OCT. 19, 1951 – JAN. 22, 2026

A MEMORIAL TRIBUTE BY JOHN CAFIERO

John Cafiero & “Uncle Floyd” Vivino.

On Thursday, January 22, the world lost “Uncle Floyd” Vivino. Floyd was a multi-talented master of music and comedy—a self-made man who could seemingly do it all, independently. In the mid-1970s through the 1980s, Floyd’s legendary self-produced NJ-based TV show, “The Uncle Floyd Show,” developed a huge cult following. Word of mouth spread quickly here on the East Coast (just like rumors of spider-eggs in Bubble Yum) and eventually reached the nation. The show, which ran into the late 1990s, was unlike anything else and hard to characterize. It was often called a kiddie show for adults. Floyd once described it as (and I’m paraphrasing) if the Little Rascals had grown up and put on a TV show. Floyd had the unique ability to transplant his vaudevillian roots and influences into a contemporary setting, one fully unique to his brand and persona.

It was wild, improvisational, live, one-take television driven by raw energy, creativity, and ingenuity at its finest. Anything from a Halloween candy dispenser you’d find in your local store to a simple paper cup could be transformed into a memorable character. Respectively, “Bones Boy” and “Cuppy” were found objects turned puppets, imbued with richly insane personalities of their own, who, among others, became staples on the show. It was a well-orchestrated free-for-all, with a dynamic cast of crazies, each with a unique persona, look, and skill set to complement each other. Uncle Floyd was the ringmaster, accompanied by his childlike, precocious, wise-cracking puppet sidekick Oogie.

After stumbling on the show like a signal from another world on UHF channel 68, I became a daily viewer in grammar school through high school. Kids from all kinds of cliques tuned in, too. Everyone dug the show. While home spun on the surface, the show had such a broad reach and appeal (and to the right audience) that countless, now-legendary, bands and celebs recognized its cool factor and wanted to appear on it. That included the Misfits, the Ramones, the Smithereens, Squeeze, The Boomtown Rats, members of the Monkees, Monty Python, and even Cyndi Lauper’s TV debut—to name just a few.

All who experienced it felt the gravitational pull to Floyd and his show. Rock ‘n’ roll royalty John Lennon and David Bowie were among the early fans who would tune in daily. Bowie would reveal that Lennon had turned him on to the show. In later years, Bowie would write and record a haunting song in memory of the Uncle Floyd Show called “Slip Away” —name-checking Uncle Floyd and Oogie in the lyrics. In one of many other nods to surface over the years, the Uncle Floyd Show is playing on the TV in the home of the deranged mama’s boys in the controversial 1980 splatter classic “Mother’s Day”.

Uncle Floyd Show shrine from the collection of John Cafiero.

The show’s popularity led to flurry of T-shirts, pins, bumper stickers, sold out live club dates, a series of independently produced and released 45 RPM singles by Floyd and the cast, a major label full-length “Uncle Floyd Show Album”, and even TV commercials—one memorably being the jingle Floyd’s penned and performed for the NJ based amusement park Wild West City. The show’s popularity was so immense that NBC TV picked it up and slotted it immediately after Saturday Night Live. But in a shortsighted decision, NBC tried to control the show’s chaos rather than letting it be what drew them in to begin with. The relationship didn’t last long, and the Uncle Floyd Show eventually returned to cable TV.

Floyd would go on to co-star in feature films with Robin Williams in the 1980s and with Dudley Moore in the 1990s, and later host a variety of amazingly eclectic and entertaining radio shows, live streams, podcasts, and more from the 2000s up to the time of his passing.

I’d have the good fortune of getting to know Floyd and working with him on numerous occasions in my adulthood. Among them, I’d cast Floyd in a small but memorable role in my feature film directorial debut (“Big Money Hustlas”). Years later, Floyd would tell me with surprise how often people would stop him and recognize him from, of all things, that small role. My wife, Suzanne, grew up on the Uncle Floyd Show, too, and in Issue 3 of Vol 2 of the Sweetie Candy Vigilante comic book, she writes, which I produce, you’ll find two cops named in homage to Floyd and his longtime friend, collaborator, and Uncle Floyd Show cast member Scott Gordon.

Floyd, Oogie & John at the recording session for “Shaving Cream” in Union City, NJ.

When producing Floyd’s “punk” cover version of the novelty classic “Shaving Cream” for “Dr. Demento Covered in Punk,” I proudly managed to persuade Floyd to bring Oogie out of retirement for the first time in decades to sing with him on the track. Oogie remained out of retirement from that point onward. He’d make regular appearances on Floyd’s weekly radio show on 89.1 FM WFDU —at times, unexpectedly making references to me personally, live on-air, which was always a thrill. Some projects we’d planned will sadly never be, but others will see completion and release in the not-too-distant future.

In the studio recording “Shaving Cream” for Dr. Demento Covered in Punk.

I don’t think Floyd left this world fully realizing just how influential he was on so many people, including scores of those in the entertainment industry who would later make their own mark on pop culture. The outpouring of love for Floyd and his work that has followed his passing has been really gratifying to see and is just a small testament to his impact and accomplishments.

Art by Evan Dorkin & Sarah Dyer. Art Direction John Cafiero. © 2018 Demented Punk

Over the past decade-plus, my wife and I would go to see Floyd perform whenever we got the chance, and for a time, it became an annual ritual to start the new year with one of Floyd’s local live performances. Although, like the rest of the world, I first came to know him as TV’s Uncle Floyd, in many ways over the years, Floyd became akin to family. There are lots of great memories to look back on, and the Uncle Floyd Show shrine in my office, along with Oogie himself, keeps those memories with me daily.

My condolences to Floyd’s family, friends, and all who loved him.

RIP Uncle Floyd, you will be missed, but certainly not forgotten.