It is not a question we ever anticipated asking, but, like a bad penny, the topic of CompBob! seems to routinely pop up from time to time. We finally decided that we should put it to a public vote, settling the issue once and for all. Should CompBob! be returned to our website?
But first, a bit of history, and an explanation of who and what CompBob! was.
Introduced around 17 years ago, CompBob! was our in-house comedian, intended to provide a bit of levity to an overworked and stressed-out workers’ compensation industry. He would present a new joke every Friday, with the hopes of giving a laugh with which to head into a (hopefully) relaxing weekend. There was only one problem. CompBob! is a digitally produced avatar, with all the personality and comedic timing of a cinderblock wall. He generally sucked at delivering the jokes in his repertoire.
Well, there were three problems, actually. As society has become more sensitive to humor in general, it became increasingly difficult to find jokes for CompBob! that did not offend somebody somewhere over something. That, and he is resource-dependent, in that it takes some effort to produce his weekly presentations. For that reason, he was canceled a number of years ago. We stopped offering him in our Friday newsletter. And that was the end of it.
Except for the numerous inquiries we’ve received over the years asking if and when he will be back.
For some reason, even though his viewership was just average when he was here, people seem to remember him, and even miss him. That is probably because they never met him. Trust me, he may have a pleasant and unobtrusive public persona, but the guy can be a real prima donna. He can be very difficult to work with. Of course, I understand the last few years have been rough on him. The only work he could find was as a parking advisory voice-over at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. Perhaps that has humbled him somewhat. Nothing can be worse than the airport in Burbank. Unless it is the one in Islip, NY. Or LaGuardia. At least CompBob! is not drinking anymore. But I digress…
The point is, we routinely get questions asking what happened to him, and requests to bring him back. We’ve decided to put the issue to a public vote, and let you decide whether he should have another shot at the “workers’ compensation bigtime.”
Please take 10 seconds of your valuable time to answer our 1 question survey, Should CompBob! Return? We appreciate your input and thank you for your help.
And in case you are not familiar with CompBob!, we’ve included a few examples of his work below. Again, the survey is available here.
(Correction: This post originally referred to the Burbank Airport as the John Wayne Airport. It is actually known as the Bob Hope Airport, and the error has been corrected. The John Wayne Airport is in Orange County. Trust us, Mr. Wayne got the better deal…)