Cafe Talk | Talking Points Memo | A Tale of Two Bozos

From: Cafe

A Tale of Two Bozos

By Tom Lees - July 4, 2008, 9:21AM

Bozo the Clown (Larry Harmon) has died. Bozo the President (George W. Bush) has two hundred days left in the White House.

Comments (8)

There is no Bozo the Clown other than the late Bob Bell.

Posted by The Old Grouch
July 4, 2008 10:35 AM | Reply | Permalink

The world is full of Bozos, largely because the character was a franchise. Larry Harmon bought the license to use the character from Alan Livingston, the creator, in 1956. TV stations throughout the country paid for the right to have a local Bozo. Bob Bell was a (very famous) local Bozo.

The name Bozo, however, most probably has its origins in a character created by St Anselm of Canterbury (1033 – 1109). This character was Anselm’s foil in philosophical dialogues on the nature of good and bad and on the existence of God.

So, Bozo started out as a medieval sock puppet making the link to Mr. Bush all the more apropos.

Posted by bjorn_t
July 4, 2008 11:46 AM | Reply | Permalink

Firesign Theatre speculated about the ubiquity of Bozos more than 35 years ago.

Posted by Tankard
July 4, 2008 2:11 PM | Reply | Permalink

Bozos on public transportation, as I recall.

Posted by bjorn_t
July 4, 2008 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink

All of us. It was the first sentence of your previous post that inspired the memory. In fact, I intended to make my comment a reply to yours, but forgot to check the box.

Posted by Tankard
July 4, 2008 3:42 PM | Reply | Permalink