Benson’s Memories of Doo-Dah Past!

In one way or another, I have been involved with the Doo-Dah Parade for almost thirty years. While the parade was funnier in the past, it's still a good time. You still get one or two entries that are just laugh out loud funny.  Maybe one thing that is missing from recent parades is topicality. Back in the day, we tried to make fun of things in the news or in current pop culture. Now, I know some of these entries I tell you about will seem ancient history now, but remember, they were actually current at the time.

My first parade we were on the back of a flatbed, playing back up to a rock band. Not funny, but a dream come true, actually playing with a rock band.

I think my first topical entry was around 1989, when coworker Randi Arnold donned a blonde wig and glittery dress and I wore a cop's outfit complete with Keystone Cop hat and scooter, and we parodied Zsa Zsa Gabor (Paris Hilton's ex step grandmother and famous for being famous like Paris and the Kardashians) who had slapped an LA traffic cop.

There was a year back then when Oprah Winfrey lost a ton of weight and had brought out a bucket of suet on her show to make her point. Well, I had just finished a diet program, so I got a red wagon, put a bucket on it, and there was my bucket of suet. Funny part of that story, exactly at 11 a.m., the skies opened up and we got a thunderstorm pouring down on us. The entry in front of me was a guy riding a giant metal unicycle. I'm pulling a metal wagon. I knew at any moment, we were going get a lighting bolt and die.

In 1994, we used my mother-in-law and our Doo-Dah mistress Lisa on the back of a pickup truck with living room furniture, just like David Letterman's mom, who was reporting from the Winter Olympics that year with Nancy Kerrigan.

Around the same time, Kathie Lee Gifford got in some hot water, with overseas children being used as labor to make her line of clothing or something. So we gathered all our (then little) kids and they were Kathie Lee's sweat shop.

1997 was the year that I got the most ribbing about my outfit. The Spice Girls were all the rage in pop music, so I decided to be the 6th Spice Girl, I had a heckuva time finding a sports bra, but found that and some sparkly shorts and complete with my then full beard, became a Spice Girl, "Old" Spice.

Back then, every year was fun. In the middle of the Chicago Bulls' championship run in the 90's, I put on a Michael Jordan jersey and shot paper wads into a waste paper basket.

Being a TV trivia buff, last year I particularly enjoyed the Yellow Cab taxi #804. Why? A great episode of 80's TV series Taxi was about cab number 804. Also, a great episode of 90's series Frasier, too.

By the way, for years, we have argued over the correct spelling of Doo-Dah. It's officially Do-Dah, but I choose Doo-Dah, because that's what it should be.

I hope you all have fun this year at the Doo-Dah Parade and find an entry that makes you laugh.