RIP Earl Pomerantz

It is with great sadness I announce the passing of Earl Pomerantz. He was 75. Earl was a dear friend and regular readers know he also had a blog, which for the moment remains up.

Happy to say Earl was a guest on my podcast. EPISODE 87. Please listen to it to hear for yourself what a sweet, funny, good-hearted person he was.

Career-wise, Earl was an Emmy-winning writer. He wrote scripts for THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, THE BOB NEWHART SHOW, RHODA, THE TONY RANDALL SHOW, PHYLLIS, TAXI, CHEERS, THE COSBY SHOW (which he also ran for a time), and created MAJOR DAD and BEST OF THE WEST. He was also a creative consultant on both Garry Shandling shows, LATELINE, and ACCORDING TO JIM. His credits alone tell you he was a terrific comedy writer.

But he was a very different type of comedy writer. His humor came from celebrating humanity and pointing out the silly absurd things we all do and can relate to. He was never mean spirited. I don’t think he could write a real put down joke. Shows that derived laughs out of humiliation held no interest for him. Earl believed that comedy was meant to provide joy.

More than any writer I can think of, Earl knew exactly who he was. He knew his strengths, he knew his point-of-view, and he knew what he could write well and what he couldn’t. When you got an Earl Pomerantz script you got the best of Earl Pomerantz.  Every time.

One thing I always admired about Earl was that he never lost that sense of childhood wonder. Earl asked lots of questions. Lot. Lots and lots. And only because he sincerely wanted to know the answers.

I got Earl interested in blogging and since 2008 his own blog, EARL POMERANTZ: JUST THINKING has been delighting readers from around the world.  I invite you to browse and go down a rabbit hole of insight, whimsy, and reflections.

Some random thoughts about Earlo:

He was from Canada.

His brother was a writer whose partner was Lorne Michaels.

Earl was offered a job on the original SNL and turned it down to concentrate on sitcoms, although he had no job at the time.

He wrote commentaries for Toronto newspapers.

He voiced commentaries for NPR.

He was an actor early on and was a series regular on the Bobbie Gentry Variety Show in the late ‘60s.

He won an Emmy writing for Lily Tomlin.

He won the Humanitas Award for an episode of THE MARY TYLER MOORE. That came with a cash prize that he used to buy his mother carpeting.

He was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather.

He followed me doing the warm-up on CHEERS.

He was a Toronto Blue Jays fan. And he loved spring training.

Our families went on Christmas vacations together.

He created a series for ABC called FAMILY MAN about his own life. Richard Libertini played him.

His many questions would drive some writers nuts.

As recently as a couple of years ago, he went to Oxford to study.

He loved Westerns (what Canadian didn’t?).

He created a multi-camera Western called BEST OF THE WEST that ran for a year on ABC. It was hilariously funny. Among the writers: Sam Simon and David Lloyd.

Back in the ‘80s when writers were still making stupid money, Earl was in a long late rewrite. During a break in the wee hours he said, “There’s got to be an easier way of making $300,000 a year.”

Earl said this about blogging: I’ve never had more fun writing.

He never knew how many readers he had. He never checked his stats. I think he’d be pleasantly surprised.

He was good friends with John Sebastian of the Loving Spoonful.

He wrote hilarious stage directions. Wanna see a secure door? Look at those locks. 

He rewrote every blog entry two or three times.  

He never got over the thrill of driving onto a movie lot.

His first drafts were always terrific. You could almost shoot them without any rewriting.

Earl used to claim that if you wanted to make cuts in a script that page 8 was never needed. You could always just remove page 8. Damned if he wasn’t usually right.

And finally, everybody loved him (even the writers he drove nuts with his questions). Probably because he loved everybody. He was a gentle soul with a wicked sense of humor. I will miss our lunches, our walks in Santa Monica, discussions of spring training facilities, analyzing today’s comedy, Bobbie Gentry stories, dinners at Roy’s, and much shared laughter.

Earl’s serious health problems began about five weeks ago. He suspended his blog, titling it “Intermission.” If only. But I’ll let him sign off.  Earl we love you and will miss you greatly. One last time, from Earl Pomerantz:

So long.

And as The Cisco Kid used to say,

“See you soon, Ha!”