The Best/Worst Moments of last night's show

[Honolulu Fred]

I need to reiterate that those weren't isolated incidents and there are MULTIPLE Dog stories out there that I'm inifinitely curious to see get drawn out from other Hawai'i people.  "Not on Beach day", has happened to me but there are versions that are way funnier that happens when he's got the whole family out there, but I can't confim it firsthand.   There's an ex-pat I won't out who might be lurking this forum, who I'm PLEADING to call and shed light on ANOTHER fajita incident.

I saw a disturbing thing on twitter, where Jason from Huntsville just got his monkey story jacked by some hack.  That's why I love the calls.  You're quickly outed for being a liar or a snooze, and Tom knows how to sort through the details to get at the gold.

Oh yeah, and FUCK Duane and Beth Chapman .

[cavorting with nudists]

I thought Mike's summary of approximately 900 years' worth of Pigpen raps was pretty funny: "Basically, he's telling the guys to quit playing pocket pool and get with the ladies."

But, looking online to see if I could find more Pigpen raps transcribed, I found out those were basically Pigpen's words, not Mike's:

“I wanna ask everybody now – all you fellas standin’ around, whatcha doin’ with your hands right now? You have them in your pockets? Does anybody have their hands in their pockets? Alright, everybody raise your hands so I can see there ain’t nobody got their hands in their pockets! If I find somebody who do, you in trouble, because I know you’re playing pocket pool. I tell you what now, you keep your hands out of your pockets, fellas, and I’ll tell you what you do with ‘em. You might find some little lady standin’ next to ya – all you got to reach over and say, ‘what’s your name?’ That’s all you got to do. If you want a little company this evening, don’t stand around going like this… Ask some young lady, does she want to do it for you! Hey, does anybody around right down here got a little young lady on their mind that’s right around ‘em? Anybody standing down here got a young girl they’d like to take home this evening? C’mon, raise your hand, must be somebody. All right – how would you like to go home with that chick? [audience cheers] Right, all you got to do is walk over and say, ‘hello, lady!’ Go on, go on! Just walk over, say ‘what’s your name?’ You pick out anyone you want. Tell her Pigpen said it was OK. Go get one – c’mon, you got to catch one. You got one? Alright, what’s your name? Chris and Marsha have just made it! [cheers] Now see, everybody ought to do that, man. All you fellas just walk over to some girl that you would like to get in bed with and say, ‘hello.’ And tell her Pigpen said it was OK. And if her mother wants to complain, tell her to write to her congressman! Ain’t none of my business; I’m just makin’ suggestions. [to band] I suggest you play your guitar.” And the band jams triumphantly…

http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2011/04/pigpen-solo.html

Tell her Pigpen said it was OK!

[cavorting with nudists]

Bonus quote from Jerry:

He never really performed at the top of his ability. He could have been really great – if he pushed himself, he could have been in the category of someone like Van Morrison, cause he really had it.

[Greggulator]

Thoughts:

1) Aside from The Bends and most of OK Computer, Radiohead is a snooze. I threw my copy of Kid A out of my car window on I-287 near Somerville after listening to it for the first time. If you see it on the shoulder, please don't return it. However, my wife is a huge fan and dragged me to see them live a few years ago. Seeing them live doing their music now was really good. It didn't blow me away but it was better as a live performance. Thom Yorke, though, can eat it because he did a super ironic version of "Creep" which was really annoying. Own it, dude -- that was the song that put you on the map. I know it's nowhere near as complex as the music you make with your 19 laptops on stage now but respect your earlier work.

2) That Pigpen stuff was amazing. As good as the Gathering of the Juggalos talk. What a creep!

3) It's increasingly hard for me to listen to the show live. And, when I do, it's also hard to call in due to Mrs. Ulator's sleep habits, early working hours and my loud voice. I also have no defense for my Top 15 Spurs comments that Tom and the basketball intelligensia have rightfully mocked me for, aside to say that they won 20 plus games in a row (including playoff games) before OKC took that series. But I was wrong. I do love Pop and have for a while. His surly answers never cease to crack me up. What coach wants to answer dumb questions from Craig Sager? Also, I don't think I have ever seen him been rude to Doris Burke. That might be old-school gentlemanly but it's probably more that Doris knows a ton about basketball and earned his respect. Either way, mock Craig Sager and David Aldridge all you want.

4) And the Spurs as a team are far from boring. They were in the early days of their run but now they play some of the best offense in the league. They have a ton of crisp ball movement. I will never, ever get sick of Manu making his crazy left-handed drives, watching Tony Parker shoot a floater or see Timmy bank something in from the high post. But their other players -- especially Kawhi Leonard -- have also really found their niche and are great to watch, too.

I also have pretty solid word that Matt Bonner listens (or has listened) to the Best Show. He infrequently does these really weird fake basketball coaching videos that are really funny. FOT friends of mine did the theme song and have hung out with him. He's a really funny guy (and not athlete funny) who also has good music taste.

[Eric Fishlegs]

(After Tom does lengthy riff on Pigpen "walking the dog")

Mike: "In fairness to Pigpen, I believe he said 'I walk in the door.'"

That killed me! I could hear Mikes sly grin through my headphones.

I think Pigpen also said "Prowl along" and not "proud and long" but either way the tomcat lyric reaction made me laugh out loud.

I like the idea that Pig Pen was added to the group to give them some "street cred."

[cavorting with nudists]

I like the idea that Pig Pen was added to the group to give them some "street cred."

Well, I always assumed he was kinda the biker dude of the group, their conduit to the Hell's Angels, etc.  But according to the biographical essay I linked above, he was actually a rather shy, retiring bohemian type who became a musician via his love of Lightnin' Hopkins-type acoustic blues and generally preferred to stay at home reading. Whatever. He sure knew how to advise the guys!

[Sashamak]

Puppets in the Wind.

[Greggulator]

This Morton Downey Jr. movie sounds awesome.

I was in 5th and 6th grade when he came out on Channel 9. I used to watch it with my grandfather (the same one written about in my brother's hit book, A Bad Idea I'm About to Do available at bookstores and e-readers) and, even then, I thought it was insane. I remember talking about the show with my friends in art class in sixth grade. My art teacher looked at me in sort of shock and asked me if I was talking about that show and shook his head.

Channel 9 was THE BEST in retrospect. They had Morton and 9 Broadcast Plaza, which eventually morphed into the completely sublime Richard Bey Show. Channel 9 also had the iconic Lloyd Lindsay Young, Mario Cantone's completely nuts kid's show Steampipe Alley, and was the original home of the Howard Stern Show. There's a video online that Matthew Callan (Scratchbomb) unearthed where Mario Cantone convinced Morton Downey to "eat" insects or something like that.

I miss the days of local TV. It's now a big sea of chain restaurant homogeny.

[JesseFromVegas]

If I thought Tom would still care to hear about what it's like to live in Las Vegas next week, I'd plan on calling in.

[Crusherkc]

Looking forward to seeing the Morton Downey Jr. doc. 

I want to echo Greggulator's fondness for WOR Ch. 9.  As a Bostonian, when we first got cable in the early 80s, having NY area channels were so exotic (on top of having The Movie Channel and HBO).  I got to see Crazy Eddie ads, Carmel Cakes ads, Mets and Yankee games, and of course MD Jr before he was syndicated on our WSBK TV-38. But the biggest mystery at the time was the Joe Franklin Show.  I loved it, sorta, but more for its anachronistic and cultish feel. 

But anyway, I remember once when Downey Jr. was promoting his syndicated show on 38 during a Red Sox game in the broadcast booth, he went after Oakland A's backup catcher Ron Hassey with such vitriol play-by-play guy Sean McDonough laughed/asked him the question "why" but all he got back was "he's the biggest human trash playing this game right now!"  I dug it!  At the time the A's were the biggest human trash around as far as this former Red Sox fan was concerned. 

ZIP IT!!!

ps: and, the original Howard Stern show was on WOR before he was on E!

[trotnixon]

I was so hoping that the 2-hour Van Morrison variety TV special, featuring a visibly angry Van the Man, mentioned by Reginald Monroe was real.

[cavorting with nudists]

Jello Man continues his unbroken string of saying nothing that's funny, or interesting, or that gives Tom anything to work with. Worst caller of all time? I haven't been listening from the beginning, so I can't be sure, but: Hoo Boy.

[buffcoat]

Mario Cantone and Morton Downey are wonderful relics of my, er, later childhood and adolescence where we had WOR as a Superstation for about 5 years. Go Mets!

I did a skit for a class where I played Morton Downey. No one, not the teachers, not the other kids, not the people in my group doing the skit, had any idea what I was talking about. I wore a blazer and deck shoes and yelled at people. Good times!

[daveB from Oakland]

I did a skit for a class where I played Morton Downey. No one, not the teachers, not the other kids, not the people in my group doing the skit, had any idea what I was talking about. I wore a blazer and deck shoes and yelled at people. Good times!

I'd like to imagine this occasioned a very strained and befuddled parent-teacher conference.

[Steve of Bloomington]

I remember the time Schooly D appeared on Morton Downey Jr and Mort said 'I didn't understand any of that, it was like a Dukakis speech'.  Schooly did hold his own though.