Lesson plan
Fancy Ray
Fancy Ray McCloney is a stand-up comedian and advertising pitchman from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is known for his flamboyant comic persona, once described as "gleefully narcissistic," blending elements of Little Richard, Muhammad Ali, James Brown, Prince, and a tent-revival preacher. He is known for producing and starring in low-budget TV ads for local businesses in the Twin Cities and markets across the U.S., including a Taco Bell ad aired during the 2016 Super Bowl that played off his status as a "local legend." Rarely breaking character on stage or off, Fancy Ray is a buoyantly self-aggrandizing, larger-than-life personality given to spontaneous poetry (about himself) and mock-boastful proclamations including his oft-repeated characteristic catchphrase "I'm the best-lookin’ man in comedy." In 2020, he released the career-retrospective stand-up album The Best Lookin' Man in Comedy on Stand Up! Records. Writer/producer Diablo Cody, who wrote the liner notes for the album, calls Fancy Ray a "subversive" and "bombastic character (who) looms large in the collective psyche of the Twin Cities ... a nontraditional, nonconformist guy" whose "shtick is almost like a spell."
Article summary
Fancy Ray McCloney is a stand-up comedian and advertising pitchman from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is known for his flamboyant comic persona, once described as "gleefully narcissistic," blending elements of Little Richard, Muhammad Ali, James Brown, Prince, and a tent-revival preacher. He is known for producing and starring in low-budget TV ads for local businesses in the Twin Cities and markets across the U.S., including a Taco Bell ad aired during the 2016 Super Bowl that played off his status as a "local legend." Rarely breaking character on stage or off, Fancy Ray is a buoyantly self-aggrandizing, larger-than-life personality given to spontaneous poetry (about himself) and mock-boastful proclamations including his oft-repeated characteristic catchphrase "I'm the best-lookin’ man in comedy." In 2020, he released the career-retrospective stand-up album The Best Lookin' Man in Comedy on Stand Up! Records. Writer/producer Diablo Cody, who wrote the liner notes for the album, calls Fancy Ray a "subversive" and "bombastic character (who) looms large in the collective psyche of the Twin Cities ... a nontraditional, nonconformist guy" whose "shtick is almost like a spell."
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.