KILL YOUR ENTHUSIASM (25)

By: Crockett Doob
December 13, 2022

One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of favorite killed-off TV characters. Series edited by Heather Quinlan.

AUNT LOUISE

I watched Frasier passively. I knew that Martin, Frasier’s dad, was John Mahoney from Barton Fink. And I knew Kelsey Grammer more as “Sideshow Bob” from The Simpsons than I did as Frasier Crane. But I always kind of liked Frasier, and today, when rewatching “Martin Does It His Way,” I was like, Oh I completely misremembered this ending.

Frasier’s aunt has died. Aunt Louise: Described by Frasier as “scornful,” “contemptuous,” and a person who “made everyone’s life around her miserable.” Nonetheless, it falls on Frasier, as “her favorite nephew,” to write the eulogy.

“I just have to find something good I can honestly say about her,” Frasier says.

“Everybody lies a little in a eulogy,” admits Daphne (Jane Leeves), Martin’s home aide.

But Frasier insists, “I refuse to invent virtues the woman didn’t have.” This predicament really stuck with me over the years. In my memory of the eulogy, Frasier tells the truth about his aunt. Look, none of us really liked her. That kind of thing. Not at all what happens.

In the final scene, Frasier gets the choir to sing “She’s Such A Groovy Lady,” a song Martin had written for Frank Sinatra, which he’d hidden away in a shoebox until it’s put to music by his Frasier and his brother, Niles (David Hyde Pierce). Martin is so inspired, he sends the song to Sinatra’s people and gets a rejection letter.

Okay, so recently, my friend and I went to a memorial service for a mutual acquaintance. This person was inspired, like Frasier’s dad, to make art and was doing so, right before dying. This person was also someone whom — I’ll just say it — neither my friend nor I liked very much. No Aunt Louise, but still. There was no singing at this memorial, but we did hear a lot of platitudes which left us feeling hollow and, I suppose, lied to.

And then — and I know I’ll go hell for speaking ill of the dead, though this Frasier episode certainly tickled me whenever Frasier or Niles or Martin did so, including jokes about Aunt Louise going to hell — my friend and I had a much better time afterwards, holding a post-mortem about how we really felt. And that’s when I told my friend about the ending I thought I remembered, where Frasier’s eulogy was everything everyone had wanted to say about Aunt Louise but were afraid to.

But when I rewatched it, Frasier deflects. He barely gives a eulogy. Instead, he gets the church choir to sing his dad’s song. And the underlying message is a good one: Go for your dreams while you’re alive, even if you get rejected. Which was what this dead acquaintance was doing right before the end came. So there. I found something good to say. Do what you love to do — no matter who you are — while you’re still alive.

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KILL YOUR ENTHUSIASM (25)

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