Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/12/05/actor-david-lander-squiggy-on-laverne-shirley-has-died-age-73.html
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They’re best known as Lenny and Squiggy, but I’ll always remember him and Michael McKean in Used Cars.
“If I can build and install a pacemaker in this man’s chest!”
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RIP.
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Oh, God. I loved him.
Their LP is just superb. It’s criminal that it’s not more widely available. Enjoy every wonderful rhythmless beat.
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He worked with Richard Beebe, Harry Shearer, and Michael McKean in the hilarious comedy group The Credibility Gap in the 1970s. Their LP ‘A Great Gift Idea’ is highly recommended.
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Here’s one of their bits:
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I used to imitate his “Hello” a decade or two ago. A combination of people not seeing the show and my awful impression meant literally no one got it, but it made me laugh all the same.
I enjoyed L&S more than Happy Days.
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David auditioned for a cereal commercial I wrote in ~1995. He killed it, but there was always this thing with casting character actors who got too well-known, where some consumers would have a bad reaction because someone that famous had been relegated to doing cereal commercials. Once you become as well-known as he was for one character, you probably won’t work much again.
Frank Bonner (Herb Tarlek from WKRP) also read and lost out for the same reason. We ended up casting David Bowe, yet another great character actor who was a bit more chameleon-like.
I still feel bad that we never had enough work for all my childhood comedy heroes. RIP Mr. Lander!
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“Goodbye!”
RIP, Squiggy. Character actors are the best, and he was one of the best of them.
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Another favorite after his role in “UHF”.
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He was also quite a baseball aficionado, including involvement in minor league teams and as a part time scout for the Angels and Mariners.
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I wish I could find the audio of them “reviewing” the Rose Bowl Parade (it’s so obviously made up on the spot). But this track is one of my favorites with Lander’s character railing against highway safety, especially for the phrase “The documented value of reckless driving as a form of self-expression.” His bits in the Credibility Gap always make me laugh.
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I wonder if that’s really it though, or if it’s simply a (frankly legitimate) concern that the actor’s familiarity will just overshadow the product in the ad.
Just thinking if I’d seen Frank Bonner or David Lander in a commercial in 1995. Depending on how much the actors had changed since their heyday, I’d either think, “Hey, that’s the actor from Laverne & Shirley/WKRP!” (and ignore the product), or I’d think,“That actor’s familiar! Where do I know him from?” (and ignore the product). Either way, I’d be focused on something other than what the cereal marketing people want me to be thinking of.
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Yes. Ads seem to use familiar actors as “spokesman”, so who they are is the key point.
Most ads, we aren’t supposed to think “great acting”, we’re supposed to believe these are real people enjoying a product. If they are famous, we know they are acting. yes, an unknown is acting out the script too, but when we don’t know them it’s an invisible process.
I’ve seen people I actually know in ads, so to me they are just actors selling a product, but for many others they might not see it so obviously.
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He was also a professional baseball scout later in life for the Mariners and Brewers. A true polymath.
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One of my favorite cameos he had was in Bugs Life.
He voiced the rabid little grasshopper Thumper.
You would never have guessed it until they had the fabulous outtakes clips at the end and he is shown breaking character.
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Yes, that is certainly part of the same consideration. The use of celebrities in ads is called “borrowed interest.” The most egregious recent example that comes to mind is the ad with Rick Moranis and uber-shill Ryan Reynolds:
I bet 90+% of people who see this could not tell you what it was for 3 days later (which is a real test used to check an ad’s effectiveness).
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Fun fact I learned on Reddit: Their American Bandstand performance from 1979 includes Christopher Guest on guitar introducing himself as Nigel Tufnel, 5 years before This Is Spinal Tap. Band introductions start at the 3 minute mark.
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