TVSquad

Soupy Sales not only has one of the funniest scandals in TV history, but here's one that I'm surprised didn't get him and his ilk banned from all of television.

When The Soupy Sales Show was live, his staff set him up for a prank, according to an interview he did with NBC's Bob Costas. As he went into a commercial, he would hear a woman scream, open the door and see a pair of ladies' shoes being dragged out of the frame. But when he actually opened the door, all he saw was a woman wearing ONLY her shoes (I think, I never bothered to look at her feet).

This clip contains censored nudity. So if you're watching it at work, make sure you share it with everyone around you, especially the ladies.

When I was a kid, I remember watching Soupy Sales. He had a children's show, The Soupy Sales Show, on channel five in the New York area and he was a wacky, funny guy. He had bizarre creatures around him, puppets named Pookie and White Fang and Black Tooth. Soupy did outrageous things and often ended up with a pie in the face. In a lot of ways, there might have been no PeeWee Herman if there hadn't been a Soupy Sales. In my memory, I always liked Soup and liked his show. On Thursday, Soupy Sales died at the age of 83.

In addition to The Soupy Sales Show, Soupy was a comedian. He played clubs and did shtick, and all through the 1960s and 1970s he was a regular on game shows, including What's My Line, To Tell the Truth, Match Game and Hollywood Squares.

This is disheartening. ABC has been looking to Lifetime as a new home for Men in Trees and October Road. Both dramatic series have not as yet been picked up for next year, and now this report makes it clear they are both skating on thin ice. The powers that be at Lifetime were given copies of both shows to review and chose not to pick up either of them. They basically threw the ball back to ABC, forcing the network to decide the fate of these two shows.

The sketch I've placed below is from The Mike Douglas Show and features Douglas, Soupy Sales and Moe Howard. The sketch is amusing, though not laugh-out-loud funny, but you may like it more than I did. Really, my main reason for posting it is that I'm a Three Stooges fan and I've never seen any of the Stooges outside of their old movie shorts. Seeing Moe in thick glasses and gray hair is both kind of cool and kind of weird. It's "cweridool," if you will. Will you? Thank you.

In the sketch, which according to Mark Evanier is based on an old Stooges bit, Moe serves as a translator for the "Maharjah." Hilarity ensues.

Speaking of The Three Stooges, Spike TV airs episodes in the wee hours of the morning. They're always worth an occasional Tivoing if I do say so myself. I especially like the one where Moe gets upset and hits Larry and Curly.

If any of you sexy, sexy readers of this blog plan to go out partying tonight, I hope you have fun and also stay safe. I recommend covering your entire body in bubble wrap and foam insulation.

Now then, if you find yourself at a party and somebody slaps a record on the turntable (because in my mind, all New Year's Eve parties take place in 1972) and everyone starts dancing, don't be scared. Maybe you don't have the best moves in the world, but there are plenty of dances perfect for folks like you and me, and I've provided you with two instructional videos below. The first is Soupy Sales doing "The Mouse" on Hullabaloo, and the second is "The Curly Shuffle," courtesy of the Three Stooges and the Jump 'N The Saddle Band. I hope you find these useful.

NOTE: The Soupy video has a weird audio glitch at the end, so don't crank your speakers up too loud.