Yahoo News Brian McConnachie, Writer for ‘National Lampoon,’ ‘SCTV’ and ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Dies at 81
Brian McConnachie, the Emmy-winning writer with the offbeat sense of humor who worked on SCTV Network and Saturday Night Live and appeared in Caddyshack and several films for Woody Allen, has died. He was 81.
McConnachie died Friday of complications from Parkinson’s disease in Venice, Florida, Michael Gerber, editor and publisher of The American Bystander, told The Hollywood Reporter. The duo relaunched the humor magazine in 2015 after McConnachie — an original staff member at National Lampoon — originally got it going in 1981.
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“Every day, on every page, he has been our North Star,” Gerber said in a statement. “From his days at National Lampoon, Brian was ‘every comedy writer’s favorite comedy writer,’ crafting an unmistakable one-of-a-kind laid-back eccentricity that inspired generations.
“He is the only person I know who wrote for the Holy Trinity of Seventies Comedy — National Lampoon, SNL and SCTV. This speaks to not only his writing talent, but his bonhomie and ability to be a good friend.”
McConnachie was prominently and deservedly featured in Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead, Rick Meyerowitz’s 2010 book about National Lampoon.
He wrote for the classic Canadian comedy show SCTV Network in 1981 and shared his Emmy in ‘82 with the likes of John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Catherine O’Hara and Dave Thomas.
Earlier, he worked on SNL during its fourth season (1978-79), after which he landed his first Emmy nom, and contributed to sketches for the show in 1987, ’93, ’95 and ’96.
The rangy, bespectacled McConnachie played Bushwood Country Club member Drew Scott, one of Al Czervik’s (Rodney Dangerfield) pals, in Caddyshack (1980).
He later showed up in small roles in the Allen projects Husbands and Wives (1992), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), the ’94 telefilm Don’t Drink the Water, Deconstructing Harry (1997), Celebrity (1998), Small Time Crooks (2000) and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001).
McConnachie was born on Dec. 23, 1942, in Garrison, New York. After attending Trinity College in Dublin and writing for National Lampoon, he got his first IMDb credit for playing a LaserBra 2000 scientist in Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video (1979), starring Michael O’Donoghue (also from National Lampoon and SNL) and Dan Aykroyd.
He would later appear on The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew (1983) — sharing scenes with none other than Max von Sydow — Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Six Degrees of Separation (1993), People I Know (2002) and Marie and Bruce (2004).
From 1989-95, McConnachie wrote for Shining Time Station, the program that introduced Thomas the Tank Engine to the U.S., and he worked on another animated kids show, Noddy, from 1998-2000.
And he penned a 2013 episode of The Simpsons, “The Fabulous Faker Boy.”
It was SCTV’s Thomas who gave him the nickname the “Clark Kent of Comedy,” he revealed during a 1983 appearance on Late Night With David Letterman. During his interview, he called The American Bystander a “humor magazine for grown-ups and tall children, big kids, triple-E sized, 44-longs.”
McConnachie also wrote the books Elmer and the Chicken vs. Big L, published in 1992, and Blowing Smoke: The Wild and Whimsical World of Cigars — complete with a caricature of Letterman on the cover — published in 1997.
Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Ann; daughter Mary and son-in-law Tim; and three grandchildren.
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