I said that the next few video embeds here would feature a few of the amazing people I've met in my life. When I wrote that, I didn't realize I'd be posting an obit and video for Bill Saluga, a great comic talent who I just learned passed away last March 28 at the age of 85. But he qualifies. It was wonderful that his "Raymond Jay Johnson" character caught on and brought him fame and fortune…but it would be a shame if anyone thought that was all he did.
Bill was a brilliant improv performer with a lightning-fast mind and a knack for finding the funny in any situation. I first saw him, as many of you probably did, working with George Memmoli, Michael Mislove, Fred Willard and (sometimes) Patti Deutsch in a troupe called the Ace Trucking Company. They appeared at a lot of clubs in the Los Angeles area and the audience could throw any suggestion or thought their way and something wonderful would magically appear. Sometimes, it was the infamous R.J. Johnson but Bill could be a lot of different people.
At one point, a lot of his employment was as a shill in "hidden camera" shows…setting up the unsuspecting victim in some situation. I never cared much for those shows but they sure tapped into what Bill was good at — thinking fast and being funny. Every time I ran into him anywhere, he was thinking fast and being funny. The time he guested on Garfield and Friends, he was thinking fast and being funny.
Here's a video of a record he made as his signature character. Please forgive the disco…