Super Dave made his debut in 1972 on
The John Byner Comedy Hour and became a
regular on Byner’s
next show, Bizarre. He also appeared
on the short-lived Van Dyke and Company and was a frequent
guest on Late Night with David Letterman. In 1987, Super
Dave got his own self-titled
variety show on Canada’s Global Television Network from
1987-91, which aired on Showtime
in the United States. The show took place at Dave’s all-purpose “compound”
where guest stars would be introduced in random fashion with elaborate false
backstories before Dave would perform one of his bumbling stunts.
Demonstrations of the compound’s various features and technology would often
replace the typical stunt but would yield the same result of Dave being
comedically injured.
 |
| Fuji and Super Dave. |
Margaret Loesch
decided to bring Super Dave to Fox Kids
for the 1992-93 season. The concept was adapted by Einstein and Allan Blye,
along with Reed
and Bruce
Shelley and Mike Maliani
into Super Dave: Daredevil for Hire. The
show followed Dave (Einstein) and Fuji (Irizawa) as they used their stunt show
as a cover for investigating criminal activity or were lured into saving the
day under the guise of performing those stunts and Dave’s celebrity. Like the
live performances, Dave’s stunts often backfired (partly due to Fuji) resulting
in his sustaining severe bodily harm. Part of the show’s comedy involved fourth
wall breaking, with the characters acknowledging they were on a show, talking
to the audience, and even dealing with the network executives. Einstein and
Irizawa were joined by veteran voice actors Frank Welker,
B.J. Ward,
Stevie
Vallance, Kath
Soucie, Susan
Silo,
Don Lake,
Brian George,
Jesse
Corti and Charlie Adler
in a variety of supporting roles.
 |
| Character model for foe Slash Hazard. |
Super
Dave: Daredevil for Hire debuted on FOX
on September 12, 1992. The series was produced by Blye-Einstine Productions,
along with DiC
Entertainment and Reteitalia, Ltd with animation by Hung
Long Animation Co., Ltd. and SaeRom Plus One Co., Ltd. Animation.
Each episode began with Dave narrating the premise of the upcoming show over
clips and ended with a live-action Dave introducing and showing stunts recycled
from the earlier Super Dave show. The
series was predominantly written by Robert Askin,
along with Richard
Mueller (misspelled “Muellar” in his credit), Bob Forward,
Rowby
Goren, Judy
Rothman, Phil
Harnage, Larry
Caroll, David
Carren, Jack
Hanrahan, Eleanor
Burian-Mohr, Einstein and the Shelleys, both of whom
were also the story editors. Tom Worrall,
Murray McFadden
and Mike
Watts composed the music.
 |
| One of Fuji's character models. |
When it aired, the show was met with
criticism for the characterization of Fuji. Early in the show’s development,
Kenyon S. Chan, chairman of Asian American studies at Cal State Northridge and a member of Fox
Children’s Network Advisory Board, had expressed concerns over Fuji’s design.
The exaggerated caricature of the Japanese-Canadian actor leaned towards the
negatively stereotypical with his short stature, protruding lip and slit eyes
through enormous glasses. That negative characterization was made even worse
once episodes started airing and Irizawa’s impersonated heavy Asian accent was
finally heard. Along with Chan’s objections, concerns from Asian communities
and organizations such as the Media
Action Network for Asian Americans prompted FOX to order changes
be made to the character.
 |
| The new Fuji: rounder eyes, less-pronounced lip, and a complete lack of accent. |
Loesch
announced that new live-action introductions would be recorded in order to show
audiences that Fuji was “not a buffoon but is based on a real actor who happens
to speak this way.” Stephanie
Graziano, Fox’s director of animation, announced she, Irizawa
and Einstein would be sitting down to discuss changes to Fuji’s appearance and
voice for future episodes. All of that damage control ultimately proved to be
for nothing as Daredevil for Hire wasn’t
renewed for a second season. A special episode, “The Super Dave Superbowl of
Knowledge”, aired in January of 1994 incorporating a slightly-altered design
for Fuji and Irizawa’s new vocal performance. The special was written by Einstein,
Hanrahan, Burian-Mohr and Kevin
Donahue.
 |
| Cover to one of the VHS tapes. |
Buena
Vista Home Entertainment released “Space
Case”
and “Con
Job”
to VHS, marking the only release of the series to date. Super Dave, however,
continued to make appearances on various programs, talk shows, game shows and
his own specials. In 2000, the character peaked with the release of his own
full-length direct-to-video film, The
Extreme Adventures of Super Dave.
No comments:
Post a Comment