1. Since 2010, Tom Scharpling has directed music videos for MGMT, The New Pornographers, Ted Leo, Titus Andronicus, Wild Flag, Aimee Mann, Real Estate, Frankie Cosmos, and The Ettes.
31 Facts About Tom Scharpling
1. 2.
Tom Scharpling was a fan of Saturday Night Live and SCTV from a young age.
3.
Tom Scharpling attended Middlesex High School, Middlesex Community College, and Trenton State College.
4.
Tom Scharpling worked at a sheet music shop called World of Music in Summit, New Jersey, from 1979 through 1999.
5.
Tom Scharpling has cited his major comedy influences as Chris Elliott's Get a Life, SCTV, Saturday Night Live, and the 1994 absurdist comedy Clifford starring Martin Short.
6.
Tom Scharpling later purchased the suit worn by Short in Clifford via an eBay auction.
7.
Tom Scharpling found that he enjoyed having a pseudonym, because the new name had no "baggage", including no association to his previous mental illness.
8.
Tom Scharpling contributed the liner notes for The Electrifying Conclusion, Guided By Voices's DVD documentary of their "final" live show in Chicago released in 2005.
9.
Tom Scharpling started hosting a music-oriented program on the station in the mid-1990s.
10.
Tom Scharpling hosted the first episode of The Best Show on WFMU on October 10,2000.
11.
Tom Scharpling is considered by some as the "Godfather Of Podcasting".
12.
Tom Scharpling made no money from the station, and regularly encouraged fans to donate to the non-profit station by offering elaborate pledge drive gifts.
13.
On October 29,2013, Tom Scharpling announced that the final Best Show on WFMU was to air on December 17,2013.
14.
On October 10,2014,14 years to the day after The Best Show first aired, Tom Scharpling announced via his Twitter page that The Best Show would return in November 2014.
15.
Tom Scharpling was the first writer to be hired for the series Monk.
16.
Tom Scharpling was hired to the show by Saturday Night Live writer and fellow WFMU DJ Andy Breckman.
17.
Tom Scharpling acted as Monk's executive producer during the last four of the show's eight seasons.
18.
Tom Scharpling appears on the special features portion of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Volume 3 DVD.
19.
Tom Scharpling voiced Jermaine in the animated series Adventure Time.
20.
In 2012, Tom Scharpling directed the video for Aimee Mann's song "Labrador", which is a shot-by-shot remake of the video for the 1985 'Til Tuesday song "Voices Carry", with Mann in the lead role, Jon Wurster playing the abusive yuppie boyfriend, and Ted Leo as the guitarist in Mann's band.
21.
The video begins with a brief "making of" clip featuring Jon Hamm as "Tom Scharpling", discussing the video concept, and Mann stating that she was tricked into doing the video.
22.
Tom Scharpling has directed music videos for Titus Andronicus, Wild Flag, The Ettes, Real Estate, The Stepkids, and MGMT.
23.
Tom Scharpling directed and co-wrote the web "trailer" for John Hodgman's 2011 book, That Is All.
24.
Tom Scharpling wrote and directed the web "trailer" aired on Funny or Die for The Postal Service band's 10-year anniversary reissue of their album Give Up.
25.
Tom Scharpling has appeared as a guest multiple times on The George Lucas Talk Show, and is a frequent contributor to the live chatroom conversation.
26.
Tom Scharpling is a regular columnist for and co-founder of the sports website The Classical.
27.
Tom Scharpling has worked as a headline contributor for The Onion, as well as the writer of Harp Magazines " Great Moments in Rock" column.
28.
Tom Scharpling has contributed basketball-themed writing to GQ and SLAM Magazine.
29.
In 2011, Tom Scharpling was commissioned by New York Magazine to write multi-page recaps for every episode of the fourth season of NBC's Celebrity Apprentice.
30.
Until 2020, Scharpling lived in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey with his former wife, fellow WFMU DJ Terre T As of December 2024, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife Julia Vickerman.
31.
Tom Scharpling has been a pescatarian since approximately 1994, and almost never consumes alcohol.