{"id":21160,"date":"2015-04-15T05:30:38","date_gmt":"2015-04-15T09:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=21160"},"modified":"2015-04-14T18:30:30","modified_gmt":"2015-04-14T22:30:30","slug":"death-of-a-funny-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/04\/death-of-a-funny-guy\/","title":{"rendered":"Death of a funny guy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Humorist Stan Freberg died last week at the age of 88.\u00a0\u00a0 He pioneered the satire of pop culture, as well as the use of music, radio, television, and recordings to do so.\u00a0 He is also considered the father of funny advertising.\u00a0 He was the son and grandson of Baptist ministers.\u00a0 After the jump, excerpts from his obituary, including accounts of some of his funny bits.<\/p>\n

From Matt Schudel,\u00a0 Stan Freberg, antic visionary of comedy and advertising, dies at 88 \u2013 The Washington Post<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Stan Freberg, a mutifaceted humorist who was widely known in the 1950s and 1960s for his comedy albums, satirical songs and groundbreaking commercials, and who influenced generations of subversive, irreverent comedians, died April 7 at a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 88.<\/p>\n

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His family confirmed his death to news organizations. He had pneumonia and other ailments.<\/p>\n

Mr. Freberg was a protean force in humor for decades and was sometimes known as the \u201cfather of recorded comedy\u201d for the way he used music, mockery and multiple voices to lampoon politics and popular culture. . . .<\/p>\n

In 1951, he released a best-selling comedy record, \u201cJohn and Marsha<\/a>,\u201d a soap-opera spoof consisting only of the names \u201cJohn\u201d and \u201cMarsha,\u201d spoken in every possible emotional state for more than two minutes.<\/p>\n

The recording was considered scandalous by some bluenoses, who believed Mr. Freberg had hidden a microphone in a honeymoon suite. In reality, he voiced both parts himself, adding sobs, soaring music and increasing ardor with each \u201cJohn\u201d and \u201cMarsha.\u201d . . .<\/p>\n

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Mr. Freberg\u2019s landmark 1961 album, \u201cThe United States of America,\u201d recreated the nation\u2019s history in exaggerated comic and musical form, beginning with Columbus\u2019s arrival on these shores. The explorer hoped to take out a loan to open an Italian restaurant, only to find the banks closed because it was Columbus Day.\n
His comedy records routinely hit the Top 40, and his 1953 spoof of the radio and TV drama \u201cDragnet\u201d sold 2 million copies. Set in medieval times, \u201cSt. George and the Dragonet\u201d captured the just-the-facts-ma\u2019am style of \u201cDragnet\u201d:\u201cThis is the countryside. My name is St. George. I\u2019m a knight. Saturday, July 10th, 8:05\u00a0p.m. I was working out at the castle on the night watch when a call came in from the chief: A dragon had been devouring maidens. Homicide. My job: Slay \u2019em.\u201d . . . .\n
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In addition to being a popular comedy performer, Mr. Freberg had a surprising second career, beginning in the 1950s, as a revolutionary force in advertising. He was often credited with creating the first funny commercials, using humor and irony to sell everything from prunes to automobiles. . . .He won more than 20 Clio awards for advertising, but his iconoclastic approach was not universally popular, especially at first. He advertised an airline by playing off the fear of flying, suggesting that even the pilots were afraid to go up in the air. The flight attendants handed out security blankets and good-luck charms to passengers.He sold Sunsweet prunes<\/a> by emphasizing that they had no pits.\n

\u201cHow do they do it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commercial ended with the announcer solemnly intoning, \u201cToday, the pits, tomorrow the wrinkles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stanley Victor Freberg was born Aug. 7, 1926, in Los Angeles. He was the son and grandson of Baptist ministers.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Humorist Stan Freberg died last week at the age of 88.\u00a0\u00a0 He pioneered the satire of pop culture, as well as the use of music, radio, television, and recordings to do so.\u00a0 He is also considered the father of funny advertising.\u00a0 He was the son and grandson of Baptist ministers.\u00a0 After the jump, excerpts from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,29],"tags":[4345,3763],"class_list":["post-21160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humor","category-media","tag-humor","tag-stan-freberg"],"yoast_head":"\nDeath of a funny guy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Humorist Stan Freberg died last week at the age of 88.\u00a0\u00a0 He pioneered the satire of pop culture, as well as the use of music, radio, television, and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/04\/death-of-a-funny-guy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Death of a funny guy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Humorist Stan Freberg died last week at the age of 88.\u00a0\u00a0 He pioneered the satire of pop culture, as well as the use of music, radio, television, and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/04\/death-of-a-funny-guy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-15T09:30:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-04-14T22:30:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/04\/death-of-a-funny-guy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/04\/death-of-a-funny-guy\/\",\"name\":\"Death of a funny guy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-15T09:30:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-04-14T22:30:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Humorist Stan Freberg died last week at the age of 88.\u00a0\u00a0 He pioneered the satire of pop culture, as well as the use of music, radio, television, and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/04\/death-of-a-funny-guy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/04\/death-of-a-funny-guy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/04\/death-of-a-funny-guy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Death of a funny guy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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