Tom Scharpling

Tom Scharpling is the host of "The Best Show on WFMU", a 3-hour comedy, music and talk radio program which airs every Tuesday night on New Jersey freeform radio station, WFMU. He is also an executive producer and writer for the television series "Monk", on the USA Network (Scharpling was the first writer to be hired for the series [http://www.venuszine.com/articles/art_and_culture/culture/1107/the_best_show_on_wfmu] ), as well as a contributing writer to Tom Goes to the Mayor's second season. He is best known for his on-air collaboration with Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster on WFMU. Together, as Scharpling and Wurster, they have released 5 critically acclaimed CDs of comedy segments from "The Best Show" on their Stereolaffs record label.

In the early 1990s, Scharpling was the publisher of "18 Wheeler" fanzine, and ran an independent record label of the same name. The first 7" single by Portastatic was released by Scharpling's label in 1992.

He was also a contributing writer for "The Onion", as well as the writer of Harp Magazine's "(Not So) Great Moments in Rock" column. He also contributed the liner notes for "The Electrifying Conclusion", Guided By Voices's DVD documentary of their final live show in Chicago.

Scharpling appears on an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force ("The Shaving") as the voice of "Willie Nelson," an awkward, unassertive onion/spider monster hybrid who lives in the attic of the house. He also appears on the special features portion of the "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Volume 3" DVD.

Big Dipper Reunion

On his January 20, 2004 radio program, Scharpling had been derisively talking about the VH1 show "Bands Reunited". This discussion led to Scharpling facetiously declaring his goal of reuniting the beloved (though relatively unknown) 1980s Boston indie-rock band Big Dipper. In the following weeks, the concept of a "Big Dipper Reunion" had become a recurring in-joke on the program. Scharpling began calling the members at home to convince them to reunite. He first reached bassist Steve Michener, who was surprised that there would be any interest in a reunion. Eventually, other members of the band called in, all speculating on whether or not such a reunion would be a good idea.

In 2008, Scharpling's quest to reunite Big Dipper was finally achieved. In advance of several reunion shows in April 2008, Merge Records released the 3-disc "Supercluster: A Big Dipper Anthology" on March 18th, featuring liner notes by Scharpling.

Discography (as Scharpling and Wurster)

*"The Rule of James" (Stereolaffs, 1997)
*"Rock, Rot and Rule" (Stereolaffs, 1999)
*"Chain Fights, Beer Busts and Service with a Grin" (Stereolaffs, 2002)
*"New Hope for the Ape-Eared" (Stereolaffs, 2004)
*"Hippy Justice" (Stereolaffs, 2005)
*"The Art of the Slap" (Stereolaffs, 2007)

External links

* [http://www.friendsoftom.com The Friends of Tom web site]
* [http://www.scharplingandwurster.com Official Scharpling & Wurster web site]
* [http://www.stereolaffs.com Stereolaffs web site]
* [http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/bs Audio archives of "The Best Show on WFMU"]
* [http://bestshowvault.blogspot.com Best Show Vault] , a fan site featuring "best of" audio clips from The Best Show on WFMU
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403E4D91330F932A35752C0A9609C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all "Gotcha! Stay Tuned"] , Feature article about Scharpling in "The New York Times", January 1, 2006.
* [http://gothamist.com/2006/06/15/tom_scharpling.php Interview with Tom Scharpling] , The Gothamist, June 15, 2006.
* [http://astradio.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=231533 Interview with Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster] (audio), AST Radio, July 2, 2007.
* [http://www.maximumfun.org/sound/scharpling.mp3 Interview with Tom Scharpling] (audio),"The Sound of Young America" 2004.
* [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/43268-the-art-of-the-slap Review of Scharpling & Wurster's "The Art of the Slap"] , Pitchfork Media
* [http://www.recidivism.org/tbsowfmu/ Recidivism Best Show Recaps]
* [http://www.friendsoftom.com/fotpedia/ The FOTpedia] , a compendium of Tom Scharpling/Best Show on WFMU knowledge
* [http://onetrickpony.ws/tom_scharpling Interview from June 2006]
* [http://video.usanetwork.com/player/?id=8868 Video interview with Scharpling on the official "Monk" website]