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RIP Uncle Floyd.
Some of you are asking, “who is Uncle Floyd?”
When I first started watching music videos in the 1970s, it was on a fuzzy, scratchy UHF station, Channel 68. Video Jukebox I think it was called. But also on that UHF channel (this is pre-cable, kids) was The Uncle Floyd Show starring Floyd Vivino and a cast of characters, including his sidekick/clown hand puppet Oogie.
It was wild, it was hilarious, it was strange, it was campy, and it contained a lot of comedic and musical talent. It was old school Vaudeville meets new school improv all wrapped in the flag of New Jersey. The characters were caricatures, which I later learned in life were what a lot of real people were, and what made for the most interesting people. The show also had other musical guests, including some making first tv appearances: The Ramones, Squeeze, Bon Jovi, Blondie, Cyndi Lauper, Blue Öyster Cult, David Johansen, Jan and Dean, Peter Tork, Tiny Tim, The Smithereens, R. Stevie Moore, Randy and the Rainbows, among others.
Later on, in the “cable tv years,” Floyd could be seen doing a lounge-style act, with Oogie, all over New Jersey. At my insistent suggestion, a friend who booked local concerts in my community had Uncle Floyd, not once, but twice, long after the UHF era. Seeing him play Jersey hotel and restaurant lounges, felt tongue in cheek, or maybe, felt just right.
Floyd was a schticky stand-up (or sit-down) comedian, rattling off one-liners rapid fire, intermingled with storytelling, all from the bench of his piano, where he played with actual virtuosity. From a musical family, his brother Jerry was often backing people like Springsteen, his other brother Jimmy one of the most underrated guitarists in music. Floyd also hosted a radio show featuring standards and classics.
One of his funnier songs was a take on Texas-oriented classic, "Deep in the Heart of Jersey", which I had a group of third graders re-create for a grade school musical show. At the time, it was nowhere to be found on YouTube so I had to search for the album for months on eBay so they could learn it over 20 years ago. Here is his version of it.
Brilliant, crazily talented, hilarious and quick-witted, but just a regular guy. Like someone who could have grown up on my block. My kind of person.
My favorite Uncle Floyd story about his lore. John Lennon would be watching Uncle Floyd on UHF while I was watching it (unbeknownst to me), he in his apartment in the Dakota on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, me in a living room in Staten Island. I would watch it alone; Lennon would regularly watch it with David Bowie as they got stoned. David Bowie was so taken with the show, he would later write a song about Floyd and even namecheck Oogie (I said the show was wild and strange).
I mean, how cool is that...to have Bowie write a song about you.
