Friday, November 25, 2005

"Wax on, wax off." (RIP Pat Morita)

I just saw the headline about the death of Pat Morita who is most famous for his role of Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid movies. I've heard Morita had quite a foul mouth in his stand-up (and that he was bloody hilarous), which isn't surprising given that he and Redd Foxx were good buddies. (Morita guest-starred on severa; episodes of Sanford and Son, for example.) Many of the best quotes from the Karate Kid movies came from Morita.

As funny as he could be, Morita was an awful singer, as far as I can tell. In a spring training baseball game I attended in Palm Springs back in the day (circa 1988 or 1989, back when the Angels still trained in Palm Springs), Morita sang the national anthem. He was sincere in his attempt at the song (unlike some comedians...), but it was laughably bad.

1 comment:

Linda said...

The Karate Kid is a defining movie for our generation. Pat Morita will be missed.