Ray J. Johnson

Raymond J. Johnson, Jr. is a character created by comedian Bill Saluga. His shtick is to become annoyed when addressed as "Mr. Johnson", exclaiming in a loud voice, "You can call me RAY; or you can call me JAY", and so on listing other names he could be called, until finally finishing, "but you doesn't hafta call me JOHNSON!"

Capitalizing on the relative fame of Raymond J. Johnson, Jr., in 1979, Saluga released a disco single called "Dancin' Johnson." That same year, Bob Dylan quoted Johnson's shtick in the song "Gotta Serve Somebody" ("You may call me R.J./ you may call me Ray…") on the "Slow Train Coming" LP.

Saluga performed Raymond J. Johnson, Jr. on "Sanford and Son" as well as Redd Foxx's eponymous variety show [http://www.tvparty.com/foxx.html] , and later on television commercials for Anheuser-Busch's Natural Lite beer. The character was mentioned in 1993 and again in 1999 (as Ray Jay Johnson) on the TV program "The Simpsons". In the 1993 episode "Krusty Gets Kancelled" [cite episode
title = Krusty Gets Kancelled
episodelink = Krusty Gets Kancelled
series = The Simpsons
serieslink = The Simpsons
airdate = 1993-05-13
season = 4
number = 22 ] , Krusty the Klown mentions that the only bad show he put on was when Johnson co-hosted, saying "That bit was funny for three seconds." Lisa Simpson shared the same sentiment in the 1999 episode "Mom and Pop Art" [cite episode
title = Mom and Pop Art
episodelink = Mom and Pop Art
series = The Simpsons
serieslink = The Simpsons
airdate = 1999-04-11
season = 10
number = 19 ] claiming "I'm already sick of him" after hearing Homer recite Johnson's bit. In 2002, Saluga again appeared as Johnson in the episode "The Old Man and the Key" [cite episode
title = The Old Man and the Key
episodelink = The Old Man and the Key
series = The Simpsons
serieslink = The Simpsons
airdate = 2002-03-10
season = 13
number = 13 ] , singing (in a Branson, Missouri, theater), "You can call me Ray / Or you can call me Jay / Just don't call me washed-up / I do three shows a day."

In a Season 7 episode of "Garfield and Friends" titled "Alley Katta and the 40 Thieves," [cite episode
title = Alley Katta and the 40 Thieves
episodelink = Alley Katta and the 40 Thieves
series = Garfield and Friends
serieslink = Garfield and Friends
airdate = 1994-11-26
season = 7
number = 12 ] the sultan character is always saying "you don't have to call me your highness" in a manner imitating Johnson, much to the annoyance of the other characters.

Johnson can also be glimpsed briefly, via a television commercial, in the film "Being There".

The band Scatterbrain quoted Johnson's shtick in their 1990 song "Don't Call Me Dude".

External links

* [http://www.tvparty.com/sounds8/reddray.ram The "You can call me Ray" bit] in RealAudio format, from tvparty.com
*imdb name|id=0759178|name=Bill Saluga

References