Triple Lindy

Tim Cavanaugh | September 21, 2004

Rodney Dangerfield has been in a coma for a month, his wife confirmed today. I can't say I'm surprised, as Rodney wasn't looking so hot last time I saw him on TV.

I still hope it's too early to be looking back with finality on the 82-year-old comedian's career, and I know many of you don't think market failures can ever occur, but looking back over his filmography raises an old question: Why wasn't Hollywood able to keep coming up with great Rodney vehicles throughout the 1990s? It's not brain surgery: You write a part for Rodney as a rich guy, work out some scenario where he has to muscle in on a group of stuffy establishmentarians, throw in some nymphettes, and the rest writes itself. Maybe there are some hidden classics in that post-Back To School period (I'm hopeful that Meet Wally Sparks might be an undiscovered gem), but really: Ladybugs? The Natural Born Killers cameo? How long can a man be expected to live without an agent?

Scott Hamrah sang the praises of Caddyshack back in the year Double-X.

Comments

|9.21.04 @ 7:13PM|#

Caddyshack, definately Caddyshack. No doubt a classic filled with Saturday Night Live alumni but most remembered by Rodney's role. Why be so damn stuffy with money when you can partee'!

I shall have a high ball for Rodney's health tonight.

Jon Rowe|9.21.04 @ 8:25PM|#

Rodney was great in Caddyshack; he really was just Ted Knight's foil in that film. Knight stole the show in that movie. Knight's performance there has got to be one of the top 5 movie commedy performances of all time.

Jon Rowe|9.21.04 @ 8:27PM|#

Rodney was great in Caddyshack; he really was just Ted Knight's foil in that film. Knight stole the show in that movie. Knight's performance there has got to be one of the top 5 movie commedy performances of all time.

|9.21.04 @ 8:29PM|#

"Gimme a call when you have no class."

Bliss.

Tim Cavanaugh|9.21.04 @ 8:38PM|#

Rodney was great in Caddyshack; he really was just Ted Knight's foil in that film. Knight stole the show in that movie. Knight's performance there has got to be one of the top 5 movie commedy performances of all time.

Triple dittos. Knight should have done ten years for his grand theft of that movie.

|9.21.04 @ 9:56PM|#

The Weekly Standard reviewed his autobiography last month. In it, the great man holds out hope to us for his speedy recovery:

"I can count," [Dangerfield] writes, "and I know my days are numbered." But, he reassures us, he's not about to go anytime soon. Why? "There are too many people out there who owe me money."

|9.21.04 @ 10:24PM|#

Hey--that cameo in Nat'l Born Killers was hilarious, and the entire segment was brilliant.

|9.21.04 @ 11:51PM|#

When I was born, the doctor came into the waiting room and said to my father, "I'm sorry. We did everything we could, but he pulled through."

RD

|9.22.04 @ 2:10AM|#

I'm really bummed to hear of Rodney's condition. I always liked the flick "Easy Money," which in addition to Rodney featured a very young Jennifer Jason Leigh and a script by P.J. O'Rourke. Really, how can you not love a combination like that?

|9.22.04 @ 3:59AM|#

Is this a pre-mortem? Ick, how ghastly.

|9.22.04 @ 9:32AM|#

"Let's go, while were young!!"
"The last time I saw a mouth like that it had a hook in it."
"Hey Sabu...can you make a bullshot?"
"Hey Ringo: Play something hot! And you guys: take some more lessons!! "
"I'll bet you were something before electricity."
"What are you, religious or something??!!??"
"I bet if you buy a hat like this you get a free bowl of soup...oh, it looks good on you though!!!"

|9.22.04 @ 9:34AM|#

Rodney scared the hell out me in Natural Born Killers. I didn't know he had it in him.

And let's not forget the "Rappin' Rodney" video.

|9.22.04 @ 9:35AM|#

You write a part for Rodney as a rich guy, work out some scenario where he has to muscle in on a group of stuffy establishmentarians, throw in some nymphettes, and the rest writes itself.

I think this is what they tried to do and the stuff never worked. The ones that DID work worked because they had a few other funny people around so you don't have 100 minutes of one guy. Knight, Murray, Chase, Kinison... you gotta have that stuff or you'll write the movie while you're watching it which is probably not a good thing for comedy.

|9.22.04 @ 11:04AM|#

Thank God our long national nightmare may finally be coming to an end.

|9.22.04 @ 1:29PM|#

His episode of The Simpsons is one of my favorites

"Ooh, somebody put her back in, she ain't done yet!"

|9.23.04 @ 12:49AM|#

I for one don't mourn the shortness of the Dangerfield filmography. There's more to life than movies, and movies weren't what Rodney was (is) good at. The guy tells jokes. That's when he's at his best. One-liners, insults & goofy stories piled up rapid-fire.

Comedy records have lost prominence in the last 20 years or so, but I'll bet you can still get some Rodney concert albums. That's where you'll get the best stuff.
m

|9.23.04 @ 3:24AM|#

The ones that DID work worked because they had a few other funny people around so you don't have 100 minutes of one guy. Knight, Murray, Chase, Kinison...

Nah, it's because Harold Ramis worked on the screenplays for "Caddyshack" and "Back to School". Kinison was funny in "Back to School", but his part was little more than a cameo. Dangerfield carried that film.