Goulet’s on the Roof
EDIT: So long, Mr. Goulet.
In my family, we have an expression; when you are near death, you are said to be “on the roof”. I haven’t the slightest idea what it means but we use it nonetheless. Well, according to this site, entertainer Robert Goulet is “on the roof”.
I’m pulling for Goulet because he is one of the rare “old school” performers whose career took a trajectory from sixties-era stardom to seventies-era supper-club performance to eighties-era irrelevance to nineties-era ironic self-parody. Goulet was one of the guys who “got it”. He seemed happy not only to collect a paycheck, but to affably go along with the joke.
From his appearance in Naked Gun 2 1/2 in which his character was asked by Leslie Nielson’s Lt. Frank Drebin “I’m sure that we can handle this situation maturely, just like the responsible adults that we are. Isn’t that right, Mr… Poopy Pants?” to his guest spot on Comedy Central’s short-lived TV Funhouse, Goulet was not afraid to poke fun at himself and his image, a rare trait among entertainers of his era.
So, I’m pulling for Mr. Goulet. In his honor, I include one of my favorite Goulet sketches from SNL:
October 24th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
He also had a great “Simpsons” cameo, back before every week was a cavalcade of stars, when Bart kidnapped him and forced him to sing the Batman version of “Jingle Bells” at his treehouse casino.
Robert Goulet: Are you sure this is the Casino? Mr. Burns’ Casino? I think I should call my manager…
Nelson: Your manager says for you to shut up!
Robert Goulet: Vera said that?
October 24th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
I’d forgotten that, HZJ! Seriously one of my top ten favorite Simpsons moments.
“Are you from the casino?”
“I’m from A casino.”
October 24th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
My message was no good?
October 24th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
I like the commercial he did for one of those energy drinks. In the afternoon, if you get tired and start to nod off, “Robert Goulet appears and messes with your stuff”.
October 25th, 2007 at 9:12 am
His website’s playing ‘If Ever I Would Leave You’…
October 30th, 2007 at 6:26 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZhLDwU5Row
Stuff shall be messed with!
October 31st, 2007 at 2:40 am
RIP
November 3rd, 2007 at 12:27 pm
So at roll call the sargeant goes out checks if anyone’s missing and then makes announcements of what they’re doing that day and when dinner will be served and also adds “and Private Franklin, your Mom’s dead.” The private was badly shaken and falls out of formation.
The commanding officer goes to the sargeant later and says “you should break news like that more gently. Like when I was a kid and away at boarding school, my mom called and said that our cat was on the roof and wouldn’t come down. Then later she said nobody could get to him. Then a couple days she let me know he’d died. Of course I later realized what’d happened, but it’s nice to break bad news slowly.”
A couple weeks later the Sergeants out there doing announcements and among them adds, “Corporal Kelly, your grandma is on the roof.”
Bah dum bam!
Ron
June 28th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
“On the roof” is from one of the best “shaggy dog” stories that were popular in the 60’s.
The shortest possible version is that a man’s beloved cat dies while he’s on vacation, and the friend watching the cat for him simply tells him the news over the phone. Recovered from his shock, the man suggests his friend could’ve broken the news more gently by making something up, starting (for example) with the getting stuck on the roof, proceding (at great length) over several days and, eventually ending with the sad outcome. After the friend apologizes for his thoughtlessness, the man asks about his aging mother. The friend, as you can guess, answers, “Well, right now she’s stuck on the roof…”