Jeff Howell
1983
Reviewed by VegaNova
Segment 1
"Klunk Skit #1" (Klunk Theme Song, Calisthenics Skit, News Skit, Mother's Phone Call Skit,
Sports Time Skit, Culture Corner Skit)
Segment 2
"Klunk Skit #2" (Klunk Theme Song, News Skit, Music Fest - Chantilly Lace, Dear Uncle Klunk Skit)
Please note that the above segment list is believed to be incomplete - these are the only two shows from this tape that we currently have in our archives. This partial review is based on the these two tracks. If you have the full tape (reel, audio, mp3, whatever) and are willing to share, please contact us!
This is Uncle Klunk's first showing at ShowBiz, and it wasn't met with much popularity (which was the same with the rest of Klunk's tapes). ShowBiz was unimpressed with Jeff Howell's rendition of Klunk and asked Creative to hire a professional voice actor to play the part - this was later done, but to little success. This first Klunk tape had his original show segments which were all introduced with a little Klunk jingle. His bird Click was also present during these skits.
Klunk Theme Song - This is the theme song for the older Creative Engineering show "The Hard Luck Bears", but has been reworded for Klunk's intro.
Klunk Skits 1 & 2 - Jeff Howell provided the original voice of Klunk, and Burt Wilson (Fatz) provided the voice for his bird Click, as well as Klunk's mom, the telephone ring, and all the people who call in to the show.
Klunk Skit 1 - Another reference is made to Lawrence Welk during his phone conversation with his mother. She also gives his first name which is "Clarence". At the end of this show you can hear Burt say "Get the Hook!", followed by Jeff laughing and asking "ok, well did we do alright?"
-___ out of 5 Tokens-
Despite having an incomplete copy of this tape and only being able to review the Klunk segments, I have to say that I liked them. The real dead-pan humor of Klunk is stupid enough to be believeable and the phone conversations he has with his phone guests (especially his mother and coach Bubba Finch) are really funny. Listening to these skits you really get a feel for the atmosphere that these were recorded in - it sounds like 2 guys screwing around in a recording studio which was probably the truth behind it. That kind of humor really carries through and the dialogue, although scattered, really comes through and doesn't sound canned. Plus some of Klunk's lines are very funny. At the end of skit one he says, "In closing, what would you pay for this show - but wait! There's More!" That combined with his requests for "sexy lighting" and his trademark "Koosh!" are classic. The announcers lines about ShowBiz Pizza Place accepting no responsibility for Uncle Klunk or the shows are great too. There are problems though with the show format, and I can understand the attempts to change it, but looking back on this tape after seeing the later Klunk products makes me appreciate it much more. This is one time where good enough should have been left alone.
"Klunk Skit #1" (Klunk Theme Song, Calisthenics Skit, News Skit, Mother's Phone Call Skit,
Sports Time Skit, Culture Corner Skit)
Segment 2
"Klunk Skit #2" (Klunk Theme Song, News Skit, Music Fest - Chantilly Lace, Dear Uncle Klunk Skit)
Please note that the above segment list is believed to be incomplete - these are the only two shows from this tape that we currently have in our archives. This partial review is based on the these two tracks. If you have the full tape (reel, audio, mp3, whatever) and are willing to share, please contact us!
This is Uncle Klunk's first showing at ShowBiz, and it wasn't met with much popularity (which was the same with the rest of Klunk's tapes). ShowBiz was unimpressed with Jeff Howell's rendition of Klunk and asked Creative to hire a professional voice actor to play the part - this was later done, but to little success. This first Klunk tape had his original show segments which were all introduced with a little Klunk jingle. His bird Click was also present during these skits.
Klunk Theme Song - This is the theme song for the older Creative Engineering show "The Hard Luck Bears", but has been reworded for Klunk's intro.
Klunk Skits 1 & 2 - Jeff Howell provided the original voice of Klunk, and Burt Wilson (Fatz) provided the voice for his bird Click, as well as Klunk's mom, the telephone ring, and all the people who call in to the show.
Klunk Skit 1 - Another reference is made to Lawrence Welk during his phone conversation with his mother. She also gives his first name which is "Clarence". At the end of this show you can hear Burt say "Get the Hook!", followed by Jeff laughing and asking "ok, well did we do alright?"
-___ out of 5 Tokens-
Despite having an incomplete copy of this tape and only being able to review the Klunk segments, I have to say that I liked them. The real dead-pan humor of Klunk is stupid enough to be believeable and the phone conversations he has with his phone guests (especially his mother and coach Bubba Finch) are really funny. Listening to these skits you really get a feel for the atmosphere that these were recorded in - it sounds like 2 guys screwing around in a recording studio which was probably the truth behind it. That kind of humor really carries through and the dialogue, although scattered, really comes through and doesn't sound canned. Plus some of Klunk's lines are very funny. At the end of skit one he says, "In closing, what would you pay for this show - but wait! There's More!" That combined with his requests for "sexy lighting" and his trademark "Koosh!" are classic. The announcers lines about ShowBiz Pizza Place accepting no responsibility for Uncle Klunk or the shows are great too. There are problems though with the show format, and I can understand the attempts to change it, but looking back on this tape after seeing the later Klunk products makes me appreciate it much more. This is one time where good enough should have been left alone.