Laugh In Writer Passes

Jack Hanrahan, writer and harmonica player, stayed at Lakeside Shelter

Jack Hanrahan, quite a notable homeless person from the streets of Cleveland, passed away a couple weeks ago, and I’ve been ashamedly busy to make note of it on here until now. However, I knew Jack Hanrahan a little, and I wanted to talk about his passing here so perhaps others can get to know him a little. Like I said, I didn’t know him well, but I really enjoyed the little time we spent together.

When I first met Jack Hanrahan, I was performing at the 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter. He asked if he could play harmonica with me while I played guitar, and I let him. He played really well and I stopped to talk with him for a little while after the show.

When he first told me his name, I thought he said his name was Jack Hammerhand. I was thoroughly impressed with such a barbaric moniker and knew that at least the name would make him unforgettable if not his harmonica playing. However, this character turned out to be filled with more depth than I would have a chance to explore.

He told me he used to write for the Care Bears cartoon show, and I humored him. I meet lots of people in my line of work, and I occasionally come across people who make various preposterous claims. I figured, who am I to judge? If I said, “You’re lying!” and it turned out he did write for the Care Bears cartoon show, I would look like a fool.

Well, I would’ve been quite the fool, because it turned out I was making music with one of the writers on the Care Bears cartoon show. On top of that, he was a writer for Laugh-In, Heathcliff, Get Smart, Inspector Gadget, Snorks, Tom and Jerry, Sonny and Cher, Captain N, and the Super Mario Bros. Super Show. I stood face to face with the architect of my treasured childhood memories and I didn’t even realize it.

All notoriety aside, he was a wonderful man to talk with and get a good raspy laugh out of. He said he would make me famous and that he still had connections in Hollywood, but I never took him up on it. I’m not so sure if he really could’ve made myself or anyone famous, but honestly, nothing about that man would ever surprise me now. He was the hypnotist on Repossessed, a not very remarkable Leslie Nielson vehicle that I used to watch religiously in my youth, and I couldn’t see through the weary world scars to that character that sits in some pleasant valley in my memory bank. If you told me he was the one who introduced Aerosmith to Run DMC, not the least mark of surprise would cross my face.

Anyways, I just wanted to thank the man for filling my youth with television characters and moments that are the very essence of nostalgia. Few things move me like nostalgia, and little did I know that in my 29^th year I would meet the very chimney that sent my childhood nostalgia along the wind and into the world.

Thank you, Jack. You used the world as your canvas for a short time, and many including myself are the better for it. You will be missed.

Joshua Kanary

Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board

PS: There was a memorial for Hanrahan this past weekend organized by his friends.