An autobiographical journey through modern American culture
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Calvert DeForest, 1921-2007
Calvert DeForest, also known as Larry "Bud" Melman, has died at the age of 85. In the arena of "found-object" comedy, it did not get any better than this.
My recollection is that Larry "Bud" Melman appeared on the very first airing of "Late Night with David Letterman". He intoned "This has been a Melman Production" at the conclusion of each show in the early years; his participation in sketches developed from that, I believe.
I have never been sure how much of Mr. DeForest's screen presence was his natural behavior and how much was "acting". At his best, he could inspire a dumbstruck "Is this guy for real?" reaction that reminds me of Andy Kaufman. Not that Mr. DeForest was in Andy's league, but he could really crack me up sometimes.
Apparently, it was all genuine. There was a story going around that Letterman supposedly once said, "If this guy ever gets good, we'll have no use for him."
2 comments:
My recollection is that Larry "Bud" Melman appeared on the very first airing of "Late Night with David Letterman". He intoned "This has been a Melman Production" at the conclusion of each show in the early years; his participation in sketches developed from that, I believe.
I have never been sure how much of Mr. DeForest's screen presence was his natural behavior and how much was "acting". At his best, he could inspire a dumbstruck "Is this guy for real?" reaction that reminds me of Andy Kaufman. Not that Mr. DeForest was in Andy's league, but he could really crack me up sometimes.
Apparently, it was all genuine. There was a story going around that Letterman supposedly once said, "If this guy ever gets good, we'll have no use for him."
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