Indeed - still one of my top ten favorite films, and especially Winters' role in it.
"We're gonna have to kill him!"
Posted on 04/12/2013 4:10:50 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
The trailblazing comic improviser Jonathan Winters, who died Thursday at age 87, was a seminal influence on scores of comedians and the person Robin Williams credits as his mentor.
Winters' high energy, unpredictable and often surreal comic riffs included an array of characters, reenactments of movie scenes and pointed, quick-morphing sound effects that he often produced on the spot.
Take, for example, his 1964 appearance on "The Jack Paar Program." In order to illustrate Winters' genius for creating comedy out of thin air, Paar gave him a simple wooden stick. “Do something with the stick” Paar said, and in what’s now a classic bit, Winters morphed from wayward fisherman to tepid circus ringmaster with a whip, to highbrow flute player.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
JW was much better than IAMMMW, and don’t ever remember him using foul language in his jokes, maybe just a little innuendo.
He was truly funny.
I also remember his mother who was a news caster on WING-Am in Dayton.
All ooover myyy body - RIP....
He was the funniest man I ever saw, and my favorite comedian of all time.
Thanks for the laughs, JW. Rest in peace.
Indeed - still one of my top ten favorite films, and especially Winters' role in it.
"We're gonna have to kill him!"
He was the best of the best. May he rest in peace.
Your argument is a non sequitor. Was my point that Winters isn’t biologically related to the improvisational comedians who came after him. Improvisational comedy is an abstract concept to begin with, and therefore we all know its paternity can only be discussed metaphorically. I certainly knew that when writting my post.
Washington’s paternity of the country is meant metaphorically, too. Because the country is not, as you seem to imply, made up of its people. It’s an abstract concept, too. There are manifold ways Washington metaphorically fathered that abstraction, which are utterly lacking in the relation between Winters and his supposed child. Firstly, Washington actually predated the United States. Also, he has been called, and the argument can be sustained, the “indispensable man” of the revolution. With no success in war, there’d be no independent American states, and therefore no country. Furthermore, he sat as the symbolic leader of the constitutional convention of 1787, then served as the first chief executive of the new government, thus giving it legitimacy and setting precedents which all future presidents have followed.
Nothing of the sort is true of Winters’ relation to improvisational comedy. The best that can be said is that he was uniquely gifted at it, and publicized it at a time when it wasn’t very popular on tv or in the movies, thereby influencing generations of comedians to come in ilhis particular style of it. I don’t know if that’s even true. There were probably crowds of improvisers we’ve forgotten, and the names we remember from the era may also have riffed on the spot, just not as noticeably or in a manner as sui generis as Winters. Also, comedians who came after Winters, for instance Lenny Bruce, I can argue as at least as improvisational, or seemingly so, and probably more influential.
Nevermind that, however. Let’s assume Winters did solely influence all comedy off the top of people’s heads on stage, on tv, and in movies since his heyday. That’s not what the headline says; it says something far less true and infinitely more insane.
Jonathan Winters served in the Marine Detachment on the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard off the coast of Japan in 1945 and was in the occupation force at Yokosuka.
It was a small gathering, only eight of us there and Jonathon was on. It was like a private non-stop stand up routine. Last year they interviewed Jonathon at his house in Montecito (starts at 17:00 minute mark): John Kerwin Interview with Jonathon Winters
Semper Fi my brother. I look forward to meeting you at that Tun Tavern over yonder.
Oddly enough, while he was mostly Scots-Irish, he was also part Native American, and was active in some Indian causes, including serving as an honorary chairman to the Native American Congress.
Mysteriously, though, there doesn’t seem to be any mention of what tribe he descends from. The matters a great deal, because at the time of Thomas Jefferson’s survey, there were about 200 known tribes (today some 566 are recognized), and the diversity of the tribes is so great that to lump them together as a single people is like lumping Europeans and Africans together.
Oh for crying out loud. Take a pill and get over yourself.
Remember him from my yute when did Utica Club beer
commercials as “spokesmugs” Shultz and Dooley
Winter said most people think they have a sense of humor and most of those are wrong. You’re proof.
As far as I am concerned, Jonathan Winters was one of the best. He just made me feel good.
My Dad used to work on Mr. Winter’s Car back in the 70’s when he lived in Toluca Lake, near Burbank.
He said he was the nicest guy you would ever meet, and he was always cracking jokes. My Dad enjoyed going for a drive while Mr. Winters was trying to show him what the mechanical problem was. If I recall, he had a old Rambler.
I’ll have to check with my Dad. It’s ben a long time since he told me any Jonathan Winters stories. My Dad is 90, I hope he still remembers.
What I remember most was Winters’ zany characters especially Maude Frickert.
The importance of this is totally lost on young people today. They hardly even see comedians without profanity or sex included, anymore. They don't know the beauty of comedy that's innocent and just plain fun.
I’ll bet you also pass gas in church, don’t you?
I remember Maude well...in many ways, Winters followed in the footsteps of Red Skelton...
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