Monthly Archives: April 2018

When I read that Stormy Daniels is suing Donald Trump for defamation, what comes to mind is a joke I once heard…

"How do you insult a porn actress?"

"You tell her you have all of her movies — on Beta!"

Comedian Adam Conover writes a (pretty much) on-target defense of Michelle Wolf's performance at the Correspondents' Dinner. A lot of folks who should know better are attacking her, saying she didn't do well. Trump tweeted that she "bombed" and of course we all know that Trump would feel that way about any speech that didn't have as its central thesis, his greatness and unprecedented success. I think a lot of journalists are pissed because she said this to them…

You guys are obsessed with Trump. Did you used to date him? Because you pretend like you hate him, but I think you love him. I think what no one in this room wants to admit is that Trump has helped all of you. He couldn't sell steaks or vodka or water or college or ties or Eric, but he has helped you. He's helped you sell your papers and your books and your TV. You helped create this monster, and now you're profiting off of him. And if you're gonna profit off of Trump, you should at least give him some money because he doesn't have any.

And a lot of them are showing that they aren't very good journalists because they're falsely reporting that Ms. Wolf disparaged Sarah Huckabee Sanders' appearance.

People keep referring to the whole soirée as "Nerd Prom" but I think a better nickname, which I've also heard, is "The Sycophants' Ball." There is much worry these days about Trump's cries of "Fake news" whenever he doesn't like what's being said. People fear it will harm journalism and the First Amendment. I'd be more concerned about reporters getting too comfy-cozy with those they're supposed to be covering.

And to those who say she "crossed the line," I say that Trump destroyed that line ago. I do not believe that every comedian "speaks truth to power." I've known too many comedians who knew how to get cheap laughs in truth-free acts. But the argument against one kind of comic is exactly the same as the argument against letting politicians and pundits say what they want to say. When you start restricting one, you're gunning for the other.

• During a staff meeting, White House chief of staff John Kelly referred to Donald Trump as an "idiot." Michelle Wolf complains, "That man is stealing my act!"

• During a staff meeting, White House chief of staff John Kelly referred to Donald Trump as an "idiot." Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson defends Trump, says "He's not an idiot. He's a moron!"

• News outlets are reporting that during a staff meeting, White House chief of staff John Kelly referred to Donald Trump as an "idiot." Looks like the White House Correspondents' Dinner has found its entertainer for next year.

Here's a thought I had the other day: Once Donald Trump became President of these United States, he had at his disposal the greatest array of investigators in the country as well as access to darn near every state secret and file in the government.  Did he say to someone, "Find me proof that Barack Obama was born in another country and that the birth certificate he released was a forgery"?

Granted, if Obama was born in Kenya and did have someone whip up a fake document, that might be unprovable…but maybe somewhere in some file previously unavailable to Trump, there is some evidence.  Did D.J.T. order a search for it?  Why the hell would he not?  His base would love it if he even hinted there is such proof.

• Our top story tonight is Frank Rich's long, long essay that flows from the new Broadway production of Tony Kushner's long. long play, Angels in America.  It's about Roy Cohn, who might not be the worst human being who ever lived but he's still not too far from the bottom of the species.  Cohn was a mentor of Donald J. Trump and Mr. Rich finds stunning and obvious similarities between the two men.
• Trump says that the White House Correspondents' Dinner ought to be discontinued.  Any time I find myself on the same side of an issue as that man, I naturally must question my own wisdom…but no, I still think it's a pernicious institution.  I just think that for different reasons.  I think the press and politicians should not be intermingling as if the different roles they play are just make-believe they engage in for the public.  Trump just thinks it's treasonous to make fun of the President unless, of course, it's not him.
• Laura McGann says that the reason some people are so outraged about Michelle Wolf's jokes about Sarah Huckabee Sanders is that so many of them were accurate — unlike, say, a Huckabee Sanders briefing.
• Matt Yglesias reminds us that impeaching Donald Trump does not poll well and could easily backfire on Democrats.  Personally, I think…well, you know what I think of the guy currently squatting in the Oval Office but I have no stomach for the trials and legal machinations of impeachment, especially if there is no reasonable expectation of success.  I also don't think Mike Pence would be that much better for the nation.  All that could, of course, change with future revelations…and does anyone think there won't be future revelations?  Trump wouldn't be working overtime to discredit the press if he wasn't expecting future revelations.
• Nathan M. Jensen asks, "Do Taxpayers Know They Are Handing Out Billions to Corporations?"  I think the answer is no…and for some reason, when you tell them that, they kind of shrug and say, "Whatever."  They aren't quite so indifferent when they think their tax dollars are going to help poor people buy groceries.
• Daniel Larison explains why it's stupid to try and rewrite the nuclear deal with Iran.  But hey, it's an Obama accomplishment and in Trumpworld, deals are just things that obligate the other guy, not us.

So what would it have been like if Trump had shown up at the White House Correspondents' Dinner? Well, it might have gone something like this…

Some of the jurors in the Cosby trial speak out. It sounds like they did their duty by-the-book, just the way a jury is supposed to function. It also sounds like Cosby's own words in his deposition was the single biggest factor that did him in.

The other day, a friend said that it will all be for naught if Cosby doesn't spend at least some time behind bars. I kinda disagree. I think he should be locked up but if he isn't, it won't be like he "got away" with his crimes. His career and reputation are in ruins. He's spent a fortune on legal fees and that's not over yet. He has probably had a very miserable, depressing couple of years watching as most of America has gone from loving him to hating him. That's not the complete punishment he deserves of course but it's also not nothing and it's already a pretty solid deterrent to some other powerful men who might have thought they could prey on those of lesser power and not get spanked hard for it.

I'll have a longish post about Cosby up here in the next day or so.

Here's someone's list of The 18 Best Things to Eat at Disneyland. I could or would actually eat eight of them.

I forgot to mention that I have been announced as a Special Guest at this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego.  It runs July 19-22 with a Preview Night on July 18.   Manuele Fior, Richard Friend, Jim Lee, Lonnie Millsap and I join a list that includes Rafael Albuquerque, Marc Bernardin, Thi Bui, Aminder Dhaliwal, Cory Doctorow, Emil Ferris, Brian Fies, Andy Fish, Veronica Fish, Alex Grecian, Elizabeth Hand, Deborah Harkness, R.C. Harvey, Nalo Hopkinson, Larry F. Houston, E.K. Johnson, Lynn Johnston, Jeff Lemire, Paul Levitz, Richard Liniers Siri, Jason Lutes, David Mack, Larry Marder, Scott McCloud, Mike Mignola, Terry Moore, Ann Nocenti, Daniel José Older, Randy Reynaldo, Jeff Smith, Maggie Thompson, Peter J. Tomasi, Tillie Walden, and Jen Wang, with more to be announced tomorrow.

I will be hosting some double-digit number of panels and hopefully, the first of those numbers will be a "1."  I will also be presenting the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing to this year's recipients and one of my panels will be an interview with this year's "alive" recipient.  The names of both recipients will be announced shortly and I am very proud of this year's selections.

In the months before Comic-Con, I get three questions over and over again and the answer to all three is "no."  Let me list them and elaborate…

Can you get me into Comic-Con?  No.  Your best bet here may be some exhibitor or dealer.  They get a certain number of passes for the folks who work their booths and may have extras.  Also, folks who want you on a panel or presentation may be able to get you in.

Can you help me get a hotel room?  No.  I really know nothing about that.  I don't even book my own hotel room.  All I can do is suggest is that you study the Comic-Con website and also check in at an unaffiliated site called the The San Diego-Comic Con Unofficial Blog.  Although these folks lean heavily on the aspects of Comic-Con that are of little interest to me — movie and TV celebrity sightings and autographs — they do a Herculean job of providing info and it's absolutely free. This article by the ever-helpful Kerry Dixon will tell you all anyone can tell you about hotel availability.

Can you help me get a panel or other program item on the schedule? No. I just do mine. I can tell you though that the schedule gets firmed-up much farther in advance than most people think. I've had folks write or call me in July to ask about this and I have to tell them the schedule's not only locked but it's already at the printer. It may already be too late to add an item to it for this year.

I'm sorry.  I'd like to help everyone but I can't.  The hall only holds so many people, there are only so many hotel rooms, and the schedule has to be set months in advance.  Nothing I can do about any of that.

I thought some of Michelle Wolf's material at the White House Correspondents' Dinner was very sharp and funny but the good stuff was buried amidst too many lines that were mean without being amusing.  When I start feeling someone's being nasty to Kellyanne Conway and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, something is wrong.  It's like watching someone make inappropriate advances on Harvey Weinstein.  Maybe the targeted person deserves it but it's not pleasant to watch.

Yes, it's a tough assignment in a tough room.  The audience is there to shmooze and "be seen," not to be an audience, and the comic kinda has to hit all the targets.  They have to do a Sean Hannity joke and then balance it with a Rachel Maddow joke even if they or their writers couldn't come up with a good Sean Hannity or Rachel Maddow joke.  Still, others have been able to manage it.  Seth Meyers, a few years ago, was pretty good.

No, I don't think it'll hurt Ms. Wolf's career.  I think a lot of people who never heard of her before know who she is now and as most of the late night hosts have shown, there's a big market out there for Trump-bashing.  A lot of loot was raked-in by comics saying stuff just as bad about Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and the last George Bush or two.  If you didn't condemn that, it's a bit late to come out against bad-taste jokes about those in power.

• Michelle Wolf's speech last night is being criticized by people who say that kind of thing doesn't belong at a White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Unfunny, rude remarks should be kept where they belong: In presidential tweets.

The Turner Classic Movies Film Festival concludes today in Hollywood. Friday evening, I took Amber — who had never seen the film (or for that matter, the play or TV show) — to see The Odd Couple. Yes, I've viewed it many, many times on home video but this was only my second opportunity to enjoy it on a big screen with a live, laughing-out-loud audience. The first was around half a century ago when it played at the old Palms Theater in Culver City.

I was struck by how different it was to see it in a movie theater — in this case, a module of the now-mutiplexed Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. And I do remember seeing another Jack Lemmon movie — How to Murder Your Wife — there in 1965, back when the place only had one screen. Lemmon and Matthau were actors who were acting with their faces every second they were on the screen. Unless you have a TV the size of a billboard, you can't see how good they were on home video.

You also miss something else. This movie is filled with funny lines and because most of its cast performed them in the Broadway version, they knew the timing. They say something hilarious and not until the laugh from it dies down do they say the next line. Matthau on screen takes all the same pauses he took on stage and they're the proper length without the editor inserting them by cutting to another shot.

The Odd Couple is basically an eight-character play and movie.  (One of the few other people with a line is Joe Palma, the legendary actor who played Fake Shemp in some Three Stooges shorts. He's the butcher when Felix goes out to buy meat.)  All eight main players are terrific and two of them were present for the screening.  For those of you curious about such things, one other principal — David Sheiner, who played Roy the Accountant — is still with us.

My longtime pal Michael Uslan did the intro at the Turnerfest. After the pic, film historian Eddie Muller interviewed Carole Shelley and Monica Evans who in 1965 were the first actresses to play The Pigeon Sisters. That was for the play and they later reprised their roles for the film and even played them a few times on the Tony Randall-Jack Klugman TV version. The audience was thrilled to be able to applaud them in person and moved to hear that it was the first time they'd seen each other in 19 years. Carole lives in New York and still acts. Monica is retired from acting and residing in Great Britain.

Both spoke of the honor/joy of being in such a fine play with such fine co-stars. Carole said that during the shooting of the film, Jack Lemmon — the only one of the eight who'd never done it as a play — kept asking how certain Felix lines were delivered on stage and how long a laugh they got.

It may not be generally known that the Cecily and Gwendolyn Pigeon sorta saved the play. In outta-town preview performances, the first act was hilarious, the second act was even funnier and the third act sent the audience out sullen and unamused. Playwright Neil Simon rewrote furiously. Director Mike Nichols staged new scenes several times a week. Nothing worked…

…until in Boston, those two men, Matthau and Art Carney (Felix on the stage) appeared on a local TV show hosted by local theater critic Elliot Norton. Simon, preoccupied with why his play wasn't working, didn't really want to do it and was paying only partial attention when Norton said something like, "I really loved the Pigeon Sisters in Act Two and wondered why you didn't bring them back in Act Three." Simon later explained it lit up a giant neon sign in his head and sent him dashing for the typewriter. Cecily and Gwen hadn't been in the third act but within a few days, the play had a new ending where they were and The Odd Couple was finally a success.

It's still a success. It certainly was with all those at the screening, Amber included. She's still chuckling over the scene where Oscar flings Felix's pasta into the kitchen. You can see it and other highlights here in the trailer for the film. I'm pretty sure Lemmon's line here — "It's not spaghetti, it's linguine" — is from an alternate take. That's how well I know this movie. If you've only seen it on home video, try someday to see it they way God intended it to be viewed: With a lot of other human beings around.

Here's nine minutes from an episode of Wonderama, a show for kids that came out of New York and was telecast on various stations across the company affiliated with the Metromedia Company. It started in New York and went through various hosts over the years. At the time of this episode, it was Bob McAllister.

This one's of interest because the guest is Carmine Infantino, who was then the head guy at DC Comics. When did this air? Well, he displays a copy of a comic DC did of stories from The Bible which came out in March of 1975. Less than a year after that, he was dismissed from his position at DC so that gives you some idea of the time frame here. Just about everyone seems to agree Carmine was one of the great artists in comic book history and here's a rare chance to see him drawing a little…

There are many things I suppose I'll never understand about the whole Cosby matter, starting with the appeal of having sex with women who are unconscious and unable to consent. When I have been around guys who were engaging in what our Chief Exec calls "locker room talk," bragging about how they did this or that with a female, I have sometimes been envious of the alleged encounters but sometimes thought, "Gosh, why would anyone get excited about that?"

I know Cosby's m.o. must be a "power" thing but it's not like his life was devoid of moments when he was powerful and able to make people do whatever he wanted. There was a point where if he had told all the NBC Vice-Presidents to get down on all fours and make like cocker spaniels, you would have heard a sudden outburst of barking. He also probably had a nice supply of women who were willing to do whatever he wanted, including not hit him up for money for it.

Let us not forget the underlying weirdness of the whole matter. Sooner or later — probably sooner — someone's going to make a movie about this story. It's going to be about a man who seemed to have everything — money, admiration, power, fame, honors, everything — and pissed it all away because for some reason, he thought it was fun to rape women when they were asleep.

And let us also not forget how unusual it is for a man with that kind of money and power to be held accountable for any kind of misdeed. Time will tell as to whether this will become the norm in this country or if it'll just be an outlier. Adam Serwer reminds us of the unusual sequence of events that brought us to the reckoning.

Meanwhile, some of us still need to process what we're going to do with whatever positive feelings we once had for that guy who was so funny on stage and screen. My chum Paul Harris once again writes a piece that spares me the task of saying pretty much the same thing.

After the verdict yesterday, the judge declined to revoke Cosby's bail, rejecting the contention that he was a "flight risk." I'm pondering why Mr. Cosby wouldn't be plotting his migration at this very moment.

I'm not sure exactly where he'd flee. Apparently, Roman Polanski could run because he was a French citizen and the laws in France make it very unlikely that a French citizen would be extradited from there. But I got to wondering where Cosby might go. Here's what purports to be a list of countries that will not extradite. It contains a lot of what D.J. Trump calls "shitholes" where life might be worse than most prisons but there have got to be a few locations where a guy with Cosby's dough could get a mansion with servants and security and live comfortably for the rest of an 80-year-old man's life.

Living in that mansion versus living in even the cushiest U.S. prison seems like a no-brainer to me. I mean, it's not like he has a performing career and more honors to receive if he remains in this country. What I'm guessing would keep him here is a belief that somewhere, there are lawyers shrewd enough to be able to manipulate the appeals process — lawyers who even if they can't get him exonerated can at least run down the clock on Cosby's life and delay him indefinitely from having to live behind bars. I'm hoping they're wrong. The attorneys who told him they could win the case were certainly wrong. And well-compensated.

I'm listening to the Montgomery County District Attorney holding a press conference about the Guilty Verdict today in the Bill Cosby matter.  He's describing some of the smearing and pressures leveled at the women who came forward to accuse Cosby.  As we direct our disgust and disappointment towards one of the world's great comedians for his barbaric behavior, we should probably save a bit of scorn for the lawyers who represented him in this matter.  Yeah, I know: Even the guiltiest party deserves a vigorous defense but you'd like to think that there are some places an attorney wouldn't go to try and "win."  If that's what the job requires, I'm sure glad I'm not a trial lawyer.

So…what do we think happens next?  Cosby fleeing the country?  Cosby having major health problems?  I have no idea how likely it is that an appeal will go anywhere…or if there's a chance of Cosby's lawyers negotiating an easier sentence in exchange for Cos going quietly.  I suppose I don't care that much.  I would just like to think that there are potential predators out there who will refrain because "If Cosby couldn't get away with it, how can I?"  And lawyers for accused rapists who are saying, "Hmm…maybe trashing victims doesn't work as well as it once did."