Earl Camembert
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Earl Camembert (pronounced "Canenbert" for some inexplicable reason) is a fictional news reporter and anchorman portrayed by Eugene Levy on the highly successful Canadian sketch comedy show SCTV, which aired in Canada and the United States in the 1970s and 1980s.
Camembert, based on real-life news reporter Earl Cameron, was a recurring character alongside Joe Flaherty's character of Floyd Robertson, also a fictional anchorman based on real-life Canadian news anchor and Order of Canada recipient, Lloyd Robertson. Both men anchored the SCTV Network's "SCTV News" program, where Earl and Floyd would do their respective news pieces.
Camembert always appeared with nerdy looking eyeglasses and grotesque checkered suit with matching bow tie, along with his black hair in a near-afro style do. The appearance of the character and a great deal of his speech patterns was based on WKBW-TV news anchor Irv Weinstein.
Robertson, who is seen as the respectable, well-dressed anchorman reports serious, major news stories (often including wars and disasters involving the fictional African nation of Togoland) while Camembert is stuck with chiefly local unimportant news stories. Dave Thomas appeared on one episode of the SCTV News as news mainstay and legend Walter Cronkite and noted that Earl got stuck with all the "chintzy" news bits while Floyd got all the hard hitting pieces. Floyd responded by saying that they wrote their own news pieces, so if true, this indicates that Earl was a very poor reporter, which is not difficult to believe. This includes poor interviewing skills, as seen when Earl interviewed the Mayor of Melonville. Earl enraged him enough to have him come to the broadcasting building and charge into the news set while on air to physically attack Earl.
Earl also often presents editorials, which at times earned the scorn of Floyd. In one episode Floyd laughed through the entirety of Earl's piece. Earl's editorials are nearly always followed by his signature on screen, which appears scribbled and disorganized and resembles a child's handwriting style more than an adult's.
Earl at one point campaigned and headed the election campaign during the Melonville town elections for SCTV personality Johnny La Rue (aka "J La R," played by John Candy), obviously ignoring one of the basic journalistic principles of journalistic neutrality. After La Rue was soundly defeated, Camembert was fired by La Rue. Floyd, much to his delight, then informed Earl that he would be reported for his journalistic violations.
Camembert also has one son, Earl Junior, who tried to fill in for Floyd in one episode due to Floyd's tardiness. Typical of Robertson's crassness, upon returning to the studio, he bullied the younger Camembert, who, for the record, looked identical to his father.
Levy's excellent portrayal of Earl made him a sympathetic figure in light of Floyd's success and his mistreatment of Earl. Levy's superb body language and expressions also makes Earl one of the most favoured recurring characters on SCTV.
SCTV in general helped to launch Levy's career in the United States to the levels where it is at now.
