The Tom Davis Decade

"I want to remind you that dead people are people too." That's the kind of wisdom that people who are dying can hand out, especially the funny ones. This one was Tom Davis, and if you are hastening to Wikipedia to find out the answer to the musical question, "Tom Davis Who?" Don't waste your time. It's right here. Or you can take my word for it: he was one funny guy. The tall part of "Franken and Davis." The one who didn't turn out to be a U.S. Senator. He was the straight man when Al was happily announcing the "Decade of Me, Al Franken."
So, what did Tom do, besides stand in the short guy's shadow? Well, he helped create "The Coneheads." He wrote many of Bill Murray's finest moments as Nick the Lounge Singer. He showed up in "Trading Places" and the little seen "One More Saturday Night." Mostly he was a writer. He was one of the guys who was in the trenches when Saturday Night Live was "NBC's Saturday Night," because Howard Cosell already had the "Live" part all sewn up. He didn't have to write about it, he lived it. And then he wrote about it.
For me, he's the guy who brought a straight face to dadaist comedy. It was a unique port in the storm of the late 1970's, but I was there and I laughed. Even if I wasn't always sure why. And so, to that dead guy, I sing my praises, since he's one funny dead guy. Aloha, Tom.