PHILOSOPHICAL EGGS

In 1978, when I was 8 years old, a friend did something amazing: he switched from the VHF dial on his TV to the UHF dial and, very slowly, made his way to channel 68. Through the crappy reception I stepped into a hidden magical world of forbidden madness that expressed freedom.

This world was The Uncle Floyd Show with its eccentric cast, laugh squad, unscripted comedy bits, and amazing guest bands. The Ramones were a consistent presence over the years but there were 700 acts between 1978-1981 alone. The show appealed to everyone from little children to visionary supporters like John Lennon, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and David Johansen who gets credit for being, as Floyd once said, “the discoverer of the Uncle Floyd Show” because he was the first well know performer to appear on the show and tell so many people about it.

Floyd with David Johansen

According to cast member David Burd (see below for a link to his essay about the show and its music acts), the show had 6,999 episodes from its beginning in 1974 to its end in 1998. These episodes were mostly broadcast through NJ and so the show, while having a cult following, never reached a very wide audience despite being syndicated in a few other states in 1982.

Floyd with The Ramones who appeared on the show 29 times

New Jersey’s own multi-talented Floyd Vivino held it all together with his many bizarre characters, wonderful acting (take note he appeared in the films Good Morning Vietnam, Crazy People, and Mr. Wonderful as well as various TV shows), parodies, puppets, and astonishing piano playing which had a large part in me becoming a piano player (in 1999 he earned a Guinness World Record for playing songs nonstop for more than 24 hours for charity).

Now he is gone and I will always miss him.

Luckily, over the years I was able to get my hands on many rare and discontinued DVD’s of the show (from cast member Mugsy before he died in 2005) and I made my own tapes of the show when I was younger. For those interested, there is still a “best of” DVD (Schanchie Productions) available via Amazon and YouTube has a Floyd channel as well. And there are plenty of articles, blogs, Facebook pages, essays, and so on which will offer you information about the show over the years, the cast and the changes to it, and its many interesting guests (see the end of this post for links to all kinds of UF stuff). Be sure to check out David Bowie’s song Slip Away from his album Heathen which juxtaposes the show as an expression of a simpler time with darker themes like war.

As I type these words I know, from all the online tributes I’ve been enjoying, that many feel as I do. So Floyd will live on in those of us who loved his work. But he should also live on in us by giving us a resolve to appreciate and cultivate something which, as I’ve grown, I’ve come to appreciate more and more: real local and eccentric community full of improvisation and irreverence. The show was the opposite of all the conformist and scripted garbage in the media these days and, for me, that will always be inspiring in a world that so often seeks to crush things that are truly unique. As a kid its freedom seemed to flow through me and made me feel like I was part of a counterculture where norms could be challenged by ideas, music, laughter, and downright absurdity. As an adult philosopher I hope to honor that primal spark in my thinking, teaching, writing, and acting.

From left to right: Mugsy, Floyd, Netto, Looney Skip Rooney, Scott Gordon, and Charlie Stoddard.

Now, I know Bones Boy will be fine – cranky and cynical bastard that he is. He will, as he always does, simply say “Snap it Pal!” and harshly criticize Floyd’s legacy and, I’m afraid, this post as both pathetic and pretentious (see below for Floyd’s The Snap Song sung by Bones Boy himself).

“Snap it Pal”: Bones Boy complaining about something

But I hope Oogie, a far more sensitive and self-pitying soul to be sure, isn’t crying too much since, as this wonderful bit suggests, he may get sap all over the place:

I’ll leave you with a crazy Bones Boy/Looney Skip Rooney/Floyd at the piano bit as well as four acts which had the most impact on my primal philosophical development: Mr. Grouch, Comrade Comic, Brother Billy Bobby Booper, and, of course, The Conservative vs. The Liberal. These acts always got me thinking as well as laughing. These particular versions of them, which taken together allow you to see most of the older cast (and plenty of “the pictures on the wall” from viewers!), are some of the best things I have ever seen. It is true that the show can be difficult to connect with at times if you aren’t from Jersey or can’t grasp its many inside jokes. As Floyd put it in a 1980 documentary about the show (see link below), “You can’t take homemade bread and sell it national.” But, as these bits demonstrate, there are plenty of universal themes present as well. If you enjoy them, be sure to spread the word so the show’s audience can continue to grow.

LONG LIVE THE UNCLE FLOYD SHOW!

Go here for the UF YouTube channel.

Go here for the “Friends of Floyd” Facebook page.

Go here for a short PM Magazine documentary (1980) on the show with interviews, clips, behind the scenes, and so on.

Go here for an excellent essay by cast member David Burd on the music scene of The Uncle Floyd Show.

Go here for the NYT obituary.

Go here for Bob Leafe’s fantastic photos/commentary of Floyd, the cast, and many famous people they hung out with and had on the show including Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, Davy Jones, Howard Stern, Andy Kaufman, Phoebe Snow, Steve Morse, Eddie Money, Linda Blair, Boomtown Rats, Blue Oyster Cult, Chubby Checker, The Smothers Brothers, Tiny Tim, Bananarama, Squeeze, Soupy Sales, and others.

Go here for The Snap Song.

Go here for the UF podcast.

Go here for the UF portal with some helpful links.

Go here for UF ebay.

Go here to listen to Bowie’s Slip Away from his album Heathen. Go here for an earlier version called Uncle Floyd (from Bowie’s leaked 2011 Toy album) which includes Floyd and Oogie as an intro. Here are the lyrics:

Oogie waits for just another day
Drags his bones
To see the Yankees play
Bones Boy talks and flickers gray
Oh, they slip away

Once a time
They nearly might have been
Bones and Oogie on a silver screen
No one knew what they could do
Except for me and you
They slip away
They slip away

Don’t forget
To keep your head warm
Twinkle twinkle Uncle Floyd
Watching all the world
And war torn
How I wonder where you are
Oh-o
Sailing over
Coney Island
Twinkle twinkle Uncle Floyd
We were dumb
But you were fun, boy
How I wonder where you are
Oh-o

Oogie knew there’s never ever time
Some of us will always stay behind
Down in space it’s always 1982
The joke we always knew
Oh-oh
What’sa matter with you
C’mon, let’s go
Slip away
Oh-o

Don’t forget
To keep your head warm
Twinkle twinkle Uncle Floyd
Watching all the world
And war torn
How I wonder where you are
Oh-o
Sailing over
Coney Island
Twinkle twinkle Uncle Floyd
We were dumb
But you were fun, boy
How I wonder where you are
Oh-o
Sailing