Floyd Vivino Better Known as "Uncle Floyd" Has Died at Age 74

referenced in David Bowie song and loved by New Jerseyans and others

David Bowie fans not from New Jersey first became familiar with musical comedian "Uncle" Floyd Vivino from the reference in Bowie's song "Slip Away" (originally called "Uncle Floyd") from the 2002 album Heathen. Bowie's first encounter with Vivino was at The Bottom Line in New York, when he attended an "Uncle Floyd" performance at the club at the suggestion of John Lennon who also was a fan as was Iggy Pop.

Much like Soupy (Milton Supman) Sales, and later Pee Wee Herman, Uncle Floyd's regionally aired television show, first cable-only starting in 1974 and later moving to a West Orange, NJ broadcast station, while ostensibly a "children's show", often dealt with adult themes and humor "slipped in" under the radar.

Vivino (Glen Rock High School graduate) wearing a Madras sports jacket and colorful bowtie, hosted the show and played piano. He also shared the screen with a cast of zany characters sporting funny names and showcased many top draw rock acts, some local, some not including: The Smithereens, The Ramones, Tiny Tim, the vaudeville era comic Benny Bell, (best known for his "ribald" song "Shaving Cream"--"stepped in a pile of shhhhh-aving cream"), Bon Jovi, Squeeze (who were playing the Bottom Line and were seen by Vivino's talent booker and agreed to appear because Difford and Tilbrook had seen the show in their hotel room and loved it), David Johansen, Blue Öyster Cult, Cyndi Lauper (who made her firs television appearance there before being signed to Columbia Records), Flo and Eddie, Phoebe Snow, Paul Simon and many others. Amazing.

It was an old fashioned variety show that Vivino also brought to the stage. In addition to The Bottom Line he performed at the Capitol Theatre and other venues. The show ran live five days a week and eventually was regionally syndicated, reaching Chicago, Boston, Philly among other cities. The show ended in 1998. Vivino also at one point had a radio show on WFDU in Teaneck, NJ (where for a few years I host the AnalogPlanet radio show).

More often than not the acts would lip synch to their recordings. Sadly to save money the taped shows were almost all erased over with home VHS and Betamax tapes being among the only surviving Uncle Floyd Shows.

So long "Uncle" Floyd Vivino!

Floyd had a large song repertoire that included vintage songs from the early 1900s.

Comments

2026-01-25 05:50:47 AM

Lemon Curry wrote:

So many of us who grew up in northern New Jersey grew up with Uncle Floyd. His was a life well-lived, he brought smiles and laughter for everyone.

As Floyd got older, his gigs came with an explicit notice: Oogie would not be part of the performance. One has to go back to those old TV shows to see him again.

Except... one of the gigs Floyd would do is make personal birthday phone calls for a modest fee. I did this a few years back for my brother, and Oogie was on the call, too. Cracking jokes just like it used to be. There is video of the call, taken by another phone. It's all laughs, and now that video is so precious.

Thank you for your post. It is well received. Just snap it, pal :-)