#26
Posted: 6/17/15 at 3:23pm
Most of those Paul Lynde jokes were written by a gifted comedy writer named Jay Redack, who was one of the producers of Hollywood Squares.
#27
Posted: 6/17/15 at 5:15pm
Which makes Paul even less funny...
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#28
Posted: 6/17/15 at 5:19pm
"Most of those Paul Lynde jokes were written by a gifted comedy writer named Jay Redack, who was one of the producers of Hollywood Squares."
Kudos to Jay Redack! Paul's delivery was so good ... He could read the phone book and I'd be bent over in laughter.
#29
Posted: 6/17/15 at 5:32pm
Actually, Diva, Jay Redack would never have said anything against Paul Lynde. He loved Paul and gave full credit to comedians who knew how to deliver funny lines. Well, except for that one time when Paul Lynde, who could be an angry drunk, threw a metal dog dish in Redack's face...
Updated On: 6/18/15 at 05:32 PM
#30
Posted: 6/17/15 at 6:27pm
I rest my case.
And did Paul ever mention his writers? Nope.
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
#31
Posted: 6/17/15 at 6:45pm
That airplane story- I know it's the real Lynde, but I hear that line delivered so crystal-clear in my head as Roger Smith from "American Dad."
#33
Posted: 6/17/15 at 7:26pm
I don't know, I was a little younger then.
Did he win any awards? *Shrugs*
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
#34
Posted: 6/17/15 at 7:33pm
I dunno--I was younger then, too. I never heard of him winning any awards.
But anyway, I imagine the producers of "Hollywood Squares" wanted to maintain the illusion that the quips were spontaneous. I don't recall any of the regulars--Rose Marie, Wally Cox, Charlie Weaver, whoever--talking about the writers.
He certainly sounds like a troubled person. But he had a way with a wry one-liner (whether he wrote it or not).
#35
Posted: 6/17/15 at 7:36pm
Yes, he was screamingly funny, but being a mean drunk sort of overshadows that. Poor guy had a lot of demons.
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
#36
Posted: 6/17/15 at 8:17pm
"Yes, he was screamingly funny, but being a mean drunk sort of overshadows that. Poor guy had a lot of demons."
All funny people have demons. All people have demons, actually, but the funny ones seem more troubled because their demons exist in contrast to the way they make us laugh.
But a performer's demons shouldn't overshadow the contribution their creativity makes to the world. Those things should coexist, side by side, as should yours and mine.
And it was ONLY a dog dish.
#37
Posted: 6/17/15 at 9:59pm
If adults 21 and over can find Brandon Judell's short story about tricking with Paul Lynde in a New York bathhouse, (it was possibly in one of the Flesh & The Word anthologies), it had me hyperventilating from laughter at a reading he did. I can't even think of it without having an endorphin spike.
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Updated On: 6/17/15 at 09:59 PM
#38
Posted: 6/17/15 at 11:52pm
Far as him mentioning his writers, he didn't try and take credit for the zingers either.
"At one point, I asked him if he made up the funny answers he gave on The Hollywood Squares. He answered so sincerely, 'No, dear, someone writes them for me.'" - from Paul Lynde - A Biography, by fan/biographer Cathy (Fitzgibbon) Rudolph (describing her first time meeting him in 1975; this part is available with the "Look Inside!" preview on Amazon)
Has anyone read the entire book? Wondered if, overall, it's any good? The "peek" on Amazon makes it seem interesting enough. I saw that some reviews mention some pretty bad editing errors in the book ("Amory Cleveland" instead of Cleveland Amory, for example), but maybe those have been, or will be, corrected?
Print copy's a little steep on Amazon (even used ones), but I'm considering buying the $10 Kindle edition (to read on my iPad). Doubt I'd find a cheaper print copy on eBay, shipping and all.
#39
Posted: 6/18/15 at 12:02am
OT: One of my favorite, if fuzzy over time, moments on The Hollywood Squares was one where George Gobel had the funny punchline answer.
The question, I can't recall exactly, but the setup was that recent news had had a story about some guy who had swallowed all these ridiculous items, like metal things, and subsequently was rushed to the hospital. Marshall asks the question, and Gobel's line was something like, "Yeah, and he passed a Volkswagen on the way to the hospital."
That one still makes me laugh any time I think of it. I don't know if that was a Redack-created line, or if someone else came up with it, but it is gold.
#40
Posted: 6/18/15 at 12:03am
All my life, since I was about Randolph McAfee's age, I just assumed Charles Nelson Reilly replaced Paul Lynde in "Bye Bye Birdie" but he was a standby for Dick Van Dyke! I learned that tonight.
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#41
Posted: 6/18/15 at 8:27pm
"I dunno--I was younger then, too. I never heard of him winning any awards.
But anyway, I imagine the producers of "Hollywood Squares" wanted to maintain the illusion that the quips were spontaneous...."
I'm sure they did, but in those days so much closer to the quiz show scandals, there was a disclaimer in the closing credits that read something like "Some questions were provided to the panelists in advance."
As a kid, it took me years to figure out why.
#42
Posted: 6/18/15 at 9:35pm
Yes, but what further acknowledgment should have been forthcoming from the individual performers?
#43
Posted: 6/18/15 at 9:40pm
Never mind, you already answered the question.
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
#44
Posted: 6/18/15 at 9:53pm
I don't know anything more than anyone else here. But Gaveston seemed to have a "but" point to make; I'm just not sure what it is.
#45
Posted: 6/22/15 at 9:58pm
"I don't know anything more than anyone else here. But Gaveston seemed to have a "but" point to make; I'm just not sure what it is."
Regi, I quoted the post to which I was referring. It read, at the end:
"I imagine the producers of "Hollywood Squares" wanted to maintain the illusion that the quips were spontaneous...."
To which I replied, "I'm sure they (the producers) did (want to maintain the illusion that the quips were spontaneous)", BUT (the producers were still responding to the quiz show scandals of the 1950s, so they added a vague disclaimer to the credits).
Sorry I wasn't clearer.
***
As for the issue of credit, his writer(s) may have been listed in the end credits as well. I don't recall.
Academy Award hosts don't stop to mention the writer for every joke they tell. Some writing gigs just don't offer much recognition and those hired don't expect any.
Updated On: 6/22/15 at 09:58 PM
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