Singer Tony Bennett toured the Library of Congress in Washington, on Nov. 15, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Cliff Owen
When SCTV invited Tony Bennett to make a guest appearance in the early 1980s, one of the stars of the Canadian television comedy sketch show figured it was a long shot.
“We thought … well he’s not gonna want to do that,” Canadian actor, comedian and writer Dave Thomas recalled in a phone interview from Los Angeles.
Not only did Bennett say yes, he was “very game” to try out comedy and have fun on the show, Thomas said as he remembered the legendary American singer who died on Friday at age 96.
“He was such a gentleman,” Thomas said. “And such a sweet, sweet man.”
SCTV, or Second City Television, was “very hot” then and Bennett’s career was in a lull, Thomas said. Bennett’s son was his manager at the time and had hoped the SCTV appearance would boost his father’s profile, he added.
Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis played Doug and Bob McKenzie, fictional Canadian brothers who starred in the “The Great White North” sketch on SCTV, which also aired in the United States for a few years.
Grainy clips of the episode that featured Tony Bennett can still be found on YouTube, and they show the singer drinking beer with the tuque-clad brothers and offering musings on money and success before breaking into a rendition of “The Best is Yet to Come.”
Thomas recalled seeing Bennett again sometime later at an Emmy Awards ball, where the singer greeted him from the dance floor.
“Tony Bennett dances by and knows me and says hi? I mean, I was beside myself. I was so happy,” he said.
Thomas and Moranis were not Bennett’s only Canadian collaborators over the years. The crooner also released music with singers Diana Krall, k.d. lang, Celine Dion and Michael Buble.
Buble posted a tribute to Bennett on social media, calling him “one of the greatest vocalists, storytellers and interpreters of all time.”
“To say he was an important part of who I became is an understatement,” Buble tweeted on Friday. “Having my hero take me under his wing was one of the greatest moments of my life and my career. How did I get so lucky to kneel at the feet of the master for 2 decades?”
Toronto live theatre company Mirvish Productions also mourned Bennett in a statement released Friday, recalling how he performed a week of concerts at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in 1978 — “a highlight of the venue’s storied history.”
Over the course of his decades-long career, Bennett released more than 70 albums and earned 19 Grammys. And while everyone knew him for his musical artistry, Thomas said Bennett was also a great landscape painter — he’d seen some of his artwork and was impressed.
“I think he’s going to be remembered as an enduring talent,” Thomas said. “He demonstrated one of those things that was true of the old legendary showbiz greats and that is: they stand the test of time.”
–With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 22, 2023.
