As part of the ongoing celebration of the legacy of Kovacs, his estate is making Percy Dovetonsils…..Thpeaks available for the first time in three formats: old-fashioned vinyl, a CD, or an MP3 download. Hoping to complete the album as Kovacs intended, keyboardist Ben Model, who also wrote the liner notes, was asked to add piano support behind Kovacs’ voice. In addition, the listener can get some of the flavor of what Percy Dovetonsils was like on TV in bonus tracks taken from Kovacs Unlimited, a network program that ran from 1952 to 1954.
How much of the comedy from the album proper will appeal to modern audiences is a matter of taste. Yes, it can be said the character of Percy Dovetonsils is stereotypical, not exactly politically correct. (Is any good comedy?) On the other hand, the monologues are of a far, far gentler mode than anything else put out, well, in decades. For example, after referring to a bear, Percy questions if it’s safe to say “bare” on television. Talk about different times...
Admittedly, much of the humor on the bonus appearances has been lost in this format. Clearly, the audiences in the TV studio were seeing and laughing at things we’re not. Some of the references may confuse younger folks who don’t remember Ralph Edwards, Milton Berle, or Bob and Ray. Mostly, the listener will have to decide just how much of this ridiculous imagery, how many really, really stretched rhymes they can take in one sitting. You might not have a laugh fest from start to finish, but it will be hard not to wear a silly grin hearing such, ah, pithy talk. You may find playing ”The Night Before Christmas On New York’s Fashionable East Side” a new Yuletide tradition. And you may well wish more of the stuff we see on TV now was more like this. C’mon, you gotta give Percy a try at least once. It’s not everyone who can give useful advice to a housefly stuck on an ice cube floating in bourbon.
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