Einstein was born into a show business family. His father was comedian Harry Einstein (a.k.a. Parkyakarkus) who worked with the likes of Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor. His mother was Thelma Leeds who enjoyed a brief career as a singer and actress. His younger brother is comedian Albert Brooks.
Einstein earned his chops as a writers on The Smothers Brother Comedy Hour and appeared onscreen as Officer Judy, a law enforcement officer who would give Liberace a speeding ticket for playing the piano too fast.
I first remember seeing Einstein in 1980 on Bizarre, a risqué Canadian comedy show hosted by John Byner. Einstein co-produced the show and would appear as himself in an effort to restrain Byner's bawdier material. But Einstein would turn out to be the show's breakout performer with the Super Dave character in which he would do outlandish stunts that went horribly wrong most notably skydiving off Toronto's CN Tower. All the Saskatchewan sealskin in the world couldn't save him.
After Bizarre went off the air in 1982, Einstein continued to make appearances as Super Dave on both The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman before getting his own Showtime series Super Dave which aired from 1987 to 1991. A short-lived animated series Super Dave: Daredevil for Hire aired on FOX in 1992 and a direct to video movie The Extreme Adventures of Super Dave was released in 2000. During this century, Einstein was best known for his appearances on Arrested Development and Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm.
My favorite Super Dave memory was when he went up to the plate to face Dwight Gooden in his prime. R.I.P.
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