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PEOPLE & ARTS Monday 17 deceMber 2018
Half of iconic Bert & I duo dies 60 years after recording

By DAVID SHARP prankster, an optimist and
Associated Press a larger-than-life character
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — whose charisma attracted
Bob Bryan, one half of the people. "He was friends
comedy duo Bert and I, with people from all walks
which had fun at the ex- of life. Really, from the bot-
pense of Maine Yankees tom to the top, and he be-
and popularized the im- lieved in them all," she said.
mortal punchline, "You Bryan leaves behind a wife,
can't get there from here," three daughters, a bunch
has died at his home in of grandchildren and a
Quebec. He was 87. great-granddaughter —
Bryan and the late Marshall and a heap of stories that
Dodge created their humor have withstood the test of
in a dormitory room at Yale time, said Cherie Hoyt, a
University, and their 1958 al- friend of Bryan's who pro-
bum was the first of several duced the "Bert and I ...
that shaped the state's hu- Rebooted" recording with
mor and image. Bryan and Maine humorist
Uttered in exaggerated Tim Sample.
Down East accents, the "You can listen to a good
jokes have withstood the story many times without
test of time, including the In this 1970s photo, Bob Bryan, left, and Marshall Dodge, the Down East Maine humorists behind getting sick of it," Hoyt said.
“Bert and I,” pose for a photo in Maine. Bryan died Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018, in Sherbrooke,
one about the tourist who Quebec. "I know them by heart, but
befuddled a Mainer by Associated Press I still find them funny. I still
asking for directions. The smile. I still chuckle."q
native concludes with a The pair eventually set off
famous punchline: "Come in different directions after
to think of it, you can't get selling hundreds of thou-
there from here." sands of albums.
Bryan, who died Wednes- Dodge toured the country
day in Sherbrooke, was a as a comedian before his
native of Long Island, New death in 1982 in Hawaii,
York, who picked up the lo- where he was struck by a
cal vernacular during sum- hit-and-run driver while bi-
mers spent on a lake near cycling.
Ellsworth, Maine. Bryan, a divinity student
The stories often involved who went on to be or-
a fancy-pants tourist and dained as an Episcopal
a laconic Mainer who gets priest, used some of his
the last word. "Bert and I" earnings to buy
"They didn't write from a float plane. As a bush pi-
scratch all of these stories. lot, he flew his plane to the
They adapted them. A rugged fishing villages in
lot of them were off color, northern Quebec to minis-
from lumber camps or fish- ter to local residents.
ing wharfs. They'd rewrite He created the Quebec-
them. They took them to Labrador Foundation with
the next level," said Dean a goal of supporting rural
Lunt from Islandport Press, communities and the envi-
which sells the "Bert and I" ronment of eastern Cana-
albums. da and New England.
Humorist and storyteller One of Bryan's daughters,
Garrison Keillor recalled Sandy Bryan Weatherall,
playing cuts of the "Bert remembers her dad and
and I" albums during his Dodge recording stories on
early stints as a morn- a reel-to-reel tape player in
ing disc jockey. And the her Massachusetts home.
original "Bert and I" album And she remembers listen-
made comedian-magician ing for the sound of his air-
Penn Jillette's list of the top plane to mark his return
12 comedy albums of all home.
time. She said her dad was a