In the beginning, there was... Bobo the Clown

I decided on a whim (a caprice, if you will) to start a blog, and one of the first questions they ask you is what you want to call it. Because I hadn't properly thought this through, I went with "Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse."

It's the phrase that inevitably leaves my lips when someone asks me, "Where do you want to go?" (Answer: "To Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse!") The problem is that it's such a random esoteric movie reference that no one gets it, and even if they did... it's not particularly funny. Nor is it funny when people tell me, "I'm hungry," and I respond, "Hey hungry, I'm Andy." It's not funny, but I do it. Often. Good Lord, that's GOT to be annoying. I'm glad I don't have to live with me or hang out with me.

Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse comes from UHF, the cult-classic Weird Al Yankovic vehicle. (Can a C-list celebrity really have a "vehicle" movie?) Some of us were on board before it became a cult classic, and I like to think I was the driving the bandwagon before everyone else hopped on. The basic premise is that Weird Al gets his hands on a tiny UHF station and gets to direct all the programming. Hilarity ensues.

BUT, because Al Yankovic knows his narrative form, there has to be an anti-climax before the station takes off and conquers the evil network affiliate down the street. His first attempt at a children's show is called "Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse" and is a complete ratings failure. Al's character, George, starts every show by asking the kids in the studio audience (usually not more than 3 or 4), "Where do you wanna go?!?" To which they respond, with a level of excitement bordering on narcolepsy, "To Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse."

Luckily for us (or me, I guess), George's ineptitude is wildly entertaining, like when he entices his buddy, playing the role of Bobo the Clown, into playing a game.

George: Hey Bobo, wanna play a game?
[Bobo honks his horn and nods his head]
George: Okay! Look up!
[Bobo looks up]
George: Look down!
[Bobo looks down]
George: Now look at Mr. Frying Pan!
[Bobo looks at the camera with a puzzled look, and Al proceeds to smack him in the face with a frying pan]

(Side Note: I am so ridiculous. I've seen that a hundred times. I know what I'm going to write. But as I type the words I can not help myself from chuckling. What's wrong with me?)

To make a long story short (too late), Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse gets taken over by Stanley Spadowski (played by a pre-Kramer Michael Richards), who boosts the ratings to ridiculous levels. One of the classic scenes from the movie is from Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse, when a little kid wins a contest by finding the marble in the sandbox full of oatmeal, and his prize is that he gets to drink from the fire hose.


Everyone remembers Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse, that before Kramer was Kramer he was Stanley, the lovable janitor-turned-TV-star. What they all seem to forget is that, in the beginning, there was Bobo the Clown.

I haven't the foggiest idea what kind of content I'm going to be posting on this blog (I'll try to limit the baseball stuff), but I thought I might as well explain the name.