 |
 |
Saturday, June 3, 2006Game Show WatchQuick "heads up" to the folks watching the hoary What's My Line? reruns on GSN. The show that airs tonight (i.e., tomorrow morn) is the one from 3/15/64 and the Mystery Guest is Allan Sherman, then pretty much at the peak of his brief stardom. Mr. Sherman, as you may know, got his start in TV as a behind-the-scenes guy at Goodson-Todman, producers of game shows including What's My Line? So this appearance was probably a very satisfying moment in Mr. Sherman's life. Then the next day, GSN should run the episode from 3/22/64 in which the Mystery Guest is Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong. Brief story. Armstrong then had a huge, unexpected hit with his rendition of "Hello, Dolly." He'd been hired for megabucks to go on a prime-time program — The Perry Como Show, I think — and give the first TV performance of the song. Among the many ironies of Satchmo's career was that after decades of making next-to-no bucks on wonderful, authentic jazz, he made his fortune and much of his fame with something as mainstream Wonder Bread as "Hello, Dolly." Anyway, he was to receive the largest check of his life for doing it for the first time on TV for Mr. Como's audience. Then What's My Line? wanted him as Mystery Guest for the Sunday night before. Como's producers had the right to block this due to an exclusivity clause in his deal but the Goodson-Todman folks went to them and said, in effect, "Hey, it won't hurt you to let us have him. We'll plug his appearance on your show and it'll help your tune-in." Perry's producers said, "Well, that makes sense. But he's not going to sing 'Hello, Dolly' on your show, right?" The What's My Line? folks said, "Of course not. We're a game show. People don't sing on our show. We don't even have a band on stage." With that assurance and the promise of a juicy plug, the Como crew said fine. So Sunday night, after Louis was unmasked, panelist Arlene Francis said to him, "Louis, dear...do give us a little of 'Hello, Dolly.'" And Armstrong, responding to the audience cheering and forgetting about the Como show's exclusive, started singing his hit song, a cappella. The producers of The Perry Como Show were not happy. • Posted at 3:52 PM · LINKToday's Video LinkWe're big fans of the Totally Looped improv troupe that performs every Thursday night up on Melrose in West Hollywood, in the building next to the Improv. I admit to bias: I'm friends with the director and many of his players but so what? They're still funny, still marvelously creative. The whole field of improv comedy took an odd turn when Saturday Night Live became a smash. Around the time Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner began getting multi-million dollar movie offers, every up-'n'-coming actor in the country suddenly thought, "Aha! That's the new route to stardom." Suddenly, everyone was taking improv comedy lessons and trying to get into troupes so they could get discovered for SNL or one of its many clones. I would guess maybe 20% of those folks really got the idea of how to improvise on stage. The rest seemed to think it meant you have to quickly write your own script, which is not what improv is all about. Around 1984, I was an occasional substitute teacher for one local improv class and of the thirty or so people in the room, I think maybe three really wanted to use it as anything more than a stepping stone to Eddie Murphy's career. The whole art of improv has suffered as a result...less so in the last decade but the damage has still not been undone. So I love to see real improv, where the performers are performing in the moment and are almost as surprised by what comes out of their mouth as is the audience. Totally Looped is real improv. Director Vince Waldron selects video and movie clips...and I can assure you there's nothing prearranged with the cast. They have no idea what Vince has picked before they're called upon to dub in new dialogue live, right on the spot. Every time I've been to the show, there have been some amazing bits of on-the-fly brilliance. If you don't believe me, go some Thursday night. The details are over at their website. I'm not sure this clip does justice to the show but it'll give you the idea. And if you like what you see, you'll really like seeing it in person. |
 |
June 2, 2006
 |
|
© 2012 Mark Evanier Hosted by Dreamhost |
|
|
 |
 |
 |