I see most people think of "Turkeys Away" when they think of WKRP, but this episode and "Fish Story" are my favorites. This jingle is genius... BYE BYE!
WKRP was genius as a show! While "Turkeys Away" is probably my very favorite episode of the series, it is moments like this one, with the clip for Ferryman's Mortuary or the jingle for Red Wigglers -- the Cadillac of worms! -- or the Christmas episode with Johnny's brownies, that make the show a classic. I really need to buy the complete set on DVD.
You are correct. "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." It is perhaps the greatest line in television history. This one is good - but the laughter of that line is still debilitating for me.
been a lot of shows in my lifetime, but not one has ever been nearly as UNDERRATED as WKRP. Brilliant writing/casting/acting and still the only great 'radio' show ever on TV. RIP, Big Guy...and the legendary Dr. Fever....(and, as always, 'Booger!")
Ferrymen bopping around is the funniest thing ever! That actor was just fantastic! When he first appeared earlier in the episode he says “Gentlemen…. what’s happening?” So understated! Incredible! I keep watching them over and over again. Such a shame about the great Frank Bonner passing. What a great ensemble cast! Sanders or Hesseman will be the next to go unfortunately. HH has Parkinson’s I believe
One of my "favorite" moments from this television show. I remember the first that I saw this on WKRP in Cincinnati (when the show was first broadcast on CBS). I remember that I was on the floor "rolling in laughter" over that jingle. I still sing that jingle from time-to-time.
+David Roy I was working on a radio script tonight - the client's name is "Farrow". When I was putting on announcer pronunciation instructions, I was reminded of this "Ferryman" jingle. Too funny!
@@Shadowman4710 It was in bad taste, but it was funny because WKRP was desperate that they made the commercial anyway before AC helps them see the light. In the end, they did the right thing, but we all got a good laugh in the process.
@@steve2474 You are correct but I disagree with you that people now don't have a sense of humor. Funny is funny. People still watch these clips to this day.
Technically, it started in the 70s. The 80s are when the moral majority and the pmrc started marching america, and really, the world, towards censorship. Censorship is always the first dipping of the political toe to test the waters of public obeisance, before taking the first step into the swamp of fascism that is the point of every attempt at deliberately dumbing down a population. It's always done in the hopes that this time, onaccounta it's *insert narcissistic moron's name here* trying what has always blown up in the faces of every other narcissistic moron, or more usually, the faces of their immediate, and often even more moronic descendants, but this time, 'cause it's *me* doing it, this will work ... The banality of evil intent ...
Yes, he thought Ferryman's ideas were in poor taste and he wanted to cancel the campaign... which, naturally, led to trouble. But they got out of it, and they even got a new client, enabling them to salvage that song--with some altered lyrics.
Which was utterly goofy. No radio station on the planet would refuse such a commercial. It was upbeat, positive, tasteful, and relevant. And, indeed, commercials for funeral homes are aired all the time across the country.
I still sing that to this day. I just introduced it to my 15 year old grandson for the First time. He's heard me singing it and finally asked what it was from.
I was working on a radio script tonight - the client's name is "Farrow". When I was putting on announcer pronunciation instructions, I was reminded of this "Ferryman" jingle. Too funny!
RIGHT!!! I remember coming in late from work the night Newhart was on television (wasn't it on Monday nights???). Anyway, I decided to watch it. I liked the show and it was the finale, so I got it on (and relaxed). Someone had told me that Bob was supposed to dream that he had died, and gone to heaven...spoke to God. That was the story, anyway. Well, I am sitting there watching these crazy people on the show acting like some of Bob's mental patients in the "BOB NEWHART" show from the 70's. I thought...this is so nuts and suddenly Bob gets hit in the head with the golf ball. Down he goes and the next scene is Bob and Emily in bed from the 70's sitcom. I was absolutely losing it!!!! Amazing ending to a comedy show! I don't think anything could top that one!
When I was first starting out in radio, I worked for a small station where the sales manager sold commercials to a man whose wife had died days earlier to "memorialize" her. It was the only time that station owner refused to take cash on the barrel for advertising. He said he would sell just about anything, but he wouldn't sell commercials to a grieving widower. All of the DJs couldn't believe it.
Mr. Carlson is brilliant in this clip. You can read the conflict between his financial interests and having some concept of taste in his wordless reaction.
I realized that when it first aired. The actor looks like what you'd expect a Funeral Director to look like. 'There's a dead man in the lobby!" roflmao
Reminds me of the commercials I wrote [wasn't in sales]. Even got a Bronze Addy award [local ad award] for a recycling ad based on Silence Of The Lambs [Hector the Collector and The Silence Of The Cans].
Later in the episode, Herb took the same tune for a different business, I think it was for a tire store. This jingle and Red Wigglers (the Cadillac of worms) were very memorable.
This is among the greatest sitcom scenes. Another great sitcom scene is in the episode of Seinfeld where Elaine and Jerry go to his parents house and Elaine gets addicted to pain pills and yells Stella! at Jerry’s dad’s event.
Always loved how Ferryman was bouncing & and bopping around in the studio when he was always so stiff the rest of the episode. Going to have to steal those 'Dance' moves!! Lol Bye byyyyyye...
@@timinla64 can see the resemblance but nope, Fred Stuthman played Ferryman and Carel Struycken was the Arquillian in MIB. Plus the timeline doesn't work, KRP was early '80's and Ferryman was already pretty old, MIB wasn't until late '90s almost 20yrs later, Ferryman would have been his own customer by then!!!LOL 😂😂
I still remember this episode as if it was last night. The Great part about it was someone kiboshed the ad, then Herb turned the jingle into another ad (I forget which ) and was hilarious!!! 👍
Yep. During the time period this aired you weren’t afraid to joke about anything. Now everyone’s afraid to make jokes about anything because of political correctness
Now this is the stuff we grew up watching. The worst violence on the show was Les throwing turkey's out a helicopter thinking they could fly. Fun stuff
Ferryman, is a play on words. The mythology being that the ferry man was the one who carried a soul across the river STYX (yep that's how it's spelled and used by the rock band). The river was the "barrier" of the land of the living to that of the dead. Charon is the name of the ferry man who demanded a coin to get you across to hades, if you didn't pay, or he intentionally drops the coin, the soul is doomed to exist as a ghost in "limbo"...while other myths claim this soul will be dammed to drown for eternity in the muddy waters of styx fighting the wrathful souls already in the water. Paying once you get across, guarantees the soul entrance to hades. Maybe that's where the saying damned if you do or dont comes from??
I only saw this when it aired all those years ago. but still remember parts of the jingle and the episode. Mr. Carlson/The Big Guy/Gordon Jump has this pained look on his face throughout this scene. At the end of the episode, he decides that in spite of Mr. Ferryman's generous financial offer to run these ads multiple times a day, it's just not right for WKRP. He turns down the offer and is glad that he did so. It was one of those memorable moments when WKRP was serious, but unforgettably good. Another one was the episode where they covered the real-life trampling deaths of people attending The Who concert in Cincinnati.
IMHO, I think it goes back to his generation's view of funerals being strictly a solemn and dignified occasion. The jingle runs contrary to that. Also, the Big Guy was a Marine during WWII. Inevitably, he lost some of his brothers in combat and this brings up some old feelings for him. I am with you though. This jingle is hilarious.
A friend of my what works in radio one time edit this to play as a fake commercial one day. At the time, he was co-hosting with another guy who was clueless about the commercial. The guy was like is that a new sponsor. It drew a few complaint calls , he played it during the morning rush hour and I was listening. I sent him an email and was like I have heard it before but could not place it. He was like I think u and I and 5 other lusteners were the only ones that got the joke.
WKRP is the most underrated show ever.
Yeah but not the reboot.
How can you say it was under rated if everyone loved it?
@@rogerthomas169What people mean by underrated was that it wasn’t near as popular as other shows from the same era like MASH and Cheers were
@@user-cr8dq7sc6h I'm well aware what underrated means, and stand by my comment, it was a highly rated show that everyone loved.
Love the part where Johnny mentions 6 convenient locations, “group rates” 😂, and free parking.
This is probably my favorite episode of WKRP. I love how the funeral director gets into the song.
They gave him creepy horror lighting too!
This and the flying turkeys that can’t fly.
@@The_Original_forresttrump No wonder Carlson looks so upset while everyone else is digging it. 😺😺😺
But there ain’t no way to deny it! Someday you’re gonna buy it! Have been singing this at odd moments for 40 years.
Plan today for a Ferryman tomorrooooow.
Got to pay one way or another
One of the funniest lines in this show.
Woke up singing it this morning. My daughter is studying Greek culture at university. Sent her this clip.
@@bendury6702 Yes, that's Charon ..
When I first heard "But there aint no way to deny it. Someday you're gonna buy it" I lost it. Classic sitcom, classic episode, classic jingle
It’s so hilarious. Too bad certain people are too scared to joke about anything
Rest in peace Howard Hesseman. He was unforgettable as Dr. Johnny Fever.
This radio jingle was pure genius.... I never get tired of watching this clip. 😊
I love the end when they turn it into a jingle for an auto mechanic.
Ferryman getting jiggy with it there adds to the humor.
Yes--- Morrison Tire!!
I see most people think of "Turkeys Away" when they think of WKRP, but this episode and "Fish Story" are my favorites. This jingle is genius... BYE BYE!
That really would have worked as a radio ad.
"BUY BUY"
WKRP was genius as a show! While "Turkeys Away" is probably my very favorite episode of the series, it is moments like this one, with the clip for Ferryman's Mortuary or the jingle for Red Wigglers -- the Cadillac of worms! -- or the Christmas episode with Johnny's brownies, that make the show a classic. I really need to buy the complete set on DVD.
I've always remembered the episode with Johnny and the phone police.
You are correct.
"As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
It is perhaps the greatest line in television history.
This one is good - but the laughter of that line is still debilitating for me.
One of the most original and inspired shows they ever did.
It’s a true gem of a show compared to all the woke garbage that most current TV shows are
Beyond hysterical. Classic sitcom and characters.
Les wasn't just a singer here -- Richard Sanders was the co-writer of the episode, which definitely was one of the funniest one of the series.
Scott Humm I believe Frank Bonner did too..
I had no idea, until now. I love this jingle.
The guy who played Ferryman should have won an Emmy for that dance.
Yes...Fred Stuthman...a vintage character actor and horror actor. Wonderful actor!
been a lot of shows in my lifetime, but not one has ever been nearly as UNDERRATED as WKRP. Brilliant writing/casting/acting and still the only great 'radio' show ever on TV. RIP, Big Guy...and the legendary Dr. Fever....(and, as always, 'Booger!")
Ferrymen bopping around is the funniest thing ever! That actor was just fantastic! When he first appeared earlier in the episode he says “Gentlemen…. what’s happening?” So understated! Incredible! I keep watching them over and over again. Such a shame about the great Frank Bonner passing. What a great ensemble cast! Sanders or Hesseman will be the next to go unfortunately. HH has Parkinson’s I believe
It's nice to laugh through the tears. Thank you for everything Mr Hesseman, you were the best. RIP 😭💔💔💔
One of my "favorite" moments from this television show. I remember the first that I saw this on WKRP in Cincinnati (when the show was first broadcast on CBS). I remember that I was on the floor "rolling in laughter" over that jingle. I still sing that jingle from time-to-time.
+David Roy I was working on a radio script tonight - the client's name is "Farrow". When I was putting on announcer pronunciation instructions, I was reminded of this "Ferryman" jingle. Too funny!
Me too!
Too cool
Back when America still had a sense of humor.
I am offended that you don't think i have a sense of humor!
Except Carlson didn't have a sense of humor and killed the commercial because it was in bad taste.
@@Shadowman4710 It was in bad taste, but it was funny because WKRP was desperate that they made the commercial anyway before AC helps them see the light. In the end, they did the right thing, but we all got a good laugh in the process.
@@steve2474 You are correct but I disagree with you that people now don't have a sense of humor. Funny is funny. People still watch these clips to this day.
@@steve2474 And remember Herb got them all singing a jingle for a tire company at the end.... for much less money, but still. A win is a win.
We had the BEST sitcoms back in the 80's!
"You can't deny it!"
Technically, it started in the 70s. The 80s are when the moral majority and the pmrc started marching america, and really, the world, towards censorship.
Censorship is always the first dipping of the political toe to test the waters of public obeisance, before taking the first step into the swamp of fascism that is the point of every attempt at deliberately dumbing down a population. It's always done in the hopes that this time, onaccounta it's *insert narcissistic moron's name here* trying what has always blown up in the faces of every other narcissistic moron, or more usually, the faces of their immediate, and often even more moronic descendants, but this time, 'cause it's *me* doing it, this will work ...
The banality of evil intent ...
Yep. This, Newhart, Golden Girls, Full House, Family Ties etc
Who else noticed Mr. Carlson clearly having major second thoughts near the end of this?
Yes, he thought Ferryman's ideas were in poor taste and he wanted to cancel the campaign... which, naturally, led to trouble. But they got out of it, and they even got a new client, enabling them to salvage that song--with some altered lyrics.
Actually according to an earlier comment he was having major 7th thoughts about it
@@DavidBDavis-lz7bt you mean RETREAD
Which was utterly goofy. No radio station on the planet would refuse such a commercial. It was upbeat, positive, tasteful, and relevant. And, indeed, commercials for funeral homes are aired all the time across the country.
@@dwightstewart7181 As a matter of fact, there was a funeral home commercial in the pilot episode, about a minute before the format change.
WOW! Never was exited about funeral pre-arrangements, but now I'm dashing towards Ferryman's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Forget "Always look on the bright side of life", THIS is what I want played at my funeral.
In all honesty, I want Talk To You Later by The Tubes
I still sing that to this day. I just introduced it to my 15 year old grandson for the First time. He's heard me singing it and finally asked what it was from.
Just one of many, many classic scenes from this great show that I used to watch on re-runs whenever it was on!
Even as a young lad when this first aired, I preferred Bailey to Jennifer. Bailey was my Mary Anne to Jennifer's Ginger.
emptyhand777 Jan Smithers who played Bailey had a great ass!
lad? are you British?
I love Bailey, too.
Durned tootin'!
I have always been a Mary Ann man, and I could not agree more.
No matter how many times I've seen this in my lifetime, it still makes me laugh like a maniac.
Before Night Court there was WKRP in Cincinnati for zany comedy!
One of the very best scenes ever. I miss tv shows like this. It is all crap today.
Almost every TV show is nothing but woke crap. Very few of the current TV shows I can stomach watching today.
@@user-cr8dq7sc6h I feel your pain.
RIP Dr. Johnny Fever, Herb, and the Big Guy.
I was working on a radio script tonight - the client's name is "Farrow". When I was putting on announcer pronunciation instructions, I was reminded of this "Ferryman" jingle. Too funny!
One of my Top 10 Funniest Sitcom Scenes of all time!! Only topped by the final bedroom scene in Newhart!
RIGHT!!!
I remember coming in late from work the night Newhart was on television (wasn't it on Monday nights???). Anyway, I decided to watch it. I liked the show and it was the finale, so I got it on (and relaxed). Someone had told me that Bob was supposed to dream that he had died, and gone to heaven...spoke to God. That was the story, anyway.
Well, I am sitting there watching these crazy people on the show acting like some of Bob's mental patients in the "BOB NEWHART" show from the 70's. I thought...this is so nuts and suddenly Bob gets hit in the head with the golf ball. Down he goes and the next scene is Bob and Emily in bed from the 70's sitcom. I was absolutely losing it!!!! Amazing ending to a comedy show! I don't think anything could top that one!
Have not seen this in years, laughed to tears!
The old guy Ferryman was really getting into it.
When I was first starting out in radio, I worked for a small station where the sales manager sold commercials to a man whose wife had died days earlier to "memorialize" her. It was the only time that station owner refused to take cash on the barrel for advertising. He said he would sell just about anything, but he wouldn't sell commercials to a grieving widower. All of the DJs couldn't believe it.
Wow! Sounds like you had your own Mr.Carlson!👍
I forgot about the line: The man with a plot. The man with the plan. Plot! OMFG!
Advertising a funeral home like a hotel resort, I love it
Between the jingle itself and the undertaker dancing in the booth. 🤣🤣🤣
Mr. Carlson is brilliant in this clip. You can read the conflict between his financial interests and having some concept of taste in his wordless reaction.
love the flat major 7 at the head of chorus. that chord was in so many 70s jingles.
Like the _maj7_ at the end of the show's opening theme? Or _The Littlest Hobo_ ...
A classic TV moment!
That was one of my favorite episodes lol. Always loved this show.
Outside of "Turkey's Away", this was my fave WKRP.
Damn.. thats the most Ferryman s moved..probably ever... ha.. Jennifer said-there s a dead guy in the waiting area...
We used to break into this at the radio station when I once worked. Also red wiggler, the cadillac of worms.
One of the best episodes of a very excellent show.
It just occurred to me after all these years that Mr. Ferryman’s name is a reference to Charon who ferried souls across the Styx to Hades.
I realized that when it first aired. The actor looks like what you'd expect a Funeral Director to look like. 'There's a dead man in the lobby!" roflmao
Chris DeBurgh did a song about that in 1982: "Don't Pay The Ferryman." czcams.com/video/8kNwvIEQsg0/video.html
@@shimmy5737 He also played Mrs Carlson's butler
@@daveyboy_ Ian Wolfe played Hirsh (sp?) the butler. I don't know who plays Ferryman but he's a different actor.
YEAH, I JUST COMMENTED ON IT A COUPLE OF MINUTES AGO, ABOUT 'THE RIVER STYX'..LOL!
Ferryman's Funeral Home. I wonder how many people caught the extra humor in that?
Wow, Ferryman Funeral Home sounds like a really cool place. I'd buy all my funeral plots there...
Herb is buried there!
"There's a dead man in the lobby." Jennifer letting Carlson know that Mr. Ferryman had arrived.
And I was today years old when the mortician's name clicked: Ferryman, as in the ferryman for the river Styx...
WKRP, Get Smart (×2), MWC,Petty coat Junction, Green Acres, All in the Family. we're all hilarious shows.
Full House, Seinfeld and Friends were hilarious shows too
Wonderful show,Wonderful cast...sorely missed
RIP Frank Bonner...aka Herb Tarlek
Reminds me of the commercials I wrote [wasn't in sales]. Even got a Bronze Addy award [local ad award] for a recycling ad based on Silence Of The Lambs [Hector the Collector and The Silence Of The Cans].
Later in the episode, Herb took the same tune for a different business, I think it was for a tire store.
This jingle and Red Wigglers (the Cadillac of worms) were very memorable.
One of my favorites!!!!
I take it the "Angus-Scrimm-tall-man-from-Phantasm" look was a fad for morticians in the 1970s.
No, just a stereotype.
😃 O *gawd* I love this! Thank you *very* much for posting it... ...Bye bye! 💕
Ferryman was getting jiggy wit it!!! LOL!!!
The good ole days.
I forgot how funny this show was. A true classic!
Maybe the greatest scene in sitcom history!
This is among the greatest sitcom scenes. Another great sitcom scene is in the episode of Seinfeld where Elaine and Jerry go to his parents house and Elaine gets addicted to pain pills and yells Stella! at Jerry’s dad’s event.
This popped into my head last night at work so thats i am here
Morrison. Morrison, He's the man with jack, the man with the plan. He's the tire-making guy who loves you ... a lot.
One of the best episodes .
Hey your young & swingin! No time to think about tomorrow! Lmao
Some day you're gonna buy it! That is really a perfect jingle in so many ways.
I just got the Ferryman reference. And I saw this when I was a kid in first run. ha ha!
"Hey, you're young and swinging...." I'm dead!!!!!
This episode remains one of my faves.
God I miss this show.
Love this show!👍
Fred Stuthman is terrific in this scene. Every bit as funny as the jingle as he's rockin to it in the booth.
Jesus, I completely forgot about the masterpiece. Thanks for the reminder.😂😂😂😂😂😂
Always loved how Ferryman was bouncing & and bopping around in the studio when he was always so stiff the rest of the episode. Going to have to steal those 'Dance' moves!! Lol Bye byyyyyye...
Bryan Kautz If I’m not mistaken, isn’t he the big dude who got whacked by the bug in the restaurant scene of Men in Black?
@@timinla64 can see the resemblance but nope, Fred Stuthman played Ferryman and Carel Struycken was the Arquillian in MIB. Plus the timeline doesn't work, KRP was early '80's and Ferryman was already pretty old, MIB wasn't until late '90s almost 20yrs later, Ferryman would have been his own customer by then!!!LOL 😂😂
Have you ever MET a mortician? BIG alcoholics!
So wonderfully poignant! great show!!
I still remember this episode as if it was last night. The Great part about it was someone kiboshed the ad, then Herb turned the jingle into another ad (I forget which ) and was hilarious!!! 👍
Wow. Forgot all about this one. Wow.
The vanishing art of great jingle writing.
Now, in ads, I hear unabashed ripoff of hit songs.
Written by "Les Nessman" - R. Sanders and M. Fairman.
This was the best bit ever! Too funny over the top!
Yep. During the time period this aired you weren’t afraid to joke about anything. Now everyone’s afraid to make jokes about anything because of political correctness
The Ferryman to the river Styx. This is one of my favourite scenes from KRP.
How did they not run for twenty years and make a blockbuster movie?
POLITICAL INFIGHTING BETWEEN THE NETWORKS..
@@richardhamblen5526 You left your caps lock on
in case you missed it, the FUNERAL home director’s name is FERRYman.
…and looks like him.
great inspired writing right there.
Man I was like 10 when I first seen this and I didn't get it.. But after seeing a rerun😲😂😂😂😂😂😂
Now this is the stuff we grew up watching. The worst violence on the show was Les throwing turkey's out a helicopter thinking they could fly. Fun stuff
The first funeral home that uses this jingle it would be a great undertaking
They'd dig their own grave using this jingle
See what you did there--- well played!!
I have to get me some Venus Flytrap clothing.
he was in danger of gettin' a woody so close to Jennifer . ( i know i would've)
😂😂😂
My ALL TIME FAVORITE episode...🍺😆👍
It's the Ferryman who takes you across the river Styx.
yes
Here, across the Ohio ....]
I love Mr Carlsons reaction at the end 😂😂
Loved this show!
It wasn't until years later I "got" the name of the funeral home.
"Ferryman"
LOL!
I had to look it up. Interesting!
Don't pay the ferryman, til he gets you to the other side.
Ferryman, is a play on words. The mythology being that the ferry man was the one who carried a soul across the river STYX (yep that's how it's spelled and used by the rock band). The river was the "barrier" of the land of the living to that of the dead. Charon is the name of the ferry man who demanded a coin to get you across to hades, if you didn't pay, or he intentionally drops the coin, the soul is doomed to exist as a ghost in "limbo"...while other myths claim this soul will be dammed to drown for eternity in the muddy waters of styx fighting the wrathful souls already in the water. Paying once you get across, guarantees the soul entrance to hades. Maybe that's where the saying damned if you do or dont comes from??
For some reason I remembered it as Buryman instead of Ferryman - still appropriate.
@@gvgv3515 Fascinating information! Thank you for doing the research!!👍
Hysterical
I only saw this when it aired all those years ago. but still remember parts of the jingle and the episode. Mr. Carlson/The Big Guy/Gordon Jump has this pained look on his face throughout this scene. At the end of the episode, he decides that in spite of Mr. Ferryman's generous financial offer to run these ads multiple times a day, it's just not right for WKRP. He turns down the offer and is glad that he did so. It was one of those memorable moments when WKRP was serious, but unforgettably good. Another one was the episode where they covered the real-life trampling deaths of people attending The Who concert in Cincinnati.
Just saw this on MeTV now it's stuck in my head! UGH!
juliadennehy ikr
The last days of locally produced advertising
As a kid I never understood why Mr. Carlson didn't like the commercial. And now... yeah, I still don't get it. It was the best.
IMHO, I think it goes back to his generation's view of funerals being strictly a solemn and dignified occasion. The jingle runs contrary to that. Also, the Big Guy was a Marine during WWII. Inevitably, he lost some of his brothers in combat and this brings up some old feelings for him. I am with you though. This jingle is hilarious.
Me neither - I loved it too!
Carlson's face is what cracked me up.
Just fell in love with Bailey.
Arthurs Reaction Is PRICE-LESS!!!
A friend of my what works in radio one time edit this to play as a fake commercial one day. At the time, he was co-hosting with another guy who was clueless about the commercial. The guy was like is that a new sponsor. It drew a few complaint calls , he played it during the morning rush hour and I was listening. I sent him an email and was like I have heard it before but could not place it. He was like I think u and I and 5 other lusteners were the only ones that got the joke.