‘Off Hand’ Host Has Finger on Pulse of the Deaf

Ask Herb Larson how he was discovered and, in the spirit of the Lana Turner legend, he’ll jokingly say he was standing on the corner of Sunset and Laurel Canyon boulevards wearing a tight sweater.

Larson actually became the so-called Johnny Carson of the deaf eight years ago when a television producer happened to see him as host of a variety show at Cal State Northridge, where Larson works.

“I was looking for a personable deaf person to host a talk show, and this man Herb came out and had such witty things to say and was so unflappable, I knew I had found a star,” said Sheldon Altfeld, the producer.

The show, which is called “Off Hand” because Larson’s co-host Lou Fant translates the words of guests into sign language, became a hit with an estimated 700,000 hearing-impaired viewers in the Los Angeles area shortly after it began airing seven years ago, the show’s producers said.

Although Larson, 56, never speaks on the show, Fant also translates his signs into speech, making it possible for hearing audiences to tune in, too.

Marcella Meyer, executive director of the Greater Los Angeles Council on Deafness, said the show’s audience is devoted despite its broadcast time of 6:30 a.m. on Wednesdays on Channel 9. The show, which has won two Los Angeles Emmys in 1982 and 1986 for a public affairs series, has featured guests ranging from actress Marlee Matlin to ventriloquist Paul Winchell.

“We call Herb our Johnny Carson because he has a great personality and wit, and he brings us all kinds of interesting people we don’t always have access to in books and magazines,” said Meyer, through a sign-language interpreter.

Not everyone watches the show by choice. Virginia Hughes, a sign-language instructor for the Los Angeles Unified School District, requires her students to turn the sound off while the show is on, “read” the signs and report on the topics of discussion.

In one memorable episode, Fant, who, in addition to translating, plays a role akin to Carson’s sidekick Ed McMahon, pulled off his toupee. The move shocked the show’s producers, who had advised Fant to don the wig so the public wouldn’t equate him with the “Ace Hardware man,” a role he played for years, Altfeld said.

Larson himself is “a riot” who rarely answers a serious question without making a joke first, said Paul Kreppel, a television actor who has been a guest on the show. For instance, when Altfeld asked Larson eight years ago if he wanted to be the show’s host, Larson reportedly answered, “Yes, unless I have to sleep with you.”

Larson, a Northridge resident who administers a CSUN program that provides services to deaf students, lost his hearing at age 3 because of meningitis. Nevertheless, he said, he and Carson have some things in common.

“We’re both from Nebraska, both have gray hair, although I have more hair, and are both talk show hosts,” he said.

But there are some differences. For one thing, “The Tonight Show” is unavailable to hearing-impaired audiences because it is not close-captioned nor translated into sign language.

Additionally, Larson joked, “He makes a lot more money than I do, and I’ve had the same wife for all these years.” Larson earns $250 for each of the 26 shows he tapes per year.

In tapes of the first few shows, Larson looked like a different man. His hair was darker and fuller, and he weighed at least 10 pounds more. The set of the show has also changed, from one resembling a dimly lit living room festooned with a jungle of fake palms to a well-lit set with beige couches.

Larson now drives a white Cadillac with license plates that say “OFF HAND.” But in a rare serious moment, he said the real reasons he does the show haven’t changed.

“Obviously, I don’t do it for the money,” Larson said. “I do it because it seems to make deaf children and their parents feel better about the kids’ chances in the future, and it shows the hearing public that deaf people are just like everyone else.”