Why John Candy was (and still is) funny.

I discovered John Candy in my childhood. Splash was my introduction, swiftly followed by Brewster's Millions (thanks to my brother Dave who watched it religiously most weeks when we were kids).

I loved John and his characters then as much as I do now. He has always managed to crack me up and likewise have me blubbing like a baby. Two of my god children, Jake and Macy, love Uncle Buckle as they call him. John appeals to so many age groups, his humour is universal and timeless.

So what makes John so funny?

I think his down to earth character, the fact that he often played the underdog that we could relate to and root for. He seemed to put a bit of himself in each role he played, making everyday occurrences funny by focusing on the small details that we could all recognise in our own lives. A look, an expression, a movement or a line - he had it all and on top of that he was a great dramatic actor.

John loved people, all types of people, if you were nice to him then he was nice to you. He listened and was interested and it didn't matter who you were. By getting to know people he knew what made them tick, the key to making his characters so human. As Mel Brooks said "Life literally abounds in comedy if you just look around you".

He was also a very generous actor, all those that I have interviewed have told me how he didn't ever try to steal the limelight, he always saw the film as a team effort and would do what ever was best for the picture.

John was extremely quick and thanks to his training at Second City he was perfect at commedia dell'arte. In many of his roles such as Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Uncle Buck and Spaceballs, when he was allowed to improvise he was second to none.

I think one of the biggest things that made John so funny (no not his size he was funny regardless) was that he really enjoyed laughing. He had a huge imagination and an even bigger heart.

I interviewed Jon Turtletaub (Director of Cool Runnings) who told me "John wasn't one of those funny guys that was really 'on' all the time. A lot of these guys are always performing and they are not the ones that make the great actors. The most impressive thing for me about John was he was the only hilariously funny famous person who laughed at other peoples jokes. You don't see that in comic geniuses, they either don't react at all or they smile and say "that is funny", but he would delight, laugh and enjoy and make other people feel funny and that is such a gift to give people. 

I think so many of his big films worked because of his warmth and generosity to his co-stars and his compassion to others. I know not every movie John was in was critically acclaimed but I do believe that he made every picture better and surely as an actor, that is all you could hope for. 

Plain and simple John had a gift, I wish I could bottle and sell it but I can't.

He was a true one off.

Things you may or may not know about John Candy...

I haven't wrote a blog post in a while as I am not too well at the moment and pain is giving me writers block. So here are just a few Candy facts that you may or may not know...

1. John was scared of the bear in The Great Outdoors, he had to do a scene where the bear was chasing him for 15 seconds so they could get the shot. There was no CGI in those days and he probably never ran so fast in his life!


2. He was kind, courteous and sweet to everyone he met. Many times John would go to a restaurant and end up in the kitchen helping the staff and serving customers.

3.  John was originally going to play the part of Louis Tully in Ghostbusters, he pulled out due to character portrayal differences and the part was rewritten for Rick Moranis.

4. He wanted to be a footballer not an actor, but due to a knee injury he could never be a professional. Later on in 1991 he did however become a co-owner of the Toronto Argonauts, something he always dreamed of.

5..During the horse riding scenes in Delirious John's parts were filmed using a mechanical horse.

6. Planes, Trains and Automobiles was written by John Hughes in a weekend, the original cut was over four and a half hours long. I have only ever found one deleted scene, I would have loved to have seen the others. (You can see that deleted scene here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgg_vWq7KNk)

7. John had a Golden Retriever called Keema, whom he studied for his part of Barf in Spaceballs.

8. John Candy and Conrad Dunn taught their co-stars in
Stripes the words to Do Wah Diddy Diddy as nobody else knew them.

9. John filmed his scenes for Home Alone as a favour to John Hughes. He worked solidly for 24 hours to film them all and got into trouble several times with Chris Columbus for encouraging The Polka Band to play when they should have been filming. 

10. The death of John Candy was one of the reasons that John Hughes left Hollywood.

Oh and not a John Candy fact as such but one related - Sanka's egg was made of rubber! 

I will write a much bigger blog post soon.

Thanks for all your support,
Tracey x

Like your job, love your wife.

Planes, Trains was on TV last night and I never tire of watching it. This film makes me laugh out loud, snigger and smile like a Cheshire Cat, but it also never fails to break my heart. Watching Del Griffith talk about his wife with such love... "Love, love isn't a big enough word" to then find out at the end that she passed away eight years ago (yeah OK I knew it was coming but it still gets to me every time).

I was recently very lucky to interview Howard Deutch who directed John in The Great Outdoors. Not only did he have some lovely memories of John and anecdotes from the movie, he was able to tell me a lot about John's relationship with John Hughes, their love for each other and how John Candy was a muse for John Hughes' work (Candy is in eight
of Hughes' films, he worked with him more than any other actor). Hughes had a love for characters who didn't quite fit in, the underdog - and Candy was brilliant at playing them.

I know from talking to John's old friend Jonathan O'Mara that John often despaired of his weight and feared that he would never be normal and I think this gave him empathy with those characters he later brought to life.

Anyway I digress... this weekend one of my close friends got married to one of my old friends (I introduced them) and the love in the room not only between them, but friends and family too was palpable.

This made me think of John and how Tony Rosato described to me how John was so excited "like a little kid" on his own wedding day. Watching Del Griffith last night, I am sure every time he talked with such love in his eyes about his wife that John was thinking of  his true love Rose Candy (nee Horbor) whom he married in 1979.

Recently I also know of relationships that have been sacrificed for career. As I get older I learn more and more how love is the only thing we should aspire for. So for today, Del's words of wisdom ring true more than ever (and it works vice versa).

"Like your job, love your wife."

Not forgotten...

John Candy 31/10/1950 - 4/3/1994

Twenty years ago today the world lost a magical man who was full of kindness and brimming with talent. Not just a comedic genius, but a great dramatic actor, loyal friend to many, a brilliant role model and proud husband and Father. We lost the nicest man ever to grace Hollywood.

John Candy died from a massive heart attack whilst in Durango, Mexico where he was being filmed in Wagons East. He went to bed on 3rd March and in the early hours of 4th March he left us.

I don't want to dwell on John's tragic passing today, instead I would like to share some final memories people had of him during that shoot.

I have been privileged to talk to Mark Jennings and Donna Meyer who were part of the crew working with John on that production. They shared many stories of John, the joy of working with him and his generosity. Mark told me that every three weeks John would put on a party for the crew and cast, they were far from home and John wanted to make everyone feel welcome. According to Mark every party had a guest bar tender, which was of course always John dressed up as somebody else. On Valentines Day he gave all the ladies roses and candy and the gentlemen twelve glow in the dark condoms.


Donna shared another memory of John's kindness with me. "On Ash Wednesday, we were going to be shooting an hour or so out of town. He knew that most of the Mexican crew was Catholic and that with our very early morning calls and long days, most of them would not be able to get to church. So he made arrangements with the priest of the church he had been attending to travel out to where we were shooting to bless and give ashes to any of the crew members who wanted it. It was the most thoughtful thing I'd ever seen."

So today I am thankful, so very, very thankful that John made his impact and continues to make his impact on the world. Thank goodness there is such a full body of work, thank you even for the 'not so great' films  - for without these we would not have as much footage of John, which also gave us an example that he didn't mind working hard and taking risks, even if they didn't always pay off. Then there were the roles he played that will live with us forever, Del Griffith, Buck Russell, Dean Andews, Irv Blitzer, Danny Muldoon, Gus Polinski, Johnny La Rue, Chet Ripley, Yosh Shemenge... let's face it I could go on forever.


Whatever the reason for John's passing, he has left a hell of a legacy. John Candy still has a world wide affect today. He makes people laugh and cry on a daily basis.

My thoughts today go out to John's family as well as thoughts and thanks to all those people who have given me their time to talk to me about John, I know you all loved him and still miss him daily.

I think in my interview with Carl Reiner he put it best "I could not believe he had died, how could he die? He was so full of life!"

Legends like John never really die for they leave an impact on the world too big to shake and too timeless to forget.

To the man that made everyone want to become a better person,

Thank you John.

I was very sorry to hear that John's friend and fellow comedic genius Harold Ramis passed last week. May you both be enjoying a drink and a laugh together wherever you are. 

Believe in yourself...

It's hard being a sensitive person, you worry about what others think of you, your confidence can hold you back and the knocks really hurt, you can carry them around like a life sentence.

I have been having a moment of doubt recently, wondering what I am doing in life? worrying that I am not writing this book fast enough or that I am going to let Mr Candy down.

John struggled with these issues too, he would take rejection to heart and wear it like a covered up tattoo he never wanted to show.

Lorne Michaels (Creator and Producer of Saturday Night Live) went down to The Old Firehall in Toronto to watch John, Dave Thomas and Joe Flaherty perform as part of the legendary improv group, Second City. Lorne had gone to scout for new talent after Chevy Chase had left SNL and John was desperate to impress. As it was, nerves got the better of them and they performed a terrible show. Joe and Dave brushed it off but John hung around to see what Lorne thought. Lorne told him " don't give up the day job", that cut him like a knife, he was crushed. Dave Thomas told me that John was so giving, that he would also get hurt more than most as he would put himself out there. Luckily the faith others had in him and his talent kept him going. Of course Lorne couldn't have been more wrong and John later starred in Saturday Night Live on a couple of occasions as a guest host.

From talking to Tommy Swerdlow (Writer on Cool Runnings) I know that even when John's career was going well he still struggled with insecurity. This is probably one of the reasons that he came across as so human and was so widely loved. In his personal life he never wanted anyone to feel the same hurt he had experienced, if you were his friend he would go to the end of the earth to protect you.

This week I have seen people around me take some knocks, sometimes I think life sends us these trials to make us more determined and give us focus on what we really want.

Never give up if you really want something, there is nothing to fear except fear itself.

I wonder how many people give up on their dreams? I am so glad John never did.

Have yourselves a very Schemenge Christmas!

I would love to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported me with this project this year; Rhys, friends and family that have listened to me whittle on, those who have read my blog, liked my Facebook page, spread the word or given me their time to talk to me about their experience of being friends or working with John. Thank you!

This year I have had the huge honour of interviewing many people including leg-ends Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. Some of my favourite stories however have come from crew members - those who worked with John closely behind the scenes and had so much respect for the friendship and warmth they were shown by him.

Of course I can't mention John Candy and Christmas without mentioning Home Alone "Polka, polka, polka" (and I do have stories about that shoot) but I was wanting to give you another Christmas story...

Rick Lazzarini who built and controlled John's ears when he was playing Barf in Spaceballs gave me a lovely festive memory of John.

John and Rick. Copyright Rick Lazzarini 1986

"John called me;

'So, Rick, you're good with mechanical stuff, right?'

'Yeah, I think so!'

'Well, can you come on over to my office? I need you to build something for me…'

With everything he had done for me, the answer was: 'Of course!. No question.'

So I made my way to his Santa Monica office, where he greeted me warmly. 

'I got this thing for my son Christopher. I dunno how to put it together!'

It was a metal tractor, the pedal kind, nicely crafted, solid, but it needed assembly.  

'You got it!' I said, and immediately started in on putting it together. It was for a Christmas present, and right around the holidays, and so John put on some Christmas music. He asked: 

'Do you want some wine?'

'Sure!'

So we chatted, drinking wine, he behind his desk with his feet up on it, me sitting cross-legged on the floor, putting Tab A into Slot B and aligning holes so screw C could thread in.

And so…we talked, joked, laughed, sipped, dished, cozy, the red tractor coming into shape as we shared and joshed and enjoyed each other's company. 

I haven't yet met another actor, much less a human being, with John's capacity to fill the people around him with such joy. God bless him. He was wonderful. I miss him so."

It's only the last few years I have been introduced to the many wonderful characters John played as part of SCTV. The Schemege Brothers are two characters created by John and Eugene Levy, they have a polka band and come from Leutonia. Christmas in Leutonia includes eggs, hats on trees, sock swapping and cabbage rolls and coffee (Mmm mmm good!). Please watch this clip to get you in the spirit and have yourselves a very Schemenge Christmas! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydxtdLgwxbM


So eat, drink, be merry, love those around you and spare a thought for those not as fortunate. Next year I will aim to be a better person, I will aim to love people and life as much as John did.

Lots of love
Tracey x

Value the people around you.

John loved people, he loved his friends, his family and would have done anything for them. I have heard numerous stories from his friends and colleagues about times when he supported them, looked out for them. From diving in when he saw an injustice to loaning money and a kind ear.

Last week I interviewed Tony Rosato who was originally directed by John when he was part of the Second City Touring Troupe. He was also given one of his first breaks by John and Joe Flaherty to become part of the SCTV cast which then lead him to Saturday Night Live and beyond. Tony told me stories of living next door to the Aykroyd's, becoming life long friends with John and the time John bailed him out big time. His generosity knew no bounds and yet he was a everyday kind of guy. A sweet story featuring the Aykroyd's love of fish which led to Tony and John setting up a huge tank with African Cychilds will be in the book, it stirred up images of young boys working together and being chuffed to bits with what they achieved. When I say boys - they weren't at the time - but I love their child-like hearts.

I asked Tony a stupid question, does he still miss John? Of course the answer was, without hesitation, "everyday".

John was also very considerate to those he did not know so well, showing simple acts of kindness. A couple of weeks ago Donna Meyer told me a story when John was filming Wagons East, a spoof western which was actually his last film (he passed away in Mexico whilst on location). "On Ash Wednesday, we were going to be shooting an hour or so out of town. He knew that most of the Mexican crew were Catholic and that with our very early morning calls and long days, most of them would not be able to get to church. So he made arrangements with the priest of the church he had been attending to travel out to where we were shooting to bless and give ashes to any of the crew members who wanted it. It was the most thoughtful thing I'd ever seen."

There are countless stories of John helping others - one in particular about an old neighbour of his who lost her husband, every year he would send her flowers and make sure that when the snow came her drive was cleared. He would eat out in restaurants - then help the kitchen staff in the back and help serve customers.
 
You never forget those that have been kind to you, that haven't judged you. Not everyone around John was like this, he got hurt by many, but it never stopped him from being true to himself and giving so freely.

He was the "real article". 

Researching and writing about John always inspires me to be a better person.

This week I have been shown kindness that I will never forget, thank you to those who gave it to me, I am truly blessed. x