John Valby
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John Valby (born 1945 in Rochester, New York) is a musician and comedian who plays in barrooms and college campuses up and down the east coast. Using an old-fashioned piano, he creates comedic parodies of classic songs. He can always be found performing in his classic white tails tuxedo and black derby hat.
Valby lives up to his nickname "Dr. Dirty". His songs and shows focus mainly on sex and racial slurs, with a mix of current and historic people and events. However, his routine shows no favor and spares no target in pursuit of making his audiences laugh. From Hispanics to Irishmen, Polish to blacks, Arabs to rednecks, Republican and Democrats alike, no person and no group is safe from his jokes and his piano.
Many of the songs sung by Valby are drinking songs like Ya, Ya, Ya (aka limericks), Roll Your Leg Over, Barnacle Bill, etc. See Richard Reuss' master thesis and Ed Cray's Erotic Muse for further examples.
Valby lives outside Buffalo, New York with his wife and five children. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Middlebury College. He served in the Army and claims that he avoided being sent to Vietnam because his superior officer liked him. He is a classically trained pianist, as well as an avid hockey player.
While Valby is best known for his "Dr. Dirty" act, he has recorded and produced pop and rock albums for himself and other artists. One unusual act he was responsible for producing was that of Buffalo Sabres defenseman Jim Schoenfeld in 1971, for the album Schony. He also had a small role in the 1983 film Losin' It, which featured an early performance by Tom Cruise.
[edit] References
- Richard A. Reuss, An Annotated Field Collection of Songs From the American College Student Oral Tradition (Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Masters Thesis, 1965).
- Ed Cray, The Erotic Muse: American Bawdy Songs (University of Illinois, 1992).
