I've decided to feature some of what I think are great stand-up comedy specials here for the next few I-don't-know-how-many days. This one, which was brought to my attention by my pal Paul Harris, is a recent one by Dana Gould. All or most of the specials I'll feature have some moments that might offend […]
Elon Musk's beloved Department of Government Efficiency claims they've already saved us tons of money by slashing federal spending here, there and everywhere. But a New York Times analysis says that those claims are "marred with accounting errors, incorrect assumptions, outdated data and other mistakes." The "incorrect assumptions" part reminds me of a TV production […]
Our new Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services gave an interview to the friendliest of media figures and, of course, got an awful lot of things wrong. Okay, so maybe he doesn't know much about Health and Human Services. He's loyal to the guy who appointed him and that's gotta count for […]
Yet another sketch from British TV comedy show Sez Les with its star, Les Dawson, and special guest John Cleese… […]
Both Democrats and Republicans are trying to gain some political yardage by blaming air crashes on a President of the opposite party. Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post points out how absurd this blaming is on both sides. […]
For no visible reason, Vanity Fair has posted an article about the relationship between Groucho Marx and the controversial lady who largely controlled his life in his last years, Erin Fleming. I have no idea why they saw a need to dredge this story up again and it feels like — and I'm sure this […]
This is a message from my pal Jerry Beck, following up on this post about how the TV networks used to decide what shows to cancel on their Saturday morning schedules, which ones to renew and which ones to revamp. Here's Jerry… Great answer, Mark — informed as always by your inside knowledge of the […]
Another sketch from British TV comedy show Sez Les with its star, Les Dawson, and special guest John Cleese… […]
Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post goes over what the occupant of the Oval Office has recently said about Ukraine and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He then compares it to the truth. Even Mike Pence ain't buying it. […]
Rob Baker writes… As I've followed a Facebook group called "TV Cartoons that Time Forgot," where I believe Jerry Beck is a moderator, as folks continued discussing so many old Saturday Morning cartoons, one thing finally stood out to me: That such a huge number of SatAM cartoons only lasted one season! So I mentioned […]
Sez Les was a British sketch comedy show that ran from 1969 to 1976 and starred comic Les Dawson and a batch of funny people. John Cleese was occasionally among those funny people and here's one of the sketches with Mr. Dawson and Mr. Cleese. Not the best video quality, I'm sorry to say, but […]
Dana S. wrote to ask… What was the name of the bit that Carson would do on The Tonight Show? Some guy would send him an 8 or 16mm reel of film that had a bunch of little skits on them. They'd have a title, then the guy would act out what the title was […]
Our friend Gary Sassaman is back with another installment of Tales From My Spinner Rack…another penetrating look at comics of his (and my) youth. This time, he takes a look at a short-lived line of romance comics that Marvel tried in the late sixties. They had great artwork but — and this is me giving […]
Gary Kroeger, who was a cast member on Saturday Night Live in the Ebersol years, reports on his experiences at the big anniversary special/party. Some "MAGA" folks are outraged at how Tom Hanks portrayed one of their kind on the show. It did strike me that the moment was a little gratuitous and unfair to […]
We're hearing that a fine artist and a fine gentleman, Jim Silke, has passed. No cause is yet known but he was 93. Jim's long career moved from trying to draw comics to work as a graphic designer, then back to comics, particularly of the "glamour" variety. Much of his graphic design work was on […]