[fingpilot]

I'm old enough to remember him on early TV.

White Fang, Black Tooth, Pookie.

Made taking a pie in the face his trademark. A lot of the humor was ad lib and over the heads of most kids watching, but taught all of us the double entendre.

In spite of all the stuff that would never be allowed today (racist again), the only thing he ever really got in trouble for was asking all of his faithful kiddie followers to go empty Mommy's purse and mail him all the pictures of the presidents that were on little green slips of paper.

In an interview once, he said his sense of humor came from growing up the only Jewish kid in a small North Carolina town. His parents ran a dry goods store, and made their small fortune from selling bed linens to the KKK.

So many gags are still as funny as the day he did them. The opening credits where he rearranged a movie marquee to read 'The Soupy Sales Show', the salesman who would keep selling him a string of stuff until he ran out of money. You never saw anyone else, just their hands. He did everything in a pullover sweater and a bow tie.

They just don't have anything like that anymore.

RIP.