March 22, 2007
CALVERT DEFOREST, RIP
It's the rare bit of comedy that holds its potency after a shelf life of 25 years. Topical turns to dated. Boundary-pushing turns to prosaic. Slapstick turns to childish. Even the acts of the most beloved comedy figures of the past 50 years find it difficult to muster more than an appreciative smile and a chuckle from me. This is especially so when the comedy originates from one's youth.
I started watching "Late Night With David Letterman" on NBC during the summer vacation between my 6th and 7th Grades. For some reason, my older brother and I would stay up late enough to catch Letterman turn the late-night format upside down. One of his recurring character/guests was an old vaudeville performer named Calvert DeForest, who went by the name Larry Bud Melman on Letterman and one of my most enduring memories is howling in laughter 'til it hurt at his bits on Letterman's show. One will have to watch the video above to get a sense of who DeForest was playing, or was. As an old vaudevillean, it's hard to believe that DeForest was not playing a character, or inhabitating it. Regardless, my brother sent me a link to the video above this morning and as I watched it I laughed as hard as did more than 20-odd years ago.
The New York Times has a nice autobiography for Calvert DeForest here. I can only, but strongly, disagree with its opening paragraph:
Calvert G. DeForest, the dweebish man who gained cult status on David Letterman’s late-night shows as the comic figure Larry (Bud) Melman precisely because he was not funny, died Monday in Babylon, Long Island. He was 85.
Calvert DeForest was funny; and the man and his act has weathered far better than most and will continue to do so for as long as I'm around.
Tagged: larry bud melman, late night, letterman, tvPosted by Lexiphane at March 22, 2007 10:58 PM
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