The Great Flydini

May 17, 2006 12:19 PM

The Great Flydini. Old, brilliant Steve Martin bit from the tonight show. [prev]
posted by sluglicker (29 comments total)

Brilliant, I'm somewhat impressed he did that, though his hands appeared clenched so there has to be something to that.
posted by geoff. at 12:48 PM on May 17, 2006

Uh, yea. Fake left arm, and his left arm is inside his suit doing all the, erm, handiwork.
posted by kableh at 12:53 PM on May 17, 2006

Geoff: His left hand is fake. Watch the last moment as he walks off, and it's clearly plastic. I could've sworn I saw it open and close half-way in, but it's fake. (Highlight text to read)

Brilliant bit. I'd never seen it.
posted by ewagoner at 12:54 PM on May 17, 2006

Ah, my font color="006699" got stripped out. Now I've gone and revealed magic secrets on MeFi -- look out!
posted by ewagoner at 12:55 PM on May 17, 2006

I don't believe the arm is fake. Clearly, he has a magic penis.
posted by horsewithnoname at 12:56 PM on May 17, 2006

Oh yeah it does really flop around there at the end.
posted by geoff. at 12:59 PM on May 17, 2006

Well, I don't know about magic, but he does have his own line of All-Natural Penis Beauty Cream.

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/94/94apeniscream.phtml

(I can't see youtube stuff, but I am sure a link will appear to it shortly.)
posted by sciatica at 1:05 PM on May 17, 2006

Well, I boned that link. Let's try again:

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/94/94apeniscream.phtml
posted by sciatica at 1:08 PM on May 17, 2006

To think that nowadays when he's on a talk show he just pimps Bringin' Down the House.
posted by dobbs at 1:16 PM on May 17, 2006

very funny, too bad he's not done much decnt stuff in quite awhile. Use to be one of my faves for quite awhile. *sigh*
posted by edgeways at 1:33 PM on May 17, 2006

dobbs: "To think that nowadays when he's on a talk show he just pimps Bringin' Down the House."

Not true. I saw him on Letterman not long ago, expecting the pimping, but instead he came out with a group of banjo all-stars and they rocked (picked?) the house.
posted by ewagoner at 1:37 PM on May 17, 2006

Hey... here's the video!
posted by ewagoner at 1:39 PM on May 17, 2006

Very funny. I love how the great Flydini's suit jacket corners are pinned back.
posted by sonofsamiam at 1:40 PM on May 17, 2006

This wasn't just any talk show appearance. It's Steve's farewell performance to Johhny Carson during Johnny's last week before retiring after 30 years hosting the Tonight Show.
posted by wsg at 1:59 PM on May 17, 2006

I love great banjo picking...knew Steve Martin played, but wasn't quite aware of how well. Thanks for the link
posted by shadowVox at 1:59 PM on May 17, 2006

knew Steve Martin played, but wasn't quite aware of how well.

Well, he's come a long way from Side two of 'The Steve Martin Brothers'. And that was pretty good.
posted by lumpenprole at 2:06 PM on May 17, 2006

I think I like the King Tut bit better.
posted by hypocritical ross at 2:21 PM on May 17, 2006

I remember a bit he did on Carson back in 1975 or thereabouts. He had a hankerchief full of butter knives that he said he'd make disappear. All he did was flip open the hanky really fast and with such force that all the butterknives flew under the curtain behind him. I was nine at the time and thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever seen.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 2:29 PM on May 17, 2006

lumpenprole, that link doesn't go anywhere... you got me all excited! I have The Steve Martin Brothers on cassette but I don't have a cassette deck anymore.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 2:36 PM on May 17, 2006

wsg is correct. Martin used to do this hilarious bit at parties, and Carson asked him to come perform it on the Tonight Show. I remember watching the show that night and roaring with laughter; I saw it again as a clip when Martin received the Mark Twain Prize and laughed just as hard.
posted by pmurray63 at 2:48 PM on May 17, 2006

wsq, that wasn't just Steve Martin's last performance on the last week of the Tonight Show. I saw it myself on the very last episode of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
posted by JHarris at 3:27 PM on May 17, 2006

Hilarious. Thanks, sluglicker.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 4:05 PM on May 17, 2006

sciatica:

I made an avi and put it on yousendit for those who can't see youtube. it's a 8.24 mb divx.
posted by puke & cry at 4:22 PM on May 17, 2006 [1 favorite]

Thanks, puke & cry. It worked perfectly.
posted by sciatica at 5:33 PM on May 17, 2006

awesome! martin is classic...does anyone else see a similarity between his comedy and steve carell's?
posted by jne1813 at 5:40 PM on May 17, 2006

JHarris, you're mistaken -- Johnny's last guests were Robin Williams and Bette Midler. And that was his second-last show. His last show was just Johnny, Ed, and Doc, and clips -- I guess there may have been a clip of this.

By the way,
banjos are funny.
posted by evilcolonel at 6:38 PM on May 17, 2006

According to Wikipedia, evilcolonel, those were guests on the next-to-last show. It says there were no guests on the last show, but I know I watched it -- I was in a hotel room with my parents at the time, and had made a point to have them turn the TV on. I think the acts were not "official" guests, but just appeared on stage.

Maybe I was confused as to when the show was to air? I don't know, but I don't think I'm wrong.
posted by JHarris at 7:04 PM on May 17, 2006

This is awesome. I saw him do this bit on Ricky Jay's "Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women." It's one of my favorite Steve Martin bits, this and the "music video" he did for Marty Robbins' "Town of El Paso."
posted by MrBadExample at 7:09 PM on May 17, 2006

This was arguably his shark jumping moment. . .

Purely IMHO
posted by Danf at 8:47 PM on May 17, 2006