Uncle Floyd with his puppet sidekick Oogie, in 1977.
On his Jan. 26 Sirius XM satellite radio show, Howard Stern said he was “upset” over the recent death of Uncle Floyd Vivino.
Vivino died on Jan. 22, at the age of 74.
“Those of you from, like, the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut area, you would know who Uncle Floyd was,” Stern said. “He was this guy who I loved. I did his show once. He had a little, like, local shitty show, but it was so charming.
“It was like a Soupy Sales show, and Floyd would play the piano, and he had a puppet named Oogie. And Oogie would talk to Floyd. Oogie was cute, and Floyd was a talented guy, you know? He was really good on the piano. He played, like, old songs, like Tiny Tim-type songs, but it still was kind of entertaining, and he had a bunch of guys laughing at everything he did, and it was kind of fun. And I liked it. It was a goofy show, and he had a lot of rock stars on, like The Ramones were always on there, or Cyndi Lauper, or… I know Jon Bon Jovi, the first time he ever went on TV, was on ‘The Uncle Floyd Show,’ because it was in New Jersey, and he was probably a fan.”
Stern also talked about the David Bowie song “Slip Away,” which mentions Vivino — “what an honor,” Stern said — and played part of it.
Stern was on “The Uncle Floyd Show” in 1982. “I don’t even remember what I did,” said Stern. “I just wanted to be there, see what was going on.” I found a photo from the appearance, HERE.
Vivino also was on five episodes of Stern’s radio show, including one celebrating Stern’s 1989 birthday. Stern played an excerpt from that appearance, today. On it, Vivino told a rapid-fire series a jokes about how small his own television studio was, such as “The studio’s so small, you have to go outside to change your mind,” “The studio’s so small, I dropped a toupée, I had wall-to-wall carpeting,” and “The studio’s so small, even the mice are hunchbacks.”
Stern wrapped up his tribute by saying, “Uncle Floyd, rest in peace. The guy was really funny, and his puppet Oogie was so cute. I hope he’s buried with Oogie. I really do.”
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