Comedy legend Joe Flaherty of SCTV, Freaks and Geeks and Happy Gilmore passes away at 82

Last Updated on April 5, 2024

The comedy realm is dealt another big blow as the world says goodbye to Joe Flaherty. According to Exclaim, the SCTV legend had been dealing with a sickness and was said to be “very ill.” In late February, Flaherty’s Second City brother, Martin Short, sent a message to their SCTV peers to fundraise for his home care in his last days, which amounted to $20K a month. Short had said that they had been made aware of the gravity of his condition and Flaherty chose to spend the rest of his life at home with his daughter rather than at a facility. The message would hit social media.

In Short’s fundraising message, he says, “We are writing to our friends because we believe SCTV meant something to you, and that would not be the case if it were not for Joe Flaherty. He was a mentor, a director, and an inspiring improviser who gave us many of the tools we are still using in the careers he helped kickstart. And he made us all laugh!”

Flaherty is a veteran of Canada’s answer to Saturday Night Live, the sketch comedy show SCTV, which also gave us stars like John Candy, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Andrea Martin and Rick Moranis. His notable sketch characters included Big Jim McBob, Guy Cabellero, Vic Arpeggio, and Count Floyd/Floyd Robertson. While Flaherty never quite reached the stardom of his cast mates, he was a successful character actor and had appeared in some of the most beloved projects in the comedy community. Flaherty is well known for his turn as Harold Weir, the father of the two main characters in the beloved cult series Freaks and Geeks. He would also appear in a famous turning point in Back to the Future Part II. As well as the scene-stealing heckler to Adam Sandler’s golfer character in Happy Gilmore.

According to TV Insider, Joel Murray of Mad Men, and brother to the comedy world’s Bill Murray and Brian-Doyle Murray, took to social media to tweet, “We’ve lost another of my idols. RIP Joe Flaherty 1941-2024.” Actress Jennifer Tilly would respond with her own message as she tweets, “Joe Flaherty played my dad in ‘The Wrong Guy.’ I was so thrilled to be able to work with him. His performance was pitch perfect. A great comedian. Gone too soon.” And an account based on Christopher McDonald’s villainous character from Happy Gilmore, Shooter McGavin, would post, “No one could have played the role of Donald like Joe Flaherty did. His comedic delivery was perfect and his role alone made Happy Gilmore the classic it is today. He will be missed. Rest easy Joe.”