Bill Saluga is an American comedian. Saluga is best known for his cigarette-smoking, zoot suit-wearing television character Raymond J. Johnson, Jr. (also known as Ray Jay Johnson).

Raymond J. Johnson, Jr.

The Raymond J. Johnson, Jr. character's schtick is to become annoyed when addressed as "Mr. Johnson", exclaiming in a loud voice, "Ah-you can call me RAY; ah-you can call me JAY", and so on listing other names he could be called, until finally finishing, "but you doesn't hafta call me JOHNSON!"

Saluga perfomed Raymond J. Johnson, Jr. on Redd Foxx's eponymous variety show [1], and later on television commercials for Miller Lite. The character received attention anew in 1993 when mentioned (as Ray Jay Johnson) on the program The Simpsons. In 2002, Saluga appeared as Johnson in an episode of the show.

Capitalizing on the relative fame of Raymond J. Johnson, Jr., in 1979, Saluga released a disco single called "Dancin' Johnson." That same year, Bob Dylan quoted Johnson's schtick in the song "Gotta Serve Somebody " ("You may call me R.J./ you may call me Ray...") on the Slow Train Coming LP.

Other work

Bill Saluga was a founding member, along with Fred Willard, Michael Mislove and George Memmoli , of the improvisational comedy troupe Ace Trucking Company. He has appeared on several television programs, including Seinfeld, and is the co-author of Bill Saluga's Name Game Book (ISBN 0553207547).

External links

• Official web site
• The "You can call me Ray" bit in RealAudio format, from tvparty.com