"Hi everybody! It's me, Randy, singer for The Residents!"
Rudolph Randolph Rose[1] (born Randy Warthog) was a character portrayed by the lead vocalist of The Residents.
Rose was notably portrayed as the group's frontman during their Randy, Chuck and Bob Trilogy between 2010 and 2016. During this time Rose also acted as a spokesperson for the group in promotional videos, and wrote a Tumblr blog entitled Maurice and Me through which he occasionally corresponded directly with fans.
Rose claimed to have been "fired"[2] from the group prior to the beginning of their 2017 tour In Between Dreams.
History[]
Early Life[]
Randy as a Lonely Teenager, late 1940s.
Randy Rose was born Randy Warthog in Shreveport, Louisiana, sometime between 1932 and 1933[3]. The summer between his Junior and Senior High-School year, Randy was hired by his Uncle as a timekeeper on a construction site. It was his job to arrive early in the morning and take stock.[4] One morning he arrived to take stock and he found a worker on the building named Red splattered on the ground.[5] From that day onward, whenever Randy was up high, Red would appear in his mind, and tell him to jump
Rose spent his first semester at college living on Campus, before looking for a roommate elsewhere. This is how he met and moved in with his fellow student Charles Bobuck.[6]
Randy & Chuck's San Mateo Apartment, 2019
The Residents[]
Randy & Chuck moved to San Mateo in 1969, forming an abortive musical group with multi-instrumentalist Roland Sheehan called The Delta Nudes. In 1971, the group adopted the name Residents, Uninc., and became simply The Residents in 1973. Throughout his life, Randy has had a total of ten wives. His fifth wife was a woman called Evonette. They had no children together, but owned a cat named Maurice. When Rose returned from a tour Evonette had gone missing, and Maurice' skeleton was on a shelf in his closet. Shortly afterwards, he adopted Maurice II, who lived until 2016.
In the late 1990s, Rose met his eighth wife, Martha "Cheetah" Rose, who convinced him to move to Los Angeles to become a voice actor. He was cast in the role of Donkey in Shrek, but was replaced last minute by Eddie Murphy. They divorced shortly after this, but Rose remained in Los Angeles.
Rose on stage, 2010
Rose's identity as The Singing Resident was revealed (along with the group's other members, Bobuck, Lionel Bob, and the recently-departed Carlos) in 2010, when he fronted the group on their Talking Light tour. Following this Rose performed in a one-off appearance in Czechia (later known as Moravian Meeting) with Už Jsme Doma in 2010, and a one-man cabaret production entitled Sam's Enchanted Evening.
Sam's Enchanted Evening starred Rose as "Sam", a 61 year old man telling his life story through the pop songs that defined him. The show was performed for two months at Cabaret at The Marsh in 2011, before a brief revival at the Abrons Art Center in New York in March of 2012.
In August of 2012, Randy had a mental breakdown, and so took a vacation in Hot Springs Arkansas.[7] In 2013 he entered a relationship with a woman named Agnes, who he claimed was "at least 18, maybe even 20 or 21".[8]
The Residents' Randy, Chuck and Bob Trilogy of tours continued with The Wonder of Weird in 2013, and concluded with Shadowland from 2014 - 2016.
In My Room Title Card.
Following the conclusion of the first leg of the Wonder of Weird tour, Don Hardy and The Residents began working on a web series featuring Rose entitled In My Room. The first two episodes, released between the first and second legs of the tour, featured Randy going through interesting parts of The Residents' history. When the series resumed following the conclusion of the second leg, a plot had begun to develop.
Just two weeks after the conclusion of In My Room, a new video series began entitled RandyLand, which focused on what Rose did between shows on the Shadowland tour. RandyLand continued for three seasons from 2013 to 2016. This series also spawned Randy's solo singles, "Bigfoot Beware" and "For Maurice", in 2016.
Randy discovers he was fired.
Rose was "fired" by The Residents[2] without being told, in an apparent line-up change prior to the beginning of the 2017 tour In Between Dreams; he was replaced by vocalist Tyrone.
Rose was seen again in early 2019, posting a short video entitled "Randy Returns" on YouTube. On November 13th Randy appeared in the video 'Things Change,' announcing that he had become a painter, reverted to his birth name, Randy Warthog, and was selling his paintings to help fund The Residents' God In Three Persons live show.
By the time the 2022 film Triple Trouble takes place, Randy had been dead for five years, and was survived only by his son Randall Rose Jr.
Wives[]
- 5.Evonette Rose [9]
- 8.Martha "Cheetah" Rose (1998 - 2001) [10]
- 10.Ethyl 'Tweety' Rose[11]
- ??.Bonnie (2010)
Development[]
Talking Light (2009-2011)[]
The character of Randy was likely created around Halloween 2009, when The Residents were creating their 'Talking Light' live show, which debuted on January 23rd 2010. The character featured in the show was an old man, terrified of his past, his previous poor decisions, and his reflection. The first hints that the Randy character would become re-occurring was during the Moravian Meeting show in 2010, where Randy fronted a Uz Jsme Doma performance of Residents songs.
Randy as Sam, 2012
Sam's Enchanted Evening (2011-2012)[]
Six months following the conclusion of the Talking Light tour, the character of Randy began to star in his own live show, entitled 'Sam's Enchanted Evening', based on an earlier live performed by The Residents entitled So Long Sam. Sam's Enchanted Evening saw Randy starring as 'Sam', a 61 year old man telling his life story through the pop songs that defined him. The show was performed for two months at Cabaret at The Marsh in 2011 before a brief revival at the Abrons Art Center in New York in March of 2012.
Maurice and Me (2012-2016)[]
In February of 2012, Randy started a Tumblr blog titled Maurice and Me, wherein Randy would blog about his life and past, with some posts being expansions of Talking Light stories, or hints at the love life presented in the Wonder of Weird. The last original post on the blog is from October 2016, with the rest being reposts of his YouTube videos.
The Wonder of Weird (2012-2013)[]
Randy Rose on stage, 2013
In December of 2012 The Residents released their Ultimate Box Set, a fridge worth of first pressings of all The Residents physical releases, plus, an eyeball. The set was announced by Randy in a promotional video uploaded to the band's YouTube channel. This would be the first of many vlogs to feature Randy.
The very next month The Residents would debut their Wonder of Weird tour, a show that featured heavy development for the Randy character, as he tells The Residents' history, and in turn, the story of his sad life. This show further developed Randy's 'Sleazy Rocky Star' trait to become his defining feature, whilst still keeping him as a scared old man as seen in Talking Light.
In My Room (2013)[]
Following the conclusion of the first leg of the Wonder of Weird tour, Don Hardy and The Residents began working on a web series inspired by the character, entitled 'In My Room'. The first two episodes, released in between the first and second Wonder of Weird legs, would feature Randy going through interesting parts of The Residents history, however, when the series resumed following the conclusion of the second, and final, leg a plot began to develop.
Screencap from RandyLand
RandyLand (2013-2016)[]
Just two weeks following the conclusion of In My Room, a new Randy inspired series began, entitled 'RandyLand'. RandyLand would focus on what Randy Rose did in-between touring the Shadowland show, and lasted three seasons from 2013 to 2016, and spawned Randy's only solo release 'Bigfoot Beware / For Maurice', a 7inch single released to tie in with the series' third and final season.
Shadowland (2014-2016)[]
Shadowland, specifically designed to be the retirement of the Randy, Chuck & Bob personas featured a stripped down version of the Randy character, who's only spoken lines were to introduce the show, and announce 'Shadowland' before each video.
Later appearances (2017-2019)[]
Randy Warthog, 2019
It was believed by many fans that the conclusion of the Shadowland tour had meant that the Randy character was retired for good, until March 12th 2017, when Rose uploaded a video to his YouTube channel, announcing that he was not dead. Following this would be a series of frantic vlogs about how he'd been replaced by fake Residents, who had been touring an recording in his place.
Following a long silence, The Residents official YouTube channel uploaded a vlog called "RandyReturns" on the 6th of January 2019, offering an insight as to what the character had been doing since his replacement. On November 13th, a vlog was uploaded in which Randy announced he had become a painter, and changed his name to "Randy Warthog", and was selling his paintings to help fund The Residents' God In Three Persons mini-tour.
Triple Trouble & The 50th Anniversary Secret Show (2022-2023)[]
Randy appears as a minor character in The Residents' feature film, Triple Trouble, which follow's Randy's son, Randy Jr., five years after Rose Sr.'s death. Throughout the film, Randy appears to Junior in visions, offering him advice.
Randy later appeared during The Residents' 50th Anniversary secret show at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in January 2023, in an animated video introduction to the show. During the video Randy refers to the show as "dumb-fuck nostalgia crap", and rambles about his own dubious existence.
Discography with The Residents[]
Solo discography[]
Singles[]
- "Bigfoot Beware" (2016)
- "For Maurice" (2016)
Live albums[]
- Moravian Meeting with Už Jsme Doma (2020)
Solo live performances[]
- Moravian Meeting with Už Jsme Doma (2010)
- Sam's Enchanted Evening with Joshua Raoul Brody (2010-2012)
Solo videography[]
DVD[]
- Randy's Ghost Stories (2010)
Video series[]
- In My Room (2013)
- RandyLand (2013-2016)
See also[]
- The Randy, Chuck and Bob Trilogy
- Maurice and Me
- The Singing Resident
- Mr. Skull
- Tyrone
- Sam's Enchanted Evening
External links and references[]
- ↑ https://randyresident.tumblr.com/post/18632287813/okay-okay-somebody-named-edgaryuckyburrito
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 John Sanborn's "God In 3 Persons" Promo
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e97QS_2HbcI&t=87s
- ↑ https://randyresident.tumblr.com/post/20660006430/the-building-back-in-the-70s-reds-siren-song
- ↑ https://randyresident.tumblr.com/post/20786453463/reds-siren-song-part-3-reds-nightly
- ↑ https://randyresident.tumblr.com/post/17791263072/this-a-picture-of-chuck-back-in-the-60s-he-was
- ↑ https://randyresident.tumblr.com/post/31820077890/hey-everybody-it-worked-im-cured-whew-what-a
- ↑ Post by Randy Rose, Maurice and Me, ca. 2013
- ↑ https://randyresident.tumblr.com/post/18170152968/original-maurice-okay-okay-people-keep-asking
- ↑ https://randyresident.tumblr.com/post/18465422974/okay-so-people-have-been-saying-hey-randy-so
- ↑ https://randyresident.tumblr.com/post/20432518104/miss-tweety-okay-im-pretty-sure-ive-zeroed
