The Fonz, Richie, Andy, and Opie are pro Obama

Ron Howard, Andy Grffith, and Henry Winkler revived some old characters in a pro-Obama "call to action." It's funny, cute, sentimental, and incredibly awkward and horrifying all at once.
Ron Howard's Call To Action (Thanks, Joel Johnson!)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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akbar56

Whats bad is my scifi geek kicked in and picked up Dren from its Farscape useage of “shit”
Xopher

Rhymes that way, too, Akbar56.
Anonymous

Does anyone know the artist or track name of the music playing in the background at the beginning and end of the video?
octopede

OK. Back up. Andy Griffith is alive? And he’s voting Democratic?
akbar56

Exactly Octopede, thats how serious this election is.

The real question we must ask now is how would Barney Fife and Al vote?
maturin

COWBOY K
thank you for supporting my usage of “dren”
would have been pathetic to be disemvoweled for a word Joanie Cunningham made up. :-)
uglyredhonda

#7: US3 – “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)”
Brainspore

OK. Back up. Andy Griffith is alive? And he’s voting Democratic?

That clip was actually filmed shortly before his death in the late ’80s just for the benefit of future generations. Such is the power of Obama.
FoetusNail

I’m still scarred and scared.
Anonymous

#11, many thanks, I’ve had that song in my head on and off for 5 years or so.
Bonnie

Whenever I vote I think to myself: “What would Leather Tuscadero do?”
cory

I honestly, seriously thought AG was dead. I even remembered feeling sad about it. Thus, this video seriously creeped me out until I checked. Who knew?

The memory is a funny thing.

On a related note, do Opie and Richie BOTH get to vote?
mr_josh

I had that thought too, but I think I was confusing him with Don Knotts.
wolfwitch

Anyone know who Alf would vote for?

Oh wait- alien. Never mind.
Stefan Jones

Don Knotts sent in a provisional ballot. He wrote in Ross Perot for President because he likes the guy’s looks.
Jack

This is the GOATSE of televised nostalgia.

Please, don’t ever do something like this again.
David Pescovitz

I was also shocked to see Andy for a second! Glad he’s still alive, patroling on our behalf. : )
Alpinwolf

To me the creepy was somehow overwhelmed by the awesome.

Maybe cuz Winkler still rocks The Fonz.

“Boy was I wruuuh… wrouhuh… Yeah, that’s the word.”
freshyill

Here’s the real link on Funny or Die, not the crappy-looking stolen version on YouTube. You should really update the link to this.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/cc65ed650d
Dead Air

The Andy Griffith one felt like two old actors reprising their roles in the same timeframe they played them before.

What’s really creepy about the Happy Days one, was that it felt more like these same guys were really in the same Milwaukie neighborhood decades later and way older, and the Fonz is still a greaser in ’50s hood clothing admitting he voted for Bush…
takeshi

Barney would’ve voted Palin. Otis for Bush. Al for Bob Barr. Aunt Bee for Mr. C, and Mr. C for Ralph. Oh, the postmodernism.
takeshi

Also, Goober and Gomer write in Kucinich.
roundabout

dont be a pussy jack
unklstuart

@7&39

Yes Cantaluope Island from the album Empyrean Isles.

Herbie Hancock â€” Piano
Freddie Hubbard â€” Cornet
Ron Carter â€” Bass
Tony Williams â€” drums

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empyrean_Isles
hcovitz

Makes up for the Happy Days episode where the Cunninghams dis Adlai Stevenson.
grimc

And because the Andy Griffith talk has surely raised the question in many people’s minds:

Yes, Abe Vigoda is still alive.

http://www.abevigoda.com/ffb.php
hcovitz

Cunninghams dis Democrat Stevenson and support Republican Ike in this episode:

http://www.tv.com/happy-days/the-not-making-of-the-president/episode/20495/summary.html
hcovitz

This episode made me hate Howard Cunningham for the rest of my life:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPp8Gy3WEX8

Adlai Stevenson was a great man.
devophill

#33 Bondjamesbond-

I have tremendous respect for any major Hollywood persona who is willing to let himself be filmed getting his nose hairs clipped..

And to be filmed taking off his toupee! (Not that he ever wears one, but still.) It’s something I kinda hope catches on. Bill Shatner, I’m looking at you…
Shrdlu

#7: Herbie Hancock’s Cantaloupe Island. I believe that is Miles Davis on the trumpet.
Shrdlu

Too bad Don Knotts is not still with us. It would have been great to see him come out of the bushes and go into a pro-McCain rant. He was a master of the misguided soapbox speech.

I watched the entire Andy Griffith Show series on WGN this past year. All I had read about it for years is how ridiculously idyllic it was in portraying small-town life and the conspicuous absence of Blacks on the show. I was surprised by just how progressive it really was, not to mention appearances by the likes of a very young Jack Nicholson and Barbara Eden–that costume on I Dream of Jeanie did not do justice to her figure like a snugly tailored dress and heels did.
hcovitz

Actually, Fonzie also voted for the Republican:

At a large public rally Fonzie publicly declares, “I like Ike. My bike likes Ike .

So, also good to see Winkler making up for that.
highlyevolved

eeeyhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
mongo

Fraud! Lies! Andy may be alive but he wasn’t in the same studio as Opie. That was green screened and matched up.
nanner

@2 & 3

“dren” is Nerd spelled backwards. Joanie had the hots for Potzie at some point and made it up
Bevatron Repairman

There’s something about these “I’ve never made a political endorsement before” things that remind me of Playboy Fora: “I never expected to be writing you…”
Clayton Hove

What, no Mork cameo?
vespabelle

needs more Matlock!
bondjamesbond

I have tremendous respect for any major Hollywood persona who is willing to let himself be filmed getting his nose hairs clipped….

Damn, Ron… good for you!
douqep

YouTube took the video down. Available at its source here: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/cc65ed650d
maturin

Obama is a dren
McCain can sit on it
enolagray

Somewhere, one shark turned to another and asked, “hey did you just feel a weird sensation, like something was going over your back?”
Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator

Maturin, what’s a dren?
Xopher

Hey, he could have been naturalized.
Takuan

misspelling of “dream”
cowboy_k

Was I the only one who thought to check the Internet to see if “dren” might have been used appropriately?

“Dren was used as a nickname in an episode of Happy Days where Joanie described Potsie as the opposite of a nerd, being that word spelt backwards.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dren

(And we all know that Wikipedia is accurate, right?)
Cool Products

That was pretty funny. I really liked the Henry Winkler/Fonzie part, that was great.