Wednesday, August 16, 2006

The Phat Cave


Here's a shot of the place prior to the present mayhem.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

DUDE!!! you seriously need to upgrade your computer. I gave my G3 to my 13 year old son, and even HE doesn't bother using it...dust catcher on his desk.

Hart1000 said...

It's nice to see a fellow MAC-head!
...and that's one PHAT futon cover!

oh...btw...let's see some more art Tony! :^)

Anonymous said...

oh yea, where is the tv? last time i was at your place it was in the middle of the living room looking at the ceiling, with nothing on but static. granted, that was like 15 years ago...

Fred Schiller said...

Tony,
Based on that photo, your left leg must be three or four inches shorter than your right. Do you have to wear special shoes when out in public?

Your radically angled abode reminds me of (and I’d bet a box of strawberry Pop-Tarts I’m the only person on the planet who remembers this) a television show from the mid-1970s called The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show. I think it was meant to be a kiddie show but NBC used to run it late on Saturday Night, after SNL and Second City TV.

One of the regular skits they did was sort of a parody of The Waltons. The premise of the skit was that it was a show about a family who lived high up on a mountain. The comedy stemmed from them not being on top of the mountain, but rather on the side of the mountain. The entire set was on a forty-five degree angle. All the furniture was bolted to the floor, so when a character came on the set from the kitchen, they had to slide down the floor and try and grab onto a table or a chair before they skidded off screen and into the bedroom. If they were coming from the bedroom they had to drag themselves up the floor until they could reach the couch or kitchen table. Once they managed to sit at the kitchen table they would do wacky stuff like fill a bowl full of cereal, only to have most of it slide out, and then add milk, which would come out of the container at a forty-five degree angle. The whole affair wasn’t particularly funny, but I remember marveling at the fact that they didn’t cheat with video tricks—the set really was at that angle and if someone wanted to cross the room it took genuine effort.

It’s funny the stuff that sticks in your head, eh? I also remember that a regular on the show was an Australian fellow by the name of Rod Hull who would come on stage with his giant pink pet emu. The huge bird/puppet didn’t talk, but it would viciously attack Hull at the drop of a hat. I would laugh so hard that tears would run down my chubby cheeks. Hull was also a regular on the Tonight Show and his emu would often dive over Johnny Carson’s desk to attack him.

Now that I think about it, I used to watch NBC late at night during the week as well. There was Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, Tom Snyder on the Tomorrow Show, then came Ben Casey followed by The Fugitive.

My memory fails me with regards to when The Midnight Special was on. It must have been on Friday night after the Tonight and Tomorrow shows. And while I’m on the subject, when and where was Night Ranger on?

Sunday night was always a mixture of radio and television. First it was Monty Python on channel eleven, then I would tune in The National Lampoon Radio Show on the radio (this was a breeding ground for future Saturday Night Live cast members like Chevy Chase, Belushi, Ackroyd, Radner, and Bill Murray and a couple of his brothers. After the National Lampoon show was over I’d spin the radio dial over to listen to the Dr. Demento show.

As I continue to float hopelessly down my stream of consciousness, does anyone else remember The Great American Dream Machine from the very early 70s? I believe it was on PBS and it featured Chevy Chase at his best, along with a young Albert Brooks and Marshall Efron.

And speaking of Efron, which I just was, has everyone seen the animated film Twice Upon a Time? Marshall Efron provided the voice for the villain, Synonamess Bach. The movie came out in 1983 and is a hilarious delight. Painstakingly animated with cut translucent paper, the movie contained some of the best characters names ever created. Along with Synonamess Bach, there was Ralph, the All Purpose Animal, Flora Fauna, Rod Rescueman, Scuzzbopper, the Rushers of Din.

That’s odd, I seem to have been shot with a fuzzy dart and now I feel suddenly tranquil.

Look at the way I’ve rambled on. It’s an illness. Don’t you judge me. Don’t you go judging me.

MSGT said...

sad thing is i KNOW those shows fred speaks of. I think i now amofficially getting my age on.

Tony Akins said...

Yeah, I so remember the Hudson Brothers...It came on over the Summer, no. Yeah, I seem to associate Doug Henning with them because of the "suspender" thing. Maybe the haircuts, too. I also recall getting sucked into Ken Berry's lackluster "WOW", thinking that it would be as good as "The Carol Burnett Show" with Harvey and Tim breaking each other up. No luck.
How about "Danish-Go-Rounds" intead of Pop-Tarts? I'm a staunch supporter of PT's but I do miss the danish thing from the early seventies...Plus I'll never forgive PT's for stopping the flavor Dutch Apple Cinnamon.
Yes, Rod Hull,too. Though I recall him mostly on Carson. The Python line-up hooked me when I was 10-11 (to think that the show was STILL running in the UK)... Then there was that Irish guy, Dave Allen?
He was missing a finger, but still could hang on to his cocktail and look good in a tuxedo while telling a joke, ebven though he had to sit down to do it.
Where do the Two Ronnies come in. Later, I only stayed engaged to hold out for the jewel in the PBS Sunday night line-up; Doctor Who at 11pm.
I won't judge.
Doug...my G3 serves me well! Remember that I still draw analog; they'll never replace the need for the caveman. In fact, I think I'll draw my next issue with the charred femur of some animal.

said...

Did moi view a copy of Hollywood Rat Race on your shelf?