Super Dave (TV series)

Super Dave (also known as The Super Dave Osborne Show) is a variety show starring and hosted by the fictional character Super Dave Osborne (played by Bob Einstein). It ran from 1987 to 1991 on Showtime in the United States and the Global Television Network in Canada. The show currently airs reruns on Adult Swim in Canada. The character made his first appearance on the 1972 TV series The John Byner Comedy Hour. Einstein then regularly played the character on the short lived 1976 variety series Van Dyke and Company, starring Dick Van Dyke. Einstein revived the character for the 1980–1986 sketch comedy series Bizarre, which spun off his own series in 1987. After the last season, Einstein won a 1992 CableAce Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. An animated spinoff, Super Dave: Daredevil for Hire, aired for one season on Fox TV from 1992 to 1993.

Super Dave was first produced in a studio theatre at CTV Television Network headquarters at CFTO TV in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough with a live audience. The stage featured his signature "bulb wall" a movable wall lined with red, white and blue light bulbs, which would act as a curtain. He would often do an introductory monologue, and introduce guest performers there. The studio was located at the fictional "Super Dave Compound" – a combination resort/theme park/learning center/etc. (anything which would be required for any particular episode). In the first season, in 1987, the compound was often referred to as the "stunt compound" or "Super Dave Complex". In the second season, the show moved to a different location, the Markham Theatre, which featured the same stage setup the bulb wall and the billboard sign behind it; however, the studio was much larger. In the original studio, the stage was at the lowest point in the studio and was surrounded by a semicircle of bleacher style seats. (It was the same studio where the popular comedy program Bizarre with John Byner was taped, the Glen Warren Studios at CFTO TV in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough.) The new studio was a typical theater with a raised stage, a balcony of seating and private boxes. This was the Markham Theatre in Markham, Ontario. Super Dave's personal "racetrack" (where he drove a "specialized" race car and crashed) was actually the Riverside International Raceway in Moreno Valley, California, and you can see the name Riverside International Raceway and Winston Western 500 on the wall at turn 9. A typical episode consisted of a teaser scene of Super Dave outside the studio, often somewhere else within his compound; his theme and introduction in the studio, usually featuring one or more artistic performances; followed by another remote scene, usually a stunt. Besides simply bringing performers onstage normally, a false reason was often given for the performer's appearance for instance, they might be introduced as a member of the show or compound's staff that Super Dave would allow to perform, or an audience member who suddenly revealed a talent. When a performer was introduced with such a fake background story, Super Dave would often go to thank the performer after a short simple performance, only to have them continue with a more elaborate performance before he could do so; this would repeat several times. Super Dave's signature was to perform outrageous daredevil stunts which invariably went awry and resulted in a number of grievous injuries usually at the end of each episode. These included such things as riding inside the hub of a giant yo yo suspended from a crane (the yo yo broke free of its string, rolled down a long incline, then off a cliff into a ravine hundreds of feet below) and being flung inside a giant football (the catapult which malfunctioned and "spiked" the football into the platform it was attached to instead of throwing it for distance). After an injury occurred, Super Dave would usually appear torn apart, flattened, stretched, or otherwise injured. One of his signature logos is a drawing of his head (in a helmet or his baseball cap) on top of a pair of crushed silver boots with no body. This was occasionally how he appeared after a stunt resulted in something falling on top of him. The compound concept was explored as the seasons went on, and he would increasingly forgo a stunt in order to demonstrate a new feature of the compound, or a new piece of technology they were working on at the compound. These demonstrations would usually have the same results as his stunts, and he would be injured. Sometimes he planned to go to a stunt, but ran out of time, and would be injured in some other way. There were rare episodes in which he had been injured before the show began, and was already in the hospital, or in which he was not injured at all. Musical guests on the show included young drummer Jacob Armen, Banig (Josephine Roberto), Veronique Beliveau, Sonny Bono, Liona Boyd, Glen Campbell, Kim Carnes, Ray Charles, Celine Dion, Thelma Houston, Colin James, k. d. lang, Jerry Lee Lewis, Melissa Manchester, Loreena McKennitt, Bill Medley, Bobby McFerrin, Kenny Rogers, Michelle Wright, Lori Yates, along with musical groups like En Vogue, and Canadian Blue Rodeo, Doug and The Slugs, The Nylons, and The Razorbacks. Some of the other performers who were featured included classical comedic pianist Mitchell Zeidwig, stuntman Robbie Knievel, ventriloquist Willie Tyler and Lester, ventriloquist Ronn Lucas, ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, sports broadcaster Roy Firestone, juggler Robert Gruenberg, comedic juggler Edward Jackman, talk show interviewer Larry King, juggler Michel Lauziere, tap dancer Savion Glover, impressionist André Philippe Gagnon, boxer Evander Holyfield, comedian Steve Allen, comic Jenny Jones, talk show host Regis Philbin and the Smothers Brothers, whose variety show Einstein got his start writing for.

Weekly 30 second promos were produced by Showtime Networks to promote the series. The announcer was Doug Jeffers, who abandoned his typical breathy relaxed style for one that was more ringmaster like in tone and emphasis. The music bed for each promo was a generic track called "Circus, Circus, Circus". The producer of the bulk of these promos was Steve Kolodny, who was given a yearly appearance on the show as "a film student who has produced a Super Dave music video".

Reruns started airing on Comedy Gold on September 6, 2011. The show was dropped from its schedule in September 2015. It is currently rerunning on Adult Swim Canada since October 11, 2021.