November 5, 2017

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville...Gary Mule Deer

As promised in my previous blog entry I'm back with a recap of Saturday night's episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. Airing November 4th on KET2 the guest star happened to be comedian Gary Mule Deer. Ray opened the show performing his version of "Frog Kissing". This is a song that goes way back in Ray's career but not in the way you might be thinking. The writer is no stranger to Ray's fans for it's none other than Buddy Kalb. The song was put on the musical map by none other than Chet Atkins...but it wasn't a recording he produced...it was a recording featuring him singing...while the production was handled by Ray.

Released as a single in 1976 "Frog Kissing" did become a hit recording...and a lot of it had to do with the overall irresistible novelty factor surrounding the project. I decided to post an image of the single because it includes all of the technical information that I like to see. As you can see Ray Stevens produced and arranged the song and his Ahab Music Company published the recording. Also note the writer being Buddy Kalb. This is an image of the promo recording sent to radio stations...which is why it has the Not For Sale disclaimer on it. Now, of course, since the invention of on-line shopping (especially eBay) a lot of those vinyl promo singles meant for radio stations have long since made their way into the public domain. A lot of insiders that worked at radio stations had, at that point in time, gotten rid of a lot of their vinyl inventory buy placing the products on-line for public purchase rather than throwing the stuff in the trash or returning them to a record company. So, one thing led to another, and this is why you'll find all kinds of products available with a Not For Sale or Radio Only Broadcast disclaimer written on the label. Ray does a great job on the song and mentions that it had originally been a recording by Chet Atkins. In the performance two of Ray's musicians were standing behind him playing the twin clarinets. Ray also makes mention that "Frog Kissing" may be the only song that remotely comes across 'serious' during the entire show given that the guest is comedian Gary Mule Deer.

Ray introduces Gary...and he walks out and delivers a one liner about his wild hairstyle...declaring it to have been a windy day. He's holding a guitar...mainly as a prop...and he launches into what seems to be a full-on version of "Ring of Fire"...but then abruptly ends and begins speaking to the floor. There are two microphones...one to pick up the sound of the guitar and the other for him to speak into. Well, in an elaborate comedy routine he pretends to have guitar troubles and he flips his guitar on it's top and a lot of debris falls out (it looks like guitar picks). He goes to the ground on one knee and begins speaking to the audience using the guitar's microphone. He tells a lot of rapid fire one-liner jokes...and whichever one received the biggest laugh he'd wryly make a comment out loud like "oh, you all like dog jokes?". The one I thought was funniest was his one-liner about seeing an advertisement about alcoholism. He mentioned that the advertisement read, and I'm paraphrasing: "if you're an alcoholic and having trouble...call us...we can help" and he remarked that he called the number and found out it belonged to a liquor store.



I first heard of Gary Mule Deer at some point in the early '90s, I think!?! He appeared on Ralph Emery's Nashville Now television program on a semi-regular basis. In those days Gary would appear with a typewriter on his shoulder and he'd strike the keys on it every so often to imitate the typing sounds heard on older newscasts (such as those heard on Walter Cronkite's newscasts). Gary was a cast member on the final season of Hee Haw, too, which I never seen...but I know of this due to photo's and cast lists I've seen over the years from those episodes from 1992.

After things settled down and the jokes/laughing winded down Gary performed a song...a complete version of "Folsom Prison Blues"...sounding a lot like Johnny Cash in the process. Afterward more comedy and jokes aplenty...including a routine about Gary never stooping to use four letter words in his act in spite of the fact that his name contains four letters a piece: Gary Mule Deer.

They discuss Roger Miller and Gary delivers a very funny one-liner comparing Roger to a walking maraca. You'll have to see the episode for yourself to learn the set-up (in case you hadn't already heard it). Gary remarks that he always preferred to hang out with comical musicians (like Roger) and Ray himself rather than stand-up comedians. Gary cites some of his influences being Jack Benny and The Smothers Brothers and the discussion turns to Steve Martin. Ray remarks that Steve was a cast member and writer on his 1970 summer show for Andy Williams. After some final comical exchanges Gary exits the stage and Ray closes the show performing "Furthermore". Interestingly he uses the original arrangement of the song from the 1960s rather than the bluesy, harmonica heavy 1980s re-recording.

On the next episode, airing locally on November 11th, the special guest is going to be Gary Morris and it's one being promoted as the Veteran's Day/Patriotic Show.

2 comments:

  1. It was another great show and another great review, Jerry! I remembered Gary Mule Deer from watching him on several appearances on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson from many years ago. I didn't know he was associated with Nashville or musical performers there. He was very funny! Ray mentioned Steve Martin to Gary, but I was hoping he would mention his former TV Show, and he sure did!

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    1. Thanks for the reply!! In one of my previous blog posts I mentioned that the local PBS station that carries Ray's show is going to be holding their annual Winter Pledge Drive and so there won't be any episodes airing the last Saturday of this month or the first Saturday in December. I'll not be able to see Jeannie Seely or Don McLean's episode. Ray has mentioned that further episodes of his show are going to be released on DVD so I'll have to wait until then to see those 2 episodes and the 11 episodes that RFD aired that were never broadcast on the local PBS station.

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