Category Archives: To Be Filed

There are calls today to stop displaying the Confederate Flag as anything other than an ancient historical relic. Many of these calls are coming from unquestioned Conservatives like Rod Dreher. He thinks it "has become impossible for most people to see as symbolizing anything other than white supremacy."

My problem with flags is that I always think people treat them as too significant, acting like to burn the American flag is to somehow destroy America. Naah. You could burn ten thousand American flags and while it would insult and pain people, they'd remember that America is a lot more than a piece of cloth. After 9/11, it bothered me that a lot of people stuck a $2.98 American flag (probably made overseas) on their car for a week or two and acted like they'd struck a meaningful blow against the terrorists. Yeah, like that would show 'em.

I think there's a lot of real racism out there in this country today and we're not going to eradicate it by denying it exists. Many people want to, as witness the extraordinary somersaults that some politicians and pundits have gone to, trying to deny that Dylann Storm Roof — you know, the guy with the racist manifesto who announced he wanted to kill blacks — was motivated by race. My fear is that if the Confederate Flag is taken down, all the folks who need to face the reality of racism will say, "But we eradicated racism! We took down those flags!"

Jonathan Easley thinks it's time for Hillary Clinton — and I guess everyone — to take Bernie Sanders' presidential bid more seriously. I'd like to believe that but while Sanders does look competitive in some states, he's trailing her by as much as 55 points nationwide. The CNN and ABC polls show Sanders trailing Joe Biden — and Biden isn't even making the slightest noise about running.

This isn't the greatest analogy but I think Sanders may be like Obamacare. When people hear what it does, they like the individual components but an awful lot of them are still against it in general. A lot of folks will never get past the phrase "Democratic Socialist" with Sanders. Which is not to say his candidacy alone might not do the country a lot of good.

Our pal Joe Brancatelli, who knows as much about airlines as any man alive, asks why those companies treat their customers and even some employees with such contempt. And if Joe can't explain it, I sure can't.

A few years back, this blog went on a binge featuring versions of "The Lambeth Walk," a popular musical number from the 1937 musical, Me and My Girl. But I don't think I got this one in…and even if I did, it's time to enjoy this song again. This is from the 1985 London revival with Robert Lindsay and Emma Thompson…

The other day here, I was talking about Donald Trump's use of a Neil Young song without Young's permission and I noted how often Republicans seem to do it. I also said "I'm sure there must be Democratic candidates who did the same thing." A reader of this site named David Simmons wrote to me…

I'm so tired of this "both sides do it" crap. If you have knowledge of Democrats who do the same kind of thing with the same kind of frequency, please share.

With the same kind of frequency? No — and I didn't say they did it with the same kind of frequency, but it has happened. Barack Obama was asked to stop using "Hold On! I'm Coming" by Sam Moore. (Here's an article about it.) I can't find anything online about it but I think Al Gore got in trouble with someone about this kind of thing, too. Anyway, the point is that it's not unique to Republicans. They just do it more often.

I do agree with you that "both sides do it" is often a lame justification for all sorts of sins but it's not always wrong. There are a lot of slimy things in politics that are done by both sides.

I don't have anything to say about the shooting in Charleston that will surprise anyone. The kid who killed those people said he wanted to kill black people and try to start some sort of race war. Everything that is known about him is consistent with that motive. And you have politicians and pundits turning backflips to try and spin it in some way that's more comfortable for them or useful for their personal causes. Has Donald Trump started explaining how this proves that he should be president? If he hasn't, he will. Let me know when someone is out there saying this proves Global Warming is a hoax.

Jon Stewart was terrific last night and Larry Wilmore was even better. Stewart's opening speech is all over the 'net today but if you missed Wilmore's, you can view it here. Both men were very powerful and very wise but that wisdom will not reach the ears of those who today have pillows jammed up against their ears in a desperate attempt to not hear that maybe racism was in any way to blame.

I'm not going to write any more about this because I'll just be repeating what so many others have said…and because the people who need to hear it won't. It's just so sad that so many people think racial hatred is only something that happens to people of their own color.

So we did this four-issue comic book series, Groo Vs. Conan, and it was collected into a trade paperback and it's also been nominated for an Eisner Award which I bet we won't win. "We," by the way, is Sergio Aragonés, Tom Yeates and Yours Truly with colors by Tom Luth and Lovern Kindzierski. If you yearn for a copy of the paperback collection, you can order one here.

And if for some reason, you want the thing in a hardcover edition…well, I recently learned that our publisher, Dark Horse Comics, is making up a limited number that will be sold at the Comic-Con International in San Diego. "Recently" may in this case mean yesterday. If they told me about this before, I somehow managed to miss it.

Anyway, they're only making 300 copies and I know of no plans to make any more or to sell them anywhere else. Then again, remember that I didn't know about this until yesterday so that may not mean anything. They're $30.00 apiece and there's a limit of five to a customer per day. They will be selling them at the Dark Horse booth but better still, Sergio will be selling them at his table in the main hall, which is at space I-7. If you buy it from him — same price! — he'll gladly sign it for you immediately and if I'm around, I will too. (And if you feel like trucking across the hall, Tom Yeates should be there somewhere, too.)

Please don't write me and ask me where you can get one. You now know as much about this as I do, maybe more. If you're desperate to have a copy and you won't be in San Diego, see if you can find someone who will be there to buy you one and get it autographed. And if you are there and you want one, I'd head for Sergio's table first thing when you get there because I have a feeling this puppy will sell out rapidly. I intend to get one and…well, I don't like to brag but I think Sergio's is giving it to me at half-price.

• I know why the Charleston shooter did it. Never mind what he said. It was because of whatever political viewpoint I want to spin today.

Speaking of other people playing Groucho Marx, as I was: Regular readers of this blog are sick of me plugging my pal Frank Ferrante and his touring show, An Evening With Groucho, but every time I plug it, people go see it and they write to thank me. Frank miraculously transforms himself into the master comedian and tells stories from his life. He also wanders the audience, chatting and insulting, chatting and insulting. Our clip today is about five minutes from when he was at the Pasadena Playhouse earlier this year…and he'll be doing a limited engagement (limited to three performances) there next January.

In the meantime, watch this space to see when he comes near you. He'll be in Rancho Mirage, California in August, Wisconsin and North Carolina in September, and he's having lunch with me a week from tomorrow at the Magic Castle. Here's some of what he does when he's in Pasadena…

You all know Rand Paul, the "Libertarian" who's in favor of government spending a ton more money on defense, stopping Gay Marriage and Abortion, keeping marijuana illegal and sending people to prison for listening to radical political speeches. He used to not have some of those views but in his quest for the G.O.P. presidential nomination, he's trying hard to blend in with the herd.

When you claim to be a Libertarian and real Libertarian groups start disowning you, how do you get a little of that label back? Easy: You introduce a new flat-tax proposal. But since you are, after all, seeking the Republican nomination, it has to be one that slashes taxes for the rich, shifts the burden to the poor and middle class and promises this will be great for all. Yeah, like it's working so well in Kansas. Here's Jonathan Chait to explain why this is a bad plan.

*Another Candidate Who'll Get The Same Number Of Electoral Votes As Me.

There are not many superstar agent-managers around but Jack Rollins, who just died at the age of 100, was one of 'em. His list of clients included, first and foremost, Woody Allen and also had on it at various times David Letterman, Dick Cavett, Harry Belafonte, Robin Williams, Lenny Bruce, Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Billy Crystal and lots of other folks you've heard of. He and his partner Charles H. Joffe shaped most of those careers and served as executive producers of many of their clients' TV shows and movies. Read all about him here.

Jeb Bush is saying that if we elect him president, he'll make 4% economic growth happen every year. How? Well, I guess that's the part he'll figure out after we swear him into office. Never mind that neither his brother or father ever managed that and that the only president lately who came close was the husband of his probable Democratic opponent. Anyway, Matt Ygelsias tells us how ridiculous this campaign pledge is.

We have in the past here plugged Raised Eyebrows, a fine book by my pal Steve Stoliar. Steve worked for Groucho Marx for the last few years of the great comedian's life and was therefore in the midst of the stormy presence of Erin Fleming in Groucho's life. I probably don't have to remind anyone who would come to this site what that was all about but just in case, I wrote about it here.

Congrats to Steve. It was announced yesterday that his book is to be turned into a movie directed by rocker-turned-director Rob Zombie, screenwriter Oren Moverman and other folks you can read about in this news item. If you read that, don't read the comments, most of which are from people condemning the project because of some idea they have of this film looking like other Zombie projects. They know not how passionate and loyal to Groucho's memory Steve is; how he'd never be a part of anything that didn't serve this subject properly. (This is something that often annoys me about the Internet…this rush to review movies that haven't gotten anywhere near a camera yet. The screenplay isn't finished, the picture isn't cast, not one frame of film has been shot but somehow, you know exactly what it will be like.)

As I've written elsewhere here, I had two brief in-person encounters with Groucho and Ms. Fleming during those years…enough to believe that Steve, who was present for most of it, got the story exactly right in his book. I don't mean just that he knew what was going on but also that he set it down in an accurate manner as opposed, say, to making himself look like more of a hero than he was. He did though do much to help his employer and idol, and that story is well worth the wide audience that it will get from a movie of this sort. So I view this as good news, not just for Steve but for those of us interested in the sheer history going on there.

The San Diego Central Library is about to open an exhibit called The Art of Comic-Con, a gallery of artwork done over the years in connection with Comic-Con International. I would imagine it's mostly art done for the souvenir book or advertising and it's by some wonderful artists. My partner-in-crime Sergio Aragonés will be appearing at the opening reception, which is this Saturday from Noon to 2 PM. Sergio did an amazing cover for the con's 40th anniversary book, Comic-Con: 40 Years of Artists, Writers, Fans and Friends! and they'll be unveiling an unusual and somewhat large display of that work of art.

The exhibit runs through the end of August so if you happen to be in San Diego before then — say, for Comic-Con in three weeks — you might want to pop over and take a gander at it, especially since admission is free.

The San Diego Central Library is located at 330 Park Blvd., San Diego, CA 92101 which is — I just Google Mapped it — six-tenths of a mile from the convention center so it's eminently walkable. More details are available here.

Sorry to hear of the passing of comedian Rick Ducommun, one of the funnier stand-ups I recall seeing during the eighties. He was a Canadian gent who I recall doing some of the funniest sets I ever saw on the stage of Budd Friedman's Improv up on Melrose. A lot of folks would know him best as an actor in quite a few movies including Spaceballs, Die Hard, Groundhog Day, The Hunt for Red October and a particularly standout role opposite Tom Hanks in The 'Burbs. He headlined at least one HBO standup special which I wish they'd rerun so I could get a copy.

Nice guy, too. I actually brought him in once to do the voice of a stand-up comedian mouse in an episode of Garfield and Friends. We talked a bit about our mutual weight problems and I was pleased to see that he soon got himself down to a more human size. He died "due to complications from a protracted illness," reports a friend of his, another very funny guy named Rick…Rick Overton. I hadn't seen Ducommun anywhere for quite a while and I guess that illness was the reason.

Here's a short set he did at the 1989 (I think) Comic Relief show. The topics are not for the easily offended but I think the guy was nothing but funny…