# Who is "Vinnie BoomBotz"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-vinnie-boombotz/455022>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 2, 2008, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-vinnie-boombotz/455022 "2008-07-02T08:42:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![scrambledeggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@scrambledeggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scrambledeggs)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-vinnie-boombotz/455022/1 "2008-07-02T08:42:41Z")

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I used to hear Rodney Dangerfield tell jokes about his (fictional?) doctor, Dr. Vinnie “Boombotz”.

Anyone know if this is based on a real doctor–or at least a character on Television? Or did Dangerfield just make it up?

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**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-vinnie-boombotz/455022/2 "2008-07-02T19:05:31Z")

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The wikipedia page entitled: [Fictional People From Boston](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictional_people_from_Boston) (p.s. I love wikipedia) describes him as Rodney Dangerfield’s personal physician. Doesn’t mention if he was based on a real person though.

But a [fan site](http://www.rodney.com/rodney/about/about.asp) had this to say:

> [@](#):
>
> Though Dangerfield often joked about his terrible doctor, Dr. Vinny Boombatz, his favorite real-life doctors that looked after him through the years were in attendance, including Drs. Hillel Laks, Neil Martin, Jamie Moriguchi, Neal ElAttrache, and Nick Diaco.

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**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-vinnie-boombotz/455022/3 "2008-07-02T19:16:03Z")

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The late performance artist Andy Kaufman portrayed Dr. Vinnie Boombatz a few times as well. I think it is safe to say the character is made up with an emphasis on clashing characteristics. Older Guido Italian males are about the last people you would expect to be physicians especially when the character was created. Used car salesman or night club owner would be much more stereotypical but that wouldn’t be any fun.

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**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-vinnie-boombotz/455022/4 "2008-07-02T21:46:10Z")

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And all these years I thought it was Vinnie **G** oombatz! :smack:

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**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-vinnie-boombotz/455022/5 "2008-07-03T00:09:12Z")

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Me too! The mechanic down the block from the [Magliozzi](http://cartalk.com) brothers!