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SALUTE YOUR SHORTS was part of what I refer to as the "golden age" of Nickelodeon. For those of you who don't know, Nickelodeon did consist of amazing shows at one point in time and these shows included but are not limited to; CLARISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL, NICK ARCADE, FAMILY DOUBLE DARE, ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?, PETE AND PETE, and LEGENDS OF THE HIDDEN TEMPLE.
SALUTE YOUR SHORTS followed a group of campers at Camp Anawanna, led by their camp counselor Ug, as they got themselves into numerous shenanigans.
One episode in particular has always made me a little uneasy. It highlighted the camp ghost story of the legend of Zeke the plumber. As the story goes, Zeke got his nose bitten off by a parrot and could not smell the gas leak in the camp one night. He blew up and now haunts the camp looking for his cursed plunger. While the story is a little silly and clearly meant for entertainment purposes, I cannot help but still feel incredibly scared when I look at the face of Zeke the plumber.
It must be the nose. I don't think I remembered there ever having been an explanation for why his nose was bloody and bandaged, and so just seeing a guy in a creepy mask with a bloody nose was enough to make cower.
In the episode, camp bully Budnick (Whose name I always thought was ButtNick) is dared to spend the night out in the woods at the site of Zeke's legendary death. There are a few dream sequences where Zeke haunts campers dreams; the sound of the plunger awakening them and the way the mask moves when Zeke talks….yikes, it still scares the bejesus out of me. Not to mention getting a plunger in the face would be equally terrifying.
UNK SEZ: Thanks, A.D. , I missed this show when it was on but I do know that one of its stars later went on to be to be eaten by giant bugs in THE WILLIES! Now, all you readers out there, make sure you check A.D.'s blog THE HORROR DIGEST, it's pretty darn great and you can find it HERE!
I LOVED that show as a kid. The only part that creeped me out is Telly's nightmare, as she's very uncomfortable being girly and finds herself at a dance with Zeke. Of course, it's probably that speech he gives that weireded me out…
I won't give away the ending, but also the part with the giant cobweb got my skin crawling.
I remember this show. The part that stuck with me was the a punishment the campers called the "awful waffle", where a kid would be held down on a cafeteria table, syrup is poured all over his belly, all while the other kids chant "awful waffle!"
It makes sense you thought his name was Buttnick, i think that's what the kids called him.
Honestly not familiar with SALUTE YOUR SHORTS or Zeke (though he does have a face only a mother could do something with), so I just want to take this opportunity to express my undying love for PETE & PETE!
Admittedly, I was too old for P&P when it was on, but seriously – any show with a Mom with a plate in her head, cameos by ANN MAGNUSON & SYD STRAW, and that Artie the World’s Strongest Man… don’t even get me started.
"PETE AND PETE"! That was probably one of the shows that helped shape me in my formative years. XD How many shows today can match this level of crazy? (Well, "iCarly" tries, but it just doesn't come close.)
This episode didn't bother me – holy shit, Telly's nightmare made me laugh so hard. When I was younger, I said I wanted to be Telly and I wanted Knuckles the Echidna (from Sonic) to be Zeke (as I had a crush on Knuckles back then.)
We also had a kid named Zeke in our preschool class and we made fun of his name after this episode. Like how the Nostalgia Critic was called Doug Funnie after Doug came out.