R.I.P. “UNCLE FLOYD” VIVINO—A REMEMBRANCE  by CHIP DEFFAA

Floyd Vivino—known to countless  fans as “Uncle Floyd”–passed away on January 22, 2026.  He was 74.   He was a  great comic and a great friend. His freewheeling spoof of a kids’ television show, “The Uncle Floyd Show,” ran on TV in the tri-state area (and for a while, nationally on NBC-TV) from 1974-1998.  His  comedy earned him fans ranging from John Lennon and Iggy Pop to David Bowie– who paid tribute to Uncle Floyd (and his puppet sidekick, Oogie) in a song he wrote and recorded, “Slip Away.”

 The Ramones referenced Floyd in their song “It’s Not My Place,” and were proud to periodically wear “Uncle Floyd” shirts and buttons. (They shared his cheerfully anarchic spirit.)

And Stan Lee even saw fit to reference “Uncle Floyd” in “Spider-Man”. The strip includes a brief scene of Peter Parker at home, where he switches on the television and lands on The Uncle Floyd Show, treating it as a familiar local staple rather than a novelty.

 Many popular performers made guest appearances on Floyd’s show–including Tiny Tim (singing a memorable duet with cast member Michael Townsend Wright), Bon Jovi, Jan and Dean, Peter Tork, David Johansen, Blue Öyster Cult, Joe Jackson, and Cyndi Lauper. Cast regulars included Scott Gordon, Artie Delmar (David Burd), Looney Skip Rooney, Muggsy, Netto, Jim Monaco…. and sometimes Clark, the Wonder Dog.

Floyd made countless live appearances–joined for some of the bigger shows (like at New York’s famed The Bottom Line) by his brothers, Jerry Vivino and Jimmy Vivino and their band. (Jerry and Jimmy would go on to play for many years for Conan O’Brien, and have recorded as sidemen with some of the biggest names in the business, from Bruce Springsteen and Bette Midler on down.)

 Floyd did other work in film and TV, and on radio, and made the Guinness Book of Records for playing piano nonstop for more than 24 hours, at a benefit for a child who was seriously ill.  Among his many TV and film credits: “Good Morning, Vietnam,” “Crazy People,” “Law and Order,” “Cosby,” “Falcone,” “Burn Runner,” “Mr. Wonderful,”  “100 Centre Street,” “Loving,”  Bill Boggs’ “Comedy Tonight,”  Nickelodeon’s “Turkey TV, ” “Up All Night,” “The Dr. Demento Show.”

 He often said he enjoyed performing “live” most of all.  And he’d often do as many as 300 “live” shows per year.  Over the years, he played the  Catskill and Pocono mountains resorts,  working the stages at Caesar’s, The Fernwood, Friar Tuck, Roseland Ranch, Green Lake, The Nevelle, Pine Grove, Kelly’s, Villa Baglieri and Villa Roma. He also toured with or opened for performers including Jimmy Roselli, Lou Monte, Melba Moore, Jerry Vale, Pat Cooper, Al Martino, Pete Seegar, Toni Arden, Julius LaRosa, Tom Chapin, Eddie Rabbit, Jimmy Sturr.

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 Floyd was a great guy–a wonderfully talented friend, with a big heart. We were classmates in Glen Rock. NJ, and enjoyed doing shows together at Glen Rock Jr Sr. High School. I even got to understudy him in one show. And we were in one film together, made by our friends Rich Valley and Mark Watkins.

 When I produced and hosted the television documentary “Glen Rock in its 90th Year” (available on YouTube), the best segment was my visit with Floyd, which we filmed at the house he grew up in, on Harding Road. He played piano, sang, and bantered.

 In more recent years, Floyd and his brothers were captured brilliantly by filmmaker Barry Rubinow in his documentary “Banded Together–the Boys from Glen Rock High….”

 Floyd was the most talented entertainer in our high school class. When graduation from high school approached, Floyd was voted the senior that the underclassmen would miss the most. (I still have that issue of the “Glen Echo” school newspaper, with Floyd’s picture on the front page. )

After high school, he performed wherever he could in show business—the circus, nightclubs, amusement parks, and even as a comedian in the few remaining burlesque shows. He launched his own television show, “The Uncle Floyd Show,”  in New Jersey on January 29,1974.  When it ended its run 24 years later, it was the longest-running New Jersey-based TV show in history.

 Warm and open-hearted, Floyd was easy to like.  I dedicated one of my CDs to Floyd and his gifted brothers, musicians Jerry and Jimmy. (Floyd is also the proud uncle of Broadway’s Donna Vivino.) And I thanked Floyd in many of the CDs I produced (including the most recent one). When we were growing up, he was the only other kid I knew who was into old-time music, and collected 78s as I did. He was a kindred spirit. And he also loved classic old-time comedy routines, as I did. (We could quote  routines like “Slowly I Turned… Niagara Falls” from memory at age13.)

 Floyd eventually amassed an extraordinary record collection—some 250,000 recordings, by his count,  from the birth of the recording industry to the present. And on his long-running radio show, he’d play everything from vintage vaudeville-era recordings, to big-band swing, to early rock n’ roll.  For years, he also hosted a radio show on which he played only Italian records from his collection.

 A few years ago, I told Floyd I wanted to write a show about Jimmy Durante that Floyd could star in. (He knew Durante’s repertoire inside out.) But then, about two-and-half years ago,  he suffered a stroke and wound up hospitalized. Even from his sickbed, he still contributed spoken comments for  the podcast that Scott Gordon produced, “This Was The Uncle Floyd Show”. But his health problems kept him confined to bed for the last two-and-a-half years.

 I invited Floyd to be on my latest album, “Chip Deffaa–Down in Honky Tonk Town.” That  was not possible, but he was on my mind as we recorded some of the old songs he liked so much, and I was very happy that he got to listen to the finished album, shortly before his passing. I still have all of the recordings he made, as 45 rpm singles.

He was a great comic. He’d studied and learned from the best in the business. He knew seemingly every gag and routine from the days of vaudeville and burlesque, to the present. And his piano playing was filled with life. (I loved the way he played “Alabama Jubilee.”)

 His family will be holding a private funeral. A public memorial celebration of his life will be held at a future date In the meantime, I’ll go to the nearby Hillery Street Cafe in Totowa, NJ–a local joint we both liked. I’ll have one of their hot dogs “all the way.”   And toast to Floyd’s memory.