A decade ago Captain Ambivalent took his accordion to television. A century ago Uncle Barney took his banjo to vaudeville. Tonight a dozen over-the-top novelty acts* audition to tell those stories with song, dance, and comedy, as twenties and twenties collide with reality – big time!
(*this is a one-man show)

Teaser Trailer

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Martin E. Biemer for digital black and white photo restoration. No generative AI was used in any way. I created the backup choir with vocal synthesis, in which paid musicians record short vocal sound segments similar to the way virtual musical instruments (such as the horn and drum sounds) work. I did use some Apple Loops which from the name feel like they should be cereal but are short sampled audio phrases that come with Apple music software.

Program

    Drake Mallard, Duck Proctologist
    Apple Loops
    The Bootian Masters of Comedy
    Puppets by Jack Welch
    Helvetica The Sierra Mist
    Words by Billy Shakespeare
    Standup Comedian Guy Slimey Jr
    BIG SPOILER source
    A Masked Singer
    Custom karaoke track from karaoke-version.com
    Captain Ambivalent
    Theme Song
    Big Time Reality Machine
    The Ghost of Barney Burnett
    “Duckfoot Sue” (Bob Miller and Barney Burnett), 1930 Van Dyke Records 78rpm shellac disc cleaned up the best I could with a verse cut for time – This was recorded later but I believe is what his Banjo Buddies act probably sounded like. Photos and clippings from Barney’s scrapbook
    Talki, The World’s Worst Ventriloquist
    Apple loops, public domain historical photos
    Speedy, The World’s Fastest Juggler
    The Guy Slimey Orchestra featuring Brunilda
    The Bodily Function Song
    Captain Ambivalent
    The Thousand Mile Song
    The Skit
    Action In The North Atlantic
    Public domain movie trailer cut for time, photos from Barney’s collection, “The Second Coming” poem by William Butler Yeats
    Finale
    Curtain Call
    Barney Burnett banjo solo sampled from “Hurry Johnny Hurry” (Bob Miller Trio), ~1929-32 Brunswick Records 78rpm shellac disc

For the History Nerds