Herb Tarlek
Encyclopedia
Herb Tarlek is a character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati
(1978-1982). He was played by actor Frank Bonner
. He also starred as the same character on the sequel, The New WKRP in Cincinnati
.
threatened a boycott of the station's advertisers ("a lot of religious people fish").
Herb's only real skill is knowing how to collect money from deadbeat clients, often by blackmailing them. He admits to program director Andy Travis
that it took time to develop that skill, saying of one client: "He did that to me [failed to pay up] twenty times. Then I got smart." Herb also repeats this skill in The New WKRP in Cincinnati
, where he bails rookie salesman Arthur Carlson, Jr. out of a ticket trade scam for a freak show operator. Though the contract legally binds the station to air the show's ads, Herb is released from the contract after he threatens to take legal action against the promoter, who has habitually left a string of unpaid debts to other radio stations.
Herb is best known for his atrocious taste in clothes. He always wears a white belt and white shoes; most of his suits are made of polyester and are covered in loud plaid patterns. He claims to get his suits in a golf pro shop in Kentucky; no one else makes his kind of clothes anymore due to anti-pollution laws. While Herb's co-workers mock his fashion sense ("Somewhere there's a Volkswagen without seat covers"), Herb claims that his suits put his clients at ease, conveying the message "trust me, sign my deal! I know what I'm doing." He is proven right in the episode "Changes", when he switches over to a tasteful wardrobe; his lowbrow clients don't trust someone with such a highbrow wardrobe, and Herb quickly returns to his old way of dressing.
Herb prefers personal luxury cars for what he believes is necessary for a job of his caliber. In the episode "Baby If You've Ever Wondered", he suggests an across-the-board raise (which he calculates by taking away Carlson's share of the station sales commissions). When he figures out the final sum, he tosses the calculator on his desk, declaring "Oh yes, we are definitely talking Cordoba!" This is realized in the subsequent episode "Real Families", where his car is indeed revealed to be a 1980 Chrysler Cordoba
.
Herb sometimes tries to make money by doing other things on the side, like selling life insurance or running a numbers racket. He also collects kickbacks from his advertising clients and from the disc jockeys (for getting them endorsements and other outside work); in the pilot he boasts that "they don't call me 'Mr. Kickback
' for nothing."
At WKRP, Herb is considered a troublemaker and "general jackass" by his co-workers, but they all have a certain grudging affection for him. Jennifer Marlowe
intervenes on Herb's behalf on several occasions, both in personal matters (such as trying to convince Herb's wife to accept him back during a brief separation) and in his professional foul-ups (such as trying to save Herb's job by attempting to deceive a dissatisfied client, who ultimately turned out to be sympathetic). Venus Flytrap
also saved Herb's job on one occasion; a jealous Herb had lied about a job offer he received, hoping to get the same response Venus got when he received an actual job offer. Venus used a counter-offer from Andy to get Herb his job back, telling Andy they were a "package deal" (and "soul brothers").
), a slightly overweight and feisty brunette with a high-pitched voice, and has two children: Bunny, a smart girl with an interest in animals and the environment, and Herb III, a shy boy who likes to play with dolls, much to Herb's chagrin. In the episode Real Families, Herb's family is profiled on a network TV reality show. Herb tries to convey the impression that he is a hard working, clean-living all-American guy, but as the episode goes on, the TV hosts systematically expose his incompetence as a worker and as a family man. At the end, Herb throws the camera crew out of his house, but still remains so desperate to be on television that he accepts an invitation to fly out to Hollywood and meet the hosts. In Never Leave Me, Lucille, Herb and Lucille briefly split up, while in Frog Story, he causes the death of his daughter's pet frog by accidentally spray-painting it. When asked (in "Real Families") what she sees in Herb, Lucille smiles and replies "he's got a great body."
Herb's widowed father, Herbert R. Tarlek Sr. (Bert Parks
) was himself a traveling salesman, with a similar wardrobe and outlook on life to that of Herb. However, he is more charming than his son, and more successful at his trade, as proven when he sells an entire collection of knockoff Indian jewelry to Carlson in the episode "Herb's Dad". It is eventually revealed that Herb and his father came to an arrangement; his dad retired and went into the Shady Hills rest home, and in return Herb cut the rest home a deal for commercials on WKRP. However, Herb Sr. grew restless and went to see his son at the station. Initially fooling Herb into thinking he was dying, Herb Sr. eventually admits to his son that he still feels he has a few good traveling years in him (along with a blonde female nurse for company) and wants to go to California
. Herb initially resisted his father's wishes (which also caused some resentment among Herb's co-workers, particularly Bailey and Jennifer who had been charmed by Herb Sr.), but eventually came around to his dad's way of thinking and even gave Herb Sr. $1000 for traveling money (which he earned by illegally raffling off his paycheck to other tenants in the Flimm Building).
Herb constantly hits on the station's receptionist, Jennifer Marlowe
, and tells every man he meets that he and Jennifer are a couple (a fact he admits to her in the episode "Fire", when the two are trapped in an elevator during a fire). Jennifer finally agrees to go on a date with him in the episode Put Up or Shut Up, in order to call Herb's bluff; however, Herb is so nervous at even the remotest thought of his fantasies finally coming true that he begins to hyperventilate (an act he repeats in later episodes when under stress), as well as admitting to Jennifer that he feels guilty over the possibility of cheating on his wife. However, there were moments prior to this when Herb showed concern for Jennifer beyond her sexual appeal, such as when he tried to comfort her after a blow-up with her childhood sweetheart (in the episode "I Do, I Do...For Now").
Though he doesn't like to admit it publicly, he is faithful to Lucille; the closest he ever came to adultery
was during the episode Hotel Oceanview, where he got drunk and began kissing a woman he vaguely recognized from high school, but couldn't place...who turned out to be a man who had undergone sex reassignment surgery
(when she informed Herb of this, Herb's initial response was to curl up in the fetal position
, and then protest to everyone that "just because I kissed him, that doesn't make me gay.").
Herb also tends to drink too much, and at one point, his three-martini lunches with clients leads him to the brink of full-blown alcoholism
. In the episode "Out to Lunch", Herb's reliance on alcohol to try and land customers causes him to blow a deal with a small record store, while he tries to lock down a deal with a representative from a large ad agency (Craig T. Nelson
). Eventually, the rep admits that he was fired from the agency weeks ago; Herb realizes that due to his own inebriation, he was unable to see that the rep was just stringing him along for free food and drink. Despondent, Herb is eventually forced to face up to his issues by station manager Arthur Carlson
, who convinces him to get the problem under control before it is too late.
He has a fondness for pornographic movies with titles like Kick Me, Kiss Me, and in one episode he sneaks out of the hospital (where he has been admitted for heart tests) to take Les Nessman
to a theater where they show adult films in 3-D
. He sometimes writes letters to Penthouse
magazine, though they are never published. He is once arrested on a morals charge, though he maintains that "it's a complete lie -- I don't even know the names of those girls!"
Out of his co-workers at the station, Herb tends to be the closest to Les Nessman
. Les and Herb tend to have a love-hate relationship, as Herb routinely insults and derides Les. At one point, a jealous Herb tried to have Les' date with Jennifer for an awards banquet broken by manipulating Mr. Carlson, and at another time even goosed Les' mother, thinking she was Les in drag (as they strongly resembled each other). In turn, Les seriously injured Herb when pulling him along on a hang glider for a promotional stunt (Les had stopped at a stoplight, causing the glider to plummet to the ground). However, Les and Herb have also shown signs of strong friendship. When Herb's wife threw him out, Les pleaded Herb's case to the others at the station so he could have a place to stay. In the episode "Les on a Ledge", when Les was considering suicide (due to rumors that he was homosexual) by jumping off a ledge outside Mr. Carlson's office, Herb eventually went out on the ledge himself to get Les to come back in (and ended up falling onto the firemen's nets several stories below, incurring yet another serious injury). Les once described their relationship by saying "I hate him, but he is my best friend."
, recalled that he liked writing for Herb because he was one of the few characters on the show with a wife and family, which added more dimensions to his character.
Frank Bonner directed six episodes of the series.
The role of Herb Tarlek was originally offered to the character actor Rod McCary, but he turned it down to appear in another series.
An Ann Arbor, Michigan
-based rock band of the 1980s and 90s was called The Herb Tarlicks, a double pun on the character's name and guitar
"licks".
Canadian band Rheostatics
paid tribute to Herb Tarlek in their song, "The Tarleks", in which Bonner reprised his famous role in the music video.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03M3hXYojqU
WKRP in Cincinnati
WKRP in Cincinnati is an American situation comedy that featured the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson and was based upon his experiences working in advertising sales at Top 40 radio station WQXI in Atlanta...
(1978-1982). He was played by actor Frank Bonner
Frank Bonner
Frank Bonner is an American actor and television director best known for playing sales manager Herb Tarlek on the television sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati.-Life and career:...
. He also starred as the same character on the sequel, The New WKRP in Cincinnati
The New WKRP in Cincinnati
The New WKRP in Cincinnati is a sequel/spin-off of the original CBS sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. It was made for the syndication market from 1991 to 1993....
.
Sales manager not so extraordinaire
Herb is the sales manager at radio station WKRP, having been with the station since 1964, but he is unable to get any major advertising agencies to buy time on the station, partly because of WKRP's poor ratings and partly because the advertising agency people loathe Herb personally. The clients Herb does get for the station are often disreputable or sleazy, like Shady Hills Rest Home, Gone With the Wind Estates, Ferryman Funeral Homes, and Dave Wickerman, whose "diet pills" turned out to be a legalized form of speed. Herb's most reliable advertising client is Red Wigglers (the "Cadillac of Worms"), though the owner of Red Wigglers, Harvey Green, pulled his commercials off WKRP after the Religious RightReligious right
The term religious right may refer to religiously motivated right wing movements such as:*Christian right*Hindu nationalism *Islamism*Jewish right*Theravada...
threatened a boycott of the station's advertisers ("a lot of religious people fish").
Herb's only real skill is knowing how to collect money from deadbeat clients, often by blackmailing them. He admits to program director Andy Travis
Andy Travis
Andy Travis is a fictional character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati . He was played by Gary Sandy.Travis was originally intended to be the lead character, the more-or-less normal person who would anchor the series and provide the focus for most of the stories...
that it took time to develop that skill, saying of one client: "He did that to me [failed to pay up] twenty times. Then I got smart." Herb also repeats this skill in The New WKRP in Cincinnati
The New WKRP in Cincinnati
The New WKRP in Cincinnati is a sequel/spin-off of the original CBS sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. It was made for the syndication market from 1991 to 1993....
, where he bails rookie salesman Arthur Carlson, Jr. out of a ticket trade scam for a freak show operator. Though the contract legally binds the station to air the show's ads, Herb is released from the contract after he threatens to take legal action against the promoter, who has habitually left a string of unpaid debts to other radio stations.
Herb is best known for his atrocious taste in clothes. He always wears a white belt and white shoes; most of his suits are made of polyester and are covered in loud plaid patterns. He claims to get his suits in a golf pro shop in Kentucky; no one else makes his kind of clothes anymore due to anti-pollution laws. While Herb's co-workers mock his fashion sense ("Somewhere there's a Volkswagen without seat covers"), Herb claims that his suits put his clients at ease, conveying the message "trust me, sign my deal! I know what I'm doing." He is proven right in the episode "Changes", when he switches over to a tasteful wardrobe; his lowbrow clients don't trust someone with such a highbrow wardrobe, and Herb quickly returns to his old way of dressing.
Herb prefers personal luxury cars for what he believes is necessary for a job of his caliber. In the episode "Baby If You've Ever Wondered", he suggests an across-the-board raise (which he calculates by taking away Carlson's share of the station sales commissions). When he figures out the final sum, he tosses the calculator on his desk, declaring "Oh yes, we are definitely talking Cordoba!" This is realized in the subsequent episode "Real Families", where his car is indeed revealed to be a 1980 Chrysler Cordoba
Chrysler Cordoba
The Chrysler Cordoba was an intermediate personal luxury coupe sold by Chrysler Corporation in North America from 1975-1983. It was the company's first model produced specifically for the personal luxury market and the first Chrysler-branded vehicle that was less than full-size.-History:In the...
.
Herb sometimes tries to make money by doing other things on the side, like selling life insurance or running a numbers racket. He also collects kickbacks from his advertising clients and from the disc jockeys (for getting them endorsements and other outside work); in the pilot he boasts that "they don't call me 'Mr. Kickback
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
' for nothing."
At WKRP, Herb is considered a troublemaker and "general jackass" by his co-workers, but they all have a certain grudging affection for him. Jennifer Marlowe
Jennifer Marlowe
Jennifer Elizabeth Marlowe is a character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati . She was played by actress Loni Anderson, who received two Emmy nominations for playing the character.-Fictional character biography:...
intervenes on Herb's behalf on several occasions, both in personal matters (such as trying to convince Herb's wife to accept him back during a brief separation) and in his professional foul-ups (such as trying to save Herb's job by attempting to deceive a dissatisfied client, who ultimately turned out to be sympathetic). Venus Flytrap
Venus Flytrap
The Venus Flytrap , Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey—mostly insects and arachnids. Its trapping structure is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces...
also saved Herb's job on one occasion; a jealous Herb had lied about a job offer he received, hoping to get the same response Venus got when he received an actual job offer. Venus used a counter-offer from Andy to get Herb his job back, telling Andy they were a "package deal" (and "soul brothers").
Personal life
Herb is married to Lucille (Edie McClurgEdie McClurg
Edie McClurg is an American character actress. She is known for her perky North Central dialect , common to persons from Middle America.-Career:...
), a slightly overweight and feisty brunette with a high-pitched voice, and has two children: Bunny, a smart girl with an interest in animals and the environment, and Herb III, a shy boy who likes to play with dolls, much to Herb's chagrin. In the episode Real Families, Herb's family is profiled on a network TV reality show. Herb tries to convey the impression that he is a hard working, clean-living all-American guy, but as the episode goes on, the TV hosts systematically expose his incompetence as a worker and as a family man. At the end, Herb throws the camera crew out of his house, but still remains so desperate to be on television that he accepts an invitation to fly out to Hollywood and meet the hosts. In Never Leave Me, Lucille, Herb and Lucille briefly split up, while in Frog Story, he causes the death of his daughter's pet frog by accidentally spray-painting it. When asked (in "Real Families") what she sees in Herb, Lucille smiles and replies "he's got a great body."
Herb's widowed father, Herbert R. Tarlek Sr. (Bert Parks
Bert Parks
Bert Parks, born Bertram Jacobson , was an American actor, singer, and radio and television announcer, best known for hosting the annual Miss America telecast from 1955 to 1979....
) was himself a traveling salesman, with a similar wardrobe and outlook on life to that of Herb. However, he is more charming than his son, and more successful at his trade, as proven when he sells an entire collection of knockoff Indian jewelry to Carlson in the episode "Herb's Dad". It is eventually revealed that Herb and his father came to an arrangement; his dad retired and went into the Shady Hills rest home, and in return Herb cut the rest home a deal for commercials on WKRP. However, Herb Sr. grew restless and went to see his son at the station. Initially fooling Herb into thinking he was dying, Herb Sr. eventually admits to his son that he still feels he has a few good traveling years in him (along with a blonde female nurse for company) and wants to go to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Herb initially resisted his father's wishes (which also caused some resentment among Herb's co-workers, particularly Bailey and Jennifer who had been charmed by Herb Sr.), but eventually came around to his dad's way of thinking and even gave Herb Sr. $1000 for traveling money (which he earned by illegally raffling off his paycheck to other tenants in the Flimm Building).
Herb constantly hits on the station's receptionist, Jennifer Marlowe
Jennifer Marlowe
Jennifer Elizabeth Marlowe is a character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati . She was played by actress Loni Anderson, who received two Emmy nominations for playing the character.-Fictional character biography:...
, and tells every man he meets that he and Jennifer are a couple (a fact he admits to her in the episode "Fire", when the two are trapped in an elevator during a fire). Jennifer finally agrees to go on a date with him in the episode Put Up or Shut Up, in order to call Herb's bluff; however, Herb is so nervous at even the remotest thought of his fantasies finally coming true that he begins to hyperventilate (an act he repeats in later episodes when under stress), as well as admitting to Jennifer that he feels guilty over the possibility of cheating on his wife. However, there were moments prior to this when Herb showed concern for Jennifer beyond her sexual appeal, such as when he tried to comfort her after a blow-up with her childhood sweetheart (in the episode "I Do, I Do...For Now").
Though he doesn't like to admit it publicly, he is faithful to Lucille; the closest he ever came to adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
was during the episode Hotel Oceanview, where he got drunk and began kissing a woman he vaguely recognized from high school, but couldn't place...who turned out to be a man who had undergone sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble...
(when she informed Herb of this, Herb's initial response was to curl up in the fetal position
Fetal position
Fetal position is a medical term used to describe the positioning of the body of a prenatal fetus as it develops...
, and then protest to everyone that "just because I kissed him, that doesn't make me gay.").
Herb also tends to drink too much, and at one point, his three-martini lunches with clients leads him to the brink of full-blown alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
. In the episode "Out to Lunch", Herb's reliance on alcohol to try and land customers causes him to blow a deal with a small record store, while he tries to lock down a deal with a representative from a large ad agency (Craig T. Nelson
Craig T. Nelson
Craig Theodore Nelson is an American actor. He is probably best known for his Emmy-winning roles as Hayden Fox on the TV series Coach, and as Steve Freeling in the 1982 film Poltergeist. He also starred in The Incredibles in 2004 as Mr...
). Eventually, the rep admits that he was fired from the agency weeks ago; Herb realizes that due to his own inebriation, he was unable to see that the rep was just stringing him along for free food and drink. Despondent, Herb is eventually forced to face up to his issues by station manager Arthur Carlson
Arthur Carlson
Arthur Carlson, aka "The Big Guy" is a fictional character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati , the general manager of the low-rated Cincinnati radio station WKRP. The character was also a regular on the "revival" series, The New WKRP in Cincinnati, still working as general...
, who convinces him to get the problem under control before it is too late.
He has a fondness for pornographic movies with titles like Kick Me, Kiss Me, and in one episode he sneaks out of the hospital (where he has been admitted for heart tests) to take Les Nessman
Les Nessman
Les Nessman is a fictional character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati played by Richard Sanders. He reprised his role in the sequel series, The New WKRP in Cincinnati.-Background and Appearance:...
to a theater where they show adult films in 3-D
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
. He sometimes writes letters to Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
magazine, though they are never published. He is once arrested on a morals charge, though he maintains that "it's a complete lie -- I don't even know the names of those girls!"
Out of his co-workers at the station, Herb tends to be the closest to Les Nessman
Les Nessman
Les Nessman is a fictional character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati played by Richard Sanders. He reprised his role in the sequel series, The New WKRP in Cincinnati.-Background and Appearance:...
. Les and Herb tend to have a love-hate relationship, as Herb routinely insults and derides Les. At one point, a jealous Herb tried to have Les' date with Jennifer for an awards banquet broken by manipulating Mr. Carlson, and at another time even goosed Les' mother, thinking she was Les in drag (as they strongly resembled each other). In turn, Les seriously injured Herb when pulling him along on a hang glider for a promotional stunt (Les had stopped at a stoplight, causing the glider to plummet to the ground). However, Les and Herb have also shown signs of strong friendship. When Herb's wife threw him out, Les pleaded Herb's case to the others at the station so he could have a place to stay. In the episode "Les on a Ledge", when Les was considering suicide (due to rumors that he was homosexual) by jumping off a ledge outside Mr. Carlson's office, Herb eventually went out on the ledge himself to get Les to come back in (and ended up falling onto the firemen's nets several stories below, incurring yet another serious injury). Les once described their relationship by saying "I hate him, but he is my best friend."
Behind the scenes
The writers of WKRP did many episodes focusing on Herb; in the third season of the series, no less than six of the twenty-two episodes were Herb stories. One writer, Peter Torokvei, said that horribly flawed characters like Herb were more interesting to write for than a more self-assured character like Jennifer Marlowe. Another staff writer, Steven KampmannSteven Kampmann
Steven Kampmann is an American actor, writer, and director. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is best known for his role as Kirk Devane on the first two seasons of Newhart....
, recalled that he liked writing for Herb because he was one of the few characters on the show with a wife and family, which added more dimensions to his character.
Frank Bonner directed six episodes of the series.
The role of Herb Tarlek was originally offered to the character actor Rod McCary, but he turned it down to appear in another series.
Cultural references
Herb is still identified, more than two decades after WKRP's initial run ended, as the stereotype for "unprofessional, bribe-taking desperate salespeople" with sales professionals being advised not to wear plaid sports coats so as to avoid being associated in customers' minds with the untrustworthy Mr. Tarlek. Herb has even made it into Wikipedia, the free Web-based encyclopedia, which reports Herb's atrocious sales behavior for the entire world to see.An Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
-based rock band of the 1980s and 90s was called The Herb Tarlicks, a double pun on the character's name and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
"licks".
Canadian band Rheostatics
Rheostatics
Rheostatics was a Genie Award-winning Canadian indie rock band, active from 1980 to 2007.Although they had only one Top 40 hit, "Claire" in 1995, they were simultaneously one of Canada's most influential and unconventional rock bands, a band whose eclectic take on pop and rock music has been...
paid tribute to Herb Tarlek in their song, "The Tarleks", in which Bonner reprised his famous role in the music video.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03M3hXYojqU