When I was a kid, maybe around 1979, WPGH in Pittsburgh had an ad for a new show called SCTV. Now, the name means Second City Television from the Second City theater in Chicago, which always took pride as a second-rate city. Pittsburgh was way lower on the list of important cities, but the commercial pointed out that one of the cast members, Joe Flahery, was from here. And if anything, Yinzers are beyond proud of the people who come out of our city.

Starting at Second City in 1969. he eventually moved to Canada to start the second school. While there, he was part of the TV show SCTV and played numerous roles, such as TV newsman Floyd Robertson, who was also horror movie presenter Count Floyd. He based this role on “Chilly” Billy Cardille from his hometown, to the point that episodes where Count Floyd showed art movies and had to act like they were scary. This comes directly from Chiller Theater spending a few weeks under the title The Saturday Late Show, showing Italian films like Crazy Desire, No Love for Johnnie, The Reluctant Spy, The 10th Victim, Dingaka, Sins of Casanova, The Success, Casanova 70, Red Culottes, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, The Easy Life, Marriage, Italian-Style; Boccaccio ’70; The Naked Kiss and The Bigamist.So when Count Floyd showed Ingmar Burgman’s Whispers of the Wolf and asking when the werewolf would show up, it was based on movies he had seen growing up. Count Floyd was so complete with his Chiller Theater impression that he was often joined by a sidekick known as The Pittsburgh Midget, played by Flaherty’s brother Paul Flaherty. He’s a nod to Stefan, the Castle Prankster, who was played by Stephen Michael Luncinski on Chiller Theater.

If you read enough of my writing, you’ll notice I say “blow ’em up real good.” That comes directly from Big Jim McBob, another Flaherty character. I also love Guy Caballero, the owner of SCTV, who uses a wheelchair for respect.

For as much as everyone worships the early years of Saturday Night Live, SCTV was always better.

Flaherty played a lot of cameos in his career. He’s probably best known for playing the Western Union worker who gives Marty the note at the end of Back to the Future 2 as well as the stalker who keeps bothering Happy Gilmore. He was also on Maniac Mansion.

But these are just roles. His family has lost a father, one who his daughter said he loved old movies and they got to share that together.

For me, he proved that you could be creative and come from Pittsburgh without losing who you were. So many episodes of Count Floyd had references to West Mifflin and the Golden Triangle, things no one in the rest of the country would know about.

Imagine my joy in learning that other people loved Flaherty and his roles as much as I did and they weren’t just from here.

If you’ve never watched any of his work, please do. It felt like such a secret language when I was young to know SCTV. Now, I want to share it and spread it. So much of what this great man did that made me laugh made me who I am and what I write.