05/13/2026
Boys and Girls, listen to this and get a jump start on the really big Gilbert Shelton exhibit that we'll open June 7. Find out more about the man, his art and the times- directly from Gilbert by way of Eddie Wilson and Dr. Jason Mellard.
“A Cartoonist’s View of Underground Characters” with Gilbert Shelton
“Chet Helms and Jack Jackson and some others, and then I bought a printing press. It was our idea to print rock posters. That was a big thing at the time. Nobody knew how to run our new printing press and our posters were really crappy, but then we discovered that printing on the comic books didn’t have to be good printings. We shifted over to comic books at Ripoff Press. (Dave Morty) was running the small printing press and he had long hair. This is not a good idea for a printer. And the printing press caught him by the air and pulled him in, but it wasn’t powerful enough to crush him. And after 30 minutes, the postman came in with the mail. After a few minutes, Morty was able to instruct him how to find the off sweat, and he was able to pull his hair, where that name comes from.” Gilbert Shelton
This episode of Austin Roots features an in-depth conversation with legendary underground cartoonist Gilbert Shelton, creator of Wonder Warthog, the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, and Not Quite Dead.
Guest: Gilbert Shelton - Underground cartoonist and creator of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers
Production Team:
Host, Eddie Wilson - Armadillo World Headquarters founder
Host, Dr. Jason Mellard - Cultural historian
Editor, Renee O’Connor
Music Mixing, Matt Carlson
Producer, Renee O’Connor
Producer, Sandra Wilson
Executive Producer, TSSI
Music by Jake Andrews Music
Production assistant, Miles Muir
Production consultant, Katey Psencik