Lookwell!

Adam West passed away from leukemia over the weekend at the age of 88. Most of us know him for playing Batman in the 1960's television series. It was campy and absurd but it knew it was campy and absurd, so that made it enjoyable. As Rob Sheridan put it, he's the only Batman to punch a shark.

In the early 90's he did a TV pilot written by Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel entitled Lookwell, wherein he played a TV detective that was so into the role he also stuck his nose in real detective work. The show wasn't picked up but you can watch the entire episode on Youtube. It is, unsurprisingly, campy and absurd and fun. I remember seeing this during a screening of a host of "lost" pilots and laughed uncontrollably at West's hobo character near the end. Absolutely brilliant.

West will always be the original Batman to me (even if that's not precisely accurate) and his ridiculous deliveries will certainly be missed.