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Randy Hodgins and Steve McLellan’s lifelong love of comedy was kindled when they met more than 40 years ago in graduate school in Seattle. While managing family and professional work responsibilities, they hosted a one hour comedy radio program on Saturday mornings for 10 years on a small radio station in Olympia, WA and also co-authored two books on northwest popular culture – Seattle on Film (1995) and Wet and Wired (2000). Stuck at home during the early days of the pandemic with hundreds of comedy albums, cassettes and CD’s gathering dust on their shelves, they launched Laugh Tracks Legends of Comedy in May 2020, a weekly mini-program featuring a different comedy icon, with biographical bits and a nice slice of the comedy that made them famous. From standup stars, to stellar sketch teams, to novelty music maestros -- they are all part of our Legends.
Episodes
Tuesday May 02, 2023
Tuesday May 02, 2023
Turn the camp and snark volume to 11 -- this time out we feature the great Paul Lynde who became a gay icon in the 1960s and 70s by hiding in plain sight. From a start doing stand up, then a turn on the Broadway stage, Paul later added to his resume a character on the sitcom classic Bewitched, a LONG run as the flippant and sarcastic "center square" on The Hollywood Squares game show, and a surreal Halloween television special that is a Hall of Fame entry in the "so bad it's good" sweepstakes. As always, find full cuts below and thanks for sharing our shows.
Want more Paul?
You can't do a Paul Lynde episode without including a sampling of his snarky answers on the Hollywood Squares. You really can't think of one without the other -- in fact, one biography of Paul is titled "Center Square." https://youtu.be/1wCXr_6wgns
Paul's flamboyance was made for the stage, so it's fitting his first breakout role was as the father in the Broadway show (and later movie) Bye Bye Birdie. Here's Paul's big number -- talking about what's wrong with kids these days (yes, some things never change). https://youtu.be/1wCXr_6wgns
Paul's most famous sitcom role was a recurring character on Bewitched, playing the incorrigible warlock prankster Uncle Arthur. Here's some of Arthur's best. https://youtu.be/92pJ3ea-0tk
After Paul's turn on Bewitched, the networks wanted to feature him but couldn't find the right role -- one that had just enough camp but not so much it scared straight America. One result was this bizarre Halloween special featuring (among others) Margaret Hamilton from The Wizard of Oz and the first TV appearance of Kiss. We've started the clip where Kiss first appears, but by all means rewind and watch the whole thing. A true "what exactly were they thinking" enterprise! https://youtu.be/CCJ0D4pI0tI?t=2469
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