Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Commenting on the score, reviewer Steven McDonald has said, "The edgy nature of the film extends into the score, giving it a profoundly disturbing feel at times — even when it appears to be relatively normal. The music has a tendency to always be a little off-kilter, and from time to time it tilts completely over into a strange little world of its own ..." Armstrong and fellow Cheap Suit Serenader Al Dodge scored the 1975 animated short Quasi at the Quackadero, by Sally Cruikshank. They used slide flute, xylophone, ukulele, duck calls, boat whistles, and bagpipes to create what Cruikshank called the "strange, gallopy feeling" of 1920s/1930s dance-band music, of which she is a devotee. Armstrong also recorded music for another Cruikshank film, Make Me Psychic (1976). "Couch potato" The term "couch potato" was coined by a friend of Armstrong in the 1970s. Armstrong featured a group of couch potatoes in a series of comics featuring sedentary characters; and with Jack Mingo and Al Dodge created a satirical organization that purported to watch television as a form of meditation. With three books and endless promotion through the 1980s, the Couch Potatoes appeared in hundreds of newspapers, magazines and broadcasts, spreading its "turn on, tune in, veg out" message, garnering 7,000 members, and popularizing the term. Bibliography Comic book titles Mickey Rat (4 issues, various publishers, 1972–1982) Books Pitching In (Jalmar Press, 1980) The Official Couch Potato Handbook (Capra Press, 1983) The Couch Potato Guide to Life (Avon Books, 1984) The Couch Potato Cookbook (Warner Books, 1988) A Frog’s Tale (Words and Muse Productions, 1990) Exploring Farmer Cooperatives (Agricultural Council of California, 1997) Tending Your Money Garden (Rossonya Books, 1998) References Notes Sources "Robert Armstrong: MIckey Rat with a Paintbrush," Juxtapose Vol. 2, No. 1 (Winter 1995). "Couch Potatoes and Cheap Suits Interview with Robert Armstrong," Sacramento News and Review (September 28, 2000). External links R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders (Overview of activities) Armstrong bio at Lambiek's Comiclopedia 1950 births American comic strip cartoonists American comics artists American parodists Artists from Pasadena, California Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area Living people American poster artists Psychedelic artists Underground cartoonists American Splendor artists Pasadena High School (California) alumni Pasadena City College alumni Disney parodies