March 26

Even the Internet has limitations. I discovered that while researching today's birthday boy, Martin Short. Now, if you've watched comedies in the last 30-odd years, you've probably seen Martin Short: on SCTV or SNL, as the wedding planner in the Father of the Bride movies, as entertainment reporter Jimmy Glick, maybe as the villain in the last Santa Clause movie... He's done a lot of work, won plenty of awards, even has a couple of stars on a couple of walks of fame. But I wasn't simply wanting to talk about Martin Short today; I wanted to talk about Ed Grimley.

You see, Ed Grimley was one of those oddball characters that was either annoying to you, or 'made you completely mental, I must say.' A savant man-child in the Pee-Wee Herman mold (but less suggestive), the Ed Grimley character first gained his fame on SCTV, Canada's version of SNL. When Martin Short made the move to the US, Ed Grimley would end up on SNL, as well. In the wake of Pee Wee Herman's success, NBC greenlit a 13-episode run for Ed Grimley's Saturday morning show in 1988.
At this point, I would have normally posted an episode of the show. But all I've found at this point is the opening credits and a couple of screencaps. The show got re-run a few times in the early Cartoon Network years and hasn't returned to TV since. And it's never made the home video market either, so it seems my search is 'doomed as doomed can be, don'tcha know?'

I realize that by writing this column, I'm admitting that I'm publicly obsessing over a Saturday morning cartoon that I watched in high school. Heck, the talking Ed Grimley doll was one of the last cool Christmas presents I ever got as a kid (15 qualifies, right?)
But one great thing about the Internet is it helps me find a virtual community of people who feel a similar adoration, in varying degrees. One Ed Grimley fan set up EdGrimley.com, a photo album of Ed (in doll form) touring the world, ala the traveling lawn gnome. You can see him comparing his coif with the Washington Monument, hanging with movie stars at Sundance, watching a kickboxing tournament in Thailand, or wandering among Mayan ruins in the Yucatan. It's a beautiful site, particularly if you're a Grimley fan.
Meanwhile, today's an excuse to post a classic scene from The Three Amigos: