"Ah, Elmer! Like Calvert [DeForest] and [Jimmy] Kimmel’s Uncle Frank and a number of other non-actor participants in late night comedy bits, Elmer was a workaday guy who was drawn into a world he would NEVER have aspired to or even wished for. Though I think he had some fun doing it, he was always a bit befuddled by what exactly the jokes were about. But a fun guy with a ready laugh—but so anti-conventional TV in his rumpled appearance and unpolished style. Low-level white-collar functionary plodding towards his retirement when suddenly oddball writer-youngsters decide he’s a kind of gold. And he was! "Chris Elliott and Matt Wickline and myself were his particular utilizers and enjoyers.  Chris and I have a particular memory we often laugh over—and it has nothing to do with anything on the air. One afternoon, a bit before rehearsal time, Chris and I were walking down the hall [in the Late Night offices] when outside Elmer’s little office we heard some old-fashioned cackling. His door was ajar so we leaned in. Elmer was watching Popeye cartoons. Chris, very cool and calm, just plainly asked, 'Elmer, what do you like about these cartoons?' Very innocently and accurately, Elmer answered: 'That Popeye! He gets the spinach in him and he just goes bananas!' Chris was transported with pleasure. I believe he rewrote the scene to be reproduced within one or another Act 5 or Viewer Mail segment." [Viewer Mail, October 10, 1985; a reenactment of visiting him in his office as he and fellow execs are enjoying "The Flintstone" occurs on May 19, 1989, found in Part 2.] -- Steve O'Donnell, Late Night's Head Writer, late-1983 to mid-1992. Elmer first appeared in the show's Closing Credits as Production Manager on April 18, 1985. As the administrative liaison between Late Night and the NBC brass, he handled the paperwork logistics for whatever the show needed. His workplace was situated beside other writers' offices on the show's 14th floor. So when Merrill Markoe and Jeff Martin were preparing their "Late Night Anthem"'s premiere on the June 12, 1985, show, they needed someone who could play the role of NBC's Chairman and CEO, Grant Tinker. Merrill: "It had to do with him being 'the only guy in that age range with white hair' who was instantly accessible for discussion and agreeable to playing along. That's the way it usually went. I do remember being amused that he looked pretty much nothing like Grant Tinker, except for some broad strokes like 'White' and 'fifty something.' Grant was very chic and handsome and Cary Grant-like. Elmer was…um…not." Steve: "Elmer had a tertiary resemblance to Grant Tinker -- if he'd been bombarded by gamma radiation." Jeff: "My main memory is that he was a pleasant, uncomplicated guy who wasn't nervous about being on camera. His attitude -- he said it aloud once -- was 'If you punks can act, so can I.'" (Quotes via emails on January 27 and March 26, 2021.) Elmer's last closing crawl credit was on the December 11, 1985, show, but he continued his sketches as Grant Tinker, and, after Tinker had retired, as his successor, Robert C. Wright. The compilation begins with excerpts from the real Grant Tinker when he guested on Late Night November 23, 1982. (full appearance here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIZOwoIzH6s) Part 1 consists of Elmer's portrayal of Grant Tinker. Part 2 is devoted to his role as Robert C. Wright. Because the full description is too long, I've not included the specific dates for each clip. But they're all identified in the compilation. Part 2 is here: https://youtu.be/ya7Lv7XN0jE

• published: 29 Mar 2021
• views: 3734