LiveOnTape

Considered by some as the finest excuse for a comedy program produced in the Midwest. For years, dozens of fans thrilled to the adventures of E.J. Crackerhorn, Arnie Upshoe, Uncle Joey, Clive Knobfinder and other idiotic characters as they wrestled with the forces of wackiness. Quality was proudly thrown aside and no expense made to combine comedy and cardboard sets in the production of "Live on Tape". LIVE ON TAPE was a late-night comedy sketch show that aired on Saturday nights at 10pm on KLJB-TV (FOX 18) in Davenport Iowa from 1987 until 1990. "Live on Tape" was the only locally produced entertainment show at that time in the Quad City area. And the only original sketch comedy show produced in the Midwest. Working with local talent, no budget, cheap sets, Live on Tape was rough, cheesy, but overall fun local television. The skits ranged from the truly awful, to some inspired comic moments with such characters as: E.J. Crackerhorn, Arnie Upshoe, Guy Newswarthy, Uncle Joey, Nosey, Clive Knobfinder, Zippy Spamhammer, and Bongo the Exploding Clown (to name a few). Much of the humor poked fun at local and national personalities, spoofed commercials and TV shows, but also included silly adventures of the show's cast of regular characters -- be that sending them through a black hole after a stockpile of super-hairspray goes nuclear and blasts the studio into space, or bombing Kewanee Illinois with Mallo Cups in a failed attempt to keep Cosmonauts Ivan Drombollo and Voster Slepenski from taking over the air-waves. More than a kid's show and not quite Masterpiece Theater, Live on Tape remains a unique example of cheesy, but fun local television.