Here's a really odd video…a 1994 roast of Morey Amsterdam — about two years before he passed away. It was taped at a place called The Ventura Club that was out in Sherman Oaks in a building that's now a Poquito Mas fast food joint and a Pilates studio. The video runs an hour and […]
This is going back maybe twenty-five years. I did some work for a TV producer who was obsessed with specificity. I didn't do a lot for him because, like I said, he was obsessed with specificity. He judged everything I said to him and everything I wrote not based on whether it was clever or […]
Let's spend some time with Jasmine Amy Rogers, star of Boop! The Musical. She and it are still playing on Broadway and I hope they still are when next I'm in the vicinity… […]
Charles Strouse died on Wednesday…an important figure in the annals of musical comedy. He wrote the music for a great many shows including Bye Bye Birdie, Applause and Annie. He also wrote scores for motion pictures including one of my favorites — The Night They Raided Minsky's — and unmentioned in most of the obits […]
Glenn Kessler shows us how Presidential Administrations — and not just the current ones — play fast 'n' loose with financial estimates. And Politifact shows us how even Bernie Sanders can sometimes make economic projections that seem a bit deceptive. Some folks at FactCheck.org say much the same thing. YouTube is crawling with video clips […]
Read More… from FACT CHECK: Shaky Estimates, Chickenpox and Genocide
Donald Benson wrote to inquire, with reference to animation studios… How closely did various studios monitor comic books of their characters? I'm guessing the non-superheroes didn't bother too much about continuity, being based on theatrical cartoons or short TV episodes that rarely bothered at all. But presumably somebody was there to say Yogi has to […]
That Trump guy keeps claiming that the United States is the only country that offers birthright citizenship. He is, of course, wrong — as the Associated Press reports. And that same Trump guy keeps claiming to be an unwavering supporter of law enforcement officials. Steve Benen explains why that is not so…as if pardoning the […]
As I've mentioned here, I sometimes like to watch "how to cook" videos on YouTube for two reasons. One is that it's interesting to me to see how foods I eat are made. And the other reason is that most of these videos disabuse me of the silly idea that I could do what these […]
Apart from the obvious illegality of a President of the United States accepting a gift worth $400 million from anyone, let alone Qatar, there's another problem: The "free airplane" would cost this country a fortune, perhaps more than $400 million smackers. Steve Benen explains. […]
Read More… from FACT CHECK: There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch Plane
My piece here yesterday about Yogi Bear and Yogi Berra brought about twenty e-mails asking that I explain all about The Kirward Derby, another famous time when a cartoon show fiddled with the name of a celebrity. This was another one of those instances where a lawsuit was threatened and people think it was filed […]
Donald Trump keeps saying that President Dwight D. Eisenhower deported over a million people from this country. Fact-Check Guy Glenn Kessler says that ain't so. Trump says that under this new plan to lower prescription drug prices "almost immediately." The folks at Politifact say that even if that eventually happens, it's going to take quite […]
Read More… from FACT CHECK: Deportations, Drugs and Flying Bribes
Marc Levy sent me the following… I hope you are doing well. I had a question for you about a sports subject. I know you don't follow sports at all, but there's an interesting crossover into the world of animation. As you may or may not know, yesterday marked the 100th birthday of the late […]
This is a 44-minute clip and I think I laughed for at least 38 of them…Albert Brooks guesting on various episodes of David Letterman's show. I was privileged to see Mr. Brooks back when he was doing stand-up and there was nobody funnier. He was unique among comics and talk show guests at taking his […]
A lot of websites and social media posts are saying that resort fees, especially in Las Vegas, have been outlawed and are gone. This is not so as a peek at any hotel's site or travel site will show you. There have been new laws prohibiting bookers from hiding them but pretty much everyone was […]
Resuming this series that I've long neglected here: In 1966, The Association — a popular musical group of the day — released "Cherish" and had themselves a number one hit and a record that would be played at an awful lot of wedding ceremonies ever after. I'm not sure why I had this on my […]