Because reality is always the funniest thing.
The funniest discovery of the new year: "Jeff from Tallahassee" on Fox News Channel's Red Eye, broadcast weekdays at 3 a.m.
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/red-eye/index.html
See the video at:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4497479/red-eye-answers-viewer-mail/
No matter how many different video clips of "Jeff" that I see on must-watch Red Eye, he cracks me up every time with his deadpan delivery of not-so-pithy comments.
This guy is a gold mine of comedy satisfaction.
Even when you know what he's going to say.
For me, listening to his droll comments recalls the very best times from the kind of 'Old School' radio I prefer, and of my listening everyday for hours to Steve Dahl & Garry Meier in Chicago on WLS-AM and then WLUP-AM, then FM, while living in Evanston and Wilmette in the mid-'80's, often crying from laughter at work or on the walk from the El station to my home and then once in the house.
I knew their bits and routine better than I knew my neighbors.
1983 Entertainment Tonight video of Steve & Garry, with Mary Hart http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73-7DE_SlmQ
Their insightful observations and repartee with guests, esp. Joe Walsh of The Eagles, plus the best collection of "bumpers" ever assembled, as comedian/actor Richard Lewis was always quick to mention whenever he was a guest of theirs, ensured hours of amusement for their loyal listeners throughout Chicagoland, NW Indiana and southern Wisconsin.
Their hysterical satirical stories about guys-on-the-make flying dates to Palwaukee Airport-in Wheeling- were classic, and always sure to ensure comic paralysis.
Listen to those broadcasts at: http://wn.com/steve_dahl,_airport
There were SO MANY times I'd end up staying at an El stop rather than get in the train car, even when it was absurdly cold, because I just had to hear the very end of the segment or bit they were doing before they went to a commercial break.
If I had a dollar for every time that happened...
I actually preferred listening to Steve & Garry out in the bleachers at Wrigley Field when I went to Cubs games during the week than I did listening to the game broadcast on WGN-AM. I could always tell that many other fans in the bleachers were doing the same thing, because when I took out my earphones, I could hear so many people laughing at the same exact time.
I once was walking down N. Michigan Avenue near their studio and heard them say something incorrect about a subject I knew quite a bit about, so I took the elevator at the Sears Tower up to their office intent on writing a short note with the correct info and passing it on to one of their producers. Or so I thought...
In all the time it had taken me to finally catch an elevator to get upstairs, the duo had gone in to a commercial break and once I walked thru the door, who do I spy but Steve in the lobby wearing one of his Hawaiian shirts.
Naturally, he asked me what I was doing there.
I explained the whys and wheres, he listened intently to me and eventually agreed I was right, so he said he'd mention the correction on-air later, shook my hand and went back towards the studio.
I was so casual about the whole thing it wasn't until I was at the Main El stop at the Chicago-Evanston city line, where I had to change over to another train that took me up to the Linden Avenue stop in Wilmette where I lived, just a block from Lake Michigan, that it all sunk in.
If only I'd had a digital cameras back then!
Audio: 1/9 - Steve Dahl &Garry Meier -
December 1987 - WLUP AM 1000 Chicago, Illinois
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P5MH29RquQ
December 5, 2008
Steve Dahl out at CBS' WJMK-FM
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2008/12/steve-dahl-out.html
Years later, while living for 14 years in the Washington, D.C. area, I'd be as devout a listener to the Don & Mike -Don Geronimo & Mike O'Meara- on WJFK-FM, even while I'd also try like crazy in the wintertime to get Steve & Garry on my AM radio after they switched stations, because of the seasonal "skip" that allowed me to start getting distant AM stations around 5 p.m.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_and_Mike_Show
In the future I hope to have a separate post or two about the Don & Mike Show, but this honest 2005 Washington Post article I think gives you some insight into what made them so ridiculously popular and the number-one show in the very competitive Washington, D.C. market, as well as some other cities around the country where they were syndicated.
Don Geronimo's Grief-Stricken Solo
By Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 2, 2005http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/02/AR2005080200036.html
With both duos, I made dozens of audio-cassette recordings of them on my Sony cassette recorder, a sort of "Best of" mix tape if you will.
I'd take 3-4 of them with me to listen to while away on business trips or flights down here at the holidays, so if I got bored, I'd have something to amuse me or to fall asleep at night in hotels. Something familiar!
As a person who had the radio on in my office all day while living and working in the Chicago and Washington area, it's hardly surprising that having listened to such very talented guys for so many years, it's my opinion that nobody even half as talented as them currently works in the South Florida radio market, otherwise I'd have mentioned it here.
http://www.donandmikewebsite.com/
June 11, 2009
Steve Dahl to launch daily podcasts in partnership with CBS Radio
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2009/07/steve-dahl-to-launch-daily-podcasts-in-partnership-with-cbs-radio.html
Steve Dahl Show podcasts: http://www.dahl.com/podcasts/weeklyhttp://www.facebook.com/stevedahlshow
http://dahl.com/blog
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOriginalShockJock
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Some recent Red Eye videos worth perusing:
CNN's over-the-top coverage of the Coffee party
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK3oks9xOkE(*Includes THE sexiest woman on American TV, Courtney Friel.)
Canadian Radio Bans 1985 Dire Straits Songhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?
Rock station fights back
http://www.youtube.com/user/
Gutfeld: Brokaw's Bar Hopping Fears
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
See also:
http://www.dailygut.com/
http://activitypit.ning.com/
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Phil Rosenthal's Tower Ticker blog at The Chicago Tribune, covering the "Media business in Chicago and beyond."
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/
