The Radio Odyssey of Ronald Fuqua

[buffcoat]

I just added another "off-radio" Hot Rockin' Ronny appearance, from the BJ Bryson call in July 2008. This may be the last mention of HRR… until December 17, 2013 (?).

[buffcoat]

Just added a 10-second call I had missed from the December 11, 2001 show, where Ronny says he's coming back.

[buffcoat]

Just added Omar's writeup of Darren's mention of Hot Rockin' Ronny from the February 3, 2015 show. Thanks, Omar!

[JeffertonFromTX]

This entire thread just elated me.

[hk11]

I wish HRR would return. It's been waaaay too long since we heard from him.

[Will K.]

With regard to the August 23, 2005 call, you could also mention that, after being fired from the Crab Boat job for being implicated in a man's death, he was then (at the time of the call) working in the "transportation industry" doing U.C.C. repair (Urinal Cake Cradle repair) in the men's rooms of parking garages, which often required him to perform a U.C.R.M. (Urinal Cake Recon Mission). 

[buffcoat]

With regard to the August 23, 2005 call, you could also mention that, after being fired from the Crab Boat job for being implicated in a man's death, he was then (at the time of the call) working in the "transportation industry" doing U.C.C. repair (Urinal Cake Cradle repair) in the men's rooms of parking garages, which often required him to perform a U.C.R.M. (Urinal Cake Recon Mission).

Will, you're the second person to mention that in a two-page thread, so I'm going to do it.

[Juan1]

The recent Francesa ripping made me hope that HRR tries his hand at sports talk radio.

[buffcoat]

I had the chance to speak very briefly with Misters Scharpling and Wurster at the LA show. I mentioned that Hot Rockin' Ronnie was my favorite character - Jon said they had liked him, too, but there was just no place for him on the box set. Tom said they wouldn't have been able to get the music rights, either.

I understand that, and Omar and I had discussed that at the time they were putting the set together. I also know that they kind of felt the character had run his course, and there's some truth to that - how much lower is there to go than Urinal Cake Cradle repair? So my guess is that future mentions of HRR will continue to be as a remote nemesis for Tom. He seems to do better in his career that way, anyway.

[Omar]

I had the chance to speak very briefly with Misters Scharpling and Wurster at the LA show. I mentioned that Hot Rockin' Ronnie was my favorite character - Jon said they had liked him, too, but there was just no place for him on the box set. Tom said they wouldn't have been able to get the music rights, either.

I understand that, and Omar and I had discussed that at the time they were putting the set together. I also know that they kind of felt the character had run his course, and there's some truth to that - how much lower is there to go than Urinal Cake Cradle repair? So my guess is that future mentions of HRR will continue to be as a remote nemesis for Tom. He seems to do better in his career that way, anyway.

There was a strong batch of HRR calls that did not contain music, but the main problem with his Odyssey is that in order for it to make sense, at least 4 or 5 calls were needed to get the full narrative scope, and there was definitely not room for that in the box proper. (And at least one early call would be needed and most of those had music.) In retrospect, an HRR bit could have been included on the bonus USB. He does get a mention in the title of Mr. Abraham's essay.

The one that worked best as a standalone in my opinion was the "Kris Kringle" call in which HRR gets Tom a PalmPilot. Great stuff from Tom in that call, too, expressing his excitement over the gift prior to the reveal that KK is HRR.

I recommend that people add an .mp3 of that call to their digital edition of the box set!

[buffcoat]

Yeah, these Millennials and their customization of everything. Go to town!

[agent_jimmy]

didn't even think of music rights. so i guess there is no bill cheetah? that might be one of my favorite calls.

[buffcoat]

didn't even think of music rights. so i guess there is no bill cheetah? that might be one of my favorite calls.

Michael Anthony gave them an initial yes, but the Sweat Brothers and Diamond Dave came back with definite nos.

[Wes]

When going over things this summer, one thing that stood out to me was the way that (probably unintentionally) Darren from Work basically took over HRR's spot on the show. He debuted shortly before Ronny's final call and returned early the next year as a regular character. Darren becomes the entry for learning more details about the Newbridge Version of Tom (and his first call is amazing), so it makes sense that he became a breakout character, though I've often wondered if HRR's voice was a pain to do. (On a similar note, PBR essentially took over Mike Healy's spot on the Show, even though Roy technically debuted first. But Roy picks up as a regular and quickly develops into the PBR we all know after Healy comes out of the rotation.)

I don't know that Ronny would make sense as a character on the new version of the Show given his origin, but this August will mark the 10th anniversary of HRR's final on-air appearance to date, so if we were ever going to hear from him again...

[buffcoat]

You raise some interesting points, Wes.

I hadn't seen the Darren/HRR connection, but that makes some sense.

Ronnie's voice had to be hard to do. I also always noticed that the Gorch's voice changed to be more Wurster-y after that first call, and I wondered whether it hurt to do it the first way or if he just kind of forgot exactly how to do it and found a new Gorch styling.

I miss the signature fake story that HRR tells at the beginning of each call, followed by the inevitable humiliation that dwarfs whatever he put over on Tom.

I think the podcast would add a new dimension - Tom is literally stealing bandwidth that should belong to Ronnie now - but I also understand if they're just done with the guy.