I read Searching for Candy by Tracey J. Morgan in 2022, so I was already familiar with Candy’s life, Reading another book about his life wouldn’t hurt me, so I was on-board and eager. And, I even took some notes while I read it for this review, unlike in 2022 when I just read it. I am watching the Amazon Prime Documentary about Candy.
If you fan of John Candy, whether it be his SCTV days or his movies, this books provides a lot of details from the people closest to him. Like Joe Flaherty, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Dan Aykroyd, Valri Bromfield, Bill Murray, and many more from that era of comedians. Later in his life, one of his neighbors was John Hughes, and often times, both families would hang out together.
Just imagine if Tom Hanks, Mike Meyers, Ben Stiller, and Patton Oswalt had not seen him perform, a lot of great movies and comedic performance wouldn’t have been made! What if Candy told Conan O’Brien to try anything but comedy?
Candy passed on Ghostbusters and Rick Moranis got the part. Candy passed on Three Amigos and Martin Short got that part.
Candy prided himself of being close to his wife and two kids (who were all interviewed prominently in this book) and being a generous person on the set of tv shows and movies.
I had no clue about his business relationship with the CFL Toronto Argonauts (he was one of the owners at one time). How cool is that?
Yes, he had weight issues, and heart disease ran in his family. I mean, his own father died of it when Candy was 5 years old. He didn’t like fat jokes or people making fun of him (when that happened, he would have panic attacks), and he did try to be healthier. He died way too early at the age of 43 of heart disease. His last call was to Catherine O’Hara wishing her a happy birthday for her 40th!
Here are my favorite Candy movies (in no particular order):
Summer Rental
The Great Outdoors
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Cool Runnings
Canadian Bacon
Stripes
The Blues Brothers
