Remembering Andre Maisonneuve Catfish Morgan

Remembering Andre Maisonneuve Catfish Morgan

A Tribute to Andre Maisonneuve aka Catfish Morgan (1961-2016)
 
Today marks the anniversary of Andre's birthday, that would have been the first since his passing in 2016. 

The following about Andre was written by friend and colleague Nat Lauzon at the time of his death.  It originally appeared on the blog of Steve Faguy.


In a terrible year where we have lost so many of the greats, I consider Andre among them.

Andre could do anything. He was that rare blend of uber-talented jock but with the kind of vulnerability that allowed listeners to know him as a person, too. He was warm, kind, interested, creative and genuinely, naturally funny.

On the air, Andre would take you places that were silly and ridiculous, then grow them and explore them without fear. And if they bombed, so what? And if they were winners, so what?

The joy was in getting there, the reward was in trying.

He was never afraid to be the foil or take chances. But more so, he was happy to stand back and let you shine. He could trust a moment and let it breathe instead of filling it will noise.

He knew how to work WITH people, on the air.

He was a careful listener and built the moment instead of clamoring for punchlines. (I don’t need to tell any “radio person” how rare a quality this is.)

He was a master of voices, with an impressive and ever-expanding stable of impersonations and characters. In a radio age, where so many “bits” come packaged from prep services, we wrote our own.

Because Andre could handle any special voice requirements those bits entailed — from impersonations to accents to singing … it was endless, often surprising even himself!

We laughed. So much. Andre had a winning, engaging laugh.

What I’ve said here of course, is all radio-related and barely scratches the surface of who he was personally (and at one point, I hope to write more on that), but it’s not difficult to find echoes of these same sentiments from across the country, from folks who knew Andre at various points in his lengthy radio career.

Andre was my colleague, but he was also my big brother and my teacher and my friend.

His is a huge loss to radio — but also to those who loved him.

My heart breaks for his two amazing kids, who he was fiercely proud of. I am hardly alone in admitting that losing him has me roiling with grief and anger.

Very simply, I adored him.

I will love and miss him always.

-Nat Lauzon

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