Thursday, October 04, 2007

So?

Noted stage actor and Tony award winner George Grizzard died yesterday. While he may be most famous for originating the role of George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf? on Broadway (or for the uncultured in the house, his role as Tom Hank's future father-in-law in Bachelor Party), I will always remember him for the best put-down of all time™.

Let me set the stage. Crustodio and I were Theater majors at a small midwestern college. Mr. Grizzard has been invited to appear in production of Equus - you know, the play where Harry Potter gets naked.

George was an okay guy, about what you would expect from a professional actor. He hung out a bit, and was fairly approachable.

So, we had a classmate named Michael Fry who was a bit of a buffoon. Not a bad guy really, but at the time he was really obnoxious. He was a kind of interesting character, in that he was sort of a blue collar, stoner, hesher type guy, but he was also very "theatrical" and really into acting- sadly, without a whit of talent. Enthusiastic, loud, outgoing and overbearing, he was also a closetalker and his usual outfit was a wifebeater t-shirt paired with tight blue jeans tucked into moccasin boots.

One day between classes, we ran into George Grizzard in the hallway. We all sort of mumbled "hello" and went on our way, except Michael - who, in his inimitable fashion, loudly greeted him.

Michael Fry:

"Hey, man, have a great show tonight! I'm gonna be there."

(Pause.)

George Grizzard:

"So?"

Michael Fry left speechless, for the first time ever.

... and SCENE!

The end.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Man, you totally harshed my buzz. I'm lacing up my tall leather boots and trucking out of here.