RIP Bill Saluga, a.k.a. Raymond J. Johnson, Jr.

We got curious when we noticed a bump in the traffic for my post on the 1970s comedy troupe Ace Trucking Company over the last several weeks. That usually portends that the act in question has made the news, and we discovered that, indeed, that is the case. Comedian Bill Saluga (1937-2023) passed away back on March 28.

Saluga’s name was well-known in the comedy field, but the public itself knew him best as his hilarious character Raymond J. Johnson Jr, whose spiel ran: “Erm…ya doesn’t have to call me Johnson! My name is Raymond J. Johnson Jr. You can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay, or you can call me Johnny, or you can call me Sonny, or you can call me Junie, or you can call me Junior; now you can call me Ray J, or you can call me RJ, or you can call me RJJ, or you can call me RJJ Jr. . . but you doesn’t hasta call me Johnson!”

The appeal of this bit (as is so often the case) was the character specificity. He always did it the same way. It was like he had walked out of some movie from the 1930s. There was a quirky comedy voice that went with it, and he puffed his cigar and grabbed the lapels of his suit jacket for emphasis like a character in a cross-talk act. It was the stuff of vaudeville and burlesque and radio and old comedy shorts. Back in the day he might have milked it for decades. In the television age such an act scaled higher heights more quickly, and then aged just as fast. So we’re talking about a very specific time period, the late ’70s and early 1980s. Saluga leaned into it around the time Ace Trucking Company dissolved (mid ’70s) and immediately became in demand on variety shows and specials. He did it onThe Gong Show, The David Steinberg Show, Redd Foxx, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Cher…and Other Fantasies, Ann-Margret: Hollywood Movie Girls, The Steve Allen Comedy Hourand the 1979 Disco Music Awards (haha, now THERE’s a short-lived awards show). Saluga even released his own disco record “Dancin’ Johnson” that has to rank with such things as “Disco Duck”, “A Fifth of Beethoven”, “Rappin’ Rodney” and “The Curly Shuffle” as one of the most gimmicky records of all time. In fact, Saluga’s act was such a cultural point of reference in 1979 that Bob Dylan referenced him in his song “Gotta Serve Somebody” on the Slow Train Coming album. As the fad started to wind down, he released Bill Saluga’s Name Game Book, a clear sign that he was looking for new revenue-generating angles to work on his big idea. This was a guy who knew how to milk a routine ’til there just ain’t no more milk. .

As we said, other comedians loved him, so after the craze wound down, he was cast in guest starring roles on such shows as Murphy Brown,Seinfeld,Mad About You,Designing Women, The Simpsons, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. He was a regular on the show Going Bananas (1984) and Playboy’s Really Naked Truth (a sort of Candid Camera where people were ambushed with glimpses of live, nude women. What could go wrong?) He’s also in movies, such as TheJerk Too (1984, a made-for-tv sequel with Mark Blankfieldfrom Fridays in the Steve Martin role) and The Great Buck Howard (2008).

Originally from Youngstown, Ohio, Saluga was 85 at the time of his passing. At this writing I believe the only surviving member of Ace Trucking Company is Mike Mislove.

For more on show biz history please see my book No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous. And stay tuned for my next book Vaudeville in Your Living Room: A Century of Radio and TV Variety, coming November 2023.