RIP Soupy Sales

Sad news. Soupy Sales just died. He had been in failing health for a while and now joins the Cosmic Comic in comedy heaven.

He was a dj, a stand-up, and dance show host before landing the gig that would be his path to comic stardom, children's programming. In the age of Howdy Doody, Soupy Sales changed the landscape. It is now assumed that if I take the short people to see a movie that it will be written in such a way as to entertain them with age appropriate humor while a parallel line of subtle jokes, allusions, and references that will go over their heads will be included for the parents. It was Soupy Sales who first entrenched the two-tiered style in kid's comedy. It's not true that he worked blue, a persistent rumor that annoyed him throughout his life, but he definitely worked as hard to crack up the crew as he did the kids.

His trademark, of course, was the pie in the face. Sure, plenty of comics had taken one before him, but he is reported to have taken 25,000 pies to the face. If you got hit with a pie in the face non-stop once a minute, it would would last continuously for 17 days, 8 hours, and 40 minutes to get hit with as many pies as Soupy Sales.

Rest in peace, Soupy.