Herb Tarlek
| Herb Tarlek | |
|---|---|
| WKRP in Cincinnati character | |
| Portrayed by | Frank Bonner |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | sales manager |
| Nationality | American |
Herbert Ruggles Tarlek, Jr. is a character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–1982). He was played by actor Frank Bonner. He also starred as the same character on the sequel, The New WKRP in Cincinnati.
Herb is the sales manager at radio station WKRP, having been with the station since 1966. The station's poor performance prevents Tarlek from securing deals with major advertising agencies (as it was, even if the station were successful, the agency employees personally loathed Tarlek anyway). Tarlek is able to keep the station financially solvent through the subprime advertising market, courting unconventional advertisers (often this involved airing ads from companies that catered to a very old demographic, such as Shady Hills Rest Home, Gone With the Wind Estates, and Ferryman Funeral Homes). He also was not beneath recruiting less reputable advertisers to buy airtime on WKRP, such as Dave Wickerman, whose "diet pills" turned out to be a legalized form of speed. Herb's most reliable advertising client is Red Wigglers (the "Cadillac of Worms"), though the owner of Red Wigglers, Harvey Green, pulled his commercials off WKRP after the Religious Right threatened a boycott of the station's advertisers ("a lot of religious people fish"). Several episodes of the series involve Tarlek and Andy Travis personally courting companies to advertise on the station.
Herb's most effective talent is knowing how to collect money from deadbeat clients, often by blackmailing them. He admits to program director Andy Travis that it took time to develop that skill, saying of one client: "He did that to me [failed to pay up] twenty times. Then I got smart." Herb also repeats this skill in The New WKRP in Cincinnati, where he bails rookie salesman Arthur Carlson, Jr. out of a ticket trade scam for a freak show operator. Though the contract legally binds the station to air the show's ads, Herb is released from the contract after he threatens to take legal action against the promoter, who has habitually left a string of unpaid debts to other radio stations.
Herb is best known for his atrocious taste in clothes. He always wears a white belt and white shoes; most of his suits are made of polyester and are covered in loud plaid patterns. He claims to get his suits in a golf pro shop in Kentucky; no one else makes his kind of clothes anymore due to anti-pollution laws. While Herb's co-workers mock his fashion sense ("Somewhere there's a Volkswagen without seat covers"), Herb claims that his suits put his clients at ease, conveying the message "trust me, sign my deal! I know what I'm doing." He is proven right in the episode "Changes", when he switches over to a tasteful wardrobe; his lowbrow clients don't trust someone with such a highbrow wardrobe, and Herb quickly returns to his old way of dressing.
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