Q: Who Is Ed Grimley?
A: Ed Grimley is a character invented by actor Martin Short for SCTV, and is considered by many to be Short's most famous and enduring persona. His first television appearance I believe was in 1982 in the SCTV skit "SCTV Movie of the Week: The Nutty Lab Assistant," but he had been used in a live revue originally. A quote from Short, from the SCTV FAQ:
"Ed Grimley came from the revue that was in progress when I joined, called _The Wizard of Ossington_. There was a piece called "Sexist" and the premise was two people applying for one job. The guy I played...is a moron. I started to call this character Ed Grimley. I based him on a few people I knew. Things happen over the course of doing a piece in a run... I remember one time...I kind of bared my teeth by accident. The audience laughed...So that teeth-baring became part of the character. Then I used to grease my hair a little bit to give a bad look. I remember Peter (Ackroyd) laughing one night and saying, 'It keeps getting higher every time you do this.' So as a joke I came out with it completely up and I felt, well, that got a laugh. I'll keep it in. And Ed Grimley just kind of evolved."Ed Grimley made many appearances after that, including his animated adventures in 1988.
Q: So What About This Cartoon?
A: It was produced by Hanna-Barbera in 1988 and ran for a single, 13-episode season. Martin Short played not only the recurring roles of Ed Grimley and the scientist Emil Gustav, but also several other characters. He reprised a few of his SCTV/SNL personalities (such as Irving Cohen) and even played himself in one episode! (See below.) Count Floyd (Joe Flaherty) from SCTV also had his own segment within each episode. Also from SCTV was Catherine O'Hara playing Ed's love interest Tina Malone, a budding actress (giving O'Hara a chance to act out quite a range with this single character). SCTV writer Dick Blasucci even had a hand in a couple episodes. The show was pitched in 1987 at Hanna-Barbera and was picked up (although not everyone in charge was keen on the idea; this may be why the show didn't make it past one season). Martin Short himself was heavily involved with the show; The Gustav Brothers and Count Floyd segments were both his idea. Short's brother Michael also did a fair share of writing.
Q: What's With This Count Floyd Character?
A: Count Floyd was another SCTV persona, played by Joe Flaherty. On SCTV his full name is Floyd Robertson and he is a news anchor who kind of got stuck hosting a horror movie program that never quite gets any "good" movies, called "Monster Chiller Horror Theatre." However on The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley things are a little different. His show is called "Count Floyd's Scary Stories" and it is apparently a children's program, as he always has a live child audience. He also usually tells stories rather than shows them, but he will also show clips of what appear to be old stock footage of cheesy 20's horror movies. Floyd is always insisting to the children that he is a real vampire, which they never believe. He launches each program with "Count Floyd's Official Vampire Howl" which the children join in with varying degrees of enthusiasm. However, the kids usually do seem to enjoy being on his program, despite some errant bratty behavior. In the universe of TCMMoEG, Count Floyd's show is moderately popular though apparently not very successful, and Ed is Count Floyd's biggest fan. If the Count Floyd in this universe is actually Floyd Robertson the news anchor I'm not sure. There was a live news report in one episode but I remember it was a male anchor and a woman anchor and I'm pretty sure the man was Martin Short...I'll have to check on that as I screencap the episodes.
Q: Who Are the Amazing Gustav Brothers?
A: Roger and Emil Gustav are scientists (who are indeed brothers) who interrupt each episode to pose a science lesson (with a few exceptions). They never interact with Ed or the other characters - perhaps they exist in a parellel universe? I really have no idea.
Q: I heard/read that Frank Welker did the voices for Moby and Sheldon, but your page says it was Martin Short...so which is it?
A: The voices you hear in every episode of the show for Moby the goldfish and Sheldon the rat both belong to Martin Short. Welker did initially record the characters for the first few episodes but before they aired Short went back and re-recorded them, and voiced them from then on. Welker however made it into the cast list, hence the confusion.
Q: What's up with the way Moby talks? And why doesn't his mouth move?
A: Martin Short admired an actor called Montgomery Clift, and did an impersonation of him while voicing Moby. And Moby doesn't actually talk, those are supposed to be his thoughts, that's why his lips don't move.
Q: How many characters did Martin Short voice, anyways?
A: I don't know exactly, but it was a lot. He did the alien queen in "E.G. Go Home" (doing a Bette Davis impersonation), Hillary Black Smythe in "Ed's In Hot Water" (doing a Katherine Hepburn impersonation), the producer in "Blowin' In the Wind" (doing a Jerry Lewis impersonation), and of course Short's own character Irving Cohen in "The Irving Who Came To Dinner." And when Wendell shouts "Happy birthday!" to Tina in Crate Expectations, that's Short doing a Tony Bennett impersonation. Short also played himself, in liveaction, in "Eddy, We Hardly Knew Ye."
Q: "Freebus" is a weird name, where did it come from?
A: The name Freebus comes from Fiona Freebus, who played Doby Gillis' mom ("The Many Lives of Doby Gillis").
Q: Can I See This Show Anywhere?
A: Aside from a few runs on Cartoon Network in the 90's this show has not enjoyed much replay. It is not showing now and is not available on DVD commercially. It didn't even get released on any VHS tapes, ever, to my knowledge. That is so sad, I must say!
Q: OMG, Why This Site?
A: Um, lol. I kind of fell in love with Ed when I rewatched these cartoons as an adult. Ed is so sweet, and so cute, and so likeable - he doesn't get on my nerves, I don't think he's stupid, and I just think he's a great character. At least, in cartoon form! When I went looking for information on the cartoon to construct my guide at TV.com I found that there was really nothing available specifically on the show, and I thought TCMMoEG needed a fanpage. See a need, fill a need, right?
Q: So...Who Are You?
I'm Sparky. No, that's not my real name. It's just a handy nickname. I got it in high school because Megavolt on Darkwing Duck was my favorite cartoon character at the time, and I've used it online ever since I started using the Internet in college. It was nice to use a handle that wasn't immediately recognizable as female (otherwise I always got pounced on in chat rooms). But I'm in my 30's now and I don't care about that sort of thing any more (nor can you get me anywhere near a chatroom these days). My life is boring so I spend much of my free time writing and drawing and watching cartoons (because I like them, that's why) and making fansites. I'm single and don't have kids, just pets, so I generally have a bit of free time here and there.
If anything here is incorrect for God's sake email me and let me know! I'm kinda making this up as I go along...
This site maintained by C. "Sparky" Read. No, she doesn't know why.