Glen "Glenner" Anderson
For 30 years, Glenner Anderson has been a fixture on the Alaska comedy scene. He and his sidekick, Jerry Evans, were for many years the morning drive-time comics on Fairbanks rock radio station KWLF, Wolf 98.
One of their on-air pranks will resonate with us Sea Granters—they caused an Orson Wellsian "War of the Worlds" near panic when they reported that the Chena River, a beautiful stream around which Fairbanks was built, was full of dihydrogen monoxide (H2O).
In the 1990s, Glenner and Jerry were nominated for the Marconi Award, given to the top radio personalities in the United States. Glenner now is operations manager for a group of five Fairbanks radio stations and does the morning drive-time show for one.
Glenner's standup routines poke fun at the often weird people and life styles that mark Alaska as a truly unique place, as well as at everyday situations we all experience. For his show at Sea Grant Week, along with his sourdough bread-and-butter Alaska material, we can expect some good-natured jabs at Sea Grant and our governmental and academic underpinnings.
Glenner also is a faculty member at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he leads the Ultimate Frisbie program.
As Glenner prepares his material, we might do well to remember the classic "War of the Worlds" line, when Salvatore and Wash Perry shared this understated exchange regarding first contact with the aliens:
Salvatore: "What do we say to them?"
Wash: "Welcome to California."
All of you visitors to Alaska, beware and be ready for the Great Glenner.