"Do not try this at home on your own typewriter"
March 6, 2013 9:34 AM Subscribe
NBC presents Real People: Ron "Typewriter" Mingo - The World's Fastest Typist (SYTL)
it's like a lost Chappelle Show skit.
posted by mannequito at 9:39 AM on March 6, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by mannequito at 9:39 AM on March 6, 2013 [6 favorites]
The peacock had so many feathers in its younger years. Typewriter Mingo - such a great name.
posted by IvoShandor at 9:41 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by IvoShandor at 9:41 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
The big man with the fast hands.
According to wikipedia, he was also MC Hammer's typing teacher. Can't touch that.
posted by chavenet at 9:43 AM on March 6, 2013 [6 favorites]
According to wikipedia, he was also MC Hammer's typing teacher. Can't touch that.
posted by chavenet at 9:43 AM on March 6, 2013 [6 favorites]
Now is the time for all good men to GET FUNKY.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:46 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by uncleozzy at 9:46 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
It's literally like Craig Robinson took the Hot Tub Time Machine and forgot to come back.
posted by phaedon at 9:48 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by phaedon at 9:48 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
It's about to get funky, funky...
posted by RolandOfEld at 9:50 AM on March 6, 2013
posted by RolandOfEld at 9:50 AM on March 6, 2013
I remember my HS typing teacher talking about this guy (not by name, by groooove).
Plot twist: I got a D in that class.
posted by DU at 9:51 AM on March 6, 2013
Plot twist: I got a D in that class.
posted by DU at 9:51 AM on March 6, 2013
"The speed of light is really amazingly fast, isn't it? Well it sure won't seem so anymore when we show you this guy who moves even slower than the speed of sound!"
WTF?
posted by yoink at 9:52 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
WTF?
posted by yoink at 9:52 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
"The speed of light is really amazingly fast, isn't it? Well it sure won't seem so anymore when we show you this guy who moves even slower than the speed of sound!"
WTF?
If they didn't have an airhead saying dumb things before the clips, how would we know we were watching TV?
posted by DU at 9:54 AM on March 6, 2013 [7 favorites]
WTF?
If they didn't have an airhead saying dumb things before the clips, how would we know we were watching TV?
posted by DU at 9:54 AM on March 6, 2013 [7 favorites]
Disco musique concrete. That was awesome.
posted by DrMew at 9:57 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by DrMew at 9:57 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
You know why he was only a part-time typing teacher? Because he finished the class so fast.
Young me LOVED Real People, though not as much as That's Incredible. I lived for weird stories like this. I guess I still do.
The program itself came up last Saturday in conversation at a bar, after a Google look-up to see if Mark Russell is still alive (he is), and I mentioned how I was surprised NBC hadn't tried to bring it back since they'd thrown so much other cheap shit at the wall to see if it stuck.
Then we realized that they have Dateline, which is, and I quote the bartender Real People Who Murder and/or Molest. We all laughed and then sighed wistfully in unison at that comment and what it meant.
Nostalgia for an airhead saying dumb things before the clips rather than creepy announcers doing scare voices and trying to trap pedophiles for entertainment -- yes, please, I'll take some more of that nostalgia.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:58 AM on March 6, 2013 [7 favorites]
Young me LOVED Real People, though not as much as That's Incredible. I lived for weird stories like this. I guess I still do.
The program itself came up last Saturday in conversation at a bar, after a Google look-up to see if Mark Russell is still alive (he is), and I mentioned how I was surprised NBC hadn't tried to bring it back since they'd thrown so much other cheap shit at the wall to see if it stuck.
Then we realized that they have Dateline, which is, and I quote the bartender Real People Who Murder and/or Molest. We all laughed and then sighed wistfully in unison at that comment and what it meant.
Nostalgia for an airhead saying dumb things before the clips rather than creepy announcers doing scare voices and trying to trap pedophiles for entertainment -- yes, please, I'll take some more of that nostalgia.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:58 AM on March 6, 2013 [7 favorites]
I took typing in middle school in the 1980s and while my teacher was not as hip as Mr. Mingo she did have us type to music. On Fridays we could bring in our own records which meant typing to heavy metal usually. (and that is why I am such a fast typist - still at 82 wpm! thanks metal guitarists of the 80s!)
posted by vespabelle at 9:59 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by vespabelle at 9:59 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
Oh man, Real People! I had totally forgotten about that show. And I also totally forgot what a crush I had as a kid on Sarah Purcell.
posted by jbickers at 10:04 AM on March 6, 2013
posted by jbickers at 10:04 AM on March 6, 2013
Young me LOVED Real People, though not as much as That's Incredible. I lived for weird stories like this. I guess I still do.
Oh yeah, loved both of them. And Ripley's Believe or Not (the books). I wore out my single-year copy of Guiness.
posted by DU at 10:05 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
Oh yeah, loved both of them. And Ripley's Believe or Not (the books). I wore out my single-year copy of Guiness.
posted by DU at 10:05 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
It's too bad he didn't set the computer typing speed record in the same era, because then there would have been a non-zero chance of the relevance of the Blazing Saddles reference: "Mingo like Tandy."
No offense intended to Mr Mingo, who sounds amazing: played Baseball, taught kids, types many times faster than me, lives locally, sparred with George Foreman, and could no doubt crush me like a bug
posted by zippy at 10:05 AM on March 6, 2013
No offense intended to Mr Mingo, who sounds amazing: played Baseball, taught kids, types many times faster than me, lives locally, sparred with George Foreman, and could no doubt crush me like a bug
posted by zippy at 10:05 AM on March 6, 2013
Peter Billingsley and Fred Willard, that was some star hosting.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:15 AM on March 6, 2013
posted by Chrysostom at 10:15 AM on March 6, 2013
His laptop screen is small, but it seems to be bending around a cylinder. Is this a prototype of some sort of flexible display technology?
posted by brain_drain at 10:24 AM on March 6, 2013 [7 favorites]
posted by brain_drain at 10:24 AM on March 6, 2013 [7 favorites]
I managed to get 88 wpm with no errors on this site. I see he did 160 wpm. I can only conclude that I will never get on Real People.
posted by crapmatic at 10:32 AM on March 6, 2013
posted by crapmatic at 10:32 AM on March 6, 2013
I wonder how fast he typed once he started doing it with a keyboard. I'm sure still very fast, but I wonder since he learned how to do it so quickly in a very specific way (because on a manual it feels like you'd have to be doing something weird with the rhythms to keep from, for lack of a better way to phrase it, typing past yourself), so I wonder if a softer touch was harder for him to achieve those speeds at.
(Obviously, as somebody who took typing speed tests VERY seriously in junior high, this is something I've been thinking a lot about. Because it feels like I can barely READ at 160 wpm when I think about typing that fast.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:02 AM on March 6, 2013
(Obviously, as somebody who took typing speed tests VERY seriously in junior high, this is something I've been thinking a lot about. Because it feels like I can barely READ at 160 wpm when I think about typing that fast.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:02 AM on March 6, 2013
"I wonder how fast he typed once he started doing it with a keyboard."
The article that chavenet linked to says he was clocked at 225 wpm on a computer.
posted by tdismukes at 11:07 AM on March 6, 2013 [3 favorites]
The article that chavenet linked to says he was clocked at 225 wpm on a computer.
posted by tdismukes at 11:07 AM on March 6, 2013 [3 favorites]
SURE, BUT HOW WOULD HE HAVE DONE IF HE HAD NOT USED CAPS LOCK/?
posted by IndigoJones at 11:08 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by IndigoJones at 11:08 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
Groovy.
posted by Faintdreams at 11:10 AM on March 6, 2013
posted by Faintdreams at 11:10 AM on March 6, 2013
I've been typing since I was nine; my aunt was a high school typing teacher. Now, on a good day with the wind behind me I can get 120 wpm out of a classic IBM electronic keyboard. This guy does 160 on a manual? I am IN AWE.
When you keyboard really fast, there's a weird sensation that your eyeballs (or in my case, ears) are directly wired to your fingertips. You can actually feel words and phrases in your hands. It's a great feeling, very relaxing.
And this guy does it in style. Haven't met a typist with that much class in years.
posted by kinnakeet at 11:24 AM on March 6, 2013 [2 favorites]
When you keyboard really fast, there's a weird sensation that your eyeballs (or in my case, ears) are directly wired to your fingertips. You can actually feel words and phrases in your hands. It's a great feeling, very relaxing.
And this guy does it in style. Haven't met a typist with that much class in years.
posted by kinnakeet at 11:24 AM on March 6, 2013 [2 favorites]
Somebody fire this guy. He types too fast.
times 30
posted by phaedon at 12:05 PM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
times 30
posted by phaedon at 12:05 PM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
Is it wrong that I spent the majority of that segment trying to remember who the hell the announcer was for that bit on Real People? Without the Google...
posted by Chuffy at 12:09 PM on March 6, 2013
posted by Chuffy at 12:09 PM on March 6, 2013
Can any of you typing prodigies write in cursive?
/touch typist for 30 years
posted by ceribus peribus at 3:50 PM on March 6, 2013
/touch typist for 30 years
posted by ceribus peribus at 3:50 PM on March 6, 2013
When I want to practice typing, I go to this multi-user typing competition site.
The latest high score presently listed is 172 wpm. I'm way down in the 70s.
posted by eye of newt at 8:55 PM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
The latest high score presently listed is 172 wpm. I'm way down in the 70s.
posted by eye of newt at 8:55 PM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'm a fast and heavy typist, and so was my father (funny coincidence because he was in a completely different profession). At least twice people on IM have said that I can type faster than they can read.
Now of course I'm not at the rate of this amazing gentleman - with a mechanical typewriter! But I can really empathize with someone who's a master of a skill that runs in my family...
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 9:38 PM on March 6, 2013
Now of course I'm not at the rate of this amazing gentleman - with a mechanical typewriter! But I can really empathize with someone who's a master of a skill that runs in my family...
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 9:38 PM on March 6, 2013
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