This is such sad news. He was one of my SCTV favourites. 

I wasn't aware he was ill, but last month, fellow Second City star Martin Short issued this plea to fans when things seemed pretty dire. 

"Our beloved SCTV cast member, Joe Flaherty, is very ill. Joe is aware of the gravity of his failing health and would like to spend whatever time he has left at home rather than in a facility. 

Joe's daughter, Gudrun, is currently Joe's sole caregiver. 

Unfortunately, neither Gudrun nor Joe has the financial means to hire the 24-hour care he will require at home. We understand the cost of such care will be about 20k a month. 

Our hope is to raise the funds needed to honor Joe's wishes. 

We are writing to our friends because we believe SCTV meant something to you, and that would not be the case if it were not for Joe Flaherty. He was a mentor, a director, and an inspiring improviser who gave us many of the tools we are still using in the careers he helped kickstart. And he made us all laugh! We believe that you would want to know about Joe's condition and, perhaps, even want to contribute towards his home care. 

If you'd like to offer any amount, please see BELOW for information. If not, please send Joe your well wishes, your prayers, or a note of encouragement. Either way, we are sure Joe would be beyond grateful to know his "fans" are still rooting for him."

I'm surprised he didn't earn enough to avoid needing such a plea, because he'd been in a lot of TV and movies over the years, and I would have assumed he'd made a lot of money. 

A very sad way to go. It's not immediately clear what that final illness might have been but I'm sure it will come out shortly. 

Unlike Candy, Levy, Thomas, Moranis, O'Hara and the others, Joe Flaherty never made a breakthrough into movies and as such, didn't get the financial rewards that came with that level of stardom. His most successful post-SCTV venture was a kid's show called Maniac Mansion, which ran for a few season in the early 90s.

A shame really, since Flaherty was able to take small parts and really make his presence felt, such as in this scene from Back to the Future 2.

End scene from Back to the Future 2 (Joe Flaherty and Michael J. Fox)

I was just thinking about that. Antenna TV in the U.S. (on channel 2.2 from Buffalo) shows Johnny Carson every night at 10 PM. I'd love to see the full original SCTV shows rerun somewhere. It amazes me they haven't shown up anywhere by now. May be a rights issue, but you'd think they could deal with that. 

They deserve to be seen again. 

betaylored wrote:

We need a fresh SCTV documentary celebrating the show and the careers of the cast over the decades.

I would love to know the status of the Netflix "reunion" special that was filmed by Martin Scorsese and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel at the Elgin back in 2018. I was fortunate enough to be there to witness it but I'd still like to see the finished product.

Thanks for the laughs, Joe.

RadioActive wrote:

This is the first story I've found about this online. I'm sure there will be more. 

I didn't realize he was 82. Like Eugene Levy, who is 77, he seems forever young. 

Joe Flaherty Dead: ‘Freaks & Geeks’ Star Dies at 82

He was hilarious playing the dad in Freaks & Geeks. He would often lecture his daughter with cautionary tales about teenagers that did typical teenage things and would wind up dead.

Here he reprises his "Count Floyd" character (well, sort of) for the Halloween episode (about 57 seconds in).






PJ

BowmanvilleBob wrote:

Unlike Candy, Levy, Thomas, Moranis, O'Hara and the others, Joe Flaherty never made a breakthrough into movies and as such, didn't get the financial rewards that came with that level of stardom. His most successful post-SCTV venture was a kid's show called Maniac Mansion, which ran for a few season in the early 90s.

A shame really, since Flaherty was able to take small parts and really make his presence felt, such as in this scene from Back to the Future 2.

End scene from Back to the Future 2 (Joe Flaherty and Michael J. Fox)

Another role Flaherty was known for was the heckler in Happy Gilmore, which led to the fight with Bob Barker.

“You will not make this putt, you jackass!!!”

Bill Brioux just did a nice interview with Roger Petersen on CTV News Channel.  Some great old clips of SCTV showing Joe Flarerty at his best.