RIP Craig Calame, 56; irrepressible Mugsy on 'Uncle Floyd Show'

North Jersey Media Group ^ | October 27, 2005 | Jim Beckerman

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When Craig Dexter Calame, better known as Mugsy on TV's "Uncle Floyd Show," died Monday night at 56, he went out like a showman.Some 20 friends, including Floyd Vivino himself and many alumni from the show, came to Mugsy's bedside at his Hackensack home to say farewell.

"We all knew it was time," said colleague David Burd, who was Artie Delmar on the show. "We came to his bedroom, said what we had to say, and gave him a standing ovation. We said our goodbyes and left the room. Fifteen minutes later, he was gone."

Mr. Calame, who battled cancer on and off for more than 10 years, was one of the cutups who helped make "The Uncle Floyd Show," which began on Channel 68 in 1974, an underground phenomenon for more than 20 years - and not just in New Jersey.

John Lennon and David Bowie were reportedly Floyd fans - they caught the show late at night in their hotel rooms.

Abetting Floyd, with his porkpie hat, bow tie and honky-tonk piano stylings, and a constellation of guest rock bands (Jon Bon Jovi, Cyndi Lauper and The Ramones all made appearances) was a raucous supporting cast: among them Netto, Oogie the puppet, Looney Skip Rooney, Michael T. Wright, Charlie Stoddard and Scott Gordon. And Mugsy.

"He was a great writer, a great creative mind and the nicest, biggest-hearted guy you could ever meet," Wright said.

A guitarist and percussionist, Mr. Calame brought his musical as well as comedic talents to the show. But one of his greatest talents, Burd recalls, was causing a ruckus.

"When Floyd was playing piano, he would sneak under the cameras and poke him in the [butt] with a stick," Burd said. "He was the 'bad boy' of the Floyd show."

Originally from West Orange, Mugsy got his nickname because of the red "Bowery Boys" cap he wore, which made him look like a gangster. He never liked his real name, friends recall.

"He would call himself Chris," Burd said. "He called himself a lot of things. He was upset that people would pronounce his last name 'Calamay' so he dropped the 'e' and said it was 'Calam.' He had girlfriends who never knew his real name."

On the show, one of Mugsy's specialties was impersonating rock stars and parodying their songs. He came up with characters like Willie Half-Nelson, Tom Waste and Bruce Stringbean years before "Weird Al" Yankovic arrived on the scene.

He also wrote original songs, Burd recalls:

"You tried to make me love you

You knew just what to do

You threw away all your lipstick

And started using Crazy Glue

And now I'm stuck on you, baby ... "

"He was as morose as possible, Mr. Gloom and Doom," Burd said.

"He could always find the cloud in any silver lining. But he had this little-boy sense of humor. When he had the opportunity to disrupt things, play pranks, that's when he came alive."

After "The Uncle Floyd Show" went off the air, Mugsy created his own cable TV show, "The 11th Hour."

Coincidentally, his friends say, that was precisely the hour he died Monday night.

"He kept saying, in his last days, 'I'm so lucky, so lucky to have all these people around me,'Ÿ" Wright recalled. "He hardly had any family. We were his family."

Mr. Calame was married twice.

Visitation is today from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at Kiernan Funeral Home, 101 Union Ave., Belleville. The funeral service is at 8 p.m.

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I just discovered that Mugsy himself was selling VHS compilations of some of the video that remains. Not much, maybe 10 VHS tapes. Now that he is gone, I hope somebody continues to sell them - I want them! :-)

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Yes, I think there is a good Tristate area contingent who loves Uncle Floyd!

That birthday story is amazing! I would have totally lost it if Uncle Floyd walked into a room! You folks were lucky! :-)

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Here's to Mugsy!

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Here's to Mugsy!!!

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Three cheers for Mugsy!

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Set the Wayback Machine...

http://www.unclefloyd.com/realaudio/uftheme.ram