Joseph Flaherty (born June 21, 1941) is an American actor, writer, and comedian. He is best known for his work on the Canadian

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and ...

'' SCTV'' from 1976 to 1984 (on which he also served as a writer), and as Harold Weir on '' Freaks and Geeks'', and for his role in ''

Happy Gilmore ''Happy Gilmore'' is a 1996 American sports comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan and produced by Robert Simonds. It stars Adam Sandler as the title character, an unsuccessful ice hockey player who discovers a newfound talent for golf. The scr ...

'' (1996).

Life and career

Joseph O'Flaherty was born in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, the son of a production clerk at Westinghouse Electric. His father was of Irish heritage and his mother was of Italian descent. He moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, where he started his comedy career with the Second City Theater as Joe O'Flaherty. Along with several other Second City performers, he began appearing on the ''

National Lampoon Radio Hour ''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' was a comedy radio show which was created, produced and written by staff from ''National Lampoon'' magazine. The show ran weekly, for a little over a year, from November 17, 1973 to December 28, 1974. Ori ...

'' from 1973 to 1974. After seven years in Chicago, he moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

to help establish the Toronto Second City theatre troupe. During those years, he was one of the original writer/performers on ''SCTV'', where he spent eight years on the show, playing such characters as Big Jim McBob (of ''Farm Film Report'' fame),

Count Floyd Count Floyd is a fictional character featured in television and played by comic actor Joe Flaherty. He is a fictional horror host in the tradition of TV hosts on local television in both the United States and Canada. The Count Floyd character orig ...

Floyd Robertson Floyd Robertson is a fictional news anchor and reporter, portrayed by Joe Flaherty on the Canadian sketch comedy series '' SCTV'' in the 1970s and 1980s. He was a co-anchor, with Earl Camembert (another fictional newscaster, played by Eugene Levy) ...

, and station owner/manager

Guy Caballero Guy Caballero is a fictional character on the television series '' SCTV'' played by Joe Flaherty. President and owner of the fictional SCTV network, Caballero usually appeared on the series to introduce various network programs, although he also ...

, who goes around in a

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), ce ...

only for respect and undeserved sympathy. Other memorable Flaherty characterizations included emotional talk-show host Sammy Maudlin, seedy saxophonist-private eye Vic Arpeggio, aggressive elocution lecturer Norman Gorman, myopic public-television host Hugh Betcha, and "crazy as a snake" ex-convict Rocco. ''SCTV'' ceased production in 1984. The same year, Flaherty played Count Floyd in a short film that was shown at concerts by the rock band Rush before the song "The Weapon", for their tour in support of '' Grace Under Pressure'' (and can be seen in the home video, '' Grace Under Pressure Tour''). Flaherty has appeared in a number of cult-favorite films, for example, playing the part of the

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company cha ...

postal worker who delivers Doc Brown's 70-year-old letter to Marty McFly in '' Back to the Future Part II'' (1989), as well as the crazed fan yelling "jackass!" in ''

''. In season eight of ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ch ...

'', Flaherty once again played the Western Union man in " Something, Something, Something, Dark Side". He likewise satirizes his ''Back to the Future Part II'' character in "

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...

", this time playing a Vatican worker whose role is essentially identical to that of his Western Union character. In 1989, Flaherty played a guest role in '' Married... with Children'' in the season-four episode "Tooth or Consequences", as a recently divorced dentist who must repair Al Bundy's teeth. During 1997–1998, Flaherty starred in the television adaptation of ''Police Academy'' ('' Police Academy: The Series'') as Cmdt. Stuart Hefilfinger. The series lasted for only one season. In 1999, Flaherty joined the cast of ''Freaks and Geeks'', an NBC hour-long dramedy set in the 1980–1981 academic year, in which he played Harold Weir, the irascible father of two teens. Despite a dedicated cult following, the show only lasted one season. In the third episode, "Tricks and Treats", he dons a cheap vampire costume reminiscent of his "Count Floyd" character of the depicted era. He made appearances on the CBS sitcom '' The King of Queens'' as Father McAndrew, the priest at the Heffernans' church. He starred on the Bite TV original program, ''Uncle Joe's Cartoon Playhouse'', and served as a judge on the CBC program ''

The Second City's Next Comedy Legend ''The Second City's Next Comedy Legend'' was a summer reality show that aired on Canada's CBC Television in 2007. Contestants improvise and create characters for their chance to win a spot on the Second City Canadian Touring Company. Judges a ...

''. From 2001 to 2004, he had appeared in various

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

shows and films, including '' The Legend of Tarzan'' and '' Home on the Range''. Beginning in 2004, Flaherty was a member of the faculty at

Humber College The Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, commonly known as Humber College, is a public College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has two main campuses: the Humber North c ...

, where he taught a comedy-writing course. He was also on the program's advisory committee.

Discography

*'' Gold Turkey'' ( National Lampoon album, 1975) *''Count Floyd'' (1982) (RCA)

Filmography

Characterizations

Celebrities impersonated by Flaherty on SCTV include:

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, Robert Mitchum,

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Don Knotts Jesse Donald Knotts (July 21, 1924February 24, 2006) was an American actor and comedian. He is widely known for his role as Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife on '' The Andy Griffith Show'', a 1960s sitcom for which he earned five Emmy Awards. He als ...

Yassir Arafat Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...

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, Alistair Cooke, Slim Whitman, the corpse of Albert Schweitzer,

Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood ...

, Eddie Anderson (as 'Rochester'), Alan Alda,

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, Hugh Beaumont,

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, Larry Fine,

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

Geraldo Rivera Geraldo Rivera (born Gerald Riviera; July 4, 1943) is an American journalist, attorney, author, political commentator, and former television host. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Geraldo'' from 1987 to 1998. He gained publicity with the liv ...

, Art Garfunkel,

Broderick Crawford William Broderick Crawford (December 9, 1911 – April 26, 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actor, often cast in tough-guy roles and best known for his Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning portrayal of Willie Stark in ''All th ...

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, Henry Fonda,

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, Shoo Boxx, Paul Bradley, Aaron Copland,

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, Dick Beddoes, Gavin MacLeod, Prince Philip,

Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...

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, and musician Paul Revere. Flaherty appeared in a cameo in the deleted scenes from '' Anchorman'' as the salacious News Director who first employs Rita Genkin after her graduation from Syracuse University. He encourages her to wear a swimsuit to do the weather. Flaherty appeared as an immigration

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

officer in the " Canadian Road Trip" episode of ''

That '70s Show ''That '70s Show'' is an American television period teen sitcom that aired on Fox from August 23, 1998, to May 18, 2006. The series focuses on the lives of a group of six teenage friends living in the fictional town of Point Place, Wisconsin, ...

'' alongside fellow SCTV member Dave Thomas. In the third episode of '' Freaks and Geeks'', "Tricks and Treats", he is dressed up as a vampire, a reference to his character

References

External links

* *
Interview on The Sound of Young America, 9/06
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flaherty, Joe 1941 births 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians Living people Male actors from Pittsburgh American expatriate male actors in Canada American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American people of Irish descent American writers of Italian descent American sketch comedians American television writers Comedians from Pennsylvania Male actors from Pennsylvania American male television writers Screenwriters from Pennsylvania Primetime Emmy Award winners Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Canadian Screen Award winners