SCTVers reunite for charity event
TORONTO - For some, it was Catherine O'Hara's unhinged Lola Heatherton, for others it was Eugene Levy's impersonation of a near-comatose Perry Como, for still others it was Tex and Edna Boyle and their bizarre organ emporium.
Almost every Canadian has a favourite SCTV character, moment or routine - and so, too, do a litany of comics who have been paying tribute to the zany and groundbreaking troupe as some of its most famous members prepare to reunite next week in Toronto for two shows.
"It's tremendously uplifting and one of the greatest rewards, to hear your peers, and these really great comic minds, saying they look up to us," the U.S.-born Joe Flaherty, 66, said Wednesday from his home in Toronto, where he's lived since the early 1970s.
"It's the best you can do, to get those kinds of accolades."
Dave Foley, currently touring North America with the Kids in the Hall as they enjoy a reunion of their own, says he was an insanely devoted fan of "SCTV" as soon as it started airing on the CBC in 1976.
"When I was a kid we lived in Creemore, which is about an hour out of Toronto, and we only got two TV channels clearly," Foley recalled in a recent interview from Boston.
"We had this old antenna lying on the floor in our attic and I'd have to go up for about two hours of fiddling with this antenna so that we could watch 'SCTV' each week. I would be up there ... shouting out the window to my brother downstairs: 'Can you see anything?' We had to do that every single week because we loved that show so much right from its first airing."
SCTV, in fact, had a huge impact on "The Kids in the Hall" as Foley and the four other Kids decided where to take their TV show a decade later.
"They were a big part of why we don't do any parodies - because of how much we loved 'SCTV,"' he said. "'SCTV' just did it way better than we could ever do it."
Foley counts the SCTV spoof "The Grapes of Mud," Levy's imitation of an Alex Trebek type on "Half Wits" and any time the late John Candy showed up as the smarmy Johnny LaRue as among his favourite SCTV moments, but was quick to add that it was almost impossible to name favourites.
British-born comic Tracey Ullman recalls moving to the U.S. more than 20 years ago and immediately becoming enthralled with "SCTV" and the hysterical goings-on at the local TV station in the fictional town of Melonville.
"It was so cutting edge compared to anything else they were doing in the U.S. at the time - it was brilliant and really, it still is brilliant," Ullman said recently in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.
As a female comic, Ullman said she was particularly blown away by Catherine O'Hara - especially her portrayal of a kooky D-list entertainer who frequently appeared on the Sammy Maudlin talk show and shrieked: "I love you! I want to bear your children!"
"The impersonation of Lola Heatherton was just fabulous because Catherine O'Hara is such a great actress. It was more than an impersonation, it wasn't a surface impersonation - there was a lot of stuff underneath that was brilliant. She's the absolute funniest."
Brent Butt, star and creator of CTV's hit comedy "Corner Gas," said he still watches SCTV whenever he can and marvels at how sharp and funny the humour remains.
"It holds up better than a lot of shows and is still every bit as funny as it was then," Butt said from Vancouver.
"But the two who really stand out for me are Johnny LaRue and Bobby Bittman. Bobby Bittman because I always wanted to be a standup, and here was this guy who was this cartoonish stereotype of all the bad standups in the world - this guy was the guy not to be, but you were always pulling for him," he said. "Johnny LaRue was so pathetic, but so funny."
The jovial Flaherty, whose memorable "SCTV" characters included poker-faced news anchor Floyd Robertson and an alcoholic Hugh Beaumont in a "Leave It to Beaver" parody, said he's not nervous about taking to the stage next Monday and Tuesday nights in Toronto.
The shows - featuring him, O'Hara, Levy, Andrea Martin, Martin Short and Harold Ramis - are aimed at raising funds for veteran artistic and support personnel from "SCTV" and the Second City theatre troupe who are facing health or financial hardships.
No media have been accredited to cover the shows, and they were conceived simply as low-key affairs meant to raise charity money.
"We're only going to rehearse on Sunday," Flaherty said.
"We're doing some SCTV characters, we're doing some stage stuff that we all did on stage at Second City, and we're doing some improvisation. It should be interesting, that's for sure, but the best thing is that it's put us all in touch again."
Flaherty says age, however, has slowed everyone down slightly.
"Yes, we're all together and we're a lot older," he said with a laugh. "The more I look at it, the more I see why comedy works so well for the young."
Nine Inch Nails hammers scalpers with new policy
NEW YORK (Billboard) - In a move meant to get fans into premium seats and bypass ticket brokers and scalpers, industrial-rock band Nine Inch Nails has reserved tickets to each of its upcoming summer tour dates for registered users of its Web site, NIN.com.
The limited allotment of tickets will be made available through online pre-sales only to users registered under their legal names on NIN.com. Tickets acquired through these pre-sales will be marked with the purchaser's name and will have to be picked up at the appropriate venue on the date of the event. A valid government-issued ID matching the name printed on the ticket will be required for entrance.
The pre-sales will begin about 72 hours before general online ticket sales for each event.
Nine Inch Nails' summer tour kicks off July 25 at the Pemberton Festival in Pemberton, British Columbia, and continues through September 6.
Nine Inch Nails' new fan ticketing procedure follows similar strategies from bands like Pearl Jam and Maroon 5, who have also required fans who purchase tickets from their Web sites to pick up tickets with valid I.D. at the concert only.
MADD attacks 'Grand Theft Auto IV'
LOS ANGELES - Mothers Against Drunk Driving wants a stricter rating on "Grand Theft Auto IV."
The organization is calling on the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, the independent organization that assigns video-game ratings, to reclassify "GTA IV" as an Adults Only game. The action-driving game, which includes the ability to drive while intoxicated, is currently rated Mature.
"Drunk driving is not a game, and it is not a joke," MADD said in a statement released Tuesday. "Drunk driving is a choice, a violent crime and it is also 100 percent preventable."
MADD is also calling on publisher Take-Two Interactive and developer Rockstar Games to consider stopping distribution of the game — which analysts expect to sell 9 million copies and make over $400 million at launch — "out of respect for the millions of victims/survivors of drunk driving."
In the critically acclaimed open-world game, players have the choice of patronizing a bar and then attempting to drive drunk. While virtually under the influence, the screen becomes blurred and the controls are more difficult to use. Players also have the option of hailing a taxi or walking. The intoxication effects wear off after a few minutes in the game.
"We have a great deal of respect for MADD's mission, but we believe the mature audience for 'Grand Theft Auto IV' is more than sophisticated enough to understand the game's content," Rockstar Games said in a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday. "For the same reason that you can't judge an entire film or television program by a single scene, you can't judge 'Grand Theft Auto IV' by a small aspect of the game."
"GTA IV" follows the criminal exploits of protagonist Niko Bellic, an imigrant-turned-gangster who travels from Eastern Europe to Liberty City, the game's fictional locale based on New York City. As Bellic, players can hijack cars, earn cash for criminal activities, shoot innocent bystanders and visit strip clubs.
MADD declined to comment further about their statement.
McCready back to recording after Clemens report
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Mindy McCready has "caught her breath" and gone back to work on a new album following her admission of a long-standing relationship with Roger Clemens, a representative for the country star said Wednesday.
"The first day was really difficult for her. She really has caught her breath," her management consultant, John Dotson, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "She did vocals yesterday and will do vocals today.
McCready told The New York Daily News on Monday that she "cannot refute anything" in the newspaper's original report posted Sunday night on its Web site. The story said Clemens and McCready met in a Florida karaoke bar when she was a 15-year-old aspiring singer and he was a 28-year-old pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and a married father of two.
"This is Roger's situation to deal with and we've come back to work," Dotson said. "We didn't go looking for this. They called us. We have a record to make and are in the middle of negotiating a deal on a reality show."
Citing anonymous sources, the newspaper said McCready went with Clemens to his hotel room after their first meeting, but that they did not have sex. The relationship turned intimate after she later moved to Nashville and became a country star, the paper said.
Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin, confirmed that the pitcher and singer had known each other for a long time but told the newspaper that no sex was involved. At no time did Clemens engage in inappropriate or improper relationship with her, said Hardin, who described McCready as a longtime friend of Clemens and his family.
Still, the report could undermine Clemens' reputation, which is central to a defamation lawsuit he filed against former personal trainer Brian McNamee.
McNamee contends Clemens used performance-enhancing substances during his major league career.
The 32-year-old McCready came to Nashville in 1994 with tapes of her karaoke vocals and earned a contract with BNA Records. Two years later, her song "Guys Do It All the Time" hit No. 1 on the country charts.
But her subsequent albums didn't sell as well, and she lost her record deal. Attempts to restart her career tanked.
McCready, who's currently signed to Denver-based Iconic Records, has had a string of legal and personal problems in recent years and was sentenced last September for violating probation from a 2004 drug arrest. She was released from jail Dec. 30.
The newspaper reported that Clemens sent cash to McCready to help her with legal issues and reached out to her when she was in jail.
Dotson said McCready will be meeting with a New York-based public relations firm this week to "see what to do next."
"We want to be sure we don't inadvertently do something wrong," he said.