The dark, twisted backstory of Eugene Levy’s Bobby Bittman character

One of the greatest characters in comedian Eugene Levy’s repertoire of garrulous oddballs is Bobby Bittman, the tacky, leisure-suit-clad lounge comic whose idea of a dynamite catchphrase is “How are ya?” Levy portrayed the insincere, scheming Bittman countless times on SCTV during its convoluted 1976 to 1984 run, often as part of “The Sammy Maudlin Show,” a sleazy showbiz lovefest hosted by Joe Flaherty. SCTV changed names and formats numerous times over the years, bouncing from the CBC to NBC before winding up at Cinemax at the end of its run. In 1988, four years after the series ended, Cinemax gave Levy the chance to write, direct, and star in his own half-hour special, billed as a “Cinemax Comedy Experiment.” The result was The Enigma Of Bobby Bittman, a surprisingly dark pseudo-documentary about the fictional comedian’s totally undeserved rise to power and fame. The main plot centers around what is supposedly Bittman’s millionth performance, though this may be another of the character’s many lies.