Say Uncle: Top Ten Uncles in Media

Cover photo: Dr. Steven Jones from Startropics (NES, 1990)

Almost 10 years have passed since I first became an uncle, and this idea has been sitting with me from the very beginning. Well, it’s time to turn my dreams into reality! And, since July 26th is National Aunt and Uncle’s Day, my timing couldn’t be any more perfect.

Here is my list of the Top Ten Uncles in Media!

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10. Uncle Rico
(Napoleon Dynamite, 2004)

If only coach would have put him in fourth quarter, they would have been state champions.

When Grandma gets injured in a traumatic dune buggy accident, the Dynamite brothers, Napoleon and Kip, are put under the care of their brainless Uncle Rico. Thick-headed, smarmy, and borderline creepo, Rico is not the best person for the job, but he does provide a high percentage of the humor for me in this quirky movie from the early 2000’s.

His head is often in the clouds thinking about what he could have been “if only things were different,” or he’s trying to come up with the next get-rich-quick scheme by selling Tupperware or a questionable type of enhancement product to young girls. When he’s not out with Kip trying to make some cash, he’ll spend time filming himself throwing footballs in hopes that someone will see him for what he had in his glory days. My personal favorite scene is when he throws a steak in the face of a biking Napoleon. What’s your favorite Uncle Rico moment?

9. Uncle Jed Clampett
(The Beverly Hillbillies, 1962-1971)

Oil, that is. Black gold. Texas Tea.

Jed’s nephew, Jethro Bodine, isn’t actually his nephew at all. In fact, he’s the son of Jed’s cousin, Pearl Bodine. Despite this, he still refers to the old mountaineer as “Uncle Jed.” I only caught glimpses of the original show when I was growing up, but the 1993 movie is where I really came to love these people.

Jed Clampett was a simple, backwoods man from Missouri who struck it rich after accidentally discovering oil while he was out hunting. Now a billionaire, he decided to buy a mansion and move his family to California to offer a better life for his daughter and his nephew. His life of luxury doesn’t change his character, though, and he still holds true to his strong family values of trust and respect. Naturally, this leads to some hilarious fish-out-of-water interactions with the citizens of California who eventually grow to find a great deal of charm from his simple way of thinking.

8. Uncle Phil
(The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, 1990-1996)

Certainly Jed Clampett lives just down the road from Philip Banks, who makes his home in the comfy hills of Bel Air, California.  A man of the law, Philip runs a tight ship when caring for his family, and personalities clash when he is tasked to care for street-wise Will Smith who was sent to live with him after “one little fight” in West Philadelphia.

Philip worked hard to get where he is today. He attended Princeton University before moving on to Harvard Law. He had a hand in promoting civil rights. He even boasted that he had heard Malcom X speak and was intimately familiar with his literature.

Though he’s often on the receiving end of a joke or two about his weight, we learn the true extent of his care for Will in one of the most powerful scenes in the series where Phil confronts Will’s dad who has returned after 14 years.

7. Uncle Traveling Matt
(Fraggle Rock, 1983)

One of my favorite segments from Fraggle Rock was the misadventures of Uncle Traveling Matt as he explored the vast wonders of “outer space” and relayed his tales to his Nephew, Gobo, via postcard. For a Fraggle who normally lives deep within the rocks of Earth, “outer space” was simply his term for the surface world above them.

Matt’s travels often consisted of (clumsy) interactions with everyday human objects that were strange and foreign to him. In one segment, he mistook parking meters for living creatures that were often fed round objects by people. In another, he tried out a type of mass transit that just happened to be a roller coaster. Later, he posited that umbrellas were devices that could pull water out of the sky.

With the heart of an explorer, Uncle Traveling Matt truly embraced the mantra that “worry’s for another day.” Down in Fraggle Rock.

6. Uncle Scrooge McDuck
(Ducktales, 1987)

“Unca Scrooge! Unca Scrooge!”

They say that “life is like a hurricane, here in Duckburg” where the affluent Scrooge McDuck makes his home. Deemed the “world’s richest duck,” Scrooge is portrayed as a no-nonsense Scottish-American who made his money by being “tougher than the toughies and smarter than smarties.” Some of his favorite pastimes are scouring the world for hidden treasures, fawning over his Number One Dime, and swimming in a giant pool of gold coins.

While I watched a great deal of DuckTales during the Disney Afternoon cartoon block, most of my love of the series came from the 1990 Game Boy game. I also remember that DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp was a common VHS rental from our local video store.

Meanwhile, did you ever notice that the DuckTales logo was a blatant “homage” to the Indiana Jones logo?

5. Uncle Gadget
(Inspector Gadget, 1983)

Four years before we had the crime-fighting cyborg Robocop, Inspector Gadget was patrolling the streets of Metro City to undermine the evil aspirations of the notorious Dr. Claw. Enhanced with a series of bionic gizmos, Gadget need only say “go go gadget _______” to activate his desired device (I wish I could replace my iPhone’s Siri with this. Can you imagine? Go go gadget text message! Go go gadget Spotify! Go go gadget snooze!). Some of my favorites were his elongated arms/legs, his suit that could be used as a floatation device, and his hat that could sprout a handheld helicopter!

Despite being loaded up with everything he’d ever need to rid the world of bad guys, Gadget was lacking somewhat in IQ. Most of his cases were secretly solved behind the scenes by his genius niece Penny and their dog, aptly named, Brain.

I recently learned that Inspector Gadget was voiced by Don Adams who had previously played a similar character that I loved, the dimwitted super spy, Maxwell Smart, from TV’s Get Smart which ran from 1965-1970. That fact alone was enough to make me say “Wowsers!”

4. Uncle Ben Parker
(Spider-Man, 2002)

For many of us, Cliff Robertson’s portrayal of Uncle Ben Parker in the 2002 release of Spider-Man was our first exposure to the character that truly set Peter Parker’s journey into motion as he grappled with his new arachnoid powers. However, there have been countless tales and re-imaginings of this famous father figure.

Ben’s first appearance was actually in an issue of Strange Tales #97 from 1962 in which he was shown caring for his wheelchair-bound niece, Linda Brown. Oh, did I also mention that she was a mermaid?

While Ben has been credited with telling us that “with great power comes great responsibility,” those words did not initially come from him. In fact, they appeared as a bit of narration at the end of Stan Lee’s Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962) where Spider-man first started slinging webs. The original text reads as follows:

“And a lean, silent figure slowly fades in the gathering darkness, aware at last that in this world, with great power there must also come — great responsibility!”

http://www.quotecounterquote.com/2012/07/with-great-power-comes-great.html

3. Uncle Fester
(The Addams Family, 1964)

Aside from the 1960’s sitcom where he was the uncle of Morticia Addams, most modern portrayals of the electrifying Fester Addams show him as a brother to Gomez Addams and an uncle to Wednesday and Pugsley Addams.   His look is iconic with the dark overcoat, hollow eyes, and pale, hairless scalp.  At first he can seem sinister, but despite his macabre quirks, he’s generally lovable.

I remember him best from the 1991 film, and its subsequent 1993 sequel, where he is played by Christopher Lloyd.  I always thought it was interesting that they essentially made him the main plot point of both films when he was such a trivial character in most other appearances.  

In the the first movie, he is part of a classic 90’s get-rich-quick-scheme where a con-woman claims Fester as her son after she finds him in the Bermuda Triangle suffering from amnesia.  She uses his resemblance to the Addams’ Uncle to try to work her way into the family and eventually into their vault.

In the second movie, Fester falls in love with the new nanny, Debbie, who also has her eyes set on the riches of the family and just so happens to have a history of offing her husbands in order to collect their inheritance.  

Let’s not forget the time that Uncle Fester fought off an invasion of space aliens in the 1989 video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System!

2. Uncle Buck (1989)

“Do I have an uncle?” asks the befuddled Miles (Macaulay Culkin).

“Unfortunately,” replies an unenthusiastic Tia (Jean Kelly).

In this feel-good pre-Home Alone John Hughes film, John Candy plays Buck Russell who has been called in by his brother to take care of their three children while they are away. I remember trying to watch this movie several times as a kid but never being able to get through it. There was something about seeing that smokey, old car that immediately turned me off. However, I recently gave it another shot and can confirm that this is a wonderful movie.

While Buck might not be leading the most ideal lifestyle, his heart is in the right place, and he always stood by what was right for his brother’s kids. Saving his niece from a horrible guy, telling off a delusional principal, and punching a drunk clown in the face, we all need an Uncle Buck in our families.

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Honorable Mentions:

Uncle Owen
(Star Wars: A New Hope, 1977)

Uncle Albert
(Mary Poppins, 1964)

Uncle Henry
(The Wizard of Oz, 1939)

Uncle Vernon
(Harry Potter, 2001)

Scar
(The Lion King, 1994)

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1. Uncle Joey/Uncle Jesse
(Full House, 1987)

They say it takes a village when it comes to raising children, and Danny Tanner put that statement to the test when he enlisted the help of his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and best friend Joey Gladstone to live at his home after the tragic loss of his wife, Pam.  With six people now in the house (at first), the trio of men cobble together their unique set of skills (obsessive cleaning, rock ’n roll, and comedy) to take care of Danny’s three daughters: DJ, Stephanie, and Michelle.

Naturally, shenanigans ensue as the two uncles (an honorable title for Joey who is not their biological uncle) try to navigate the trials and tribulations of fatherhood.  In the first episode alone, the simple act of changing a diaper ends in a trip to the kitchen where they use a copious amount of paper towels and a garbage bag. 

I think I resonated especially close to both Joey and Jesse as a major fan of telling jokes and making music myself – the essence of their two personalities combined.  If Joey was talking about cartoons and doing impressions, I was super on board.  If Jesse grabbed his guitar to sing for the family, count me in.  One of my favorite moments in the entire series was when Danny, Jesse, and Joey formed a makeshift a cappella group in Michelle’s room to try to get her to go to bed.  

This blend of music and comedy continued throughout Full House‘s run of 8 seasons (192 episodes in total!).  I can’t think of a more iconic pair of uncle’s than Uncle Joey and Uncle Jesse!

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Thanks for stopping by to read my article! Did you watch any of these shows or movies? Who are some of your favorite Uncles in media? Can you think of any I missed? Leave me a reply and let me know! Also, be sure to FOLLOW my blog or you can subscribe via e-mail to have content delivered directly to your inbox.

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