If you were a kid in the 90s and like me a Nintendo fan, chances are that you saw the Super Mario Brothers Super Show atleast once.
It was VERY cheesy but a sort of loveable cheesy and so corny its actually awesome.
It would always feature the cartoon and a live action segment.
In the live action segment the wrestler "Captain" Lou Albano played Mario and Danny Wells played Luigi (They also did the voices in the cartoon segment)
They would always do some goofy stuff in one way or another and have a bunch celebrity cameos, but being the age I was at the time I didnt get any of them except for Crocodile Dundee. But if it wasnt a celebrity cameo it was a fictional character, they actually ran into Dracula at some point isnt that odd?
I think the episode that was the most memorable to me was the episode where Mario and Luigi competed in who is the best Elvis impersonator. They looked absolutley ridiculous dressing up as both the Mario Brothers and as Elvis at the same time.
The idea of the episode was that Mario could sing but not dance and Luigi could dance and not sing(I still laugh when Luigi tries doing the infamous "Uhuh-uhuh")
When they're arguing about who made the best Elvis "He" shows up, yes Elvis shows up and teaches them to sing and dance, eventually they combine their "talents" and comes to terms that they're equally good or equally bad depending on how you look at it.
The cheesyness of that episode was so thick you could cover the entire set with it, but they did it so well you had no choice but to love it. The Elvis impersonator, Mario singing, Luigi dancing, Mario tearing down an entire wall because he danced so horribly and Luigi looking so incredibly stupid. All done so well and it was all so corny you just couldent hate it.
It saddens me now that on the 14th this month Lou Albano has died, he turned 76 and died of natural causes which is sort of comforting.
When I heard about his death I actually did get kind of upset, its one of the few times I've really gotten upset about a celebrity dying. Last time I think it was when Eddie Guerrero died.
Lou somehow really fit into role of Mario, hell I think he made a perfect live action Mario(certainly better then the movie version)
So different from the Mario we know today but also so likeable that he really "is" Mario. Sure they were abit stereotypical towards italians with their fake accents and acting but thats what was so great about the show. We dont hate the characters in Punch out or Team Fortress 2 for being stereotypical. As a matter of fact thats what gives them such great personalities.
Now the show might not have held up as great as other cartoons at the time. Hell at the time we had shows like Duck Tales, TMNT, Goof troop, Xmen, Batman and a ton of other good ones. But somehow The Super Mario Brothers Super Show always stands out in my mind. Its certainly a show I'll never forget.
Thank you Lou Albano for all the wounderful memories. This one's for you.
