Trivia

Was notorious at Second City for improvising midway through a sketch that would catch the performer off guard, making it difficult for them to improvise given what he had ad libbed.

He was raised in Pittsburgh, and did not come to Toronto until the early 70s for the Second City theatre.

In 2021, Joe Flaherty - "Count Floyd" from "Monster Chiller Horror Theatre", was inducted into "The Official Horror Host Hall of Fame".

Accepted the role of Donald the Heckler in Happy Gilmore (1996) after Gilbert Gottfried declined to take it. When Gottfried realized that Flaherty was quoted as saying "jackass" in the film by fans and it's subsequent success he later said he regretted turning it down.

He appeared in three films written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale: 1941 (1979), Used Cars (1980) and Back to the Future Part II (1989). The latter two films were also directed by Zemeckis.

Joe has joined the faculty of Humber College's Comedy: Writing & Performance course.

Frequently works with Dave Thomas.

He is 7 1/2 years older than Dave Thomas who played his older brother in Follow That Bird (1985).

Joe's daughter Gudrun Flaherty described his "unwavering passion for movies from the 40s and 50s". In his final months, she was his main caregiver and they re-watched classic films together.

Joe Flaherty credits Harold Ramis with the idea that Guy Caballero was using a wheelchair "for respect" -- that allowed Joe the option of getting up and walking around without it.

Castmate and sometimes writing partner Dave Thomas: "He was never on time for anything. And if you wanted to be sure Joe was on time, you had to drive by his apartment and pick him up. That was the only way to guarantee that he would be on time. And, usually, he would make you late, too. But when he got there, boy, did he collaborate.".

Joe started out in drama, but while he was playing the husband and college professor George in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", he heard the audience laughing. He was taken by surprise, until he realized that the lines were actually funny - and he became aware that he really enjoyed making people laugh.

Flaherty was nicknamed "The Anchor" or "The Motor" by other members of the SCTV team - he was several years older than the rest of the cast, and played an important leadership and mentoring role behind the scenes.

According to Dave Thomas, when SCTV did a parody of The Godfather (1972), having Joe play the Corleone crime boss (or rather, play Guy Caballero playing that character) was an inside joke, referring to his importance in the troupe.

Joe Flaherty read extensively - many of the literary jokes in the early seasons of SCTV, about Chekhov or Masterpiece (1971) were written by him. The ambitious extended sketches which became a hallmark of the show -- like the one that combined multiple references to TV's "Fantasy Island," and the movies "Casablanca," "Road to Morocco" and "The Wizard of Oz" -- were co-written with Dave Thomas.

Joe was an avid football fan. He also enjoyed watching Blue Jays baseball.

Joe's family lived in the Homewood area of Pittsburgh. He attended Pittsburgh Central Catholic and Westinghouse Academy. After finishing high school, he joined the US Air Force at age 17 and served for four years.

Eugene Levy commented that Joe was the only other cast member who could "get me laughing on stage in a very unprofessional way".

Born on exactly the same date as Lyman Ward.

Teacher at Toronto Humber College.

His remains were cremated at Forest Lawn Mausoleum and Cremation Centre in Toronto, Ontario. His ashes were given to his daughter, Gudrun.

Joe took theatre classes at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. After his military service he attended Point Park College (now University) on the GI Bill.

Joe's original surname was O'Flaherty (and is credited as such on some early SCTV Network (1981) episodes) but he dropped the O, to avoid confusion with another Joseph O'Flaherty listed with Actors Equity.

When Joe Flaherty moved to Chicago to join Second City, it was as stage manager, because they told him they weren't looking for actors at that time. (He began to practice improv with some of the cast members, and was later allowed to join the company as a performer.).

Even after SCTV had moved back to Toronto, Joe returned to Edmonton numerous times. He helped mentor local comics, and was a guest on the long-running improvised soap opera Die-Nasty. In 2014, he also played Count Floyd in a music video for Nightlife (2014), by Edmonton indie band The Wet Secrets.

Joe confided that the SCTV character he most enjoyed was Rocco, from the soap opera: "He was so much fun to play. He had larceny in his heart, but lead for brains. I always liked that combination: an ineffectual villain.".

Joe's specialization when he was in the air force - Air Police.

As a child, Joe would sit in school and draw diagrams of ballparks. He later worked as an engineering draftsman, though he briefly considered becoming a professional baseball player.

When SCTV was shooting at the Edmonton studio, when it was NHL season the crew would often have to pack up the cameras and leave to cover Oilers games. Joe Flaherty and the rest of the troupe would protest, "Come on! We have to finish this scene!".