We interrupt this sleeping weblog to bring you important news! Appearing live today on Stu’s Show are two of the people from the picture above, namely Ken Osmond and Frank Bank. Yes, from Leave it to Beaver, it’s Eddie Haskell and Clarence “Lumpy” Rutherford themselves. You know the drill by now… it’s internet radio, so you have to listen when it’s on, which is 4 PM Pacific, 7 PM Eastern and various times in between those. The program is live with audience call-ins today and repeats at the same time every day until the new show next Wednesday. So, click on the Stu’s Show link above and listen. Gee, it oughta’ be swell, huh, Beav?

Boy, I better post something else soon or this will become the “All Stu’s Show” blog!

It’s that time again. No, not National Gorilla Suit day, although most of the stores have already decorated for it. I’m going to be appearing live on Shokus Internet Radio to help Stu Shostak interview Janet Waldo, the voices of Judy Jetson, Penelope Pitstop, Granny Sweet and, as they used to say in the end credits of Rocky and his Friends, a host of others. (Don’t get confused, now. She did not do voices on Rocky and his Friends.)

It will be Wednesday, November 7 from 4 PM to 6 PM Pacific Time, if you remember to turn your clocks back, otherwise you’re on your own to figure out what time it’s on.

You can only hear it on the internet, so just click on the logo above and select a browser and listen away. There is still a glitch in the system that some encounter. When the station goes from prerecorded programming to live, you may get kicked off, but just hit play again and it should restart.

The program will rerun in the same timeslot the rest of the week and Monday and Tuesday of the following week. You can call in during the live broadcast and ask us questions. You can call in during the reruns, but it will ring an awfully long time.

If you missed the last show with guest Jimmy Weldon, now is your chance to make up for it by listening to this one. I don’t know what that means, but I’m trying to guilt you into remembering this time!

(l. to r.) Buff Badger, Moodsy, the Clinically Depressed Owl and Compost Brite

Yes, it’s time once again for Cartoon Dump! For those living in their cars instead of the Cartoon Dump alley, here is the description, straight from the creators themselves:

Come see it live! YAY!

This month’s comedy guest is stand up comedian Andy Kindler!

And Joel Hodgson is back to puppeteer Dumpster Diver Dan!

The show includes Moodsy the Clinically Depressed Owl (Frank Conniff), Compost Brite (Erica Doering), Morty the New Age Agent (Eddie Pepitone), Buff Badger (Kathleen Roll), and Hangover Hound (Joe Keyes)!

Tues. 9/25 8pm @The Steve Allen Theater
4773 Hollywood Blvd. LA 90027 Free parking!

Cartoon Dump is for all you twisted grown ups who are emotionally battered children at heart. Between each of Cartoon Dump’s delightful sketches (written by Frank Conniff), a vintage craptastic cartoon is screened from Jerry Beck’s animation library that you will be astonished was ever made. Hope you can make it!

Pass it on!
Advanced Tix Available!

So there you have it. You’d think I have something to do with this the way I plug it so much. Nope. I just like it. And you can, too!

Yes, it’s the live Oddball Couple once again, Mark Evanier and myself, appearing on Shokus Internet Radio today at 4 PM Pacific, 7 PM Eastern Time (you can figure out central and mountain time yourselves… it’s too complicated for me).

The real reason I used this picture is because today we will be talking about television cartoons from the 70’s and 80’s, which means we’ll actually be talking about shows that Mark and I wrote for, which means that we’ll actually know what we’re talking about for once. So, try to listen live today by clicking the handy link above, selecting a browser and bob’s-your-uncle, you’re listening to the radio! It’s easy when you know the secret! You can even call in and ask us questions.

If you miss the live broadcast, don’t pull an Owen Wilson… it will be repeated every day until the next live show next Wednesday.

So, be there, Spiffy!

Yesterday, on the anniversary of his death, Keith Olbermann on his Countdown show did a little piece on Walter Tetley, who as you can see from the above picture, was the voice of Sherman in the Peabody’s Improbable History segment of Rocky and His Friends. It’s not often that voice actors get any recognition, let alone 30 years after they’ve left us. But I think the real reason for the mention was that Olbermann then lead-in to the next segment doing a very passable impression of Bullwinkle! Keith Scott, look out!

As a side note, when I went looking for a picture of Mr. Tetley, the first one that appeared was the one above… on Mark Evanier’s site.  So, thanks Mark for the graphic.

Here is a picture from Tuesday night’s performance of Cartoon Dump! at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood. From left to right: Jerry Beck, Joel Hodgson and his creation Dumpster Diver Dan, Eddie Pepitone, Frank Coniff, Erica Doering and Joe Keys.

Thanks to Jerry for sending along this photo and my apologies to Eddie Pepitone, who played the Agent and Joe Keys, who played Hangover Hound, for not identifying them in the original article. Of course, I can use the excuse that I’m not a reporter, so facts-shmacts, but what would their poor families think? Well, now they can be proud that their loved ones portrayed a jerkweed Agent and a booze hound!

Seriously, it’s the best kid’s show parody since the original live Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. So, try to catch it before HBO snaps it up… hint, hint, HBO!!

Last night was the second live performance of Cartoon Dump!, the pairing up of the mind of Frank Coniff with the film collection of Jerry Beck.

Jerry comes out and introduces the Worst Cartoons Ever, a show he’s been doing at Comic-Con for the last few years. These are actual TV cartoons that were made in the 50’s and 60’s. None of them are intentionally bad, they’re just drawn that way. In some cases, they were made so cheaply, they can’t help but be bad. For instance, there’s The Big World of Little Adam where the leads, two young boys, have their mouths hidden behind a big book, so the only thing that animates are their eyes darting back and forth. They didn’t even bother to draw their bodies coming out from under the bottom of the book so that they are basically just floating heads. The rest of that cartoon consists of stock footage that they got for free from NASA.

After the first two cartoons, the screen rises and we are in the Cartoon Dump, hosted by Compost Brite (Erica Doering), an outgoing bulimic who sings of the joys of skipping meals. She is joined by Moodsy (Frank Coniff), the clinically depressed Owl. They do commercials for such products as “Little Boy Blue, Antidepressants for Children” and lead-in to more cartoons. As the night continued, other characters were introduced, including Hangover Hound, Moodsy’s AA sponsor; Dumpster Diver Dan, a puppet performed last night by Joel Hodgson with a theme song that parodied Diver Dan, a live-action and puppet show from the 60’s and Compost Brite’s Agent, who negotiates with God and the universe. Although a smaller part, I thought the Agent had the funniest line of the night. When Compost Brite wishes for the universe to bring her everything she wants, her Agent goes off to negotiate. After building up her hopes, he returns later with bad news, “The universe has decided to go a different way.”

Comedian Dana Gould also did a stand-up routine.

It was a very funny show and I recommend you check it out next month on the 4th Tuesday. I’ll remind you when it gets closer.

Another surprise of the evening, although not on the stage, was finding Trace Beaulieu in the audience. Trace was the original Crow T. Robot on Mystery Science Theater 3000, as well as Dr. Clayton Forrester. Last month at Comic-Con, there was a mini-reunion of MST3K with the Film Crew, Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett and last night, we had the other three principals together again, Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu and Frank Coniff. That was a rare treat as Trace is in the process of moving back to Minnesota after nine years in the L.A. area.

Remember, boys and girls, “Keep Tip-Top with Titan!”

I know this is short notice, but I have to assume that most of you who read this also read Cartoon Brew, so you already know about this. In case you don’t know, tonight at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood, Jerry Beck is presenting another live installment of Cartoon Dump, which is a combination of the Worst Kid’s Show Ever with the Worst Cartoons Ever. The live portion is the brainchild of Frank Coniff (TV’s Frank from Mystery Science Theater 3000, for the uninitiated). There is supposed to be a special guest performer tonight, Joel Hodgson, also of MST3K fame. Joel will be heard but not seen as the voice of a new puppet character. It begins at 8 PM and you can find more information by following the links above.

See you down at the Dump!

Me and Jimmy Weldon (in that order)

If you missed yesterday’s live Stu’s Show on Shokus Internet Radio, you missed a very special event. The guest was Jimmy Weldon and you can read who he is, as if you don’t already know, by scrolling down this page.

Jimmy loves to talk and regaled us with stories of his childhood, through his learning how to talk like a duck and up to his current stint as a motivational speaker. We got to hear a clip of Jimmy’s appearance on the original Dragnet show with Jack Webb and Ben Alexander and did the soundtrack for a non-existant Yakky Doodle cartoon.

I said this at the end of the broadcast, but it bears repeating. I’ve been very lucky when meeting my childhood heroes. They’ve turned out to be very nice people and were especially nice to me… Daws Butler, Jim Henson, Soupy Sales… and now I’d add Jimmy Weldon to the list as well.

Don’t despair… you have at least six more chances to hear the rebroadcast. Follow the link to Shokus Internet Radio and look for the schedule for Stu’s Show. Generally, it’s repeated at 4 PM Pacific Time every day.

Next Wednesday, the 22nd (my birthday, by the way), my good friend Jerry Beck will be the guest to continue talking about the Fleischer and Terrytoon studios and on September 12th, Mark Evanier and myself will be back to talk more about TV animation. If you haven’t gotten in the habit of listening to internet radio, why not start now? It’ll make you feel warm and fuzzy all over or your money back.

No, not Karl Rove. I’m speaking of the fox and another enticement to listen to Stu’s Show on Wednesday the 15th at 4 PM Pacific Time. I’ll be cohosting and helping to interview Jimmy Weldon as reported below. But what it doesn’t say is that we’ll also be recreating a Yakky Doodle cartoon live on the show. Jimmy will, of course, be Yakky, but he’ll also double as Chopper, the role created by the late Vance Colvig. And yours truly will be doing Fibber Fox. This will not be a transcibed script from an actual cartoon, but something I’m writing that will sound like a Yakky Doodle cartoon. It’s gonna be a lot of fun, so be sure to listen or Karl Rove will out you!