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Beloved New Jersey comedy institution "Uncle" Floyd Vivino was announced as passing away today by his brother following several years of health issues, including bouts with cancer, COVID-19 and a stroke.
Vivino was best known for his low-budget variety comedy TV series The Uncle Floyd Show, which featured a mix of skits, musical performances, ad-libbed comedy, and puppets. The show aired locally in New Jersey on a number of stations and at times on WPIX in NYC, from 1974 to 2001. David Bowie and The Ramones were fans who name-dropped Floyd in their music and until his health prevented him from continuing on, Vivino would do in the area of 200-300 appearances a year singing and doing comedy. Outside of The Uncle Floyd character, he appeared in Good Morning Vietnam with Robin Williams and lots of TV series that were shot in the NYC area, including Law & Order. He was nominated for the New Jersey Hall of Fame last year.
While he did not often cross over into professional wrestling circles, it did happen. Larry Zbyszko was a guest on The Uncle Floyd Show several times over the years right after he had turned heel on Bruno Sammartino. Floyd kept referring to him as Larry Nabisko, which led to Zbyszko getting upset. This set up a bit where cast member Skip Rooney confronted Zbyszko, leading to the show's Scott Gordon being thrown through the show's set, which collapsed. It later turned out that Floyd wasn't clued in that the set was rigged to fall apart. Zbyszko would make occasional appearances after that as he was friendly with Gordon, including a bit where he was to promote a record but his band was late and he tried to stop the show from going off the air before he could perform.
The Uncle Floyd Show also once featured the following song tributing professional wrestling:
PWInsider Elite subscribers have heard me reference Floyd over the years as I was a big fan of the show growing up, especially his bits with Oogie. The show was an absolute institution, great satire and silliness presented as a children's show with a true Garden State flair.
PWInsider.com sends our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of the heart of New Jersey, Uncle Floyd. Here's some clips of Floyd doing his thing:
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