Uncle Floyd 1951-2026
The news from Jerry Vivino hit hard: “With a heavy heart I am sad to announce the passing of my brother and everybody's favorite uncle, Floyd Vivino. After a 2 and a half year battle with ongoing health issues his curtain peacefully closed at 6:05pm on Thursday January 22nd. Rest in peace big brother. You will be missed, but always remembered by friends, family and your loving fans.... 10/19/1951 - 01/22/2026 The family will be holding a private funeral with a memorial celebration of life to be announced at a future date.”
Floyd Vivino, born in Paterson, star of The Uncle Floyd Show, has died. Diagnosed with cancer in 2022, he suffered a stroke the following year. His show had celebrities lining up to be a part of it. Ostensibly, a children’s show modeled after Soupy Sales, it turned out to be so much more and featured, at various times, The Ramones, Dramarama, The Smithereens, Tiny Tim, Bon Jovi, Jan & Dean, Peter Tork of The Monkees, Squeeze, David Johansen, Blue Oyster Cult, Joe Jackson, Cyndi Lauper and so many more, including this reporter.
David Bowie was a big fan of the show, which ran from 1974 to 1998. In 2022, on his Heathen album, the song “Slip Away” not only mentions Uncle Floyd but two of his puppets, Ogie and Bones Boy. He would introduce “Slip Away” on stage during the Heathen tour by saying, “this is another new song. It’s about a television hero in America from the 1970s that myself, John Lennon and Iggy Pop used to watch in the afternoons, Crazy guy, and we were very addled and used to love fooling around watching this guy Uncle Floyd.”
Uncle Floyd raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for various charities during his 40 years in show business as a comedian, actor, singer-songwriter. Dramarama’s 1994 “Work For Food” song mentions him. The 1981 Ramones song “It’s Not My Place” mentions him. He acted in episodes of Law & Order, and appeared in such movies as Good Morning Vietnam, Crazy People, Mr. Wonderful and The Jersey Sound. He will be sorely missed.