Circus of the Fucked Up 80s Stars was made for the “1980s Circus” show at Hive Gallery in Los Angeles. It’s a sequel to my earlier painting, Battle of the Drug-Addicted Child Network Stars (2024), from my same fictional TV network, at a slightly earlier hour.

I suppose some TV executives thought having celebrities compete in sports was such a great idea that they should have celebrities perform circus acts. Thus Circus of the Stars, which ran from 1977 to 1994. Hundreds of stars took part, including Vincent Price, Bob Barker, Telly Savalas, Carol Channing, Vanilla Ice, and Weird Al Yankovic. All performing circus acts! Real ones. Linda Evans was knocked down by a tiger and bitten on the boob.

My version has no tiger. It features characters from ‘80s movies and TV shows, including Long Duk Dong, Rodney Dangerfield, and the hideously racist General Lee.

Nobody blinked. Gen X grew up loving it all. You couldn’t get it made now, and you shouldn’t. But while you are here, please enjoy the show.

Showtime is 1 am on the Super Doug Broadcasting Corporation.

Acrylic on paper and canvas board. Measures 11” x 14”.