Tacky Tourist Photos

Comedian Eugene Mirman was reportedly scouting locations at the New Bedford Whaling Museum for a yet-to-be-titled romantic comedy based on a young whaling ship captain falling in love with a feisty Greenpeace telemarketer.

SUBMITTED BY: Eugene Mirman  LOCATION: New Bedford, Massachusetts (2015)

Move aside, ventriloquism — taxidermy humor is the next big thing in standup comedy.

However, the seal’s not laughing. As if his forced deer-in-the-headlights facial expression isn’t sad enough, he’s forever stuck as the opening act at a whale museum.

(Eugene Mirman is the founding director of the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival and the alterego of “Gene” on the animated Fox comedy, “Bob’s Burgers.”)

WHAT A SCREAM - Lego artist Nathan Sawaya recreated Edvard Munch's "The Scream" in plastic bricks.

SUBMITTED BY: Kaden Garnick   LOCATION: Boston, Massachusetts (2015)

At Lego artist Nathan Sawaya‘s “Art of the Brick” exhibit, it’s much easier to channel “The Scream” than the Mona Lisa.

Or is Kaden simply paying tribute to actor Macaulay Culkin in “Home Alone?”

(Kaden Garnick is a creative middle school student who loves Legos and Norwegian Expressionist art.)

Wally the Green Monster

SUBMITTED BY: Alexandra Pecci   LOCATION: Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts (2013)

On the morning after their World Series triumph, we understand the impulse to show the Red Sox mascot a healthy dose of affection.

But getting frisky with the statue of the mascot?  That’s diehard!

(Alex Pecci is a freelance writer and cooking enthusiast based in New Hampshire. Follow her exploits at her “Burning Down My Kitchen” blog.)

What's the World Rodeo Record for Steadiest Cup of Coffee?

SUBMITTED BY: Jamie Thompson    LOCATION: Boston, Massachusetts (2013)

Remember that Driver’s Ed test where the instructor would balance a cup of coffee on the dashboard and if it spilled, you’d fail your exam?

Well, try clinging to a wild bronco (well, a stationary donkey) without spilling your Starbucks!

(Jamie Thompson is the co-founder and CEO of Pongr, a computer vision technology company that turns brand logos and packaging into direct response advertising.)

I love party hat architecture THIS MUCH! (The 200-foot prayer tower was built in 1966).

SUBMITTED BY: Jeff Palmucci   LOCATION: Tulsa, Oklahoma (2013)

What kind of party can you throw for $8 million?  One where you can afford to build a few more giant party hats, a.k.a. The Oral Roberts University Prayer Tower — but also a party without food.

In March 1987, TV evangelist Oral Roberts told his followers that he was climbing to the top of the prayer tower for a hunger strike. God had told him that if he did not raise $8 million by the end of the month, he would be “called home.”

That’s correct: The subtle fundraising pitch was “Send me money now or I’ll soon be dead.”

Can you imagine NPR or your college alumni fund’s telemarketers trying the same tactic?

But Oral got his money and Route 66 road trippers still get to enjoy one of the country’s most spiritual photo-ops.

The Most Fashionable Hat in the Midwest.

If you really want to channel televangelist culture, Oral Roberts University is also home to the World’s Largest Praying Hands.  Of course, you can depend on Tacky Tourist Photos to give you the full scoop. Stay tuned!

(Tacky Tourist Photos contributor Jeff Palmucci is a music photographer based in Massachusetts.)

SUBMITTED BY: Marty Karlon   LOCATION: Cape Cod, Massachusetts (2010)

Sharing a first name with a concrete bear is no guarantee he won’t attack you.

(Marty Karlon is a seasoned journalist and communication professional with a soft spot for community theater and a low tolerance for cookie-cutter press releases).

(Click image to see Dave's full goofy facial expression)

SUBMITTED BY: David H.  LOCATION: Boston, Massachusetts (2012)

Fenway Park is strangely not a happy place these days, but tongue-wagging Dave is having more fun than a dog hanging his head out the car window!

Any other MLB ballparks have these photoboards?

The Russian Icebreaker ship, the Kapitan Khlebnikov, apparently is still in love with the Soviet brand.

SUBMITTED BY: Christy Day   LOCATION: Ross Sea, Antarctica (2005)

The world of travelers can be divided into two distinct groups: Those who can’t get to the South Pole fast enough for some old-school frostbite and those who say ‘No way, I’d rather spend my $10K at Disney!”

Traveling by Russian icebreaker, for which she occasionally served as the emergency brake, Christy took a “Wonders of the Ross Sea” tour of Antarctica — visiting icebergs, ice fields, ice-clogged waters and historical huts (from explorers Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton) surrounded by ice.

During her expedition, she also snooped around McMurdo Station (America’s science research facility) and introduced herself to various penguin colonies.

The birds are nonplussed by the tourist paparazzi.

(Christy Day, of Amherst, NH, seeks to travel to the farthest reaches of the earth.  She teaches English at Salem State University in Massachusetts.)

BOGGED DOWN -- Channeling the noble cranberry farmer during the Nantucket Cranberry Festival (for more information on the annual Cranfest, click the picture).

SUBMITTED BY: David Meerman Scott LOCATION: Nantucket, Massachusetts (2011)

The big question unanswered at the Nantucket Cranberry Festival: What’s underneath the red tide?

Do cranberry farmers swish around the wet bogs in their bare feet, giving the juice that extra special bite?

(Marketing strategist David Meerman Scott, who blogs at Web Ink Now, most recently scouted out Swedish celebrity shrines for Tacky Tourist Photos).

Caged Bear -- The Boston Ballet Nutcracker mascot mingles with a young fan at an unlikely venue -- Fenway Park. (Click the pic to learn more about the bear's natural habitat).

SUBMITTED BY: Ari G.   LOCATION: Boston, Massachusetts (2011)

A more snooty mascot might have ignored the fans trapped behind home plate at Fenway Park — or at least have pretended not to hear anything through those thick furry ears.

But not the Nutcracker Bear. He (or she) had time to spread some holiday cheer with the masses in addition to mingling with celebrity friends.

Boston Ballet stars get ready for promotional first pitch ceremonies before the Boston Red Sox - Tampa Bay Rays game.

Oh, and hats off to the classy Red Sox usher who lent his sports jacket to the shivering ballerina. Who says that chivalry is dead in Major League Baseball?

The Nutcracker soldier has the craziest hair in Fenway Park since Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez.

Vermont's largest Basin Harbor Adirondack Chair resides on Lake Champlain. (Click the picture to learn how BHC chairs differ from regular Adirondacks).

SUBMITTED BY: Ursula K.   LOCATION: Lake Champlain, Vermont (2011)

Oh yes, there’s been a century-long battle to claim the World’s Largest Chair, a virtual arms race amongst fake oversized furniture makers.  Gardner, Massachusetts, aka “The Chair City,” has been making grown tourists look like Munchkins since at least 1910, based on this vintage postcard.

According to Roadside America, there are rival World’s Biggest Chairs in North Carolina, Tennessee, New York, Alabama, Mississippi and Italy.

But in Vermont, this Adirondack chair is Queen, serving as the perfect billboard to sell “mini” ones that will better fit your tush.

(Ursula K. is a prolific Tacky Tourist Photos contributor with a passion for fiberglass cows).

Youngest Red Sox Player in History: Some of the best fan photo-ops are underneath the stands at Fenway Park.

SUBMITTED BY: Ari Garnick  LOCATION: Boston, Massachusetts (2011)

If your fourth grade son were chosen in the Major League Draft, would you insist that he finish his elementary school education?

With the way that John Lackey, Tim Wakefield, John Lester, Josh Beckett and Andrew Miller have been pitching, the Sox desperately need to do some creative scouting.

(Ari Garnick is a prolific TTP contributor who recently devoured the World’s Largest Box of Popcorn).

Total cocoon immersion at The Butterfly Place in Westford, Mass. (Click pic for more details)

SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Garnick and Sarah Ekbatani   LOCATION: Westford, Massachusetts (2010)

There’s no better way to impress the ladies than to engage in some old-fashioned butterfly role play.

(Kyle Garnick and Sarah Ekbatani are hip college students at the University of New Hampshire).

Belting out the classics with Sonny and Cher.

SUBMITTED BY: Gerry Cronin   LOCATION: Canobie Lake Park, Salem, NH (2011)

Sonny & Cher, icons of cheesy 1970s entertainment, would be horrified by how they are being immortalized in a New Hampshire amusement park.

The late Congressman Bono looks like one of those overstuffed pantyhose puppets.

U.S. Rep. Sonny Bono (R-Calif).

And Cher’s hair looks like vinyl siding. No amount of plastic surgery could defame her more.

I Got You Babe? Click on the image to see the full horror.

Hey Donny & Marie, aren’t you glad you’re not enshrined in the Canobie Lake Music Hall of Fame?

(Gerry Cronin is a Massachusetts utility company worker with a soft spot for bell bottoms and tight plaster turtlenecks.)

Tweet

SUBMITTED BY: Alexandra, Brian and Chloe Pecci   LOCATION: Salem, Massachusetts (2010)

TV Land commissioned a statue of the most gorgeous witch of all time, Elizabeth Montgomery, to celebrate the pop cultural significance of the 1960s comedy “Bewitched.”

The statue is controversial, even attracting the ire of vandals, because some say it is insensitive to mix a silly TV show with the serious horrors of the Salem Witch Trials.  We here at Tacky Tourist Photos would argue that those critics would have a point if the city was not already marketing itself as “The Witch City,” selling out its history as the ultimate Halloween party favor.

Some Bewitched fans have suggested that the TV Land network-sponsored statue would have been more appropriately placed in Westport, Connecticut, the suburb where Samantha and Darrin Stephens lived on the show.

Controversy aside, Alexandra Pecci, author of a new travel guide about Salem, likes the statue.

“Bewitched was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid, and I always thought Darrin should lighten up!,” she says.  “Or better yet, spunky Samantha should have found a guy who accepted her talents!”

Pecci is referring to the countless squabbles between Darrin and Samantha about her not using her powers and trying to act like a “normal” housewife. She does not take into account the constant meddling and mental abuse of Darrin’s mother-in-law, Endora, who is always turning him into a frog.

TV Land has also commissioned or financially contributed to other pop culture shrines, including ones to:

* Fonzie (Henry Winkler) from “Happy Days” in Milwaukee.
* Mary Richards from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in Minneapolis.
* Andy (Andy Griffith) and Opie (Ron Howard) from “The Andy Griffith Show” in Raleigh, N.C.
* Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) from “The Honeymooners” in Manhattan.
* Bob Newhart in Chicago.

When the Mary Tyler Moore statue was dedicated in 2001, the actress tossed her hat in the air for countless photographers. About 1,000 Mary Richards-style hats were given out to the crowd to simultaneously toss them in the ultimate Tacky Tourist Photo-op. But no one threw the hats because they wanted to save them as souvenirs.

Astoundingly, the Mary Tyler Moore statue is considered controversial, too.

If you’ve posed with any of these TV Land statues, we’d love to hear from you!

(Alexandra Pecci is author of “Salem: A Guide to America’ Bewitching City,” now available at Amazon.com.)