Overview

Uncle Bill Reads the Funnies was a local Sunday morning children's television show on KAKE-TV in Wichita, Kansas. The show was hosted by Bill Boyle, who would read the color comics section of the Sunday Hutchinson News. Alongside Bill was Woody, a wooden dummy who Uncle Bill would ventriloquist as they read the paper. Next to Woody was Zippy, a fuzzy mystery monster hand puppet who didn't speak, would duck under the kitchen table to bring up a variety of props, and engage in zany antics related to the strip that Uncle Bill and Woody were about to read or had just read. The show appeared to have been done in the KAKE-TV's "kitchen" studio setting. Boyle was a minister at various local churches of Christian Church. The characters would deliver a light-hearted moral lesson to the children after the reading of each funnies strip. Uncle Bill also did biblical out reach to the community churches by having a sit down with young children in front of a blank paper drawing board. He would begin to tell a biblical story and then ask a volunteer to draw five random lines on the board. He would then continue the story while completing the random lines into a scene from the story. He always finished by labeling the new picture with the chapter and verse used to create the image and give the final result to the child volunteer.