RAY J. JOHNSON

'Raymond J. Johnson, Jr.' is a character created by comedian Bill Saluga. His schtick is to become annoyed when addressed as "Mr. Johnson", exclaiming in a loud voice, "You can call me RAY; or you can call me JAY", and so on listing other names he could be called, until finally finishing, "but you doesn't hafta call me JOHNSON!"
Capitalizing on the relative fame of Raymond J. Johnson, Jr., in 1979, Saluga released a disco single called "Dancin' Johnson." That same year, Bob Dylan quoted Johnson's schtick in the song "Gotta Serve Somebody" ("You may call me R.J./ you may call me Ray…") on the ''Slow Train Coming'' LP.
Saluga performed Raymond J. Johnson, Jr. on Redd Foxx's eponymous variety show [1], and later on television commercials for Anheuser-Busch's Natural Lite beer. The character was mentioned in 1993 and again in 1999 (as Ray Jay Johnson) on the TV program ''The Simpsons''. In the 1993 episode, Krusty the Klown mentions that the only bad show he put on was when Johnson co-hosted, saying "That bit was funny for three seconds." In 2002, Saluga again appeared as Johnson in an episode of the show, singing (in a Branson, Missouri, theater), "You can call me Ray / Or you can call me Jay / Just don't call me washed-up / I do three shows a day."
In a Season 7 episode of Garfield and Friends titled "Alley Katta and the 40 Thieves," the sultan character is always saying "you don't have to call me your highness" in a manner imitating Johnson, much to the annoyance of the other characters.
Johnson can also be glimpsed briefly, via a television commercial, in the film ''Being There''.

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External links

★ The "You can call me Ray" bit in RealAudio format, from tvparty.com

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