Taped in a fake foreign language, "The vonHummer Hour" is a bizarre cross between "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and "The Monkees." If there was just one Monkee. And he wore lobsters in his hair.
First airing in the Fall of 2001 as a bi-weekly series at the now-defunct MCTV in Troutdale, the surf-stopping high strangeness soon garnered a sizable cult following in the Portland area.
"Joint Co-Produced" by Clark Kent and Ann Hammer, from 2001-2003, a total of 54 original episodes were made until Kent's inevitable burn out—he wrote, directed, edited, and produced the music—by production in late 2003. The show began to re-run steadily starting in 2004 on PCM and was a Saturday night mainstay at 11PM until the end of 2011, when Kent decided to give it a rest already.
Describing the show's premise is tricky because it shifted over time. And since the sketches are really only there to space out the music videos, it's really only ever half a premise, since the music vids have no premise.
In the initial six episodes, it's implied that vonHummer is an international celebrity, or perhaps thinks that he is. He only appears with his significant, somewhat, other, Helvetica Bold. Reference is made to a son, "Little vonHummer, Jr., II."—who first appears in the sixth episode, and an ex-wife who is never seen. Half of the episodes feature vonHummer and Helvetica camping out at various foreign campgrounds and discussing life. The other half are "interview" episodes, where vonHummer asks questions of various costumed crazies at an un-named event.
In the next twelve episodes, only his personal life is seen, with new characters added: "F.U.," a sad-eyed stuffed, uh, humanoid stranded in a station wagon thinking slogans, "DJ Danz Macabre," who stars in a dance moves instructional video that vonHummer falls asleep to, Pliny the Lobster, and "The Alien," who abducts vonHummer to cross-breed him with alien hybrids. We also see Pete the Cat who opens every show, and Little vonHummer, Jr., II. who has heart-to-heart talks with his dad on the front porch.
The remainder of the series adds more "canned" sketch comedy type sketches: "Cooking with Dog," "Mantle Problems/From the Hearth," "Empty Space," "What Would Sulu Do," and the talking paintings.
During the 7 years of re-runs, Kent did a lot of re-editing and fixing: replacing music vids that had been repeated in several different episodes with new ones, and adding new sketches to replace old ones that weren't working.
In 2011, the ten year anniversary, Kent (now estranged from Ann Hammer and Helvetica) shot a new season of the show, calling it "vonHummer" to set it apart from the original. In this series, vonHummer re-unites with his half brother, Imus Nuttnau, to form a band. Of the 13 episodes written, six were shot, but only five edited so far. Although Kent considers them a separate series, they get thrown in after the other 54 have played, at no additional charge.
Also, every October, keep an eye out for the vonHummer film, "Bübiwulf!" which airs in three parts leading up to Halloween. Released in 2007, it was the feel-good werewolf movie of the year.
