- he is not a music star - just a funny man - please welcome him .
Junior Samples, born Alvin Samples Jr. (April 10, 1926 – November 13, 1983) in Cumming, Georgia was an American comedian best known for his 14-year run as a cast member of the TV show Hee Haw.
A sixth grade dropout, Samples was a stock car racing driver and carpenter by trade who went on the radio at the age of 40 and told a story about catching the largest fish ever seen in his hometown. The story was a humorous tall tale, and the recording of this radio story became a best-selling novelty record.
He was asked to become part of the 1969 cast of Hee Haw, and created a bumbling personality, often slurring his way through delivery, messing up jokes and forgetting lines. One of his most famous blunders was from "The Cornfield" sketch...
Junior: "What did the judge lock up old Stan Hawkins fer?"
Roy Clark: "Bigotry. He had three wives!"
Junior: "That's not bigotry, that's trig...trem...tri..." The word he continually slipped on was "trigonometry".[1]
In this way, Samples did much to contribute to the post-Laugh In surrealist comedy of the show, with its strange combination of absurdist kitsch and down-home non sequiturs. He was known for being one of the foursome (the others were Gordie Tapp; Grandpa Jones and Lulu Roman) that made up the eponymous family of the skit called "The Culhanes of Cornfield County".
BR-549However, his most famous bit was as a used car salesman, inviting callers to call an older 5-digit phone number, BR-549 (in the show's later years, the number was changed to BR-1Z1Z). When Hee Haw episodes were later sold to the public through a TV ad, the initial 800 number was a takeoff of Samples' comedy bit.[2] In 1993 BR5-49 was also taken as a name by an American country music band.[3] The number also appears as a cell phone number on signs at Wishard Memorial Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana cautioning against the use of cellphones. In the animated film Heavy Metal 2000, a destination for the mining spaceship is Asteroid BR-549. The origin of the number was the "broad ring" 549 cubic inch engine that was produced by International Motor Company. The "BR549" was very popular with farmers when it came out due to its huge displacement and horsepower, making it a popular workhorse for the farm. Due to the fact that the cylinders were larger than the pistons, International used broader piston rings than normal, giving it the designation "broad ring" 549. The BR549 soon fell out of favor with farmers due to the fact that its huge displacement produced a lot of heat, which caused the 549 to be plagued with overheating issues. International ceased production as the 549 became known as the "Edsel" of the International Motor Co.
