Mr. Chinbunny and Uncle Fletcher

Two more characters from Paul Rhymer's incomparable Vic & Sade radio program, which I wrote about last week. The first one here, is the local high school principal, Mr. Chinbunny.

Poor Mr. Chinbunny, the youngest principal in the state, is so worried that people will equate his age with inexperience, that he's always trying to make himself look older. He shaves the top of his head so people will think he's bald. He also enlisted the help of Rush's father Vic, to teach him how to smoke cigars, so that he would appear to be an old pro when the other principals whip out their cigars at an upcoming meeting.

Below is Uncle Fletcher. By far my favorite character on the show, Sade's amiable Uncle Fletcher knows everyone, and has a million stories. He resides in a room at Miss Keller's boarding house, though her meddling often causes him to consider taking up residence at the Bright Kentucky Hotel (much to Sade's distress).

Uncle Fletcher is a bit hard of hearing, but that doesn't seem to stop him from interjecting into whatever conversation happens to be going on at the time. He has an extensive watch fob collection (including a half wit watch fob that's gone and turned to putty!), and a collection of correspondences (not his, just correspondences from lots of different people). His favorite pasttimes include sleeping on the Courthouse lawn and, as I stated previously, riding on Gumpox's garbage wagon. Brilliantly voiced by Clarence Hartzell, Uncle Fletcher was the first new character added to the program. I often equate him with Kramer from Seinfeld- being a bit on the periphary of the family, he is a bit wackier than they are, though not nearly as wacky as all of the friends that he has (Claude Dirtshirt, Sweet Corn McBlock, and of course Rishigan Fishigan from Shishigan Michigan). Uncle Fletcher would often bring up the fellow who walked to his own funeral: "He made his plans, walked to the mortuary. There he later died."

Again, if you would like to meet these hilarious characters for yourself, you can download the only surviving Vic & Sade Episodes here.