The Genius of Victor Borge

[gsdx]

Not long after Ontario Place opened in Toronto, Victor appeared in a free open-air concert on a stage which rotated. I had always enjoyed his performances and made certain I went to see the show.

This 'sketch' (Liszt´s Hungarian Rhapsody No 2) is one of my favourites, and it's worth watching if only to see the very fashionable hairstyles and plaid pants:

 

[natedogg323]

I absolutely love Victor Borge. I forgot that I have a dvd of his. Nice...I'll be watching that tonight. Thanks for sharing that.

 

[bhtupstateny]

Thanks for the nice laugh... I needed it tonight!

 

[ComNavFdgPk]

His most apropos title:

Clown Prince of Denmark!

 

[gsdx]

Phonetic Punctuation:

Sorry. I can't get this one to load. Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-buiOOwXatM

 

[Croynan]

What a joy it was to see him perform. ​

eM. ​

 

[gsdx]

What a joy it was to see him perform. ​

eM. ​

Way back when Pat Sajak had his television talk show, Victor was one of his guests. He'd just celebrated his 84th (?) birthday and, during his performance, actually fell off the piano bench as he had done many, many times throughout his career.

Pat mentioned this to Victor afterward and commented that you don't see 80-year-olds falling off piano benches very often.

Victor replied, "Oh, many 80-year-olds fall off, but they need help getting back up again."

 

[valis23]

Any idea who that was playing with him? Not many pianists that good could walk in and pull off the choreography. Is there anyone today that perfectly funny?

 

[gsdx]

Any idea who that was playing with him? Not many pianists that good could walk in and pull off the choreography. Is there anyone today that perfectly funny?

I don't know how to spell his name, so I'll do it phonetically. Victor often performed with a fellow named 'Sean Ahz-roo-nie'. I don't know if that is him, but I believe it is.

Here's another hilarious clip. A 'Mozart' opera by Salieri. It's long (over 8 minutes), but side-splitting:

 

[gsdx]

He was a gifted pianist in addition to being a comedian whose humor spanned generations and continents.

He actually began as a serious pianist, but his command of the English language got plenty of unintentional laughs. That bothered him at first until he realized that people came to see him to laugh rather than to be entertained by his piano playing. He used his failures at the English language to best advantage, that's for sure.

 

[gsdx]

An unplanned and improvised encore:

 

[gsdx]

Any idea who that was playing with him?

I don't know how to spell his name, so I'll do it phonetically. Victor often performed with a fellow named 'Sean Ahz-roo-nie'. I don't know if that is him, but I believe it is.

I did a little research, and it was, indeed, who I thought it was. His name is:

Sahan Arzruni