RIP Leslie Nielsen, One Very Funny Man In Frank Drebin style...

I hate when TV stations say “You gotta see this….” But you’ve gotta see this: A reader remembered Leslie Nielsen’s promo for the Bengals return to Monday Night Football in 2004, after a 12-year absence. In Frank Drebin style, he explains the “Dark Ages of Bengals Football.” Here’s a link to the YouTube video. Enjoy!

Orginal Monday morning post: Surely, you can’t be serious…. Leslie Nielsen, one of the great comedic actors of all time, died Sunday in Fort Lauderdale of pneumonia. He was 84. After years of straight roles — everything from a Revolutionary War fighter in “The Swamp Fox” (1960-61) on TV’s ”Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” to ”The Poseidon Adventure” (1972) and “The Love Boat” (1979) – he unleashed his funny side in “Airplane!” (1980), then did the short-lived “Police Squad” (1982) on ABC which launched ”The Naked Gun” movies (1988).

Here’s a clip from “Airplane” when he asked Robert Hays to fly a commercial airliner, to which Hays says: “Surely you can’t be serious.” And Nielsen replies: “I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.” (If you’ve never seen it, or want to catch it again, AMC repeats “Airplane!” at 6 p.m. Tuesday.)

And here’s Nielsen as the umpire in “The Naked Gun: From The Files Of Police Squad!”, the first of his three “Naked Gun” movies… and a clip often seen on the big screen during Reds games. Here’s a clip to our story, and to his TV/movie credits.