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SONGSPEAKfly to the angels |
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Ken Ober, comedian best known as the host of MTV’s Remote Control, was found dead in his L.A. home on Sunday. He was found by his son Jason, according to his agent. Born in the Boston, MA suburb of Brookline in 1957, he spent most of his childhood growing up in Hartford, CT. He was a 1980 graduate of UMASS Amherst.
Los Angeles, California (CNN) — Ken Ober, whose MTV game show “Remote Control” was among the network’s first forays into non-music programming, has died at age 52, his agent said Monday. Ober hosted five seasons of “Remote Control,” a pop-culture quiz show that featured contestants strapped into easy chairs to answer questions from categories such as “Dead or Canadian?” The show first aired in 1987 and helped launch the careers of comedians Adam Sandler, Denis Leary and Colin Quinn, who was the program’s announcer. Ober later moved behind the camera as a producer of the Comedy Central program “Mind of Mencia” and the CBS comedy “The New Adventures of Old Christine.”
He was apparently complaining of flu-like symptoms, headaches, and chest pain when he was last heard from days earlier, and some reports suggest that he died of a heart attack.
Ken Ober, I watched your show a lot in the late 80s. I thought it was so so cool how you proved that MTV was more than just music videos.
Here’s a great clip of Remote Control featuring Colin Quinn singing some CCR:
Also, I don’t know if youze guys remember this, but he was the guy on the couch in the Blues Traveler video for Hook, back when John Popper was fat. Towards the end of the video, every time he uses his remote control to try and change the channel, it keeps switching back to Blues Traveler. That sounds like a living nightmare.
Tags: adam sandler, blues traveler, colin quinn, denis leary, died, game show, heart attack, hook, john popper, ken ober, ken oberding, mind of mencia, mtv, remote control, the new adventures of old christine
On the nights my wife works, it’s up to me to make dinner for myself and Quinn. One of my go-to meals, mainly because it’s easy to prepare and doesn’t take much time, is Hamburger Helper. There are enough varieties that having it once a week doesn’t really get too old, and it’s just easier than cooking a big complicated meal for two after working all day (this sounds like a commercial). Anywho, a few weeks ago the one that I was making was a Sloppy Joe flavor. When I told Quinn that’s what we were having, I started singing all loud and crazy, “Sloppy Joe, slop Sloppy Joe!” from Adam Sandler’s Lunchlady Land. She looked at me like I was crazy, but I assured her it was a song. I’m not sure she quite believed me, so I put that very song on one of the CD mixes we made for the big Lancaster trip a couple weeks ago. When it got to that part, she said, “I didn’t think it was a real song, dad!”. She now requests the song on occasion and laughs at how silly it is (even though she’s only in preschool, doesn’t know what a lunchlady is, and has never been subject to public school lunches). When I hear the song, I think of the old Saturday Night Live when Adam Sandler performs it as Chris Farley dances around, playing the part of the lunchlady. And since there seems to be a trend of Chris Farley posts here lately, I figured why not post the video. It’s really poor quality, but I’m surprised I was able to find it at all. I had completely forgotten that Kevin Nealon played the part of Sloppy Joe. And how inappropriate it is that they have Ellen Cleghorne playing the chocolate pudding.
lunch lady land
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I’m making dinner tonight for Quinn and myself, and looking in the cupboard, noticed that we again have Sloppy Joe Hamburger Helper in stock. Maybe I’ll songspeak it again tonight if I make it, and perhaps Quinn will join me. Thanks to Sloppy Joe, slop Sloppy Joe.
Tags: 00s music, 90s music, 90s tv, adam sandler, chris farley, ellen cleghorne, hamburger helper, kevin nealon, lancaster, lunchlady land, mix CD, saturday night live, sloppy joe
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