Remembering Gary Owens

It's been seven years since Gary Owens passed away at the age of 80. I was a great admirer of his work, I'd tune to KMPC every afternoon to make sure I didn't miss one of his stories or a memorable one-liner. The following tribute was offered on February 15, 2017 at LARadio.com 

(FYI - A post-Super Bowl edition of Short Takes is on its way, please stay tuned.)

One More Farewell to Gary Altman

There will be a number of tributes to the late Gary Altman, who left KOIL-Omaha to later become famous as Gary Owens. I didn’t have the privilege of working with him, though he always was very kind to me at the LARadio.com events where he appeared. Still, as a loyal listener, there were two aspects of Mr. Owens which I wanted to ensure were noted.

Gary was diagnosed as a Type I diabetic when he was only eight years of age. He clearly managed his disease, it’s rare for anyone with childhood diabetes to live into his eighth decade as Gary was able to do. It’s a cruel malady, particularly because people with Type I diabetes don’t have the control over their health and their well-being in a way which most take for granted. The disease affects diet, of course, but it also affects sleep, activity, and mood, not counting the fear of having a hypoglycemic seizure. Somehow over his career, Gary was able to maintain not only his talent, but also his penchant of being a true gentleman to others in spite of having to deal with the daily consequences of diabetes. It couldn’t have been easy.

Then there’s the source of Gary’s humor. Far too many are not as smart as they think they are, but Gary was understated in demonstrating his intelligence. He was once quoted as stating “it takes a lot of hard work to come up with puns and bad jokes,” but Gary’s wittiness required an occasional pause to realize he’d said something both funny and profound. Gary was able to find a fitting one-liner or quip for just about any topic, derived from the rich source of knowledge and intellect he possessed. In his profile about Gary, Los Angeles Times radio columnist James Brown said he watched Gary playing a game of basketball wearing a Friedrich Nietzsche t-shirt. Gary would probably joke he wore the shirt simply in celebration of being able to spell “Nietzsche,” yet the reality was Gary had read the philosopher’s books among the many thinkers and scholars likely found in the Owens library.

He’d refer to himself as “Garish,” but there was little showy or tasteless about what he brought to his listeners year after year. He never appeared to take himself too seriously, witness his annual salute to the holidays when he’d replay his infamous Preparation H commercial (leading to his remark “if you don’t like Preparation H, you know what you can do with it, right?”). Yet he was serious about entertaining his audience day-in and day-out, which made it a joy to spend the commute with Gary Owens. Like many, I briefly cup my hand around my ear in salute to one of the best to have entertained on the Los Angeles radio dial.