Joseph Gerard Flaherty
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Arts & Music • Historical Archive • 🇺🇸 United States • 25 views

Joseph Gerard Flaherty 🇺🇸

Joe Flaherty (Known as "Joe Flaherty")
["comedian","actor","writer","educator"]
Born Jun 21, 1941 🇺🇸 Pittsburgh, United States
Passed Away Apr 01, 2024 Toronto, Canada
Lifespan 82 years old
25 views
Notice / Correction
"Jackass! If you're not willing to laugh at yourself, you're missing the best comedy of all."

Archival Overview

American-Canadian comic actor and two-time Emmy-winning writer who was a foundational star of Second City and SCTV, famed for characters Guy Caballero and Count Floyd, and memorable roles in Happy Gilmore and Freaks and Geeks.

Biographical Record

Joseph Gerard Flaherty was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After serving four years in the United States Air Force, he joined The Second City comedy troupe in Chicago in 1969, performing alongside John Belushi, Harold Ramis, and Brian Doyle-Murray. In 1973, he moved to Toronto to help establish Second City's legendary Toronto branch.

In 1976, Flaherty co-founded Second City Television (SCTV), starring and writing on the sketch comedy series alongside John Candy, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Andrea Martin, and Rick Moranis. He created iconic characters including wheelchair-bound television station manager Guy Caballero and howl-at-the-moon horror host Count Floyd. Flaherty won two Primetime Emmy Awards for SCTV writing. He gained generations of film fans as the obnoxious heckler yelling "Jackass!" at Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore (1996) and as father Harold Weir in the cult series Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000).

Key Life Milestones

September 19, 1982

Primetime Emmy Award for SCTV Writing

Won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program for SCTV, followed by a second win in 1983.

September 25, 1999

Role as Harold Weir in Freaks and Geeks

Starred as patriarch Harold Weir in Judd Apatow and Paul Feig's critically revered series Freaks and Geeks.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Mount Hope Catholic Cemetery
Toronto, Canada
GPS: 43.7088, -79.3958
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