I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love Phil Hartman, and frankly I don’t care to. He finally got his star on the Walk of Fame this week (Nealon and Lovitz were there, bless their graying, aging hearts), and Grantland just published a wonderful analysis of his comedic legacy. You have to read every word of it, right now.
From the toy box containing Unfrozen Cave Man Lawyer, Bill Clinton, and The Simpsons’ Troy McClure, it’s possible to extract and describe the classic Phil Hartman character. It’s close enough to the actual Hartman that we might call this fellow “Hartman,” with quotes.
“Hartman” was an authority figure in love with his own sonorous voice. “Like 60 years in the business of being an announcer,” said his SNL costar Kevin Nealon.
When “Hartman” spoke, it was in a language of lies. Keyrock the Caveman jived his way through a closing statement; Clinton emoted feel-your-pain liberalism; for McClure, it was the golden patter of the announcer reading a bogus script.
“Hartman” affected a common touch: I’m just a caveman … As Steve Lookner, who joined SNL’s writing staff in 1993, put it, “It’s taking it to the limit of how cocky you can be and still fool people into thinking you’re simple.”
Chase that with his actively perfect SNL audition tape:
I cannot find his Unfrozen Caveman Sketch anywhere, presumably because the long arm of Lorne Michaels reaches into the furthest recesses of the Internet, so this clip of him on Letterman in 1994 will have to do:
And, as always, familiarize yourself with the cane episode of Newsradio, a perfect 22 minutes of television.
Tags: comedy, heroes, newsradio, oh you mean my cane, phil hartman, snl
This one I like I’ll keep.
This one displeases me.
Dave: *snaps cane* You had to know I was going to do that.
Bill: Actually, that sort of surprised me!
I say, “This one displeases me” all the time. All the fucking time.
True fact: an injury means I sometimes use a cane in icy weather, and I typically respond to inquiries about it with an arch “… what? Oh, you mean my cane.”
I DON’T CARE IF THEY DON’T GET IT
I love NewsRadio to a possibly absurd degree.
Bill: The eyes are the windows to the skull, my friend.
Dave: Soul.
Bill: For those who have one, yes.
Bill: And remember, people, it’s not whether you win or lose, because we are all going to lose in every possible category.
Only a hillbilly sits around thinking up how to catch flies
Phil Hartman was a Maiar, too perfect to be a creation of man.
Also, the song from Marge Vs. The Monorail is probably my favorite song, of all music ever made.
Monorail?
Mono- D’oh!
hehe, mule.
I like to answer any question that begins “Is there a chance…” with “Not on your life, my Hindu friend!”
It is…almost never appropriate.
https://screen.yahoo.com/unfrozen-cave-man-lawyer…
“Hi! I’m Troy McClure!“
So glad we’re agreed on Phil Hartman (though not surprised). The Grantland article does have a link to Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer! https://screen.yahoo.com/unfrozen-cave-man-lawyer…
Today is definitely NOT perfect cane weather.
Unlurking to post this: https://screen.yahoo.com/unfrozen-cave-man-lawyer…
“My name is John Johnson but everyone here calls me Vicki.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah7mS9H_TOM
He was absolutely and unrivaledly ADEQUATULENT. 😀
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOxpuKXhlss
The tribute on News Radio is one of the most touching and heart-breaking things ever written and not acted, but felt and thought. Sadly, I can’t find it on youtube. Which is maybe for the best, because it always makes me cry…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3sPeMNxntQ
Why would you post this? Now I am sad! Why don’t you just write up a script for the movie he totally would have done with Robin Williams while you’re being mean to my feelings?
Every time we watch a Futurama episode with Zapp Brannigan, the mister has to bring up how he should’ve been Phil Hartman and then we just sit there sad for a few minutes…
I just pretend he is, since Billy West said he modeled the voice after Phil Hartman.
Phil Hartman is the only celebrity that I find myself missing years after his/her death. The only one.
Oh, not me. John Candy, Douglas Adams, I’m sure there’s others. 🙁
Oh, and Fry’s first name is an homage to Hartman.
Until the passing of Robin Williams, there had never been another celebrity death that hit me like Phil Hartman’s. I grew up spending whole summers watching Hartman-era SNL reruns on Comedy Central, and he was always my absolute favorite. “It’s fobody’s nault!,” Frankenstein, Colon Blow, “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I’m just a caveman…” But more than that, the PERFECT generic dad, game show host, announcer in even the stupidest sketches, like the article says. He NEVER cracked. (Kevin Nealon is also wonderful and completely underrated.)
He remains my favorite Bill Clinton, even over Darrell Hammond. I STILL do the “intercepted by warlords” bit when I steal bites of food from people.
TMI but when I was in the (months-long) process of getting diagnosis/treatment for severe IBS, I referenced Colon Blow at least once a day. Hartman SNL is eternal.
Colon Blow is a decade-long joke in my household.
thank you, i so needed this today
“Now don’t you worry, Mrs. Simpson, I… uh-oh. We’ve drawn Judge Snyder.”
“Is that bad?”
“Well, he’s had it in for me ever since I kinda ran over his dog.”
“You did?”
“Well, replace the word “kinda” with the word “repeatedly,” and the word “dog” with “son.”
One, Two, THREE cards!
Gets me every damned time.
I watched “The Cane” the other night and had the same thought! “Bill? …I stole your cane.”
I’m glad he got his star. God, what a man.
This takes me back to when A&E used to play a block of NewsRadio in the middle of the day and I’d watch it pretty much everyday of summer vacation.
Plus, I maintain that most SNL auditions (they had been putting them on the Best of DVDs) aren’t that good, Phil Hartman’s was not only good but really good. Him and Jan Hooks were a dream duo.
We watch a lot of Simpsons reruns in our house and not one Troy McClure episode goes by where I don’t feel a pang that he’s no longer with us.
Grantland seems to link to an Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer clip: https://screen.yahoo.com/unfrozen-cave-man-lawyer…
I was fortunate enough to go to a taping of NewsRadio back in high school and Phil Hartman was seriously SO AWESOME. In between scenes, when normally the studio audience warm-up guy is desperately trying to keep us engaged, Hartman actually came up into the crowd and met people and took pictures with them. I’ve been to a few other TV show tapings before and since and no other actor has ever done that. <3
Gazizza, dilznoofuses! I still miss him and always will.
I recognize his voice! He was Jiji in the English-language version of Kiki’s Delivery Service. I’m usually a subtitles-only, original-audio-version snob, but I almost prefer the English-language version of Kiki because of him.
Phil Hartman was the voice of the tiny black cat in the English dub of Kiki’s Delivery Service and he did such an amazing job. (My eight-year-old son quotes him all the time. “Well, Paaahrdon me, Miss Snootycat!”)
I miss Phil Hartman.
The “Bill Moves On” episode of NewsRadio was so well done, so gracefully accomplished. It was funny and felt so real to the characters, but it still held central the loss and the grief.
Dammit, I get mad every time I think about the loss of Phil. I don’t think I ever saw anything of his that I didn’t love. I think my favorite was the Schiller short film on SNL, Love is a Dream. That star is long overdue.
The fact that I will never see him play Harold Hill makes me sad to this day. THAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED.
I just realized that Zapp Brannigan was meant to be Hartman. Sure enough: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapp_Brannigan
I cannot find fault with Futurama, for anything.
However… can you imagine
Thank you so much for all these links, I’ve never seen the cane or caveman stuff!
TMI but when I was in the (months-long) process of getting diagnosis/treatment for severe IBS, I referenced Colon Blow at least once a day. Hartman SNL is eternal.
It’s the episode with the sandwiches that I love the best. Also he designed album covers. He was basically the best person ever born.
Oh, not me. John Candy, Douglas Adams, I'm sure there's others. 🙁
My favourite Newsradio episode was the one where Hartman’s character goes on vacation in a mental health sanatorium. Lovitz played a fellow vacationer and I still use Lovitz’s line from time to time: “Yeah, he’s crazy. Crazy LIKE A FOX”.
Phil Hartman was a true comedic genius and was whisked away far too soon. Glad to see him being recognized by the entertainment industry.
I feel 100% certain that he would have been one of the great guests on 30 Rock.
WELL NOW I’M BEREFT ALL OVER AGAIN. The idea of Hartman/Baldwin/Kenneth the Page (sorry, Jack McBrayer, you’re Kenneth forever) in some sort of scene just makes my heart sing.
Phil Hartman is the first reason I own the complete News Radio box set (the second being Vicki Lewis).
He made everything brilliant…I just can’t bring myself to watch the remaining season of NewsRadio, even though I’m sure it’s fine, because it’s too sad to contemplate it without Phil Hartman.