Even in death, former Maine radio personality and humorist Robert Skoglund of St. George has continued to entertain.
Skoglund, who was best known for his radio show “The humble Farmer,” died on Saturday at the age of 88. Also on that day, his friend Gary Crocker posted a video on Facebook that Skoglund had recorded before his death, calling it “my friend Robert Skoglund’s brief obituary.”
“Hi there, I’m Robert Skoglund, the humble Farmer, and I just died,” Skoglund says, while looking directly into the camera and smiling.
The humorist then dons a towel as a headscarf and pretends to be a woman talking on the phone about his death, saying it wasn’t cancer that killed him, but “public opinion.”
“I heard they’re gonna smoke him,” Skoglund said in the video, while still in character. “Yeah, he always was a ham.”
He ends the video as himself, saying, “I’m the humble Farmer, and I approve this message. Thank you for watching.”
Skoglund’s radio show aired on Maine Public Radio from 1978 to 2007. He was also a musician who played piano, clarinet and bass, and spoke multiple languages. In 2008, he started a “humble Farmer” television show that was broadcast on community access stations around Maine and as far away as Oklahoma and Wisconsin.
In an interview, Crocker said he and Skoglund filmed the video in one take, and that Skoglund got the idea from famous humorist Art Buchwald. It was fun at the time, especially since Crocker thought he wouldn’t have to post the obituary for a while.
“When we made it, it was funny,” Crocker said. “It was no fun to post. It was a completely different feeling. And the fact that I could never talk to Robert again crossed my mind. It was just … what?”
Crocker, who is also a humorist, had been friends with Skoglund for over 25 years, he said. He’s done shows with Skoglund, and said he learned from the humble Farmer every time.
Crocker told a story from 20 years ago, about a difficult show in Bangor that made him never want to get on stage again. When he told Skoglund about his decision the next day, Skoglund said that anyone who gets on stage is going to have a bad night from time to time. He then made Crocker give an announcement and tell a story in front of an audience, and Crocker credits Skoglund with encouraging him to stay in the career that he loves.
“He has been at the very top of my list of humans ever since I met him,” Crocker said. “He was an exceptional person. He was brilliant, but he was funny and he was kind and generous.”