Bob Einstein, known for his role as Marty Funkhouser on Curb Your Enthusiasm, passed away on January 2, 2019. Einstein also portrayed Larry Middleman on Arrested Development. But to those of us who grew up watching television in the 1970s and 1980s, he will always be Super Dave Osborne.
Einstein’s Super Dave character presented a refreshing and funny take on stunt performers like Evel Knievel. Knievel was all the rage in the late 1960s and early 1970s. And Super Dave’s costume even copied the white outfits with red and blue worn by Knievel during his motorcycle jumps.
While Einstein made Super Dave a goofy character getting slapstick laughs, Einstein’s creation also commented on those of us entranced with watching Evel Knievel. Yes, part of us watched with the hope that Knievel would succeed. But part of us watched because we also hoped to see something go wrong.
For Super Dave, something always did go wrong. His humor inspired other performers. One may trace a short line from Super Dave’s stunts to shows like Jackass. But somehow Super Dave seemed much kinder and gentler, perhaps because he never hurt anyone else. And the “special effects” ensured that we were in on the joke.
After writing for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Einstein first appeared as Super Dave Osborne in the 1972 TV series, The John Byner Comedy Hour. Super Dave would later appear on other television shows, such as Bizarre (1979-86) and Late Night with David Letterman. And Super Dave would get his own television series in Canada in 1987-1991. The character also starred in his own an animated television show and a movie, The Extreme Adventures of Super Dave (2000).
Einstein — who was born in Los Angeles as Stewart Robert Einstein on November 20, 1942 — is the brother of actor-director Albert Brooks. He wrote for other shows and did other wonderful acting jobs throughout his career. But every time I would see him on shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, I would always think of him as Super Dave Osborne, the stunt hero I hoped would never die. Rest in peace.
Do you remember watching Super Dave? Leave your two cents in the comments.
As a kid, one of my jobs was taking out the trash at our house. After I moved away, though, I lived in apartments for most of my life. So taking out the trash just meant putting my garbage in a common receptacle. It was convenient when I lived in a New York City apartment and could walk down the hall and put my garbage in a chute at my leisure. But there was something I missed about having “trash night” when you have to gather all the garbage to put out by the curb for the morning pickup.
album of Sesame Street covers by pop stars. The recording sounds like an Aerosmith hit, complete with Tyler’s great screaming.
(1969). The song is in the tradition of many great country duets, with the couple going back and forth about whether or not the man is cheating. The woman is throwing him out of the house, but the man asks the question of the song’s title about how the garbage will be taken out after he is gone. The song perfectly captures the part that a household chore plays in our lives, and sometimes in our relationships.
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Although we knew what was coming on this week’s 
. In the recording before the tune begins, Oberst introduces the song with a story about a man and a woman on a plane right before the plane begins to go down.
, which went on to be quite successful.