June 5th, 2010
(Photo courtesy of brianbubonic)
Richard Dunn died yesterday, June 4, 2010.
Richard was an actor and comedian who figured prominently in Tim & Eric’s “Tim and Eric Nite Live!” & “Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!”. I loved the hell out of the man’s style: a lovable medley of well-timed deadpan, slurs & elisions, cultivated befuddlement, & wobbly sight-gags. His fine-tuned awkwardness felt core to Tim & Eric’s absurdist Public Access T.V. gestalt, and I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that the successes of Nite Live!, Awesome Show and their current project, “Check It Out!, with Dr Steve Brule”, owe at least a little to Dunn’s influence as a sort of gentle, grandfatherly guru of weird. I’m sad he’s gone, as I know many who love Tim & Eric are, and I hope he left us quickly and without suffering.
Below are three of my favorite Dunn clips. They don’t need captions — those that are down with the Dunn would find explanations reDunndant (bad puns were central to the Dunn aesthetic) — and those that aren’t won’t find words to be of much help.
R.I.P(ep). Plibt forever.
All Writing © 2010 C. Way/ SnailCrow.com
