Great Character: Cousin Eddie (“Christmas Vacation”)

The Great Character theme for the month: Christmas characters. Today: Cousin Eddie in Christmas Vacation, written by John Hughes. Here is Jason Cuthbert’s weekly Great Character post:

Randy Quaid, the elder brother of actor Dennis Quaid (The Right Stuff, Innerspace, Any Given Sunday) spent the 1970s in Peter Bogdanovich films like The Last Picture Show, What’s Up, Doc? and Paper Moon and along side Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail and The Missouri Breaks. During the 1980s, Randy Quaid kept Chevy Chase company in National Lampoons Vacation and Caddyshack II and joined Saturday Night Live as a core cast member. Quaid ended off the 80s in the 1989 holiday classic Christmas Vacation, making his entrance during the last hour of the John Hughes written comedy and still stealing virtually every scene that his good natured/bad etiquette Southern family man character Cousin Eddie sauntered into. Cousin Eddie and his rusty motor home may have crashed the Griswold family Christmas uninvited, but his character has been widely regarded as a welcomed addition to the yuletide ensemble.

COUSIN EDDIE: Don’t forget the rubber sheets and gerbils.

Christmas Vacation from IMDB:

The Griswold family’s plans for a big family Christmas predictably turn into a big disaster.

Cousin Eddie has been out of work for about seven years and no longer lives in the rural homestead that he owned in the original National Lampoon Vacation film in 1983.

COUSIN EDDIE: If only I had that money Catherine and I gave to that TV preacher who was screwin’ that hockey player.

To compound his current setbacks even further, he will be unable to afford any Christmas gifts for his two young children Rocky and Ruby Sue — hiding all of this misfortune behind an ever-present grin. Eddie’s offspring seem to carry an awestruck dream-come-true excitement at the Griswold’s big suburban home, clearly eclipsing their deprived domestic experience.

COUSIN EDDIE: (referring to Ruby Sue) She falls down a well, her eyes go cross. She gets kicked by a mule. They go back. I don’t know.

As the cousin to Ellen Griswold (Beverly D’Angelo), the impossibly patient wife to Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase), Clark proves to be not-so-understanding of Eddie’s unabashedly cowboy charm. That judgmental discomfort extends towards Eddie’s pet dog with a nasty nasal malfunction — appropriately named “Snot.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKncYRJQRC8

Common sense may be mistaken for non-sense when Eddie attempts to work his way into this majorly conservative upper middle class Illinois milieu. Unfortunately, there may be a real reason for these mental mishaps beyond a lack of education: Eddie’s cranial surgery.

COUSIN EDDIE: You know that metal plate in my head? I had to have it replaced, cause every time Catherine revved up the microwave I’d piss my pants and forget who I was for a half hour or so.

Much of Cousin Eddie’s funniest fish-out-of-water moments stem from the elements of suburban living that don’t quite compute with his much more simple way of life. The reality switch that would typically prevent a grown man from rocking his underwear outdoors while emptying human excrement from a hose with one hand and a morning beverage in the other doesn’t seem to stop good ‘ol Eddie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd_qt_ijuSs

When the sight of a cat corpse elicits a nonchalant giggle, you know that you are dealing with a man of different priorities.

COUSIN EDDIE: [Referring to the electrocuted cat] That thing had nine lives, you just spent ’em all.

But even with his over-the-top lack of manners and vomit-inducing hygiene habits, Cousin Eddie is still the family member you would certainly want in your corner when the outside world deems it OK to do you wrong during the Christmas holiday. He means well, but his means of meaning well might just put him in jail.

For his gut-wrenching responses to ultra awkward situations, his obliviousness to his own unsettling behavior and his golden heart when family ties need to be the tightest — Cousin Eddie is one jolly, merry GREAT CHARACTER in the Christmas movie tradition.

One of the more memorable characters from a Christmas comedy.

Thank you, Jason, for this post and the entire month-long series featuring Christmas characters. What’s your favorite bit from the movie? Please join us in comments to discuss Christmas Vacation.

You may follow Jason on Twitter: @A2Jason.