Name: Tom Hughes, Potato Museum Curator, on Letterman, February 15, 1982
Uploaded: 2019-02-22T00:00:54.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Tom Hughes, Potato Museum Curator, on Letterman, February 15, 1982' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2019-02-22. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Tom Hughes, Potato Museum Curator, on Letterman, February 15, 1982' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2019-02-22. Transcript available.

Music
My next guest is an American who has lived in Belgium for eight years.
He is not a diplomat. He's not with the government.
Believe it or not, this gentleman runs the world's only potato museum located
in Belgium.
And he started the museum in 1975 as a tribute to his favorite vegetable.
Here now, the curator of the museum, Mr. Tom Hughes.
Hi, Tom. How are you? Have a seat, if you will.
You seem like a reasonable sort, just generally.
This, to me, is a little...
I guess people ask you, of course, and I will now also, why a museum for
potatoes?
The potato is the world's number one vegetable, and it deserves to be honored
in a museum, and I've done it.
But, you know, what about celery, carrots?
Well, per acre, if you plant potatoes, rice, wheat, whatever, per acre,
potatoes give more food value and nutrition than anything else.
And it feeds people, it makes people happy, and it makes civilizations possible.
Let's cover number two. How does it make people happy?
Well, there are all sorts of toys at the museum that we play with, and we let
visitors play with.
One of the top toys that, in England over the years, was a little toy pistol.
We have one right here that you can shoot potatoes with.
You can shoot potatoes.
Right? And here it is. It's called a spud gun, or a potato pistol.
And I'm not, I'm just going to, okay, there we go.
Good heavens.
And, um, so...
Let me load one of those up and let me try it.
Okay, it's a gouging effort, and there you go.
A gouging effort, and it's, uh...
I'm...
And you've got to pump it hard.
Okay.
There you go.
And I guess this is the kind of thing we could see in the museum if we...
Yes?
...came up with the airfare to fly all the way over.
Well, no, I've brought some of the museum with me, and I'm traveling around
with it,
and I hope that many Americans will be able to see the exhibit, uh, in their
area.
Yeah, yeah.
Now, again, I'm going to try once more.
At what point in your life did you decide you needed to devote your remaining
years to the potato?
I think it came when I first saw my first potato plant, and I realized how
beautiful the flower is.
Now, that's... Now, you're just being silly there, aren't you?
Yes. I was impressed with the beauty of the flower, and seeing a plant that I
had never seen before,
but had eaten its product.
I also, when I moved to Belgium, when I'm a schoolteacher, and I was teaching
there,
I talked to people. All my neighbors were growing potatoes, like we grow
flowers, we grow tomatoes.
They were growing potatoes, and I said, what is this?
And they said, well, during the war, we've had to live off potatoes.
And, um, you know, you can live off potatoes, they told me, and I didn't know
that.
So, I asked my students to research this subject.
Another person suggested that Ireland, whose history has forever been changed
by potatoes,
should have a museum about potatoes.
And I thought, a museum about potatoes, perhaps this is what I should do, and I
did it.
Has this made you a wealthy man?
No, it has not, but it's certainly given me an interesting life.
Because, let me tell you, if you have a potato museum, and you go to Russia, as
I have,
and you go to Poland, you get a lot of vodka toasts, because the potatoes are
very important.
What are the Polish people living on right now, during the crisis?
You know, they're standing in line, waiting for a lot of other things.
What is supporting them? Potatoes.
You can live off potatoes.
People have.
Yeah, I know, I think we can, sure.
Now, we have some slides that, what are we going to see here, Tom?
Okay, we have some things from the museum.
This is the inventor of the potato chip, on the left.
He's a great man in American history, because the potato chip is more American
than apple pie,
and potato chips are just portable potatoes.
Now, who, portable potatoes.
Right.
Carry them in your wallet.
Now, who were those, who were they, actually?
He was the man who was in Saratoga Springs, New York, and he invented the
potato, it was an accident.
It was dropped in, a piece of the peel was dropped into the fat one day,
and it was served up to a wealthy customer, supposedly Cornelius Vanderbilt,
who liked them, and...
Funny, they didn't look like they'd be eating potatoes, you know?
Who's next here?
Well, we're going to have, I think, you can...
Oh, yes, this is a potato dance.
You said you're going to have a lot of fun with potatoes.
Yeah, they're having the time of their lives, aren't they?
Nothing I like better than having a potato rolled across my face.
Right.
Well, some people have done the, do the mashed potato, which was a big twist
number in the 50s.
Uh-huh.
Okay.
But the potato, the potato has everything in it but fat.
Did you know that?
No, I didn't know that.
It is full of vitamin C, a high source of potassium, B9, but very little
calories,
and quality potatoes go into everything, and we can live off them.
All right, we have another photo.
Is this more of these?
That was, uh...
Yes, well, now, the potato is even a source of energy.
Properly, properly rigged up, you can light a light bulb with the electricity,
the power
from potatoes, and this is not, uh...
And potatoes are even used to make ethanol fuel now.
Well, the ethanol fuel I understand, but how...
Yes, I don't understand the electricity coming from a potato to power.
Well, you're going to have to come to the museum, and we will let you fiddle
with the wires
and the light bulb just like we let the other visitors, and you will produce
some electrical...
Actually, electricity.
All right, we have a brief amount of time to cover some of these other items
here, Tom.
Okay, here's potato jewelry.
This is a potato chip bracelet.
Here's a potato necklace.
Oh, the potato necklace is nice.
This, this is a bowl.
Too bad you can't get it any bigger.
That, it's a...
This is a bowl made from potatoes.
The bowl's not, is made from potatoes, but the potato chips are not.
They're made from wood.
These are made from wood.
And we're going to have...
And, uh, can I show this?
Here's Marilyn Monroe wearing a potato sack.
And this made her career.
This, um, this, before that, she was an unknown actress, but, uh, the potatoes,
potatoes did it for her.
That put her over the top.
That's right.
Fascinating.
The potato museum located in Belgium.
That's right.
Tom Hughes.
Thank you, Tom, for being here.
We'll be right back with more of the show, folks.
Thank you, Tom.
Thank you.
And Tom also wanted to point out that there are purple potatoes, and he brought
one for us here today.
We didn't...
I don't know exactly why they're purple, but there it is.
Looks yummy, doesn't it?
I want to thank this studio audience.
You folks were wonderful.
Also, Andy Rooney, Franklin Ajai, Mr. Hughes from the Potato Museum.
We'll see you tomorrow, folks.
We have Dick Cavett, Al Braverman, and Howard Smith.
Have a good night.
Thank you.
We have Dick Cavett, Al Braverman, and Howard Smith.
We have Dick Cavett, Al Braverman, and Howard Smith.
We have Dick Cavett, Al Braverman, and Howard Smith.
We have Dick Cavett, Al Braverman, and Howard Smith.
We have Dick Cavett, Al Braverman, and Howard Smith.
We have Dick Cavett, Al Braverman, and Howard Smith.
We have Dick Cavett, Al Braverman, and Howard Smith.
We have Dick Cavett, Al Braverman, and Howard Smith.
We have Dick Cavett, Al Braverman, and Howard Smith.
We have Dick Cavett, Al Braverman, and Howard Smith.
We have Dick Cavett, Al Braverman, and Howard Smith.
We have Dick Cavett, Al Braverman, and Howard Smith.