Acting and writing Henry joined the improvisational comedy group the Premise, whose ranks included
George Segal and
Theodore J. Flicker, From 1959 to 1962, as part of an elaborate hoax by comedian
Alan Abel, he made public appearances as G. Clifford Prout, the quietly outraged president of the
Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, who presented his point of view on talk shows. The character of Prout wished to clothe all animals in order to prevent their 'indecency', using slogans such as "A nude horse is a rude horse". Henry played the character with deadpan sincerity. He was often presented as an eccentric, but was otherwise taken seriously by the broadcasters who interviewed him. "Prout" received many letters of support from TV viewers, and even some unsolicited monetary donations, all of which were invariably returned, as neither Henry nor Abel (who had no intention of following through on the Society's stated aims) wanted to be accused of raising money fraudulently. Henry became a cast member on
The New Steve Allen Show (1961) and the US version of
That Was the Week That Was (1964–1965). His many other screen writing credits included the sex farce
Candy (1968), the romantic comedies
The Owl and the Pussycat (1970) and ''
What's Up, Doc? (1972), the satire Catch-22 (1970), the thriller The Day of the Dolphin (1973), the comedy Protocol (1984), and the dark crime dramedy To Die For (1995). the remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan'', with the movie's star
Warren Beatty and appeared in the film as an officious angel, reprising the character originally played by
Edward Everett Horton. Henry received a second shared Oscar nomination, this time for Best Director. In 2007, he made two guest appearances on
The Daily Show as a contributor, billed as the show's "Senior Senior Correspondent". He has also appeared as
Liz Lemon's father, Dick Lemon, in the
30 Rock episodes "
Ludachristmas" (December 13, 2007) and "
Gentleman's Intermission" (November 4, 2010).
Saturday Night Live Henry hosted NBC's
Saturday Night Live ten times between 1976 and 1980, making him the show's most frequent host during its initial five-year run and on November 19, 1977, Henry became the first to host five times. During the episode of October 30, 1976, Henry was injured in the forehead by
John Belushi's
katana in the
samurai sketch. • Marshall DiLaMuca, father of Bill Murray's character Todd in
The Nerds sketches. • Mr. Dantley, the straight man and frequent customer of Samurai Futaba's (
John Belushi) many businesses. • Uncle Roy, a single,
pedophilic babysitter. The three sketches, written by
Rosie Shuster and
Anne Beatts, remain controversial. '
Celebrity impersonations on SNL''''' •
Charles Lindbergh •
John Dean •
Ron Nessen ==Death==