Brian McConnachie, the comedy writer best known for his work on Saturday Night Live, SCTV and National Lampoon, has died at the age of 81.
McConnachie died Jan. 5 in Venice, Florida, following complications from Parkinson’s disease. The writer’s death was confirmed by Michael Gerber, editor and publisher of The American Bystander, a humor magazine McConnachie founded.
“Every day, on every page, he has been our North Star,” Gerber said in a statement (shared via the Hollywood Reporter). “From his days at National Lampoon, Brian was ‘every comedy writer’s favorite comedy writer,’ crafting an unmistakable one-of-a-kind laid-back eccentricity that inspired generations.
“He is the only person I know who wrote for the Holy Trinity of Seventies Comedy — National Lampoon, SNL and SCTV. This speaks to not only his writing talent, but his bonhomie and ability to be a good friend.”
McConnachie Contributed to ‘SNL”s Early Years
McConnachie initially made a name for himself in the ‘70s as one of the main writers for National Lampoon magazine. The publication became a hotbed of young comedic talent. Lorne Michaels recruited many of the writers – including Michael O’Donoghue and Anne Beatts – for his upstart sketch comedy show NBC’s Saturday Night, later renamed Saturday Night Live.
Many of the show’s early stars came from the National Lampoon ranks, including John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner and (later) Bill Murray.
McConnachie wasn’t part of Saturday Night Live’s initial writing team, but ended up joining the show in 1978 for its fourth season.
“There was a Lampoon piece I did — it was a cartoon of a police lineup of a duck, a refrigerator, a nun and a black man. And a woman is pointing to the black man: ‘He’s the one who did it,’” McConnachie recalled in 2017. “And they did it as a sketch on the show, with Richard Pryor playing the black man. How that played out was Lorne saying to me, ‘Well, we’ve been using your stuff. We might as well hire you.’ ”
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McConnachie only remained part of the staff for one year, though he’d sporadically contribute to further sketches even after he left. The writer was also very close friends with Belushi up until the actor’s death in 1982.
“Belushi would tell me and everyone on the show, ‘If something happens to me, I want you to look after [my wife] Judy.’ And if you hear that enough times, it’s a matter of when,” McConnachie noted. “Toward the end I was getting more and more phone calls from him.”
Watch Brian McConnachie’s 1983 Interview With David Letterman
McConnachie garnered his first Emmy nomination while at SNL and later took home a trophy in 1982 for his work on Second City Television, better known as SCTV. His further writing credits included episodes of The Simpsons, Shining Time Station and Noddy.
McConnachie also dabbled in acting, appearing in films such as The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew (1983), Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and Six Degrees of Separation (1993). Caddyshack fans may remember him as Drew Scott, one of Al Czervik’s (Rodney Dangerfield) country club friends.
McConnachie also had a handful of small roles in Woody Allen films, including Husbands and Wives (1992), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Deconstructing Harry (1997), Celebrity (1998), Small Time Crooks (2000) and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001).
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