Coyle and Sharpe were a United States
comedy duo
A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act, often highlighting differences in their characters' ...
appearing on the
radio
Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
during the early 1960s. Composed of Jim Coyle (1932–1993) and
Malcolm Sharpe (1936-2020), the duo's typical format was to satirize the "
vox populi
( ) is a Latin phrase (originally ''Vox populi, vox Dei'' – "The voice of the people is the voice of God") that literally means "voice of the people." It is used in English in the meaning "the opinion of the majority of the people." In journa ...
" interview, with off-the-wall questions posed to passers-by in a generally deadpan style as though it were a serious interview.
History
Jim Coyle was born in 1932.
[Sharpe, Jennifer]
Liner Notes
''Coyle & Sharpe On The Loose'' (2.13.61 Records, 1995). Mal Sharpe was born in 1936 in Boston.
Coyle and Sharpe began their comedy team in 1958 in a
boarding house
A boarding house is a house (frequently a family home) in which lodging, lodgers renting, rent one or more rooms on a nightly basis and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months, or years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and ...
. On their official website, Jim Coyle is described as a "benign
conman
A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibi ...
who talked his way into 119 jobs by the time he was 25". At the time of their meeting, Mal Sharpe had just graduated from college and was interested in the burgeoning
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
scene.
In 1964, the duo was hired by radio station
KGO (AM)
KSFO (810 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to San Francisco, San Francisco, California, featuring a conservative talk radio format. Owned by Cumulus Media, KSFO's studios are on ...
in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
to pull pranks, or as they jokingly referred to them, "terrorizations." The radio show was called ''Coyle and Sharpe On The Loose''. Shortly after these broadcasts aired, they released two records on the
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
label: ''The Absurd Imposters'' and ''The Insane Minds Of Coyle And Sharpe''.
In 1963 Coyle & Sharpe shot a few skits on San Francisco's
Market Street, and soon they made a pilot for a TV show in Los Angeles.
The TV show never materialized, and the duo broke up in 1965.
Coyle died in February 1993
[Boulware, Jack]
"Mal On the Street: The Ambush Humor of Mal Sharpe,"
WFMU website. Accessed May 16, 2018. of complications from
diabetes
Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...
; he was survived by his wife Naomi.
Mal Sharpe continued to do the man on the street interviews.
In the year 2000, Sharpe hosted a centennial exhibit at the
Whitney Museum
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...
called "''The American Century''". Coyle and Sharpe were featured in the Soundworks Exhibit for this presentation.
Discography
* ''The Absurd Imposters'' (
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
, 1963)
* ''The Insane (But Hilarious) Minds of Coyle and Sharpe'' (Warner Bros., 1964)
* ''Coyle & Sharpe On The Loose'' (
2.13.61
2.13.61, Inc. is a publisher and record company founded by American musician Henry Rollins and named after his date of birth (February 13, 1961). The company has released albums by the Rollins Band, all of Rollins' spoken word work, and numerou ...
, 1995) — re-issued material
* ''Coyle And Sharpe — Audio Visionaries'' (
Thirsty Ear Recordings
Thirsty Ear Recordings is an American independent record label. It was founded in the late 1970s as a marketing company for the then-unnamed alternative music field, and expanded to issue its own records in 1990.
Thirsty Ear came to prominence ...
, 2000) — re-issued material
See also
*
Bob and Ray
Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to:
People, fictional characters, and named animals
*Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
*Bob (surname)
*Bob (dog), a dog that received the Dickin Medal for bravery in World War II
*Bob the ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coyle And Sharpe
American comedy duos