Goober and his Kentuckians

Found this postcard for sale on VintagePostcards.org: a nice shot of Goober and the Kentuckians, suitable for framing.

Who was Goober? I don't even know. This page lists him as "Goober P. Nutt and the Kentuckians" but has no info other than a truly frightening photo wherein Goob's looking like a cross between Howdy Doody, Okie Jones, and the resurrected corpse of Archie. This blog evidently found the same postcard site as I did, but had nothing more to say.

And then there's this eBay auction from our friends at Bright's Antique World down in Franklin, where you can get this poster for "Uncle Remus Hush Puppies Dog Food", which apparently was the sponsor of a Goober and the Kentuckians TV show that aired Fridays at 5:45pm on WSIX-TV. It also uses the exact same promo postcard image.


WSIX-TV, however, is in Nashville. Or should I say, was - it's since morphed into WKRN. And this forum says that Goober, whose real name is Gib Buchanan, got his start on WDZ 1050 in Decatur, IL.

So was Goober even really a Kentuckian? The odds are actually against it, since it was seemingly very hip back in the day to be a Kentuckian, real or imagined - witness Henny Hendrickson's Louisville Serenaders, a bunch of Jersey guys who probably never set foot in Louisville in their lives. And Johnny Hamp's Kentucky Serenaders, based out of Pennsylvania.