dying laughing

Knowing that the movie The Producers is in theaters this weekend and knowing that I will probably go to see it sometime soon, I TiVo’d the original 1968 movie. It was showing in that 2:30 am time slot Thursday morning—the one coveted by advertisers-- on AMC. It had been a while since I had seen this movie, but I watched it on Friday. Although I’ll bet they will have changed a few things in the new version to update it, the movie pretty much stands the test of time. However, I came to one inescapable conclusion:

Dick Shawn was frigging weird.

You may (or may not) recall that Dick Shawn played the part of Lorenzo St. Dubois, whom everyone called by his initials, L.S.D. He was cast in the role of Hitler in the stage production of Springtime for Hitler, the play in the movie that was to be a sure-fire flop. In the movie, the play was a success because when Shawn took the stage, people had to stop and stare, point and laugh. This is because Shawn, and I’m sorry to repeat myself, was just so frigging weird.

Friday evening, in the course of a conversation, I asked, or was asked, whatever happened to Dick Shawn? Thanks to the Internet we were able to research his life and find out that he is no longer with us. As a matter of fact, he died at his craft. Although one could say he died laughing, it would be more accurate to say he died making other people laugh.

He who laughs last laughs best, it is said.

It seems as if Shawn was onstage in San Diego in1987, doing a monologue about the holocaust, when he had a heart attack and died. From what I read, it took people a while to realize that this was not just a part of the act. One of the versions I read said that audience members laughed as he lay there dying. While this might seem too incredible, I would like to emphasize that Dick Shawn was frigging weird.

I guess, in retrospect, if comedy is your game, then dying laughing or going out to the sound of laughter may not be the worst fate in the world.

I’m just sorry Shawn is not still around today. Maybe he could loosen up some of the people in the Bush administration. Perhaps he could perform his holocaust monologue for the leader of Iran. You don’t see the leader of Iran laugh much. Perhaps he doesn’t have much of a sense of humor, or perhaps he doesn’t believe that a little laughter makes life better. Maybe he doesn’t believe in the holocaust any more than the religious right believes in Darwin.

You know, maybe Dick Shawn wasn’t so weird after all.