Obit of the Day: Juan Epstein
Robert Hegyes, who played the Jewish-Cuban Sweathog on Welcome Back, Kotter during it’s four season run (1975 to 1979), has died at the age of 60. Hegyes who was actually the son of a Hungarian American father and an Italian American mother was a New Jersey native and a graduate of Rowan College (then called Glassboro State University.
Juan Epstein was an urban high school interpretation of Chico Marx, according to Hegyes who was a big fan of the Marx Brothers. After his work on Kotter, Hegyes worked for a time on Cagney & Lacey and then guest starred on several other dramas and comedies including NewsRadio and Diagnosis Murder. He also taught acting classes at his alma mater.
(Courtesy of allstarpics.net. The cover of this fantastic 1970s issue of Dynamite reads, “Bob Hegyes is a Real Person,” which was quite the revelation I’m sure.)
h/t to my friend Bridgette Raes
Pretty Sure Epstein was a “Puerto Rican Jew,” not Cuban, but the rest is probably right.
Anyway, RIP Epstein’s Mother.
The word tsunami is not in my phone’s predictive text dictionary, so if you ever get a text from me saying “Trumang,” file a SOPA violation suit with the department of justice and the offending web site will be taken down.
Thank you. I’d been trying to think of an appropriate tie-in all day.
Henry’s Kitchen with Henry Philips
I know I say this a lot, but this is the greatest thing the Internet has ever produced.
Actually, the Internet didn’t produce it. Henry Philips did. I’ve been sort of fascinated with Philips since randomly pressing play on his Instant-Netflixable non-documentary, Punching the Clown, a few days ago, a film that finally answers the age-old comedy question: “Is there ONE guitar comic who’s actually funny?”
The answer is Yes. Finally. His name’s Henry Philips. You probably already know him, but I’m just learning, so bear with me while I freak the fuck out about how funny this guy is. Because he is. And while I haven’t rushed out to buy his albums (I think the audience-induced tension of his live performance stuff is a lot of what makes him funny, and I’m terrified his studio albums would ruin it for me), I still think he’s brilliant, lovably pathetic, and totally original.
Punching the Clown consistently gets about 3.5 stars everywhere it shows up, and I suppose that’s fair. It’s not perfect. But whatever. I’m not here to review movies. If you want that, just Google “Hi I write a movie-review Tumblr that no one cares about along with about 600,000 other assholes and here’s my take on a movie you’ll never watch” and I’m sure something’ll turn up.
Anyway, this thing, Henry’s Kitchen. It’s fantastic in a sort of lower-budget Fishing With John way, but Philip’s himself is a much sadder and lonelier character that John Lurie ever was. (Something tells me he’d be flattered by that.)
Maybe you’ll think it’s stupid, I don’t know. But give it one 5- or 6-minute episode. After that, you’ll either watch the entire series in one sitting and then start pricing video cameras, or you’ll go back to glossing over any post from me that’s longer than three sentences. Either way, you win. So watch.
ps. There’s a Marc Maron WTF Podcast with Philips too.
Because CHRIST FORBID anything should interfere with Tumblr’s ability to continue delivering a consistently reliable and loss-free platform.
Lunch.
Tiger Attack!
M: How does a toddler get mauled by a tiger?
H: …
M: …
H: …
M: …
H: Stands next to a tiger?
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2012-1-1)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
Barrel Fever 2.5: The Seasoning 2 (Taken with instagram)
Barrel Fever 2: The Seasoning (Taken with instagram)
