Guy at party with electrolarynx...WTF?!?

I remember seeing this movie in the theater when I was 10 years old, and amazingly, I actually got a lot of the jokes. I missed a few and I didn't quite understand the concept of the "slush fund" at the end with Charlie (which of course is how the whole movie wraps up), but that's neither here nor there.

Anyway, the thing I always thought was weird was the guy at the party with the electrolarynx...you know, that thing that someone who has lost their voice box holds up to their neck in order to talk, and then they sound like a robot. I thought it was kind of FUNNY when I was 10 and Charlie asked Jane to dance, after which Electrolarynx-Guy leans over to Dick and says, "Very nice."

Dick then responds, "What?" And then the guy says, "I SAID VERY NICE!"

What was that all about? Those things always sound funny (especially to children) and the conversation was kind of distracting, mildly amusing, but totally irrelevant to the plot...and came from a non-character who could have just as easily been an extra in the movie.

So, what was that? Was the actor a brother of the director or something, and they just wanted to work him in to the movie so he could be on the silver screen before he died from laryngeal cancer? Did the actor really have a laryngectomy and NEED the device, or was it all put in there for some kind of effect (like the "Space Odyssey" theme of the party...robot voiced guys walking around the party to entertain the guests)?

I don't know, I just always thought it was kind of weird, and it stuck in my head for years, since I didn't really understand what that thing was at the time.