The (Andy) Dick Digger
Why?
I'll be honest. I've always thought belonging to – and especially running – a fan club was a horrifically geeky, maybe even pathetic, thing to do.
But I've decided: if Andy Dick can don a Federation jumpsuit and excitedly tell a Starfleet ship computer to destroy "THE ROMULANS!!" then by God, I can put together a web page for the foxy freak. (And don't get me wrong, I have as big a soft spot in my heart for Star Trek as Andy seems to.)
So, it's not quite a fan club – I don't really have time for that – but it's something. And who is more deserving than that wild-haired comedian who keeps us in stitches every week with his antics on NewsRadio? And the many other places he's turned up? Somebody had to do it.
A strange combination of events over the last few weeks is responsible for the existence of this page…
It all started with the news of Phil Hartman's death. My husband Dan broke it to me gently during my morning shower the day after it happened. It was Friday I and was in there just soaping up, humming, whatever, when Dan poked his head in.
"I just heard some tragic news...
one of our favorite comedians just passed away..."
"Who? Who?"
"Phil Hartman was shot by his wife,
who then shot herself."
"What?! What?!"
The shock of Hartman's passing, and the way it happened, affected me in a surprisingly profound way, and over the next few days I found myself doing endless Internet searches in a grieving quest for answers.
Phil Hartman was dear to us because of his brilliant presence on our two favorite shows. Really, the only reason we turn on the TV (okay, there may be one or two others) is to watch The Simpsons or NewsRadio. The man had given us hundreds of laughs, and in this world... okay, I won't give you any dime-store philosophy. And plenty of words have been printed on this subject elsewhere.
The main point is, in the course of these searches I encountered many of the links on this site.
But that's not all. At the time of Hartman's passing I was already looking forward to a show here in New York, where Andy Dick would be hosting a night of comedy for the Toyota Comedy Festival. I wondered if he would say anything about Hartman. I'd already heard or read Andy's comments about it in the news, but figured he would also address it at the show.
One of the reports mentioned something about rehab. Brynn Hartman was about to start a rehab program, one that Andy Dick had been through. Whoah... rehab... I wasn't surprised to learn that he did drugs or anything, in fact it seems that's the norm in showbiz, from my fleeting experiences in and around it. But rehab... wow. Of course I couldn't draw any conclusions from this tidbit of information, but it added another dimension to this comedian I already knew and loved.
See, we turn on the TV to watch NewsRadio, but we watch NewsRadio mostly to see the hilariously surreal antics of good-hearted Matthew. We'd enjoyed Andy Dick's comedy since The Ben Stiller Show, and his work on NewsRadio just gets funnier and funnier.
Anyway, what really will move this story forward, and maybe pique your interest enough to read my review of Andy Dick's Circus of Freaks is that the morning after that show found me searching the Internet again, looking to make sense of his behavior at Irving Plaza. Was it just an act? Or does he have some... issues? I liked him enough to want to understand and forgive behavior I found a little disturbing.
In the process I found a lot of funny links and the surprising discovery that while Phil Hartman, Dave Foley and Maura Tierney all have fan pages, nobody had gone to the trouble for the hilarious and hard-working Andy Dick!
So just for the hell of it, here we are. Hope you enjoy it.
(1998)