Charles Grodin just died, which makes me incredibly sad. I thought about writing a eulogy, but then I remembered that I wrote about him years ago, on a now-defunct movie site. Luckily, I had it backed up in my files:
Charles Grodin is a comedy god.
Either you’re now wondering who he is, finding his name vaguely familiar, or recognizing him and disagreeing with my assessment. OR, you know comedy and you know what I’m talking about.
Grodin (born Charles Grodinsky) had a few moments of outrageous comedy in his career, but what defines him is the mastery of playing the straight man. It’s harder than many think, especially when the other characters sometimes get more attention.
It might be easier to talk about straight man/not straight man using Eric Idle’s terms (1):
“There are two types of comedian . . . both deriving from the circus, which I shall call the White Face and the Red Nose. Almost all comedians fall into one or the other of these two simple archetypes. In the circus, the White Face is the controlling clown with the deathly pale masklike face who never takes a pie; the Red Nose is the subversive clown with the yellow and red makeup who takes all the pies and the pratfalls and the buckets of water and the banana skins. . . . the White Face is the controlling neurotic and the Red Nose is the rude, rough Pan. The White Face compels your respect; the Red Nose begs for it. The Red Nose smiles and winks, and wants your love; the White Face rejects it. He never smiles; he is always deadly serious. Never more so than when doing comedy.”
If you’ve ever seen a movie with Charles Grodin, you can picture his white face, pinched perfectly as he delivers lines with perfect dry wit.
How dry was his wit? Well, the one time he hosted SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, they “themed” the show (something that happens on MUPPET SHOWS more than SNL). The “theme” was that Grodin would play himself, as an actor who hadn’t prepared and kept messing up his lines. How did this experiment in postmodern SNL go? Grodin was so convincing that the audience didn’t like him (why hadn’t he prepared? they asked themselves) and he never hosted again.
You can still see Grodin working today, but I want to explore what I consider his best period: the early 1980s.
SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES (1980). This is one of my favorite comedies of all time. Grodin plays Ira Parks, a lawyer attempting to turn politician. He’s married to another lawyer played by Goldie Hawn. And their life is fine until her ex-husband (Chevy Chase) shows up, running from the law. It’s a pitch-perfect film, written by comedy master Neil Simon. Poor Ira has to fight for his job, his wife, and his sanity. I’d probably pick Chase’s character over Ira, but that’s because I make romantic mistakes. The only disappointing thing about this movie? You never get the recipe for Chicken Pepperoni.
THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING WOMAN (1981). Grodin is Vance Kramer, married to a character played by Lily Tomlin. This movie was ahead of its time with its concern about the chemicals leaching into our bodies everyday (what makes the wife shrink) and animal testing. Tomlin is our fabulous red nose to her supportive white face husband. (They thought about doing this movie in 3D; I’m glad they didn’t).
THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER (1981). Faithful readers will know that I love anything Muppet, so how could I go wrong with Grodin playing Nicky Holliday? His red nose partner here is Frank Oz (as Miss Piggy) and a whole host of muppets. Holliday falls immediately in love with Miss Piggy, but we know her heart is always reserved for Kermit. Sad when the white white can’t even get the pig:
THE LONELY GUY (1984). Many argue that this is Grodin’s finest film and he is wonderful opposite Steve Martin. The screenplay is by Neil Simon. Martin plays a guy who learns how to be lonely (single) from Warren (Grodin) when he’s dumped. Martin is able to parlay his knowledge into a successful book and eventually romance, though his teacher is not so lucky. This movie shows Grodin hosting a party with celebrities—well, with life-sized cut outs of celebrities. Never has so much energy gone into loneliness. His life is summed up here: “I remember after I saw ROCKY, I ran out in the park jogging, shadow boxing. Some guy came up to me and punched me right in the face.”
THE WOMAN IN RED (1984). This film was directed by Gene Wilder, who was also the star. It’s basically a treatise on the inevitable attraction you will feel to other people, even after you’ve promised your fidelity to another for life. It’s fun to watch Wilder chase Kelly Le Brock, though you’re never quite sure why she lets him. Grodin is the buddy (aptly named Buddy) and is hilarious.
Playing the white face to Chase, Hawn, Muppets, Martin, and Wilder’s red noses is something to admire. I also have a soft spot for Grodin in HEART AND SOULS (1993), where he plays a ghost with unfinished business that only Robert Downey Jr.’s character can fix.
Next time you’re watching comedy, appreciate the white faces. And go watch some Grodin. He deserves it.
(1) This definition comes from Eric Idle’s sci-fi comic piece, THE ROAD TO MARS: A POST-MODEM NOVEL. One of the characters, a robot named Carlton, who happens to be a “Bowie” model, writes his dissertation on 20th Century comedy. If you like Idle, sci fi, and comedy, check out the novel.
Seems Like Old Times is my mom’s favorite movie, I second a lot of this.
I always thought “chicken pepperoni” was made up, but apparently there are recipes for it on the Internet these days.