Brother Dave

My brother, Dave, is six years older than me. It amuses me to call him "Brother Dave" because we both remember LPs Padre owned by a comedian of the same same.

Brother Dave Gardner came to national attention in 1959 through the Tonight Show with Jack Parr (reportedly appearing on that program over 70 times). I imagine Padre bought the LPs because of those appearances. I believe Padre owned only two Brother Dave albums.

Brother Dave was an ordained Baptist minister, a drummer, and a singer. He's best remembered as a Southern comedian, similar to Andy Griffith. A modern comparison might be Dave Barry.

My brother remembers a racist element to Brother Dave's routines; the Wikipedia article I link above mentions this, as do a number of reviews at Amazon. I do not remember this aspect of his humor. I have not heard any of his routines since I left home for college, almost thirty years ago.

I do remember some one liners. For example: "Fear not, because 'not' ain't something to fear anyhow. Just remember, 'not' spelled backwards is 'ton.' Now, that's a heavy thought, ain't it?"

Then there's this musical snippet: "From this valley they say you are going / Do not hasten to bid me adieu / Just remember the Red River Valley / And the cowboy who tore half in two."

He did a routine about Daniel's time in the lion's den which I found quite amusing when I was a pre-teen. I still remember the section where Nebacaneezer is testing his soothsayers — not only does he want them to interpret his dream, he wants them to tell him what he dreamed.

None of the soothsayers can meet this challenge, so Nebacaneezer calls Daniel from the lion's den. Daniel claims he knows the dream, and starts spinning a fantastic tale (with some mild sexual content, I think). "Neb" says, "Oh, it was nothing like that," and proceeds to tell Daniel the whole dream. Daniel correctly interprets the dream, and "Neb" releases him from prison.

I also remember Brother Dave Gardner's singing; his voice was a pleasant baritone. The songs I remember in particular (aside from parodic snippet above) are "Is It True What They Say About Dixie?" and "Smoke That Cigarette". I recently learned the latter song was written by Merle Travis.

Happily, my brother doesn't mind being associated with this comedian. Or, at least, he doesn't object to my cock-eyed sense of humor.