MY TRIBUTE TO "THE BEST SHOW" ON WFMU

UPDATE: My piece has sold! (profit will go to WFMU) And you can see all the artwork here.


This Friday, Gallery 1988 Melrose will unveil the second installment of Is This Thing On?, an art show hosted by "Weird Al" Yankovic saluting our favorite funny people, and I'm way excited to be among the artists. My comedians of choice are Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster of The Best Show on WFMU because about 75% of my weekly laughs come from this three-hour program. Here's my piece...

Click to enlarge

For those unfamiliar I'll quote Patton Oswalt from a recent article in SPIN,
"Trying to explain The Best Show on WFMU to someone who hasn't heard it can be one of the most frustrating tasks on the planet. [...] The simple explanation is this: For three hours each week, a guy named Tom Scharpling gets on the radio, plays some cool records, takes some phone calls, and then his friend, Superchunk and Mountain Goats drummer Jon Wurster, calls up and acts like a jerk."

I thought the duo was a perfect fit for a 1960s-era LP cover in the tradition of Bob Newhart, Paul Lynde or Rowan & Martin because their lives revolve around music and to me their comedy has a classic, timeless quality. Over the years they've built a self-contained mythology of characters, events, and places (i.e. Newbridge). Unlike typical radio teams they rarely depend on the latest happenings of pop culture, on the contrary they often employ hilariously obscure cultural relics and people in their vernacular.

It's performed live (though carefully written) and a single exchange between them can go on for the better part of an hour which lets the laughs gradually build to a frenzy as the absurdity reaches new depths. This breathing room also lends itself to wonderful subtlety, and once you pick up on the rhythms and running gags (which are the inspiration for many of the album's would-be tracks) there's even more mirth to be had.

And that's not even touching on the other two-thirds of the show in which Tom uproariously reflects on life's day-to-day struggles, regales us with tales of his past and toys with the clueless callers in a Bug's Bunny-like fashion.

If it's still unclear... I recommend this show.
You can listen to it live each Tuesday night at 9PM Eastern, or here are the archives, or you can subscribe to the podcast via itunes

Anyway, the "LP cover" poster-print also comes with the original colored pencil art (below) and any profit I might get will go to listener-supported WFMU. So if you're interested call or email Gallery 1988.

MISSILE FIRING TANK FROM HONOR HOUSE

There is a subcategory of comic book mail-aways that could be labeled "Cardboard Vehicles" no that's too boring, how about "Corrugated Fiberboard Dream Machines." Actually I'll stick with the first one. The most often advertised Cardboard Vehicles include the Polaris Submarine, the Jet Rocket Space Ship, and the Missile Firing Tank (a Space Shuttle emerged later on.) Prior to this day, I, nor the internet at large has yet to witness any photographic evidence of the tank, and I think you sense what's about to happen. Yes, thanks to the unbelievable archives of Dan Goodsell of Tic Toc Toys and creator of Mister Toast you are about to witness THE MISSILE FIRING TANK!!...


Dan says "this came from a binder full of samples from the Gibraltar Paper company that made tons of instore cardboard displays from grocery and supermarkets. This was the only non-display item in the binder. On the back in pencil is written S. J. Wegman Company [the outfit behind Honor House] - Corrugated Tank. Most all the stuff in the binder was from the early 60's" (Thanks again Dan!!)

Ta-dah!

SPOOKY OLD IRON-ONS FROM ICEE

Recently cryptozoologist Robert Robinson emailed me pics of these 1970s Halloween iron-ons because 1.he is a nice guy and 2. he knows we have similar interests. But what he didn't know is that he was offering me a precious long-lost detail of my own Halloween history.

Back when I was three and still letting my parents pick out my Halloween costumes, my dad assembled this getup out of a souvenir hat from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, a foil-covered cardboard saber, and a discarded pillowcase bearing...the skull iron-on!


Thinking it was a cereal premium I've gone on several fruitless searches for the relic, but it all made sense after Robert informed me, "The glow in dark iron-ons were avaiable from Icee. My uncle owned a franchise in Arkansas and gave my brother and I a bunch of these."

This makes perfect sense because the local 1-Stop Mart was the destination of countless afternoon strolls with my family, and we bought so many ICEEs there that to me it was known simply as the ICEE store. I also had that place to thank for stacks of plastic super-hero cups that were taller than me. When they changed over to Slush Puppie [sic] drinks I desperately wanted to see that droopy-faced pooch get mauled by the ICEE bear.

Anyway, I'm just glad my dad picked the skull and crossbones because the skeletal hands holding the hourglass might've been a bit grim for a 3-year-old.

EVIL-EYE EVADER

"Beware! This very moment, someone somewhere, may be giving you the Evil-Eye...and YOU don't even know it. For your personal well-being please DO NOT ignore this sincere warning! "

Sorry to shock you like that, but now you know how I felt when I was confronted with this message in an ad from an old issue of Ghost Manor ...


(The scan came from a really cool comic ad blog called Four Color Promises)
The advertisement does a great job of outlining the product's many mystic powers while neglecting to convey what the Evil-Eye Evader actually is, thus a new mail-order mystery begging to be investigated.

Ebay turned up nothing, but Google was quick to serve up a blog post at Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin that instantly solved the puzzle


To tell you the truth it exceeds my expectations. Seeing how I'm a wee bit jaded when it comes to comic book marketing my best guess was that it would be an incantation printed on cardstock, or something along the lines of those paper prayer rugs you get in the mail. Thus... Customer Satisfaction: Un-hexpected quality.
(I'm so sorry.)

Check out Mike's blog for more photos and info.

By the way, I'M the one who's been giving you the Evil-Eye! Haw-Haw!

BIGFOOT AND GRAY

I've been following the work of Spümcø animator Chris Savino for years now and it's been a long-time dream of his to put together his own show. Four years ago he started documenting progress on a show called Bigfoot and Gray about, yes, Bigfoot and an alien. It's been very interesting to see his creative process unfold, and to see how he's creatively handled the various limitations that any project like this faces.

Well, he's finally got a polished one-minute presentation piece that's definitely worth a look. With the influence of entertainers such as Jay Ward and Sid and Marty Krofft, Chris has captured a bit of magic from the Saturday mornings of yesteryear and I certainly hope that it will eventually find a home on screens across America, nay, the world!