This Bud’s on View
Or
Can’t See DeForest for DeTrees
TV Legend Larry “Bud” Melman, the file clerk turned cult icon, has died at 85 following a long illness. At 12:30 a.m. EST on Feb 1, 1982, NBC viewers were greeted by the balding gnomish Melman warning viewers about what they were about to behold in a parody of the beginning of Frankenstein. Moments later, David Letterman emerged from behind a Vegas-style chorus line. Although never a series regular, Larry Bud was the most lasting emblem of the glorious anarchy of the early days of Letterman. Melman carved out a niche with his screeching delivery, ill-fitting suits, horn-rimmed glasses and inability to read cue cards in dozens of appearances over the next 20 years, first as his nom de Peacock’s plume Larry “Bud” Melman, then his given name, Calvert DeForest, when NBC claimed the former as intellectual property. That was the only thing intellectual about the character as Melman stumbled about through hysterically inept impersonations of Elvis, Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand and Johnny Carson, most ending with him cutting Letterman off, calling him “Pinhead,” then storming off. Letterman updated and twisted the old Steve Allen man-in-the-street bits, sending Larry “Bud” down NBC hallways in a bear suit trying to get change for a $10, dispatching him to hand out hot towels at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, letting him represent Late Night in Lillehammer at the 1994 Winter Olympics and the Woodstock reunion where he introduced Nine Inch Nails, and having him lead a goodwill tour to Mexico and Guatemala that ended with Larry Bud looking into the camera and begging Dave to let him come home. Other highlights included a Mary Tyler Moore impersonation on a visit to Minneapolis and a duet of I Got You Babe with Sonny Bono.
A compendium of Larry Bud’s greatest moments, or at least what I could find on youtube last night, for your viewing pleasure:
Can’t See DeForest for DeTrees
TV Legend Larry “Bud” Melman, the file clerk turned cult icon, has died at 85 following a long illness. At 12:30 a.m. EST on Feb 1, 1982, NBC viewers were greeted by the balding gnomish Melman warning viewers about what they were about to behold in a parody of the beginning of Frankenstein. Moments later, David Letterman emerged from behind a Vegas-style chorus line. Although never a series regular, Larry Bud was the most lasting emblem of the glorious anarchy of the early days of Letterman. Melman carved out a niche with his screeching delivery, ill-fitting suits, horn-rimmed glasses and inability to read cue cards in dozens of appearances over the next 20 years, first as his nom de Peacock’s plume Larry “Bud” Melman, then his given name, Calvert DeForest, when NBC claimed the former as intellectual property. That was the only thing intellectual about the character as Melman stumbled about through hysterically inept impersonations of Elvis, Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand and Johnny Carson, most ending with him cutting Letterman off, calling him “Pinhead,” then storming off. Letterman updated and twisted the old Steve Allen man-in-the-street bits, sending Larry “Bud” down NBC hallways in a bear suit trying to get change for a $10, dispatching him to hand out hot towels at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, letting him represent Late Night in Lillehammer at the 1994 Winter Olympics and the Woodstock reunion where he introduced Nine Inch Nails, and having him lead a goodwill tour to Mexico and Guatemala that ended with Larry Bud looking into the camera and begging Dave to let him come home. Other highlights included a Mary Tyler Moore impersonation on a visit to Minneapolis and a duet of I Got You Babe with Sonny Bono.
A compendium of Larry Bud’s greatest moments, or at least what I could find on youtube last night, for your viewing pleasure:
Labels: Larry "Bud" Melman, Letterman
posted by The Grim Reaper at 10:10 PM
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