In 2017, Rolling Stone named Scharpling one of the "50 Funniest People Right Now,"[3] and in 2019, Vulture named The Best Show one of the "10 Essential Comedy Podcasts That Shaped The Genre."[4]
He has cited his major comedy influences as Chris Elliott's Get a Life, SCTV, Saturday Night Live, and the 1994 absurdist comedy Clifford starring Martin Short. Scharpling later purchased the suit worn by Short in Clifford via an eBay auction.[citation needed]
In his late teens, Scharpling had a mental breakdown that led him to be checked in to a mental hospital; his condition was cured with electroconvulsive therapy, which led to some memory loss.[7]
Scharpling became an avid cassette tape collector, and began to use the name "Mel Sharples" (the name of a character on the sitcom Alice) for himself when ordering tapes, to distinguish himself from his father, who had the same name (Scharpling was then still known as Tom Giuliano). He found that he enjoyed having a pseudonym, because the new name had no "baggage", including no association to his previous mental illness. He decided to "tweak" the name Mel Sharples and went with "Tom Scharpling"; the surname was based on a combination of the surnames of activist Al Sharpton and comedian Garry Shandling, with a "c" added in for "panache".[1]
Career
Early music-based radio shows and writing
In the early 1990s, Scharpling was the publisher of 18 Wheelerfanzine, and ran an independent record label of the same name. The first 7-inch single by Portastatic was released by Scharpling's label in 1992. He also contributed the liner notes for The Electrifying Conclusion, Guided By Voices's DVD documentary of their "final" live show in Chicago released in 2005.
Scharpling began volunteering at the New Jersey–based freeform station WFMU in the early 1990s.[6] He started hosting a music-oriented program on the station in the mid-1990s.[6] He briefly left the station in the late 1990s because he "had some personal things to take care of with family and stuff."[6] Scharpling has told interviewers that he prefers the medium of radio due to the anxiety he gets from being onstage.[6]
Scharpling hosted the first episode of The Best Show on WFMU on October 10, 2000. The program was a three-hour comedy, music, call-in and talk radio program that aired Tuesday nights; the program featured a roster of genuine callers as well as calls in-character from Jon Wurster (with occasional in-character calls from H. Jon Benjamin, Jon Glaser, Peyton Reed and others). The show began incorporating more celebrity guests, including regular appearances from Patton Oswalt, Ted Leo, Paul F. Tompkins and other names from film, music and comedy.
Scharpling is considered by some as the "Godfather Of Podcasting".[8] Episodes of The Best Show were archived from the shows beginning, as were most of the programs on WFMU, in the RealPlayer format. It began podcasting in early 2006 with the music removed from the latest shows and offered as downloadable files on the internet through the rest of its run on the station, helping it reach an even wider audience than it had already developed.
Scharpling made no money from the station,[5] and regularly encouraged fans to donate to the non-profit station by offering elaborate pledge drive gifts.
Citing his tenure on The Best Show on WFMU as proof, the August 2010 issue of GQ magazine listed Scharpling No. 11 on its list of 37 "Never Not Funny" comedians, dubbing him one of "the funniest men you haven't heard of yet."[9]
On October 29, 2013, Scharpling announced that the final Best Show on WFMU was to air on December 17, 2013. On October 10, 2014, 14 years to the day after The Best Show first aired, Scharpling announced via his Twitter page that The Best Show would return in November 2014.[10]
The Best Show with Tom Scharpling
On December 17, 2014, the first episode of The Best Show in its new format, a web-cast and podcast, aired via thebestshow.net from an independent studio in Jersey City. The live webcast of the show follows a similar format as it did on WFMU, with callers, skits performed by Scharpling & Wurster, and a three-hour run-time.[11]
In 2014, the show spawned an Adult Swim special, titled The Newbridge Tourism Board Presents: We're Newbridge We're Comin' to Get Ya!, featuring Wurster, Julie Klausner and Gilbert Gottfried,[12] as well as many Scharpling & Wurster characters from the show.
The show currently takes place in Los Angeles from the Forever Dog studios in North Hollywood. This new iteration of the show includes a live video stream on Twitch, musical performances and two 24-hour episodes,[13] which have featured the likes of Bill Hader, Conan O'Brien, Jarvis Cocker, Bob Odenkirk, Nathan Fielder, and Sarah Squirm.
Scharpling & Wurster
Nearly every episode of The Best Show features an on-air collaboration with Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster. The pair met at a concert in the early 1990s, and bonded over their mutual love of Chris Elliott's short-lived sitcom Get a Life.[6]
Their partnership began with a call aired on Scharpling's music program titled Rock, Rot & Rule, where Wurster portrayed a snobby rock critic, answering questions from incredulous callers that didn't realize it was an act.[14]
Tom Scharpling was the first writer to be hired for the series Monk.[19] He was hired to the show by Saturday Night Live writer and fellow WFMU DJ Andy Breckman.[20] Scharpling acted as Monk's executive producer during the last four of the show's eight seasons.
He appeared on an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force ("The Shaving") as the voice of "Willie Nelson", an awkward, unassertive onion–spider monster hybrid who lives in the attic of the house. He also appears on the special features portion of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Volume 3 DVD. In addition, Scharpling occasionally wrote for Tom Goes to the Mayor. He voices Greg Universe in the animated series Steven Universe. He also voiced Jermaine in the animated series Adventure Time. Scharpling was a head writer/co-executive producer for season one of HBO's show Divorce.
Music videos
Starting in August 2010, Scharpling has directed a number of music videos, typically for groups that he is friends with, and mostly on an extremely limited budget. The shorts usually contain a number of celebrity cameos, and are often met with positive reviews.[21]
In 2012, Scharpling directed the video for Aimee Mann's song "Labrador", which is a shot-by-shot remake of the video for the 1985 'Til Tuesday song "Voices Carry", with Mann in the lead role, Jon Wurster playing the abusive yuppie boyfriend, and Ted Leo as the guitarist in Mann's band. The video begins with a brief "making of" clip featuring Jon Hamm as "Tom Scharpling", discussing the video concept, and Mann stating that she was tricked into doing the video.[23]
Scharpling guest starred as the bailiff in the episode "A Room With a Feud" of John Hodgman's comedy/court show podcast Judge John Hodgman.[25]
Scharpling has appeared as a guest multiple times on The George Lucas Talk Show, and is a frequent contributor to the live chatroom conversation.
Print
Scharpling is a regular columnist for and co-founder of the sports website The Classical. He has worked as a headline contributor for The Onion, as well as the writer of Harp Magazine's "(Not So) Great Moments in Rock" column. He has also contributed basketball-themed writing to GQ[26] and SLAM Magazine. In 2011, Scharpling was commissioned by New York Magazine to write multi-page recaps for every episode of the fourth season of NBC's Celebrity Apprentice.[27]
Until mid-2019 Scharpling lived in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey with his wife, fellow WFMU DJ Terre T.[5][30] They are currently divorced, and as of October 2019, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife Julia Vickerman.[31] He has been a pescatarian since approximately 1994,[32] and almost never consumes alcohol.[33]
^ abcdeLaGorce, Tammy. "In Person; Gotcha! Stay Tuned", The New York Times, January 1, 2006. Accessed February 27, 2020. "'It's great when people you admire like what you're doing,' Mr. Scharpling, who grew up in Dunellen, writes for Monk in Summit and lives with his wife in Woodbridge, said before a recent Best Show. "
^Dewan, Shaila K. "Boldface Names", The New York Times, December 27, 2001. Accessed February 27, 2020. "Terre T and her husband, Tom Scharpling, both hosts of programs on WFMU, listened to comics tell of encounters with Jim Belushi."
^Best Show on WFMU archives: "November 5, 2002 episode"; 1 hour, 39 minutes, 50-second mark, Scharpling states: "See, I eat fish, right? But I haven't eaten meat in I guess like eight years now. I'm not a vegan, though."
