Wally George appreciation thread

[SojuGorae]

If you lived in Orange County during the late 80s to mid-90s you've definitely seen his show during late nights(most of the time, chances are you were high as a kite).

[BoardsofCoachella]

He would always get pissed off if someone brought up Rebecca DeMornay...especially after Risky Business.

[kroqken]

Wally George is one of my "top friends" on my Myspace page, even though he is dead. http://www.myspace.com/kroqken

[kroqken]

He had some classic debates in the early years of liberals verses conservatives on various issues. The later years descened into "debates" on strippers and more rediculous topics. He died in 2003, but I met him at the Sherman Oaks Galleria over a decade ago. He was extremely tall.

[SojuGorae]

Was Wally George really that retarded or was he just playing one on tv?

[kroqken]

He was probably conservative in real life, but he went over the top style wise, which I consider to be an act.

[instinct]

Haha.. I love Wally George.. I used to watch him all the time as a kid.. the show was sooo great.

[instinct]

SICK SICK SICK SICK SICK

[kroqken]

The Hot Seat, what a name! Then Morton Downey Jr. came around and copied the Hot Seat. He is dead also.

[Archie Bunker]

I used to be a HUGE Wally George fan.

At age 12, he was my first exposure to political issues (don't laugh). While the show itself was ridiculous and not meant for serious debate of hot-button topics of the day, the actual issues being discussed were quite real. My primary reason for watching the show was the crazy antics of Wally and his audience. However, the show made me think about and take a position on political matters for the first time in my life.

In 1985, my Creative Writing class required us to send a letter to a celebrity we admired. While most of the letters in the class went to people like Tom Cruise and Mr. T, I wrote to Wally George. I was the only one to get a personal response.

I used to love calling Wally's "Hot Seat Hotline" show that he ran daily in the afternoon on KDOC 56. Most of my calls were pranks designed to get him mad, but only because I loved seeing his reaction and getting "blown up" off the air.

I always wanted to be part of his studio audience. It looked fun and crazy, but I wasn't old enough throughout most of the program's run. You had to be 18, and I didn't turn that age until 1990. I remember talking about going down to the show in 1991 with kroqken and others. We never actually went through with the plans. Finally, in early 1993, Ken and I called the studio for information regarding obtaining tickets. It was then that we were informed Wally had cancer, and that he was no longer recording new programs. I felt so stupid for procrastinating those 3 years.

About 10 years ago, I actually had a dream about Wally's show. I suddenly found myself in his audience, and was elated to be there. It wasn't long before I realized that something had to be wrong, as the show was no longer taping. I asked the guy next to me, "What year is this?", and he responded, "What year do you think it is?! It's 1986!" I thought that I had gone back in time and was part of Wally's audience, and I enjoyed every minute of it until I woke up and realized it wasn't real.

Jerry Springer, Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, and many others owe at least some of their success to Wally George. Like him or hate him, he was the true father of Combat TV.

[crazzz2007]

admit it, the only reason you guys watched wally george was for the bimbos.

[ivankay]

This picture was from a night when Wally was doing a live Hot Seat marathon til the sun came up. When i saw it was going on, i recruited my friends and we went down to the studio and had a blast chanting with the audience. When the sun was coming up, the crowd was singing "Here comes the sun..."

Later in life i would extend my internship at KROQ into one at KDOC where i would compile requests for the Request Video countdown. i would see Wally pretty regular in the studio or by the copy machine. The man was absolutely nice and polite. When the cameras turned red on top, pure Wally magic.

[SojuGorae]

That picture kicks and stomps so much ass. You should totally turn that into a t-shirt. It doesn't surprise me that he was a nice guy off camera. He always looked like a simpleton.

Archie, I always wanted to call in as well, but the ones I was watching in the mid 90s were reruns. I would have had him go 0-60 in a blink with obnoxious questions. What kind of questions did you call in to ask?

And I agree, he was the father of trashy talk shows. He could have been as successful as Springer if only he could put together full sentences without turning to the audience to say, "hold it".

[Archie Bunker]

That picture kicks and stomps so much ass. You should totally turn that into a t-shirt. It doesn't surprise me that he was a nice guy off camera. He always looked like a simpleton.

Archie, I always wanted to call in as well, but the ones I was watching in the mid 90s were reruns. I would have had him go 0-60 in a blink with obnoxious questions. What kind of questions did you call in to ask?

And I agree, he was the father of trashy talk shows. He could have been as successful as Springer if only he could put together full sentences without turning to the audience to say, "hold it".

The show was always low-budget and he never quite rose above that. To me, however, that was part of the program's charm.

The "Hot Seat Hotline" was a separate program that ran every weekday at 4:30pm during the mid-1980s. It had nothing to do with the regular "Hot Seat" programs with guests. The Hotline would simply have Wally in front of a giant flag, fielding calls from anyone who felt like picking up the phone.

When I called, I would just try to ask really obnoxious questions to get him mad. For example, he had just promoted an OC pizzeria that featured a Wally Pizza, so my question was, "Does the Wally Pizza come with a toupee?"

[KenMixtape]

I loved to hate Wally. I called him up and cursed him out a few times, as only a 15 year old could do...

[fatbastard]

This picture was from a night when Wally was doing a live Hot Seat marathon til the sun came up. When i saw it was going on, i recruited my friends and we went down to the studio and had a blast chanting with the audience. When the sun was coming up, the crowd was singing "Here comes the sun..."

Later in life i would extend my internship at KROQ into one at KDOC where i would compile requests for the Request Video countdown. i would see Wally pretty regular in the studio or by the copy machine. The man was absolutely nice and polite. When the cameras turned red on top, pure Wally magic.

KROQ nad KDOC? Impressive.

I seen him at the Bahooka in Rosemead one Saturday night in 1988 or 1989. He was wearing his red, white, and blue tie and a blue blazer.

[algunz]

The guy who dumped over the table was a colleague of my dad's. He was a professor at UCI and had some issues with controlling his anger.

I loved hating that show.

[kroqken]

The guy who dumped his table was Blaze Bompane, from the Offices of the Americas, a left wing organization that was opposed to US foreign policy in Latin America.

[algunz]

Well, then he did some work at UCI - seminars and what not.

It's been a long time and a lot of debaucherous nights in the interim. Memory a bit hazy.

[kroqken]

I think Blaze Bompane is dead also.

[algunz]

Bump.

There was a Wally George tribute show tonight on KDOC. Classic. The era of 1985, or so, for conservative assholes was not a good fashion period. And BTW, I am speaking mostly of the audience, not Wally.

[breakjaw]

I mainly remeber the Wally George Show because he had that stoned-out Spicoli lookalike on a few times to sing his anti-drug song "getting high is getting lowwww..."

[algunz]

Did anybody else know that he died?

I just heard of this today, but I guess he died around October 7th.

[M Sparks]

Weird, I knew the name and I knew he was a talk show host, but I've never seen this. Grew up in Arizona. Did he ever try to go national or regional? Maybe run for office? I have no idea why I know him.

[M Sparks]

Did anybody else know that he died?

I just heard of this today, but I guess he died around October 7th.

Kroqen said it was in 2003 above...

[algunz]

Wow, I'm pretty useless when it comes to paying attention.

[instinct]

Wally George was the man. I was too young to watch the show when it originally came out.. but I watched the re-runs in the mid-90's like others. I was only a kid (like 11 years old) and got such a great kick out of it. His show was awesome.

Maybe Wally George was actually a Stephen Colbert, but no one knew he was joking.

[SojuGorae]

Wally may be dead, but his legacy will live on through youtube.

[kroqken]

My favorite Wally George clip on youtube is when he debated KROQ's the Poorman, Jim Trenton, those were some classic debates.

[djandrews25]

Lol, glad you bumped this thread. Wally George is the fucking man. How about you link some of thoes clips ken.