Nodes of Gold #2

First of all, let me just point out to all that the new movie Run, Fat Boy, Run is not about me.

(I just wanted to make that joke before my brother did.)

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Today, we will enjoy the second bio in our series, Nodes of Gold, which profiles famous people who have been treated for some form of lymphoma.

Today's celebrity lymphomaniac: comedian Arte Johnson.

Johnson is probably best known for being a cast member on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, which appeared on NBC from 1968 to 1971. Among his better known characters were "Wolfgang," a German soldier who would comment on other sketches by saying "Verrrrry interesting....," and Tyrone Horneigh (pronounced Horn-eye), a lecherous old man who would hit on Ruth Buzzi's character Gladys Ormphby, usually with disasterous results.

Johnson reprised the Wolfgang role for several epidodes of Sesame Street in 1970. In one segment, he discussed the imprtance of the letters Q and U. In another, he explains the difference between short and tall. Naturally, he found all of it "verrrry interesting." Sesame Street's producers received a number of complaints about the character, such as one froma German woman who objected to the stereotyping of people from her country. According to Patricia Tornburgh of the Children's Television Workshop Information Department, by January 1971, the Wolfgang character "has yet to attract any favorable comments." The character was let go soon thereafter. (How cool is that? Fired by Sesame Street!)

Johnson has appeared in a number of other TV shows, including The Love Boat (6 times) and Fantasy Island (4 times), Fame and The Dukes of Hazzard. He was a frequent guest judge on The Gong Show. He also has done voice work on numerous cartoons, including Scooby Doo, the Smurfs, and Misterjaw, in which he played the lead, a weird German-accented shark who didn't eat anyone, but preferred to sneak up on people and scare them by screaming "Ha-Gotcha!" He also hosted the game show Knockout in the 1970's.

In 1997, Johnson was diagnosed with a form of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. He was treated successfully.

And for those of who like to play "Six Degrees of Lymphoma Separation": Johnson appeared in an episode of The A-Team in 1985, playing a character named "Uncle Buckle-Up."

So here's to you, Arte Johnson. You have Nodes of Gold!