laughing

[@CoreyT127]

Is Catherine O'Hara mocking Truduea's wife?

[@erestube]

Fast forward to 2020 and truth is stranger than comedy.

[@fjccommish]

Yup. As over the top this it, it doesn't hold a candle to Biden and the left.

[@PositiveLastAction]

LaRue was robbed!!

[@elmell3643]

Vic Hedges should have thrown his hat in this race.

[@douglasboyle6544]

LaRue was the best candidate.

[@eveningtsar]

They should give it up - no one can beat Shanks!

[@rocknrollmilitant]

Does anyone know where I can find the one where Earl is having technical difficulties and completely loses his shit?

[@bufnyfan1]

at 4:45 "I know the people of Melonville love God's little creatures.....and Craps!!!" LOL LOL I vote for that over a "missile silo" or a political theatre--yet LaRue finished third???

[@--pussypatroll--]

"... and gradually die out completely." LMFAO.

[@gplunk]

So many great characters; so much incredible talent!

[@Albertanator]

I wish our Political leaders were as honest as Larue was there at the end....ha ha...

[@milascave2]

al: I wonder if Johny LaRue was a bit of a tweak on crazy right-wing political cult leader Lindon LaRouche?

[@wmbrown6]

I've long oft wondered if the whole backstory of Earl serving as campaign manager for La Rue's wildly unsuccessful campaign for Melonville West City Council was based on onetime ABC News reporter Lisa Howard's "public partisan political activity" in serving as co-chair of a group, "Democrats for Keating," during the 1964 campaign, that consisted of New York liberals (including writer Gore Vidal) that supported the re-election campaign of incumbent Senator Kenneth Keating (R-NY) over his Democratic opponent, Robert F. Kennedy; ABC News wasn't buying her claim that she could cover the campaign impartially while being involved with that group, and first suspended her without pay (on Sept. 29, 1964) and then, after the election, fired her outright. (Her gig as anchor of the 5-minute "News With The Woman's Touch" was taken over thereafter by Marlene Sanders who would continue with the broadcast through its 1968 cancellation; Ms. Howard would commit suicide by drug overdose on Independence Day 1965.)

[@ChunkyChest]

omg #classic Johnny Larue HAHAHAHAH omg I died

[@jennyadams9670]

cool -Video to watch "!!

[@LordSalisbury93]

Is that Barb from TPB?

[@bufnyfan1]

that's what I love about Johnny Larue---He's a gracious loser (10:57)!!! LOL!!!!!

[@JohnDoe-wo1jd]

2:51 this city council candidate sounds like a representative of the US military/industrial complex post ww2

[@cas447]

6:37 😆

[@frankgarrett9500]

I don't get it. Brown and Black sounded like a couple of lunatics. A casino/bird sanctuary would be great!

[@thereisnospoon277]

Especially Brown. He sounds like a complete sociopath.

[@wmbrown6]

Catherine O'Hara's characterization of the candidate here seemed to be modeled on Shirley MacLaine at her flakiest.

[@MrEab2010]

so prophetic.

[@diaz5292]

Women should definitely bake more cookies.

[@RonJohn63]

It reminded me of "I suppose I could have stayed home, baked cookies, and had teas."

[@SonOfTamriel]

Yeaaaaaaaaa!!

[@CGBS4744]

JLR was King

[@walruswasrob]

Did Levy and O’Hara steal from themselves? She is playing an actress turned politician here - Schitt’s Creek, she is also playing an actress turned politician.

[@kellywatts248]

When John Candy was doing the LaRue bit it reminded me of Dan Akriod from the Great Outdoors. How are you?

[@russellblake6471]

I think the inspiration for O'Hara's character here was the late Shirley Temple Black, who enjoyed a career in politics after being most well known as a prolific child actor of the 1930s and 1940s.

[@wmbrown6]

@@russellblake6471 - Her character's name was a composite of that one-time child actress turned political figure, and Shirley MacLaine who's had a reputation at times for being somewhat loopy and definitely eccentric.

[@russellblake6471]

@@wmbrown6 Thanks for the response. I wasn't expecting one a few years after posting my initial reply! I definitely see the Shirley MacLaine aspect of O'Hara's character now that you point it out. I used to love watching the SCTV 90 episodes when they aired here in the States on the local NBC affiliate. I want to say that before NBC picked up the series, that it used to run on an independent station that also showed Benny Hill and other comedy shows as part of its late night lineup.

[@wmbrown6]

@@russellblake6471 - Believe me, I see a lot of things that escape most mortals' notices. As for Benny Hill, I prefer his output up to the point where his last producer, Dennis Kirkland, turned his show into a de facto Playboy magazine of the air.

[@pflqr]

I do miss Vic Hedges.

[@heinzkitzvelvet]

I know John and Eugene. I have seen her, and the other guy, in so many things but cannot remember either of their names to save me.

[@michaelburke5907]

Dave Thomas and Catherine Ohara

[@thereisnospoon277]

@@michaelburke5907 That's right, Catherine O'Hara of " Home Alone" fame.

[@reded1905]

SCTV was, and still is, brilliant!

[@mkvenner2]

Did a better job campaigning than Ron De Santas

[@uapReX]

Johnny LaRue 2024

[@lenhudson8194]

It occurs to me that, there were way more than 5 people working on his campaign, and two of the 5 votes he got must have been his and earls, which means only 3 others voted for him. I know it's reading way too much I to it, but it makes it even funnier to me.

[@davidwright5318]

It was development of characters (and their relationships) over time that made this unmissable tv watching in the late 1970s …the tension and competition between Earl Camembert and Floyd Robertson being but one of many priceless duos …

[@magneto8002]

RIP Floyd.

[@chrisstephenson7388]

Hey SNL - this is how you do political comedy without looking like court jesters.

[@frankgarrett9500]

Yes, yes. Dear leader should never be made fun of.

[@sharonallison9922]

😂😂😂😂😂😂