Rip: The Morning After

I think Rip Taylor would have been very happy to see or know all the attention his passing has gotten in the media. It was hard to tell what would make Rip happy. The New York Times has an obit but unfortunately it includes this…

Mr. Taylor's voice proved to be a bankable commodity. In the 1960s, he did voice work as the son, Elroy, on The Jetsons. He was nominated for an Emmy for playing the voice of Uncle Fester in the television adaptation of The Addams Family.

I could have told you when I was ten years old that the voice of Elroy on The Jetsons was Daws Butler. Rip did a guest voice on the revival of that series in the mid-eighties. He actually didn't do that much voice work, at least in cartoons. When I worked with him, I sure got the impression that he wasn't even all that interested in performing when there wasn't a live audience present to laugh and applaud.

Speaking of which, I got an e-mail from someone named Jillian asking, "With Rip Taylor's recent death, I'd like to know how he came about to be in Garfield and Friends. Did he have a grandkid who watched the show?" Nope. I don't think Rip had any kids or grandkids but he was on the show because I wrote a part that I thought was right for him and I called his agent and booked him. And that day, I came to the above impression.

At the time, he was enjoying a bit of increased attention on TV. Various shows (Mr. Leno's, especially) were hiring him for cameos where he'd come on and do his great entrance — marching through the audience to the tune of "Happy Days Are Here Again" and throwing confetti — and that was all he'd do. We talked about it and he was not about to turn down a chance to be on television but he was frustrated that none of the folks hiring him seemed to want him to do any of his actual act. I didn't say this out loud but I kinda thought he was one of those comedians who was funnier than his own act.