The #ColumboTV Prize Patrol

Now that the prizes are safely in the hands of the winners of the August #ColumboTV Twitter event, here’s what they won!

Greg McCambley won a copy of an ABC promotional photo of Peter Falk and Robert Culp from Culp’s fourth Columbo outing (however, he is not the murderer) “Columbo Goes to College” (1990).

Columbo Goes to College

Neal Maidment won a vintage copy of the 1973 Mad Magazine featuring the spoof “Clodumbo” with “Dr. Robert Culpable.”

Mad Magazine January 1973

Clodumbo

 

Dr Robert Culpable

Congratulations once again fellas!

#ColumboTV Winning Tweets and Honorable Mentions

Columbo: Double Exposure

Believe me folks, it wasn’t easy to pick a winner from each #ColumboTV viewing event. There were hundreds of tweets and a lot of folks are pretty good at dropping good one liners at 140 characters or less.

But here they are! The wining tweets (and honorable mentions) for each event.

Saturday – 8/17

Winner: @nealmaidment So Robert Culp do you come here often to sexily sit in the pumpkin display?

Columbo: Double Exposure

Honorable: @patrickdijusto It’s so obvious that the culprit was Dr. Mustard-Jacket, in the lobby, with the pistol.

Columbo: Double Exposure

Sunday – 8/18

Winner: @GregMcCambley Is it murder, or is is Memorex?

Columbo: Double Exposure

Honorable: @HollHox You know I did it, I know I did it, I know you know I did it, let’s call the whole thing off.

Columbo: Double Exposure

Congrats to the winners and mentions! Winners will each receive a unique Culp/Columbo prize. (I don’t want to spoil anything so I’ll reveal what the prizes were once the winners have receive them. Yes, really!).

Again, thanks to all who participated and made both events a lot of fun!

The #ColumboTV Double Header Event Recap

Columbo: Double Exposure

The “Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun, Double Exposure” #ColumboTV events this past weekend (August 17th and 18th) on Twitter I think was a resounding success! Stats are still being sorted out, but my estimates approximately 18 folks took part in the Saturday event with another 12 folks on Sunday. The Saturday event saw a few die hard Columbo fans in the UK staying up (or getting up) at midnight to watch and tweet and the hashtag #ColumboTV trended briefly catching the attention of a couple of trend watch-bots on Twitter. There were hundreds of tweets during both events and I’m still – STILL! – sorting through to pick the best tweet from each and award prizes. I’ll notify winners via DM on Twitter. If you took part in either event make sure you follow me so I can contact you!

And a thanks to all who participated! A great cap on the weekend for what would have been Robert Culp’s 83rd birthday.

Shameless Plug for Robert Culp and #ColumboTV

Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun, Double Exposure

*Cue “Double Vision” by Foreigner*

Fill my eyes, with that double vision…of not one, but TWO #ColumboTV events on Twitter!

The first on Saturday, August 17th, 2013 at 7pm EDT, 12am BST and 9am AEST. The second on Sunday, August 18th, 2013 at 2pm EDT, 7pm BST and 4am AEST.

As Lord Dastardly Deano would say, “for those of you with an inferior education” BST is British Summer Time or simply UK time! AEST is Australian Eastern Standard Time (for our Aussie friends in places like Sydney and Melbourne.)

Why two events, you ask? Am I crazy, you wonder? Are you kidding, Robert Culp twice, in honor of his birthday, which would be August 16th? Absolutely!

Actually, I know a #ColumboTV event typically takes place around 5pm EDT, but I just can’t swing that hour. So, since I can do earlier, or later, and knowing Columbo fans span the globe my hope is the two slots will work well for turnout.

As an extra bonus, there will be a selection of Best Tweet from both events with a prize for each!

So mark your calendars August 17th and 18th and join me on Twitter (@ConsummateCulp) for #ColumboTV and Robert Culp! And for those of you not familiar with how #ColumboTV works, click here to get the scoop!

Columbo: Double Exposure

Retro Hijinks: Dr. Robert Culpable – And the Mad Magazine spoof of “Columbo”

It’s one thing when Mad Magazine spoofs the movie or TV show you’re a star of. Obviously, you’re going to be spoofed too. But it’s a whole other honor to be included in the spoof of a show that you were a guest star on!

In its 60 year history, Mad Magazine has spared no television series, movie or pop culture du jour from its lampooning antics (not to mention politicians and any other public figures). Back in 1973, the popular series Columbo wasn’t spared either, getting the royal Mad treatment in “Clodumbo.”

The story line ran similar to an episode of the show, with a Mad Magazine twist of course. The story opens with Clodumbo annoying the hell out of the Police Commissioner and the rest of the department wishing for a homicide so Clodumbo can go and annoy somebody else. Lo and behold, they get a report of a homicide, which has taken place at the house of Dr. Robert Culpable.

If the name wasn’t blatantly obvious, the excellent art work by Angelo Torres is. Robert Culp, who had appeared on two Columbo episodes by the time this issue of Mad hit newsstands in January of 1973, was given the dubious honor of being portrayed as Clodumbo’s prime suspect. (And honestly, who could’ve resisted using the name “Culpable” anyway?). Dr. Culpable is drawn much like how Culp appeared as Detective Brimmer in 1971’s “Death Lends a Hand” with the striped shirt and square glasses. As another nod to that episode, Clodumbo goes to leave and walks into a closet by mistake, just as Columbo did.

And like Columbo on the series, Clodumbo aggravates Dr. Culpable to the Nth degree. Only unlike Robert Culp, who played the guilty party with aplomb, Dr. Culpable was innocent and ended up confessing to a crime he didn’t commit, just to get the pestering Lieutenant to leave him alone!

Take a look for yourself! You can click the thumbnails to view larger images.