Monday, November 15, 2004
FAREWELL TO A ONE-MAN GROUP THINKER
Since no one else but my mother seems to recall him, here's a refresher--or a belated introduction, as the case may be:
He was best-known for a six-month stint as the midnight-to-6 a.m. host for KSTP, Channel 5, in 1978-79. One television critic called him "a freestyle Delphic oracle."What I was doing up between midnight and 6:00 when I was 12 I'm not sure (I suppose I should ask my mom about that). And I could have sworn that his show aired for a lot longer than six months. But in my (admittedly highly idiosyncratic) memory his flaky schtick was of a piece with the much more well known stuff that I was watching contemporaneously, like Monty Python reruns on public television, the old half-hour pre-NBC syndicated SCTV shows, and early Letterman (anyone remember his ill-fated morning gig?).
KSTP was the first local TV station to operate for 24 hours, and Schmidt was its first late-night host. In between late-night movies he would sit in front of the camera wearing a heavy winter coat, flanked by a toy gopher and a collection of plants. He would hold up signs with long words on them and offer irreverent comments about the movies, life, human behavior and intellect.
He found that an amazing number of people were awake at that time, said Beverly Schmidt. They included musicians, health care workers, insomniacs and, starting about 4 a.m., farmers getting up for work.
"He had a wonderful array of people who liked him," she said.
But not enough. He lost the job when a late-night viewer called Stanley S. Hubbard, then head of KSTP, at 1 a.m. to complain. Hubbard switched on the TV to see Schmidt delivering his usual discourse. He was fired.
The obituary also reveals that in some of his other lives he served in the military, worked as a schoolteacher, and did stand-up comedy. And I think it's safe to extrapolate from all this that if he'd been a generation younger, he'd have had a blog. R.I.P., Mr. Schmidt.
6 Comments:
I saw the name Laird on the internet and it reminded me of Laird Brooks Schmidt. I remember him from KSTP and the bizarre things he did to keep us interested while playing terrible movies all night. the movies could barely be called talkies. I would turn it on just to see if that strange guy was still on. And he was!
By 
, at
8:42 AM
This is Laird's youngest granddaughter.
I forgot the year he died, so I googled his name, && found a blog about him.
It touches me that people cared enough to take the time and make a blog.
R.I.P. Laird Brooks Schmidt A.K.A. Pooh-Pooh
Laird was an active public access television producer at ETC33. You can see some of his show's at: http://etc33.org/Channel_12.html
By , at
9:27 AM
Thank you so much for sharing this information about public access shows at ETC33. It is wonderful that we can see Laird in his element.
It is amazing how timely some of his insights were.
I knew Laird in Los Angeles in 1967-68. He rented a big house on Cauhenga south of the Hollywood Freeway and ran an ad in the underground rag, The LA Free Press, for 'Laird's Lair," a comedy writer's workshop and club. He had had a brief career as a comic with those crazy word cards. I saw his act at the Troubador once. His best line said that he "started on Johnny Carson and wound up playing in his living room." He was important in my life then . . . I spent some time with him, mostly at his place, but we went out to eat a few times.
Once he came to my Echo Park apartment and I offered to play him a record from my collection on my good stereo. "What music," I asked, "do you like?"
He was stumped. He looked over at some records leaning against a chair and asked for the one facing out.
He didn't believe a person younger than thirty-five could write a worthwhile novel. I liked him very much and the crowd of talent hoping to catch on in the business.
By , at
12:02 AM
I was in Mr. Schmidt's English class back in 1967. I thought it was so cool to have a teacher that ran a night club (Laird's Lair). He taught me the meaning of the word " haphazard"
By , at
8:23 PM
