Super Dave Osborne
| Super Dave Osborne | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The John Byner Comedy Hour |
| Created by | Bob Einstein |
| Portrayed by | Bob Einstein |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | Super Dave |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Stunt performer |
| Nationality | American |
Super Dave Osborne is a character created and played by comedian Bob Einstein. Einstein's comedic depiction is of a naive but optimistic stuntman who frequently appears injured when his stunts go spectacularly wrong.
Character sketch
Super Dave is billed as an "accomplished" stuntman, though he rarely succeeds when performing the stunts depicted on-screen. Typically the character will perform outrageous daredevil stunts which often go disastrously awry and result in the appearance of grievous bodily injury. These include such mishaps as riding inside the hub of a giant yo-yo suspended from a crane (the yo-yo broke free of its string and rolled off a cliff into a ravine) and being flung by a catapult inside a giant football (the catapult malfunctioned and "spiked" the football instead of throwing it). After such a mishap, Super Dave would usually appear torn apart, stretched, or otherwise injured.
His signature logo, a drawing of his head in a crash helmet directly atop a pair of shoes with no visible body, was from his most iconic and early sketch "Balloon Ball". The "stunt" consisted of his standing in a hole in the ground reciting "balloon ball" as a repetitive mantra which was supposed to imbue him with the ability to not be harmed by anything, as a mobile piledriver rammed the top of his head. When pulled out of the hole, he was as his eventual logo depicted: his helmeted head sitting directly atop his running shoes, the whole of his body supposedly compressed between shoes and neck ("…I've got my balls in my throat. Can you get me out of here please? I'm in pain, okay?").
Super Dave is often accompanied on his various exploits by loyal friend, sidekick and assistant stunt coordinator Fuji Hakayito (comedian Art Irizawa). It is usually left to Fuji to set in motion whatever stunt Dave is performing. Super Dave runs the fictional "Super Dave Compound"—a combination resort, theme park, learning center, and anything else needed for the plot-line of a particular episode. Many of his misadventures were based on demonstrating various aspects of the compound.
Trademark components of the Super Dave character include his frequent thumbs-ups, and his many uniforms - most of which include red, white and blue, yellow stars, and stripes, and are reminiscent of those worn by Evel Knievel (as he is a parody of him). He was also known for using "only Genuine Saskatchewan Sealskin bindings" in the manufacture of his safety harnesses or seat-belts (not that they ever did him any good). Seals are not indigenous to the landlocked province Saskatchewan, and are therefore part of the comedic juxtaposition predicated on the eventual failure of the stunt by being both "genuine sealskin" and from Saskatchewan.
Appearance history
Television
- The John Byner Comedy Hour (1972), first appearance of the character
- Van Dyke and Company (1976)
- The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour (1977)
- Bizarre (1980–1985)
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1980s), recurring guest
- Late Night with David Letterman (1980s), recurring guest
- Super Dave (1987–1991)
- Super Dave: Daredevil for Hire (1992)
- In Living Color (1993)
- WWE Monday Night RAW (1994)
- Super Dave's Vegas Spectacular (1995)
- Super Dave's All Stars (1997)
- Hollywood Squares (1998–2004), recurring guest
- Super Dave's Spike-Tacular (2009)[1][2]
- The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (November 11, 2009)[3]
- TNA Impact! (November 12, 2009)
- Anger Management (TV series) (April 2013)
Feature film
Commercials
- Super Dave was featured in Nike commercials in 1990, comparing his latest dunking contraptions to the Nike Air Flight basketball shoe, and appearing with such NBA stars as Reggie Miller and Gerald Wilkins.
- On several occasions in the late 1990s, he has appeared in commercials for Haggar Clothing. Some notable stunts he was in were going through an extreme car wash, and falling off a motorhome with lots of heavy debris landing on him to show that their cotton-based clothing will never wrinkle.
Cultural references
He was referenced by Richie Rich in Tupac Shakur's song "Rather Be Ya Nigga", in the line, "Smoke blunts, but leave them stunts up to Super Dave," in the Ice Cube song "Wicked", with the line "We'll have to break his ass up like Super Dave," in the A Tribe Called Quest song "The Chase, Part II" with the lyric, "We flippin' on niggas like we Super Dave," in the Cool Calm Pete song "Lost" with the line "You(r) fake stunts that's strictly for Super Dave". On Fat Joe's song "Bet Ya Man Can't (Triz)," Cuban Link raps, "We do maneuvers like Super Dave, always with a group of babes."
Damon Wayans' character Jimmy Dix in the 1991 film The Last Boy Scout says after being thrown off an overpass onto a parked car below, "It's okay, folks. Thank you. Danger is my middle name. Don't try this at home, folks. I'm a trained professional. There's me, and there's Super Dave." Wayans also had a recurring character on In Living Color, "The Head Detective", that was similar in appearance to the Super Dave logo.
On the ABC television show Happy Endings, Super Dave Osborne is referenced in season 1 episode 8 entitled, "The Girl with the David Tattoo".
References
- ↑ "Super Dave Osborne is up to his old stunts". Content.usatoday.com. 2009-11-10. Retrieved 2012-11-29.
- ↑ "Notorious Daredevil Returns in Spike TV's 'Super Dave's Spike-Tacular'". Reuters. 2009-10-26. Retrieved 2012-11-29.
- ↑ "Super Dave On Conan!". SPIKE. 2009-11-11. Retrieved 2012-11-29.