Superb analysis.
“Lovable little fuzz ball” was a regular reference that Rush often made of himself. How many times I doubled over laughing with him.
O’Really was a hard man, humor so dry his face would crack when he heard a laugh escape from his throat. (I’ve never seen anything like him, personally.)
Seems like he too was adopting a persona from the 1950s. He was a school teacher. Always kind of came across as one.
I used to work at a law school and one of the professors reminded me so much of BO. He looked similar to him, and had the same attitude as him. He also taught sexual harassment law yet would still make off color comments to some of the women. He didn’t have tenure, so I don’t know how he didn’t get in any trouble.