History of The Goof-Off Show

The History of “The Goof-Off Show”

It all started in San Jose California way back in 1961. That’s when two brothers (Chip & Eric) got the music bug. Their parents were ballroom dancers who owned / operated various Arthur Murray Dance Studios from the 1940’s through 1960’s in California and Minnesota.

In the neighborhood where the brothers lived, other neighborhood kids were putting together surf and rock & roll bands. Chip took up guitar (and later changed permanently to bass guitar) and Eric played the spinet piano that was in the family living room (Eric eventually switched to Hammond Organ). They eventually met some other neighbor kids that played drums, sax, and a few that tried singing,  and they all started practicing in the living room. Nobody was very good in the beginning, so they called the group “The Goof-Off Band”.

As time went on some of these same kids turned into excellent musicians (Chip & Eric to name a few) and went on to play professionally but The Goof-Off Band was always there.

At some point after the Goof Off musicians knew how to play their primary instruments, it became the custom for everybody to play a different instrument when playing in The Goof -Off Band. This band (where the musicians played the wrong instruments) actually played paid gigs a few times! At a nightclub in the early 70’s, they got a gig for a Friday and Saturday night. They played Friday night (at the start of the night there were 40 people – by the 2^nd set everyone had gone home). When the boys came in Saturday to play, they noticed all their equipment had been removed from the stage and put in the middle of the dance floor. They asked what was going on and the club owner simply replied, “what can I say babe? You stink”. Down the line that same club owner became known as “Stink Babe” and has remained good friends with the Goof-Off band members, and they always get a chuckle about that story.

At another point in the early 1970’s The Goof – Off Band took a country music detour and called itself “The Rune Olson Road Show”. (Rune Olson was actually Chip and Eric's great-uncle who was a professional accordion player in New York City during the 1920's. The accordion used on The Goof-Off Show is Rune Olson's actual accordion, and if you look carefully you will see Rune Olson's name etched in gold.) The Goof-Off Show's  Rune Olsen had a “hip” brother called Rockin’ Olson. This character (Rockin’ Olson) would eventually show up on TV in the 1990’s, which brings us to the next evolution...

In 1998 Chip wanted to expand The Goof-Off Band horizons and thought a TV show would be fun. He contacted the local public access cable TV station in San Jose and The Goof-Off Show was born! Chip’s idea was to turn the show over to his brother Eric’s two sons Robbie and Jeffrey when they were old enough and if they were interested enough. Eric, Chip, Robbie and Jeffrey wrote, produced, filmed,  (and everything else) the original Goof Off Shows between 1998 and 2005.

In 2006 The Goof-Off Show was officially taken over by the younger brothers - Robbie and Jeffrey:  and became Ubsey TV.  The rest is history!!

Who was on the original classic Goof-Off Shows & what were their names? 

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