‘Uncle’ Floyd Vivino: 1951-2026

Floyd Vivino, professionally known as entertainer Uncle Floyd, has passed away at the age of 74 after a long illness derived from a stroke he suffered in 2023.

From the Vivino Family:

Floyd J. Vivino, 74, of Totowa, died peacefully on Thursday, January 22, 2026, surrounded by the love of family and music. He passed battling complications from a stroke he suffered in July of 2023.  

Adored by all of his beloved fans as “Uncle Floyd,” his career on stage, radio, print, film, and television, most notably The Uncle Floyd Show (1974 – 1998), captured the attention of generations of viewers, comics, stagehands, co-stars, and rock stars. 

Floyd, a lifelong New Jerseyan with enormous pride in the Garden State, was born in Paterson in 1951. He then split his childhood between Paterson, Point Pleasant, and Glen Rock – where he graduated high school in 1969. Floyd lived in Essex and Passaic counties throughout his adult life, hailing Totowa as his home during his later years. 

Floyd was a man of countless talents, on stage and under the spotlight, as a professional entertainer. From his early days of theatre at the Gaslight Village Opera House in Lake George, NY, through vaudeville circuits in Manhattan and along the East Coast, the circus, carnivals, comedy clubs, his many years on television, live performances, and even the silver screen – Floyd always focused on spreading laughter and joy to a united audience.  

Floyd accomplished it all with only his piano, his voice, stand-up bits, slapstick humor, and parody sketches with casts of memorable characters. Floyd’s ventriloquy act featured his most treasured foul-mouthed sidekick: Oogie. 

Floyd was a proud Italian American and celebrated his heritage in ways big and small: every Sunday he cooked meatballs and macaroni for his family, he wrote a recurring column in The Italian Tribune for his fans, and he championed pride in Italian American neighborhoods. For decades, Floyd shared his voice and vast collection of vinyl records on his Sunday broadcasts of the Italian American Serenade heard throughout The Bronx and North Jersey. 

Off the stage, Floyd’s interests included baseball, reading, history, and listening to records of his favorite artists such as Fats Waller, Louis Prima, and Carlo Buti among others.  He was a die-hard Yankee fan who could recite the lineups and batting averages of legendary Yankee teams from the ‘50s and ‘60s. He would unwind reading books about World War II, the history of the travelling circus, and the Old West (perhaps inspired by his days working the saloon piano at Wild West City).

More than anything, Floyd Vivino, a father, grandfather, brother, nephew, cousin, and uncle, cherished his family and ancestors.  He continued the journey of immigrant Italian Americans who came before him from Calabria and Napoli and echoed the oral histories of their journey across the Atlantic in pursuit of the American Dream in New Jersey.  

Floyd hosted countless family reunions bringing together new generations of Vivinos, Bellos, Barones, Stambulis, and Provenzales.  

Floyd was the oldest son of Jerome Vivino, Sr. and Emily Vivino (nee Bello); he is survived by his six children: Christopher (and wife Brooke), Eric, Lauren, Gregory, Massimo, and Dante; his three grandchildren: Oliver, Claire, and Grant; and his younger brothers Jerry and Jimmy Vivino.

I was a big fan of Uncle Floyd Vivino, having first discovered his show as my television set captured the iffy UHF signals of Channel 68 coming over the airwaves from New Jersey to New York City. His show beckoned back to the cartoon shows of the 1950’s and 1960’s with wacky and crazy hosts like Sandy Becker, Officer Joe Bolton, Chuck McCann and Soupy Sales. Though supposedly aimed at children, the shows also attracted older teens and adults with sly jokes that went over the heads of the younger kiddies. Uncle Floyd had started his show as a regular kids show, but while his young audience appeared bored, their parents were laughing their heads off, so the show switched gears aiming for an older crowd while keeping the appearance of a kids show.

The out-there humor also appealed to a surprising number of Rock musicians who would unwind from gigs by laughing at the antics of Floyd and his cast which included Scott Gordon, Pat Cupo, ‘Looney’ Skip Rooney, Craig ‘Mugsy’ Calam, Richard ‘Netto’ Cornetto, Jim Monaco, David Burd, Charlie Stoddard, Weenie Friedman, Michael Townsend Wright among many others over several years. His on-camera puppet partner Oogie sat alongside, giving out wisecracks at Floyd’s expense, as well as Bones Boys whose sarcastic remarks were followed by a gruff “Snap It Pal!”

Floyd’s fans included David Johansen who was the first Rock personality to appear on the show as himself and his Buster Poindexter persona, The Ramones who also made several appearances on the show (Johnny Ramone wore a Uncle Floyd shirt at Ramones concerts), Bon Jovi made their very first television appearance on the Uncle Floyd Show, Jan & Dean, Cyndi Lauper, Squeeze, The Smithereens, Tiny Tim, Dave Edmunds, The Boomtown Rats with Bob Geldof, the Smothers Brothers, Paul Simon, Gramham Chapman and Terry Gilliam of Monty Python, Howard Stern, Peter Tork and Davy Jones of the Monkees who made separate solo appearances, and many more. David Bowie was a huge fan of the show and when Floyd asked him how he discovered the show, Bowie said he used to watch it at the Dakota Building alongside John Lennon and Iggy Pop who loved it. It was rumored that John Lennon wanted to make an appearance on the Floyd show in late 1980, sadly it never happened. While he never appeared on the show, David Bowie did write the song ‘Slip Away’ about the Uncle Floyd Show which appears on the album ‘Heathen’ and which he had performed on tour, always giving a loving shout out to Floyd.

 

The comedy was very freewheeling and improvisational, there was an element that anything could happen on the show, and it usually did. All the skits were unrehearsed, and Floyd and the cast let the chips fall where they may. Once while Floyd was playing on the piano during a taping, two repo men entered the studio who said they were there to take the piano and proceeded to try and remove it while Floyd was trying to talk them out of it, thinking it was a setup from the cast. It turned out the men had the wrong addressed and when they found out they were both embarrassed and apologized, but it made for great television!

Floyd’s popularity in the late 1970’s and early 80’s grew to the point that he was able to sell out major venues like New York City’s Bottom Line Club in Greenwich Village several times over. His brothers Jimmy and Jerry were part of the band that provided the musical accompaniment to the madness of Floyd and his crazy crew. (Jimmy and Jerry would later go on to musical careers of their own with Conan O’Brien and part of the Beatles tribute band the Fab Faux). Celebrities like David Bowie and the Ramones attending the shows and laughed alongside other fans as Floyd and his cast almost literally tore the stage apart. (Mugsy did in fact break one of the tables at the club, the same table that Mick Jagger danced on when he made an appearance at the club while Peter Tosh was performing.)

The Uncle Floyd Show was picked up for syndication in 1982 with a bigger budget and set, but what was popular in the local NJ/NY area didn’t translate well for the rest of the country. Though now able to have guests like Paul Simon, Linda Blair, members of Monty Python and more, the show sort of lost the local quality that the fans loved. The syndicated show lost steam and Floyd was back on local NJ television before being picked up by the public television station New Jersey Network where it regained some of its local popularity despite public TV restrictions. Cyndi Lauper, the Ramones, Howard Stern, former Monkee Davy Jones, David Johansen debuting his Buster Poindexter persona and others all made appearances on the NJN Floyd shows. This version of the television show lasted from 1983 to 1986 before New Jersey Network pulled the plug despite the shows’ popularity. The show continued over other local stations until it finally ended in 1998, the longest running local entertainment program in the history of New Jersey television.

 

Being a working performer, Floyd never stopped, doing countless solo live shows, benefits and appearances, movie appearances in ‘Good Morning Vietnam’ with Robin Williams and ‘Crazy People’ with Dudley Moore, (plus Floyd and his brothers are in the documentaries ‘Flipside’ and ‘Banded Together: The Boys From Glen Rock High’), a long running Italian Music radio show, the online Uncle Floyd Radio Show featuring live commentary and telephone chats (repeats of the show are currently available as a podcast on Spotify and Mixcloud), ‘Uncle Floyd’s Garage Sale Music Show’ on WFDU-FM 89.1 FM (currently being rebroadcast Thursday’s at 4pm EST, available on the iHeart and TuneIn radio apps), and until his illness, the online ‘This Was The Uncle Floyd Show’ on the StageIt pay platform where Floyd and his comedy partner Scott Gordon presented rare clips from the television show over the years. (As of this writing Scott Gordon plans to continue the Tuesday night StageIt shows.) With Floyd being unable to perform, Scott put together the Uncle Floyd Podcast with reminisces and updates from Floyd while he was still physically able.

Floyd Vivino’s passing shocked many fans and performers who knew and loved him and many tributes sprung up on social media platforms, television and radio from regular folks to personalities like Howard Stern and Jon Bon Jovi. I had the pleasure of writing comedy bits and working with Floyd from his time on Avenel, NJ Cablevision to the early New Jersey Network years, and I helped in getting Davy Jones booked on the show. I wrote about Uncle Floyd in my first Monkees book and got to know Peter Tork when I visited the Floyd studio in West Orange, NJ in 1980 for Tork’s second appearance on the show. Attending the legendary Bottom Line Club shows is a memory I will always cherish. And I count myself blessed that I got to know Floyd Vivino and the other cast members: precious memories that will stay with me as long as I live.

Uncle Floyd Vivino was a one-of-a-kind entertainer, an old soul in a modern age who brought fun, laughter and music to a younger generation. There was nobody like him. And there will never be another like him again.

To quote ‘Slip Away’ from David Bowie:

“Don’t Forget To Keep Your Head Warm/Twinkle, Twinkle Uncle Floyd”.

 

Ed’s Pop O’Matic Podcast Uncle Floyd Tribute

 

StageIt Pay Platform – This Was The Uncle Floyd Show Tuesday Night Show: https://www.stageit.com/the_uncle_floyd_show_with_scott_gordon/this_was_the_uncle_floyd_show_256/121177

The Uncle Floyd Podcast: https://unclefloyd.podbean.com

Uncle Floyd Radio

https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/3exz2-98a3e/Uncle-Floyd-Radio-Show—From-Deep-in-the-Heart-of-Jersey-Podcast

Fred Velez, 2026.

Fred Velez is the author of the books ‘A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You: The Monkees From A Fan’s Perspective’ and ‘A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You 2: The Monkees From International Fan Perspectives’.

Purchase Books At The FreddyPop Shop!: https://freddypop.wordpress.com/freddy-pop-shop/