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Grady Nutt

July 21st, 2004 in Faith, Grady Nutt, Popular culture | leave a response

One of our area ministers stopped by the newspaper today, and when he mentioned something about pastors being only human I immediately thought of a quote by the late Grady Nutt.

That led me to reminisce about Grady Nutt, and to look and see if any of his old albums had been rereleased on CD. I couldn’t find any, and that saddens me to no end. If I could find a copy of whatever album “The Tea Totallers” appeared on, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

The Rev. Grady Nutt was a Southern Baptist preacher who became a standup comedian, with his faith, his family and his occupation as his subject matter. For a while, he was a regular on “Hee Haw” (he was unpretentious enough to appear on “Hee Haw,” but don’t let that scare you off). He talked about how pastors were only human; that was the quote that came up this morning. Grady said that when a pastor hits his thumb with a hammer, he does not say “Verily and behold, I have slammed it.”

Grady even made a TV situation comedy pilot about life as a pastor. It wasn’t picked up and was burned off one summer during the 1970s as a special. Grady died, much too young, in an airplane crash.

The story “The Tea Totallers” takes a long time to tell and only Grady could do it justice. But it has to do with a minister’s family which is hosting the family of a visiting evangelist for lunch. One of the children spills a glass of iced tea all over the tablecloth, and the mother — who has been slaving away to make everything spotless and perfect for the special guests — begins to tremble as if she’s about to have an apoplectic fit. The father, however, stares her down until he has her full attention — and then reaches out and intentionally knocks over his own glass. Pretty soon, everyone at the table, including the mother and the bewildered visitng pastor, is gleefully knocking over tea glasses. It’s a perfect Mary-and-Martha parable about what’s really important in life, as opposed to the details about which we often obsess.

Even funnier are stories that I recall about Grady being forced to counsel a grieving widow in the only unoccupied room in her house — the bathroom — and about a baptism by immersion gone terribly awry.

Someone please, please get this man’s material onto CD. The world still needs him.

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Viewing 36 Comments

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    I saw some tapes on a website called justcleanfun.com that said they had Grady Nutt on them
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    I was a friend of Grady's, but of course, everyone who met him was his friend. I was a member of the Sunday School class that he and his wife Elenor taught and I have many fond memories of his humor and wisdom. He truly was a man of God and a man of humor. There were countless times I can recall being in his home, sitting around drinking "40 weight tea. If your car runs out of oil, just pour some of this in." I used to have several recordings of Grady's, but unfortunately time and many playbacks took their toll on them. I would be very interested as well in finding some more of Grady's material.

    God bless you, Grady. You are sorely missed.
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    I, too, have been looking for the great Grady Nutt tapes. Oh, boy! how I have been looking for those tapes. I had them all but cannot find them anywhere. Now I am looking all over the internet for them. I absolutely loved even work that man said. I even have one of his quotes cross-stitched on a sampler. "Laughter is the Hand of God on the shoulder of a troubled world"
    If you find any tapes would you PLEASE let me know where to find them?
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    I, too, am a Grady Nutt nut! His LPs and tapes do come up occasionally on EBAY. I have amassed what I believe to be an almost complete library via patience (my in-laws went to Baylor with Grady and they have the LP that I'm missing...I'm hoping to be remembered in the will!)
    Rich Diesslin has a very nice tribute (with sound bytes) on his website: www.the-cartoonist.com He has shared some things that were never actually published.
    Oh yeah, "Tea-totallers" is on the LP "Taking Notice."
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    I met Grady Nutt in the fall of 1971 in Hattisburg, Mississippi when he spoke at a youth group and it was one of the most enjoyable evenings I ever had. I have often thought about him since that time and I have always wanted some of his recordings but could never find any. I never wached HeeHaw but one night I happend to have it on and saw Grady on it. I was so excited to have finally found him, but just my luck, he died in the accident the very next week and I was so sad to learn of his death. I will keep watching on ebay and on the internet and hope I can find some of his recordings. I would appreciate any help I can get from anyone who reads this.
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    I am a first cousin of Grady's and was telling some stories of Grady to my 14 year old sons. Unfortunately, I don't have any recordings of Grady's to share with them. If anyone has a recording or printed version of "Beepin' Sleauty", I would love to get a copy of it. It is so good to see that Grady is not forgotten.
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    Thank you Todd for noticing my tribute to Grady Nutt. The "Tea-totallers" is a story about Albert Young and is currently on my tributes page (free download). It's 12 Meg MP3 though, so have a high-speed connection! And I whole-heartedly agree with this statement from above "Someone please, please get this man’s material onto CD. The world still needs him." His wit and wisdom is too precious to lose!
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    BTW - Scott, as a first cousin, I think you could probably talk Toby Nutt, Grady's youngest son out of some copies of Grady's recordings. There was a time when I thought he might publish a collection. I haven't heard anything on that for a while, so who knows if it will happen. It's a shame if it doesn't!
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    Go here:
    http://www.the-cartoonist.com/
    ...there's a lot of Grady to download!
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    sorry...
    more specifically, it's here:
    http://members.aol.com/rldes/private/Nutt/Nutt....
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    You can reach Toby at the address below.

    toby.nutt@cbandt.com
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    I remember getting to see Grady Nutt many years ago at 4-H Junior Leader Camp at Purdue University in Indiana. I was also wondering if any of his stand-up routines were every recorded or filmed. Who would hold the copies of his records besides family members? I will try the sons e-mail. Thanks
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    I had been a fan of Grady's before I became his friend. He had an enormous influence on me. I pastored the Graefenburg Baptist Church in Kentucky about 15 years after he did, and on several occasions we would co-officiate at funerals. I've sat at his table and spent the night in his home. He was one of the most brilliant, creative, and truly original thinkers I've ever known. The Thanksgiving weekend in 1982 remains etched in my memory for the sadness of his passing. I still have the note his family sent to friends after his death. "Today we are thankful for friends who are family, and family who are friends."

    I can't wait to get to Heaven so I can get a Gradyhug and feel blessed the way only he could bless.
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    I have two albums of Grady Nutt in good condition. One is The Flip Side of Grady Nutt. (Tiple Ventures) Has a pic on the album cover on the back of him with Mike Douglas (recently passed away) and Bobby Gentry. The other is A Laugh and A Half.(RiverSong) Has a Riversong review card in it to become a charter member. I have never listened to them. They used to be my mother and father in laws. Was going through all my albums,loads of them and came across them. This is the first I ever heard of him.
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    I forgot to add that I was doing some research on Grady Nutt and that is how I came across this web site. I am going to listen tomorrow to these albums now. I also wanted to mention..my inlaws were Baptists from Washington State.
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    I knew Grady at Baylor. We roomed together in Martin Hall his senior year. I also knew sweet Eleanor. He was completely nutts over her. Every night he'd come in simply stupified by her beauty, personality, sweetness, etc. Our other roommate, Donnell Berry, and I listened patiently as he raved. They were very much in love.

    Grady paid me a visit shortly before his tragic accident. I was employed in a bank in Corpus Christi and he had a gig at First Baptist Church. We sat in the coffee shop and literally laughed for 3 solid hours before he had to leave for his meeting.

    Grady never had a down day that I can remember. He was constantly in motion, early morning 'til late, late night. I never saw him study or even crack a book. He was a Baylor Yell Leader that year and was everywhere at once. A tremendous talent, thoroughly dedicated to his calling and so much in love with Eleanor. I remeber that when he really liked someone he would always say "He/She is the craziest guy/girl/"

    I still miss him and think of him often.
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    I gave one of Rev. Nutt's recordings to my parents and they truly enjoyed it - we had to clear out their home a few weeks ago and my daughter saw the album and took it with her. It has the story on it about the counseling the young widow - the funeral where I think it was Grady's buddy -"C.T." slid in the grave because of the amount of rain - and also how they "terrorized" their choir leader by thumbing through the church hymnals and finding hymn titles and passing the hymnals back and forth. My daughter and I were just looking to see if we could find the recordings on a CD.

    The Reverend Nutt is still missed by all who ever heard him in person or on the airwaves or television.
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    I see I am not alone. My father gave me "Taking Notice" by Grady so long ago. I do not even own a record player now...just cd players. I am searching for any CD's that have been released; obviously many more of you are as well. If anyone finds a site or knows of anyone who might know how to go from LP to CD I would love to know. I have many friends who would benefit from his love of God thru humor.
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    Glad to find I'm not alone in remembering Grady. I'm really glad he won't be forgotten.
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    I've acquired most of Grady's albums and digitized them. I will be happy to share them with someone who has the ability to put them up online - at least until the copyright holder reveals himself or herself.
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    Just wanted to chime in and let everyone know that reading the comments about Grady Nut has uplifted me. Each time I see the title of one of his stories that I heard on 8 track tapes as a teenager it brings that story back to life for me and once again I laugh at the memories of it. I have been LONG searching for Grady's ministry on CD and am thankful that I stumbled across this website. I am looking forward to searching the websites mentioned in the entries of Jan. 2006. Should any of you convince the "Powers to be" to get Grady re-released on CD, PLEASE let me know where I will be able to get them. He truly is loved and missed by those he touched with his God given ministry. I also echo the anticipation of meeting him face to face in Heaven soon. I can imagine him as someone Jesus turns to when He needs a laugh. Grady, you are deeply missed.

    May the Lord richly Bless you and your families!
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    I was born in 81, and am one of the few people my age who knows who Grady Nutt is. I have family in Waco, and have grown up around Amarillo. A few years back my father copied on of his LPs to cd, and as soon as I got an ipod, I put it on there. I keep looking online hoping that if they haven't come out w/ cds to buy, then maybe someone would make a site where you can download the albums to listen to. I'd really appreciate this.
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    I was also a friend of Grady's. My family and I got to know him and his family through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. We loved them all. I would so love to have news of Eleanor and the boys. I also want to have all of Grady's material that has been recored. I had one album but loaned it to a fried many years ago and have not seen it since. I have his books and using part of The Gospel According To Norton in my Sunday School lesson yesterday made me remember to "Google" Grady again and see what I could find. This site didn't come up last time I "Googled" him but sure glad it did this time. Thinking of Grady gives me that "warm spot" he so often talked about. I think I would give just about anything to get a collection of Grady's work on album and tv. I mostly want to share him with others. I am a high school teacher and I think my students today would love him as much as I did as a teenager and young adult! SOMEONE, please get his material out there for today's young people!!!!!!!! Thanks for the info!!!!!! Princie King Evans