 With his brother Cal, he sang on the air in 1928 as part of the San Francisco Real Estate Glee Club.Al Pearce moved from music to comedy on KFRC, San Francisco, after writer Jack Hasty gave him a comedy sketch about a nervous door-to-door salesman named Elmer Blurt.As Pearce rose to fame, Blurt's running gag, "Nobody home, I hope, I hope, I hope," became a national catch phrase.