The great TV jester Soupy Sales has taken the Big Pie in the Face.

The Associated Press obit notes:

Soupy Sales, the rubber-faced comedian whose anything-for-a-chuckle career was built on 20,000 pies to the face and 5,000 live TV appearances across a half-century of laughs, died yesterday. He was 83.

The AP piece also cites the signature Soupy Sales pitch:

Mr. Sales, who was typically clad in a black sweater and oversized bow-tie, was suspended for a week after telling his legion of tiny listeners to empty their mothers’ purse and mail him all the pieces of green paper bearing pictures of presidents.

But what I remember most is the musical tour de force “(Hold Your Head and Shout) Your Brains Will Fall Out” (sorry, can’t find a link) . . .  Black Tooth and White Fang . . . The Mouse . . . Words of Wisdom . . .Pachalafaka . . .  Blink Your Eyes, Pookie.

Soupy Sales was the James Joyce of children’s television. As legendary humorist S.J. Perelman once wrote (legendarily about himself):

Before they made him, they broke the mold.

Ditto for Soupy Sales.