Well, tbf, it’s because he had a strooooke.
Reportedly, at his first gig following the JFK assassination, Lenny Bruce started the set with a long pause, and then annihilated with “Well, Vaughn Meader’s f***ed!”
How about that Cubs fan who interfered with a fly ball in the postseason? I don’t want to even mention his name because he is probably still harassed about the incident. But his name is definitely appropriate for this thread.
strooooke
I though of him but thought he was local? The whole thing has staying power, I saw his name printed in a letter to the editors of the Trib this weekend.
Ventriloquism is mostly a joke now, but in ye olde days a ventriloquist could have a long career with good material. Unfortunately, Jimmy Nelson’s career came down to one of his puppets beating one word to death in a TV commercial.
Joe Penner made a career in the 30s with the catchphrases “Wanna buy a duck?” and “You naasty boy.” Few people had even heard of him by 1950.
We had that LP when I was a kid. I was a little too young to understand most of the politics, but I can still remember some of the bits.
Edgar Smith is a real-life example of someone who became a celebrity on the strength of “I didn’t do it”, parlaying his denials into a successful book-writing career, release from prison and talk-show appearances, until it ultimately became clear (with a belated confession) that he had done it.
That Chris Crocker guy who said “Leave Britney Alone!!!” tried to make a go of it a bit, but faded into obscurity and, I think, pornography or something.
Red Skelton played a child character, the “Mean Widdle Kid,” whose catchphrase was, “I dood it.” Fortunately, Skelton played enough other characters that his career didn’t live or die by that one.
This reminds of the Andy Warhol “In the future everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes.”
Example:
Kato Kaelin.
Andrew Dice Clay rocketed to fame with his “Diceman” character but after the pushback to his misogynist and homophobic schtick grew and grew his career pretty much crashed.
There was a brief moment a few years ago when a bunch of the 15 minutes of fame memers minted a bunch of NFTs of themselves. I think they were selling in the 10s of thousands range (For example, the Overly Attached Girlfriend NFT sold for $400K)and it’s the only time I’ve ever been wholly supportive of NFTs.
My understanding is that he still does shows in Vegas or something and he draws enough crowd to earn a big amount of money. His acting and TV appearances are very minimal, but I think he kept going and makes a big living of comedy. Still “Dickory Dickory Dock…” type jokes.
I need to go look it up … but I could have sworn I’ve seen Clay in a dramatic role recently-ish (past 5 or so years). Something on streaming television. A supporting character – far more than a cameo. I wonder if Clay’s been getting steady acting work like that or if that was kind of a one-off?
EDIT: Went and looked it up – he played Butchie in the biopic Pam and Tommy (2022). I did not recognize him at all.
I didn’t see this film, but he was also in A Star Is Born (2018) with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. I wouldn’t have recognized him in that, either.
I’ll see you and raise you Roger Clinton.
He was the star of an even larger national ad campaign that I still remember…it’s seared in my brain.
Rod Hull and Emu had a decades-long career. He was an institution on British TV with several successive generations growing up watching him. They starred in at least 5 different TV series, and a huge number of guest appearances on other shows.
Absolutely not a good example for this thread.
In the U.S., he was everywhere for a little while, including attacking Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, and then never heard from again.