Flaherty, Joe 1940-

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FLAHERTY, Joe 1940-

PERSONAL: Born June 21, 1940, in Pittsburgh, PA; married; wife's name, Judith (divorced); children: Gudrun (daughter), Gaby (son).

ADDRESSES: Home—Los Angeles, CA, and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Offıce—Humber College, 205 Humber College Blvd., Toronto, Ontario M9W 5L7, Canada.

CAREER: Actor, director, producer, and writer. Actor in films, including (under the name Joe O'Flaherty; as Carl Michaelevich), Tunnel Vision (also known as Tunnelvision, Harmonyvision, 1976; (under the name Joseph X. Flaherty; as Morgan) Alex & the Gypsy (also known as Love and Other Crimes), 1976; (under the name Joseph P. Flaherty; as USO M.C.) 1941, Universal, 1979; The Lady in Red (also known as Guns, Sin, and Bathtub Gin), New World Pictures, 1979; (as second patrol car policeman) Nothing Personal, Orion, 1980; (under the name Joseph P. Flaherty; as Sam Slaton) Used Cars, Columbia, 1980; (as Roger) Double Negative (also known as Deadly Companion), 1980; (as voice of lawyer and general) Heavy Metal, Columbia, 1981; (under the names Joseph P. Flaherty and Joseph X. Flaherty; border guard and Sergeant Crocker) Stripes, Columbia, 1981; (as veteran father) By Design, Atlantic Releasing Corp., 1982; (as Chick Leff) Going Berserk, 1983; (as death row inmate) Johnny Dangerously, 1984; (as Sid Sleaze) Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird, Warner Bros., 1985; (as General Raymond) One Crazy Summer, Warner Bros., 1986; (as pilot) Club Paradise, Warner Bros., 1986; (as waiting room patient) Innerspace, Warner Bros., 1987; (as George Baker) Blue Monkey (also known as Green Monkey and Insect!), International Spectrafilm, 1987; (as doorman) Who's Harry Crumb? TriStar, 1989; (as Western Union man) Back to the Future Part II, Universal, 1989; (as Vic) Speed Zone! (also known as Cannonball Fever), 1989; (as Peter) Wedding Band, IRS Media, 1990; (as Count Floyd) Making Real Funny Home Videos, 1990; (as Cousin Ray) Stuart Saves His Family, 1995; (as Milt) A Pig's Tale (also known as Summer Camp), 1995; (as jeering fan) Happy Gilmore, Universal, 1996; (as Mr. Barry) Snowboard Academy, Columbia TriStar, 1996; (as Fred Holden) The Wrong Guy, Lions Gate Films, 1998; (as Father McNulty) Detroit Rock City, New Line Cinema, 1999; (as William) Freddy Got Fingered, 2001; (as Mr. Leonard) Slackers, 2002; and (as Owen Fergus) National Security, 2003.

Actor in television series, including (as Kirk Dirkwood) The David Steinberg Show, 1972; Second City TV, syndicated, 1976-84; SCTV Network 90, syndicated, 1981; (as host) Really Weird Tales, Home Box Office (HBO), 1986-87; (as Count Floyd) The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley, National Broadcasting Company (NBC), 1988; (as Dr. Fred Edison) Maniac Mansion, Family Channel, 1990-93; (as voice of Big Dracula) Little Dracula, 1991; (as Mr. Wells) The Louie Show, Fox, 1996; (as Commandant Stuart Hefilfinger) Police Academy: The Series, syndicated, 1997-98; (as Harold Weir) Freaks and Geeks, NBC, 1999-2000; and (as Dr. Troutner) Go Fish, 2001.

Actor in television specials, including From Cleveland, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), 1980; (as Charlton Heston) Martin Short Concert for the North Americas, Showtime, 1985; The Second City Twenty-fifth Anniversary Special, 1985; (as Bill Sykes) Dave Thomas: The Incredible Time Travels of Henry Osgood, Showtime, 1986; Comic Relief II, HBO, 1987; Second City's Fifteenth Anniversary Special, 1988; The Best of SCTV, American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), 1988; (as Regis Rogan) Limited Partners, CBS, 1988; Baloney, ABC, 1989; (as Richard White) A Girl's Life, ABC, 1989; (as Gene Siskel) I, Martin Short, Goes Hollywood, HBO, 1989; Toonces, the Cat Who Could Drive a Car, NBC, 1992; John Candy: A Tribute, Arts and Entertainment (A&E), 1995; The Show Formerly Known as the Martin Short Show, NBC, 1995; and (as Bing Crosby) The True Meaning of Christmas Specials, 2002.

Actor in made-for-television movies, including The Blue Knight, 1973; (as George Miles) Delancey Street: The Crisis Within, 1975; (as Arnold "Chief" Berman) Looking for Miracles, Disney Channel, 1989; (as The Chili Bean Leader) Back to the Beanstalk, 1990; (as Mr. Nicholson) Runaway Daughters, Showtime, 1994; (as Kevin Dooley) Family Reunions: A Relative Nightmare, ABC, 1995; (as Dr. Lowell Royce) National Lampoon's The Don's Analyst, Showtime, 1997; My Husband's Secret Life, 1998; (as dogcatcher) Dogmatic, ABC, 1999; (as Count Floyd) Must Be Santa, 1999; and (as Snorkel) The Santa Claus Brothers, 2001.

Recurring roles on television shows, including (as Hooft) The Legend of Tarzan, 2001, and (as Father McAndrew) The King of Queens, 2002.

Executive producer of Really Weird Tales, HBO, 1986, and Limited Partners, CBS, 1988; producer of The Best of SCTV, ABC, 1988, and Partners in Life, CBS, 1990. Directed some episodes of Maniac Manion, Family Channel, 1990.

Appeared in stage productions For a Good Time Call . . . 451-0621, Santa Monica, CA, 1989; and Sin City: Season Two, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2000. Teaches workshops for Second City. Occasional performer with Die-Nasty (improvisational comedy troupe), Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Artist-inresidence at Humber College School of Comedy, Toronto, 2003—.

AWARDS, HONORS: Emmy Awards for best writing for a variety show, 1982 and 1983; star on Canada's Walk of Fame (with Second City TV troupe).

WRITINGS:

for television

(With others) Second City TV (series; also known as SCTV Channel, SCTV Network 90, and SCTV Network), 1976-84.

(With David Flaherty and others) Really Weird Tales (series), Home Box Office, 1986.

(With others) The Best of SCTV, American Broadcasting Companies, 1988.

Limited Partners, Columbia Broadcasting System, 1988.

Partners in Life, Columbia Broadcasting System, 1990.

(With others) Morton & Hayes (series), 1991.

(With Georgia Jeffries) My Husband's Secret Life (movie), 1998.

albums

(With Paul Flaherty, Dick Blasucci, and Mike Short) Count Floyd (mini LP), RCA, 1982.

SIDELIGHTS: Joe Flaherty is one of the many comedians who got their start on the sketch comedy series Second City TV, a creation of the Toronto branch of the Second City comedy troupe. The show, which aired in the late 1970s and early 1980s, also featured well-known comics Martin Short and John Candy. "In a way, [the success of Second City TV] was such a fluke," Flaherty told Winston-Salem Journal reporter Tim Clodfelter. "We had all those particular people, at that particular time, to cast and get them all together. We had no idea that's the way the talent would work, that everybody would complement each other."

Flaherty's best-known character from his Second City days is Count Floyd, who hosted Second City TV's recurring parody segment "Monster, Horror, Chiller, Theatre." Featured on this segment were such "horror films" as "Dr. Tongue's 3-D House of Stewardesses" and "Tip O'Neill's 3-D House of Representatives," where then Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill was played by John Candy. Flaherty later donned Count Floyd's black cape and faux Transylvanian accent to reprise the role in the television series The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley and in the made-for-television movie Must Be Santa.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Cincinnati Post, August 26, 2000, "Joe Flaherty Back in Ditzy Dad Role," p. 13C.

Cinema Canada, February, 1984, Andrew Dowler, review of Going Berserk, pp. 19-20.

Dayton Daily News, August 29, 2000, review of Freaks and Geeks, p. 8C.

Edmonton Sun (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), Steve Tilley, "Hooping It up with Saint Joe."

Life, October, 1982, Norman Seeff and Cyndi Stivers, review of Second City TV, pp. 65-72.

Los Angeles Magazine, June, 1989, Dick Lochte, review of For a Good Time Call . . . 451-0621, pp. 198-199.

Los Angeles Times, December 11, 1983, Lawrence Christon, review of Second City TV, p. 1.

Maclean's, August 31, 1981, Lawrence O'Toole, review of SCTV Network 90, p. 60; June 9, 1986, Brian D. Johnson, "From Gags to Riches," pp. 38-41.

Multichannel News, October 8, 1990, Kim Mitchell, review of Maniac Mansion, p. 12.

Newsweek, March 30, 1981, Harry F. Waters, review of Second City TV, pp. 83-84.

New York, January 10, 1983, James Wolcott, review of SCTV Network, pp. 64-65.

New York Times, October 29, 1983, Janet Maslin, review of Going Berserk, pp. 18-19; November 24, 1983, John O'Connor, review of Second City TV, p. C24; October 6, 1986, John J. O'Connor, review of Really Weird Tales, pp. 25, C18; September 21, 1988, John J. O'Connor, review of Best of SCTV, pp. 16, C22; November 16, 1988, John J. O'Connor, review of Second City's Fifteenth Anniversary Special, pp. B4, C26; June 2, 1989, John J. O'Connor, review of Looking for Miraclesto, pp. B2, C30.

People, November 21, 1983, review of Going Berserk, p. 10; October 1, 1990, review of Maniac Mansion, p. 12.

Record (Bergen County, NJ), August 28, 2000, Dave Mason, review of Freaks and Geeks, p. L9.

Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), June 17, 2001, Steve Hedgpeth, "Joe Flaherty: Chatscan," p. 28.

Time, November 9, 1981, Jay Cocks, review of SecondCity TV, p. 112; October 29, 1990, Richard Zoglin, review of Maniac Mansion, p. 95.

Toronto Sun, March 31, 1997, Jim Slotek, "Scary Stuff, Huh, Joe Flaherty?"; May 17, 2002, Jim Slotek, "School's a Joke for Flaherty."

US Weekly, June 25, 2001, Tom Conroy, review of GoFish, p. 73.

Variety, July 27, 1988, review of Limited Partners, p. 50; September 3, 1990, review of Partners in Life, p. 81; September 17, 1990, review of Maniac Mansion, p. 105; May 22, 1995, Todd Everett, review of The Show Formerly Known as the Martin Short Show, pp. 41-42.

Winston-Salem Journal, June 17, 2001, Tim Clodfelter, "Actor/Comedian Continues to Mature in New Sitcom on NBC," p. D1.