Greg Koontz and Fred Masterson Retire the Alabama Boys Comedy Act

[Adambadger88]

After 18 years, Greg Koontz and Fred Masterson performed their Alabama Boys act for the last time at the Hammond Northshore Regional Airshow. This show took place October 21-22, 2023, in Hammond, Louisiana. The act consisted of Greg doing a comedy routine in his 1946 Piper JC3-65 Cub. The act ended when Greg successfully did a Truck-Top landing.



Here are some interesting statistics:

• First did the Truck-Top landing in 1975 while flying for Col. Moser’s Flying Circus

• Performed this act at over 300 Airshows

• landed the Cub on the truck over 900 times

Although this act is retiring, Greg will still be doing the aerobatic scene with his American Champion Aircraft 8KCAB Xtreme Decathlon.

Here are other videos that are shared online of this act.

Clem Cleaver, played by Greg Koontz, interrupts the 2023 Westmoreland County Airshow by wanting to go flying in a Piper Cub over the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. The signature part of the routine, bringing the entire contraption into the crowd, was not done due to gusty winds, and out of an abundance of safety, Greg elected to take off.



Watch as Greg Koontz, aka Clem Cleaver, takes the stage at Naval Air Station Oceana 2023 and performs his Piper Cub comedy routine.



Greg Koontz performed this act at the 2013 edition of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

[passedgas46]

I had the pleasure of seeing Greg with The Alabama Boys act at Latrobe this year. It's one of the greatest Cub comedy acts out there.

The number of comedy acts that are out there and active today is down by two with Greg and of course Kent Pietsch retiring this year. I've had the pleasure of seeing both many, many times over the past several decades. They're icons, and Kent is on a different level with the other two acts he had with the Cadet.

There aren't many others remaining out there with good comedy acts. I've seen video of Eric Tucker from the west coast, have seen Kyle Franklin fly his Super Cub comedy act a few times, I've seen RJ Gritter's comedy act once or twice now (there's some really good video of him flying it from this year!), and I've seen Jason Flood fly his comedy routine with a Clipped Wing Cub but his was really boring. Who else am I missing?

[kalamazookid]

I had the pleasure of seeing Greg with The Alabama Boys act at Latrobe this year. It's one of the greatest Cub comedy acts out there.

The number of comedy acts that are out there and active today is down by two with Greg and of course Kent Pietsch retiring this year. I've had the pleasure of seeing both many, many times over the past several decades. They're icons, and Kent is on a different level with the other two acts he had with the Cadet.

There aren't many others remaining out there with good comedy acts. I've seen video of Eric Tucker from the west coast, have seen Kyle Franklin fly his Super Cub comedy act a few times, I've seen RJ Gritter's comedy act once or twice now (there's some really good video of him flying it from this year!), and I've seen Jason Flood fly his comedy routine with a Clipped Wing Cub but his was really boring. Who else am I missing?

I've seen Erik Edgren fly a comedy routine in his clipped-wing Taylorcraft. Don't know of any others out there.

I have a real soft spot for these types of acts. They're low, slow, kept in front of the crowd and require superb airmanship. They're especially fun at small airport shows, though some of nuances to these acts don't come through as well in front of big, spread out show lines. Greg Koontz, Kent Pietsch, Eric Tucker and Kyle Franklin perform these types of displays exceptionally well in my opinion. Greg's act was great and I'm glad to hear he will continue to fly the Super Decathlon at airshows.