Soupy Sales, 1926-2009. Requiescat in pie-face.
Milton Supman, better known to the public as Soupy Sales, died yesterday at the age of 83.
Soupy Sales was the past master of pie-in-the-face comedy. I remember with fondness his afternoon show on WNEW-TV in New York, a show that ran for two years while I was of middle-school age. The show was funny, all right... but it was only as an adult that I began to appreciate just how funny. Sales was an improvisational genius who could combine puns, arcane references, and plain old slapstick to create Works o’ Comedic Genius on a daily basis... all this on a children’s show with a minuscule budget. To say that you could never do it today is beyond obvious.
A small private memorial service is planned, during which mourners will be encouraged to pelt the casket with pies. Dirt pies.
Ah, Soupy... we’ll miss you. The world needs its funnymen these days more than ever, and now we’re one short. Ave atque vale.
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