Earl Camembert - Career

Career

Camembert, named after Canadian broadcaster Earl Cameron and after camembert cheese, was actually modelled more closely as a parody of Buffalo, New York newscaster Irv Weinstein (both Weinstein and Levy were Jewish and lived in the Buffalo Niagara Region most of their lives). He was a recurring character alongside Joe Flaherty's character of Floyd Robertson; the two co-anchored the SCTV Network's "SCTV News" program.

Camembert always appeared with thick-rimmed eyeglasses and checkered suit with matching bow tie, along with his black hair in a near-afro style. Robertson, who was portrayed as the respectable, well-dressed anchorman, reported major news stories (often including wars and disasters involving the semi-fictional African nation of Togoland), while Camembert was stuck with frivolous items.

The two characters' on-air friction is caused not only by the differences in their journalistic credentials, but also their status at the TV station. While Robertson receives a lucrative six-figure salary to anchor the evening news, Camembert is paid union scale and must anchor and host a number of news programs from early morning to late in the evening. As it is, his poor journalistic skills tend to indicate he is fortunate to be employed at all; for instance, one interview with the Mayor of Melonville ended so poorly with the Mayor becoming so enraged that he immediately stormed the studio to assault Camembert on air.

Camembert also often presented editorials, which earned Robertson's scorn. In one episode, Robertson laughed through Camembert's entire piece. Camembert's editorials were usually followed by his signature on screen, which appeared scribbled and disorganized. Camembert headed the election campaign for SCTV personality Johnny La Rue (played by John Candy) during the Melonville town elections, ignoring the principle of journalistic neutrality. After La Rue was soundly defeated, Camembert was fired by La Rue. Robertson then informed Camembert that he would be reported for his journalistic violations.

Like Robertson who also appeared as Count Floyd on "Monster Chiller Horror Theater," Camembert also "doubled up" at SCTV, but his ventures were less than successful. One of his earliest "other" gigs was as host of a children's television series, "The Uncle Earl Show," but that show was cancelled. His next attempt at a "regular" show was a news magazine-type program, "60/20" (a spoof of both 60 Minutes and 20/20), and he also hosted an edition of SCTV's attempt at their own sketch comedy series, "Thursday Night Live." His longest-running series was a show in the vein of PM Magazine, "One on the Town," but that effort too was short-lived. Towards the end of SCTV's run, Camembert became the final host of that station's version of Dialing for Dollars.