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Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

By Jeremy Meltingtallow

The above strip ran on Sunday, October 30th.  Shortly after it ran, I received an email from the wife of Elmo Shropshire, A.K.A. “Dr. Elmo,” creator of the famous holiday novelty song “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer!” As it turns out, Dr. Elmo loved the strip and wanted to find out if he could acquire it. I happily gifted it to him, and he was kind enough to send me a couple of autographed CDs in return!

The note in the picture reads:

Dear Norm,

Thank you for making the cartoon about Monster Mash and “Grandma.” It is a brilliant piece of artwork and we will treasure it.

Gratefully,

Elmo

AKA Dr. Elmo

I totally geeked out over this. Although it’s now a holiday staple, I clearly remember the first time I heard “Grandma” on the radio back in the 80s. A friend and I used to listen to a weekly radio program called “Dr. Demento” that played novelty songs from Dr. Elmo, Monty Python, Weird Al, and various others. I actually wanted to be a novelty song writer at one point. The fact that I have no musical ability whatsoever put the kibosh on that dream pretty quickly, but still. This was a cool throwback for me – and a surprise. I never thought  in a million years that the creator of either song would see the strip … And yes, I also didn’t relize that Bobby “Boris” Pickett hasn’t needed to pay rent since 2007. Old article. My bad.

At any rate, you can learn more about the very talented Dr. Elmo at his website www.drelmo.com. I highly recommend his “Bluegrass Christmas” album – one of the CDs he sent. It’s classic Christmas music with a bluegrass twang. Very nice.

Thanks, Dr. Elmo! You made my day!