Beloved TV Host & Jersey Legend Uncle Floyd Recovering Nicely From 2023 Stroke
Uncle Floyd and Jeff Friedman in 2003.
I’ll never forget the 1989 afternoon Uncle Floyd interviewed me on his TV show. I came on as Editor of Metal Maniacs magazine and he asked about the brutal kinds of bands we specialized in. He seemed to have a good time chuckling over the names of some of the bands like Cannibal Corpse, Anal Blast, Circle Of Dead Children, Cradle Of Filth and some others I would not mention for this post. People are saying that his appearance in our documentary, The Jersey Sound, was one of the highlights of the doc. He was funny, engaging and played the kind of stride piano that such ragtime legends as James P. Johnson, Willie “The Lion” Smith and Fats Waller used to play in the 1920s and 1930s. Then he did a little boogie-woogie for our ravenous ears. Saddened at the news of his 2023 stroke, we’re thrilled to learn he’s been making a miraculous recovery and is looking forward to his always-entertaining and hilarious personal appearances.
In a rare interview, Uncle Floyd told his former producer Jeff Friedman, that “this isn’t my final bow. But I have a long road ahead. This is real.” The interview appeared in the 12/26/24 edition of www.njarts.net. “We produced the shows without a script and never a rehearsal,” he tells Friedman. “Only the best performers and technicians can do that.” Later, he says, “I want my audience to know how much I miss doing my live show due to this medical setback.” The man who once wanted to be a clown in the circus, unlike his brothers Jimmy and Jerry Vivino, from Conan O’Brien’s band, The Fab Faux, and other musical projects (Jimmy was signed recently as a solo artist to Gulf Coast Records), says “my brothers were more disciplined musicians. I never learned to read music, as they do, but let me hear a song once and I could play it on piano.” He says if he wasn’t an entertainer, he would’ve been a history teacher.
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Celebrities used to line up to be on Uncle Floyd’s show which aired on UHF Channel 68 in New Jersey, then UA Columbia Cablevision, and NJN-Public Television (now NJ-PBS). Some of them include The Ramones, The Boomtown Rats with Bob Geldof, The Smithereens, Marshall Crenshaw, Tiny Tim, Squeeze, Cyndi Lauper, David Johansen, Peter Tork of The Monkees, actor Linda Blair, David Clayton-Thomas of Blood Sweat and Tears, Bon Jovi, Jan & Dean, Blue Oyster Cult and Joe Jackson. David Bowie was a fan of the show so much he wrote “Slip Away” off his 2002 Heathen album that specifically mentions the TV host.
David Bowie, on his website, said in 2002, “Back in the late ’70s, everyone I knew would rush home at a certain point in the afternoon to catch the Uncle Floyd show…The show looked like it was done out of his living room in New Jersey. All his pals were involved and it was a hoot. It had that Soupy Sales kind of appeal and though ostensibly aimed at kids, I knew so many people of my age who just wouldn’t miss it. We would be on the floor it was so funny. Two of the regulars on the show were Oogie and Bones Boy, ridiculous puppets made out of ping-pong balls or somesuch … I just loved that show.”
We can’t wait to be in that crowd giving him a standing ovation when he returns and first walks on that stage.
To listen to Uncle Floyd’s podcast, visit https://unclefloyd.podbean.com/
To check out “This WAS The Uncle Floyd Show,” hosted by his sidekick Scott Gordon, visit https://www.stageit.com/SGE-Inc.