THE COMPLETELY MENTAL MISADVENTURES
OF ED GRIMLEY
(NBC, September 10-December 3, 1988)
Hanna-Barbera Productions, SEPP International S.A.
MAIN CAST:
Martin Short – Ed Grimley,
Emil Gustav
Joe Flaherty – Count
Floyd
Catherine O’Hara –
Miss Malone
Jonathan Winters – Leo
Freebus, Roger Gustav, various
Andrea Martin – Deidre
Freebus
Danny Cooksey –
Wendell Malone
Frank Welker –
Sheldon
Dave Thomas -
Various
Martin Short intended
to become a social worker after graduating from McMaster University, but being cast in a
Toronto production of Godspell gave him the acting bug. Short
was encouraged to pursue comedy by classmates Eugene Levy and Dave Thomas and
he joined them in the Canadian improvisation group The Second City in 1977. Shortly before
Short joined, The Second City was spun off into its own television program
called Second City Television, or
SCTV.
Short
developed several characters during his time at Second City, including Edward
Mayhoff “Ed” Grimley. The character debuted as an unnamed school parent in a
sketch, having extremely greasy and unkempt hair. The character slowly evolved
with each additional appearance. Short began greasing his hair straight up
after being inspired by a scene in the John
Wayne movie McLintock!, and
added the quirt of incidentally baring his teeth when he noticed the laughs it
garnered. Over time, Ed became a hyperactive manchild obsessed with popular culture.
He was a complete fanboy for Pat
Sajak, host of Wheel of Fortune. Grimley fancied
himself a musician and played the triangle; of course, playing it consisted of
dancing wildly to a musical recording before hitting it once.
Short became a cast member on SCTV for the 1982-83 and Grimley became a fixture on the program.
He not only appeared in the skits, but in
commercials, promos
and “behind-the-scenes” drama. For the 1984-85 season, Short went on to join Saturday Night Live and
brought Grimley with him. Short became popular on the show, which led him to
have a long career in film and television. The character appeared on his Showtime special Martin Short: Concert
for the North Americas, Comic Relief 1986, and I, Martin Short, Goes Hollywood,
as well as a guest-appearance
with Billy Crystal on Sesame Street.
![]() |
Ed and Moby. |
Short partnered with Hanna-Barbera
Productions, in association with SEPP International S.A., to
bring Grimley to Saturday morning television; in part as a means to entertain
his children, and in part because NBC was
hoping the Grimley persona could stand up against CBS’
Pee-Wee Herman. Short himself provided the voice of Grimley, as well as Emil
Gustav of the scientific duo, the Amazing Gustav Brothers. The rest of the show
was filled with Short’s friends and fellow Second City cast mates: Andrea
Martin played co-landlord Deidre Freebus; Catherine O’Hara played Grimley’s lovely
and ditzy amateur actress neighbor Ms. Malone; Joe Flaherty appeared in
live-action segments as his character Count Floyd; and Short’s mentor Jonathan
Winters played landlord Leo Freebus and the other Gustav brother, Roger, as
well as the Gustav’s mother (based on his Maude Frickert
character). Fellow SCTV alums
included Levy in a guest-starring role and Dave Thomas in several supporting
roles, as well as SNL alum Christopher Guest (who also
appeared in Short’s 1985 special) as a guest-star. Rene Auberjonois, Kenneth Mars and Arte Johnson also lent their
voices to various episodes. Danny Cooksey played the role of Ms. Malone’s
little brother Wendell.
![]() |
The Gustav brothers. |
The Completely
Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley debuted on NBC on September 10, 1988,
becoming the first Saturday morning adaptation of an SCTV or SNL property. The
intro featured a live-action Grimley interacting with the world and characters
of the show before becoming the animated Grimley himself. The series’ music was
composed by Michael Tavera. Episodes
would typically follow a mundane day in the life of Grimley, who lived alone
with his goldfish Moby and pet rat Sheldon (Frank Welker). All of Grimley’s
trademarks were present, including his catchphrases “I must say,” “Pretty
decent,” and “Too much,” as well as his manic dancing and affinity for the
triangle. However, Grimley’s day would typically end up going bizarrely sideways
as only they could to a self-aware cartoon character.
![]() |
Count Floyd and his latest non-scary story. |
Regardless of the situation, Grimley would always
find time to tune into his favorite show (next to Wheel of Fortune): Count
Floyd’s Scary Stories. It was a live-action show-within-a-show where the
howling vampire Count Floyd would regale his children-filled audience with the
most un-scary stories imaginable (a parody of TV horror hosts from the 1950s
and 60s who were stuck hosting nonfrightening films). Another recurring segment
would feature the Gustav brothers attempting to tie a science lesson into the
main story—sometimes successfully. Midway through the season, Hanna-Barbera
held an Ed Grimley look-alike
contest to promote the show. The winner was 10-year-old Matt Mitchel from
Des Moines, Iowa.
![]() |
The race is on! |
Despite airing on Saturday mornings, the show was
really geared towards an older audience with the types of references and
in-jokes used. As a result, it ended up losing out to the ratings powerhouse Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. The Writer’s
Guild strike of 1988 also played a factor in the show getting cancelled at
the conclusion of its only season. Short unsuccessfully proposed moving the
show to primetime where its content would find a better audience. Hanna-Barbera
had begun development on a star vehicle for Whoopi Goldberg, but with Ed Grimley’s cancellation those plans
were abandoned. Ed Grimley would
remain on NBC until the following September, when it was replaced by Camp Candy, which starred fellow SCTV alum John Candy.
![]() |
Ed, Ms. Malone and Wendell with a southern gentleman. |
Ed Grimley would
find success in reruns on Cartoon
Network in the 90s. The Count Floyd segments
would be rebroadcast independently of the rest of the show as part of Cartoon
Network’s animated variety show Cartoon Planet. In
the meantime, Grimley made appearances on Short’s television shows The
Show Formerly Known as the Martin Short Show and The Martin Short
(Talk) Show, as well as Muppets Tonight and several returns to SNL. Grimley would also appear in Short’s stage shows Martin
Short: Fame Becomes Me and Let Freedom Hum: An Evening
of Comedy Hosted by Martin Short.
![]() |
Striking a perfect note. |
Its short run yielded some merchandising. Tyco produced a large talking
doll and a smaller talking
window cling resembling Grimley. Thermos
released a plastic
lunch box and Tiger
Electronics made a handheld game called Electronic Ed Grimley
that was released in 1989. In 2010, Warner
Home Video included the first episode on their compilation DVD Saturday
Morning Cartoons: 1980s Vol. 1. Warner
Archive released the complete
series to DVD in 2013 as part of their Hanna-Barbera
Classics Collection.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Tall, Dark and Hansom” (9/10/88) – Filling in for his cousin ends up
putting Ed in a horse race with a hansom cab.
“Ed’s Debut” (9/17/88) – Ed is mistakenly arrested for a bank robbery
while on his way to make his triangle debut with the city’s philharmonic.
“E.G., Go Home” (9/24/88) – An amusement park rocket ride takes Ed and
Wendell to another planet ruled by an alien queen.
“Ed’s in Hot Water” (10/1/88) – Ed is asked to watch the building for
the Freebuses and is washed out to sea when he tries to fix the hot water
heater.
“Crate Expectation” (10/8/88) – Ed ends up in a crate trying to get a
birthday present for Miss Malone, while she’s visited by a guardian angel who
shows what would happen if she wasn’t born.
“Grimley, P.F.C.” (10/15/88) – Ed goes to return a library book and
ends up joining the Army.
“Moby is Lost” (10/22/88) – Ed hires a sea captain to find the missing
Moby.
“Good Neighbor Ed” (10/29/88) – Ed must take a picture of all his
neighbors to win a contest.
“Driver Ed” (11/5/88) – Teaching Miss Malone to drive leads her and Ed
to become wandering spirits haunting Mr. Freebus.
“Blowin’ in the Wind” (11/12/88) – A tornado whisks Ed to a farm where
a traveling stock show work for a chance at Broadway.
“Eyewitness Ed” (11/19/88) – Ed witness a robbery and ends up in the
Witness Protection Program.
“Eddy, We Hardly Knew Ye” (11/26/88) – Ed’s tonsillectomy puts him in
a hospital room with a werewolf.
“The Irving Who Came to Dinner” (12/3/88) – Irving Cohen helps Ed
expose a couple of con artists.
No comments:
Post a Comment