When I started on KFI in 2000, there were some oddball shows on the schedule. The weekends were really for weirdos and misfits like me, who couldn’t get away with sitting at the grownup table.
One of these shows belonged to Rabbi Mentz; an honest to God Rabbi with a beard and everything. He mostly railed about Palestine, and had the effect of inducing narcolepsy in me whenever he started speaking.
Anyway, after about a month of mining comedy gold in the coveted 5:00 AM Sunday slot, the program director asked me to fill in for the Rabbi one night. Apparently it was Yom Kippur, and even radio Rabbis have to sit that one out.
The wonderful thing about this was that the Rabbi had a primetime show. This meant that I would be getting my first exposure to a real audience on KFI, and by God, I was going to make it count. I was determined to put on a good enough show to get me out of the agricultural hour and into a real time slot.
Once again, I enlisted the help of my friend Roy – who I should point out, had actually not been hired by KFI. I just kept dragging him in week after week, too terrified to go it alone, and hoping they would eventually just hire us as a team. They never did, but at least we had a good 9 months together, and were able to do ridiculous shows like this one.
In looking over the index for this show, I can see that we repeated some material from earlier shows – not something I EVER like to do. But in our defense, only about 4 people heard it the first time, so I thought, fuck it. This was also the night that we gave away Honey Baked Ham to the callers with the biggest sins.
In any case, it worked. After this show, I was promised the first available prime time slot at KFI.
11 responses so far ↓
1 April Winchell » KFI: Sunday, October , 2000 // Mar 12, 2009 at 11:34 am
[...] (Read the details about this show here) [...]
2 Bradley219 // Mar 12, 2009 at 12:09 pm
So sacrilegious, yet so delicious.
3 Stretch99 // Mar 12, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Hurray! Oy Vey!
4 Double Mocha Links » Ayyyy! // Mar 12, 2009 at 1:33 pm
[...] Remembering the rabbi (AprilWinchell) [...]
5 Speedy Cerviche // Mar 12, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Now you see, this is the first show from which I have real, honest-to-god memories. The other few shows that have been posted have elicited a kind of vague deja vu feeling… you know, like when something in the middle of the day reminds you of the mostly-forgotten dream you had the previous night. I used to leave the radio on all night, and I naturally wake up around dawn. Most of my early April experiences were a product of these two factors; dozing in and out of consciousness at 5:00 AM, not really sure if I imagined what I was hearing…
But this… This I actually remember. This was when I became a steady April listener. Even though I haven’t yet listened to the mp3, I can recall specific portions of the show… including the details of the biggest sin of the night. Memory lane, here I come.
Today’s my birthday, too. This is awesome.
6 Ira Shlamazel // Mar 12, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Mmmmm. Ham.
It’s so fucking awesome to remember life BEFORE BUSH!!
Thank you, April- for the radio show, cartoons, Project Angel Food
and Gay Bingo Night (I won a candy filled toilet with lollipop plunger! It’s proudly on display even now on my mantle!) Thanks for your stand up show! (We got to sit next to Lily Tomlin whose male friend kept farting audibly and fragrantly throughout the show, giving it so much more ambiance than we deserved.)
April is beautiful. She always was, and she always will be!
A star in my book!
“What a sap” you say? Well, fuck you. So what if I am.
I need gin NOW!
7 pal Jacky // Mar 12, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Wasn’t the rabbi replaced by Jesus Christ, himself? They fucking fire april but they keep on a real live mental patient. Now that dale Dye is off they have room for napoleon for their military go to guy.
8 Happy4LA // Mar 12, 2009 at 10:45 pm
What about Rodry (sp?)? Did you ever get to meet that Cuban hotty at KFI?
9 Gunner13 // Mar 13, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Mazel tov!
I can hardly wait to hear it.
10 dana // Mar 14, 2009 at 11:59 am
April, I’d like to find the show you and “The Voice of Spongebob” did one Easter Sunday in the late ’90’s, which I think fell on Passover. You drank glass after glass of Manichevitz and I think told the Passover story or something equally sacrilegious. My husband, two young kids and I were driving his tipsy mother around Laguna Beach listening to you, and when we stopped at an overlook, I let everyone get out of the car, grabbed the keys, and locked myself in so I could hear the rest of the show! “Mommy, mommy, it’s cold out here!”, “Mommy, I’m thirsty!”…whatever, it was worth it.
11 DavidinBerkeley // Mar 19, 2009 at 4:26 pm
This is the first show I really remember.
Hearing it makes me miss Mick.