Right About Now / Funk Soul ... Uncle?

February 26, 2008 6:24 PM

Depending on your age, you may have heard him as Shredder or any one of a handful of characters for which he provided voices, but arguably James Avery's most famous role is as Uncle Phil on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." When Uncle Phil goes on a diet, he's orgasmic at the very thought of Thanksgiving dinner. Well, someone saw this clip and thought: "Why not?" Of all the bizarre things to remix, this has to be the one of the oddest — and although the visual is nothing to write home about, the audio must be heard to be believed. (Separating this into its separate components, there are also very odd remixes of Fresh Prince, and very odd remixes of spuds.)
posted by WCityMike (28 comments total)

Um. It's a very non-sexual sample of Avery against a shitty fruity loops beat. Does it get better after two minutes or something?
posted by bunnytricks at 6:31 PM on February 26, 2008

Yeah I wanted it to get a little more complicated- with the sampling. Coulda used some other neat cut-n-paste tricks instead of that awful synth-sax solo.

Though, the multi-layered pitch-tweaked chording of the sample was pretty great.
posted by pedmands at 6:35 PM on February 26, 2008

I love James Avery. He's one of the best "that guys" in entertainment. Currently, he's been playing the recurring role of LA County coroner on The Closer. This is cool because he can actually pull off the pseudo-Quincy demeanor, but also ... hey, Uncle Phil came out of retirement to help solve crime!
posted by grabbingsand at 6:36 PM on February 26, 2008

In Yiddish we calls them Bulbes.
posted by Astro Zombie at 6:37 PM on February 26, 2008

Oh fuck, I'm gonna be hearing this shit in my sleep now. Thanks.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:39 PM on February 26, 2008

bunnytricks: I have a T-shirt for you.
posted by WCityMike at 6:42 PM on February 26, 2008

As a child, finding out that Uncle Phil was Shredder was mindblowing.
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:43 PM on February 26, 2008

I stood next to James Avery in line at the Toluca Lake Wells Fargo once. He was wearing tie dye jogging pants. That is all.
posted by miss lynnster at 6:44 PM on February 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Honestly, the fad roundup post that you buried in the period at the end of a sentence seems like the real money on the YTMND angle here.
posted by cortex at 6:46 PM on February 26, 2008 [4 favorites]

As an adult, finding out that Uncle Phil was Shredder is mindblowing.
posted by inconsequentialist at 6:55 PM on February 26, 2008 [15 favorites]

MetaFilter: Pillowy mounds of mashed po-ta-toes.
posted by fandango_matt at 7:02 PM on February 26, 2008

Oh man, cortex, you aren't kidding. This one had me in hysterics.
posted by the other side at 7:06 PM on February 26, 2008

Uncle Phil...was Shredder?

HOLY SHIT Y'ALL. My mind is blown now...
posted by kalimac at 7:17 PM on February 26, 2008

He was also the voice of Fang in fucking Fist of the North Star. Fuck yeah.
posted by chunking express at 7:25 PM on February 26, 2008

That mashed potatoes song was way catchier than it had any right to be.
posted by Mikey-San at 7:25 PM on February 26, 2008

I have a T-shirt for you.

It doesn't come in gray, therefore it sucks.
posted by bunnytricks at 7:26 PM on February 26, 2008

I just watched the Harry Shearer outtakes a few posts below, and then got to the UnclePhilTMND stuff.

Now I have Bill O'Reilly chanting 'pillowy mounds of mashed po-ta-toes' in my head.
posted by suckerpunch at 7:47 PM on February 26, 2008

I went to the same Hollywood gym as James Avery and his Fresh Prince cohort Joseph Marcell, who played Geoffrey. I was shocked to hear that Mr. Avery's normal gym speaking voice didn't sound much like Uncle Phil's. Mr. Marcell, on the other hand, is every bit as classically-trained Received-Pronunciation at the gym as he is on the show.

miss lynnster, I'm pretty sure I saw those same pants at the gym.
posted by infinitewindow at 7:58 PM on February 26, 2008

Good God, I can't stop listening to this.
posted by adamdschneider at 8:52 PM on February 26, 2008

As an adult, finding out that Uncle Phil was Shredder is mindblowing.

Nth that shit up for me!

Speaking of bizarre Fresh Prince remixes: Will gets down to some blast beats.
posted by ignignokt at 9:28 PM on February 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

My favourite James Avery role is definitely from Fletch.

Mostly because anything Fletch is automatically awesome.
posted by ODiV at 10:05 PM on February 26, 2008

In Italian, it's called a Patata!
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:35 PM on February 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

You didn't ask; but my night? Made.
posted by mrnutty at 10:40 PM on February 26, 2008

Honestly, the fad roundup post that you buried in the period at the end of a sentence seems like the real money on the YTMND angle here.

Thanks, cortex, I would have missed this. Pretty, pretty good.
posted by farishta at 11:47 PM on February 26, 2008

mmmmmmmm po-ta-toes................
posted by The Light Fantastic at 11:51 PM on February 26, 2008

Thank you for knocking that damned "Badger Badger Badger" loop out of my head.
posted by Dizzy at 6:16 AM on February 27, 2008

so.... what was he saying? all my speakers gave me was midi synth nightmares.
posted by Jeremy at 10:53 AM on February 27, 2008

Jeremy: check the YouTube clip for the original sound from which the synth was taken.
posted by WCityMike at 7:28 AM on February 28, 2008