Category Archives: Video Links

I linked to this video eleven years ago here but the link has been dead for a long time and now I can make it live again. It's the first episode of The Prisoner, the historic 1967 TV series by Patrick McGoohan. Here's the text I posted then. If it gives you the urge to see the whole series, it's on Amazon Prime and maybe other places…

I was not as big a fan of this show as some of my friends when it first aired. It would have required too much effort to be as big a fan of this show as some of my friends when it first aired. You'd have had to talk about it every waking moment and find double, triple and quadruple meanings in every line of dialogue and every prop or piece of scenery. What I guess intrigued me the most was that every time a new episode aired, I'd hear the discussion and analysis all over the schoolyard. No two people agreed. No two people seemed to be remotely on the same page as to what had happened, let alone what any of it meant.

And of course, everyone was blood certain that they and only they understood the show. I used to occasionally wade into these conversations, not because I had any better grasp but because it was fun to lob in a grenade or two. I'd stroll up to the mob and having no idea what I was talking about — but unlike the rest of them, knowing that — I'd ask, "And did everyone notice the scene that represented the Cuban Missile Crisis? And the sign in the background of the last shot that said, 'Number Six is Number Nine?'" This was back before we had VCRs, so no one could race home and replay the show and freeze-frame it to see that I'd made that up. It made the discussions somehow livelier.

The only other thing I can think of to mention about the show is to tell the following story. One evening about 1973, I was on a date with a young lady whose all-time favorite TV show was The Prisoner. I learned this when we were walking in Westwood and she suddenly noticed someone about thirty yards down the sidewalk and shrieked. "Omigod," she gasped, pronouncing it that way (as one word). "There's the star of my favorite TV show." I couldn't see who she'd spotted but I ran after her as she sprinted up to the gentleman. Before I could stop her, she accosted him and blurted out, "Mr. McGoohan, I have to tell you that I think The Prisoner was the greatest TV show ever made and I think you are a genius."

The man thanked her, very so politely, but said, "I'm sure Patrick McGoohan will be pleased to hear that but my name is Patrick Macnee and I was on a TV show called The Avengers." Then he looked at me and said with a smile, "Don't worry…this happens all the time." Here's the other Patrick in her favorite show…

Some time ago here, I linked to an excerpt from a TV debate between William F. Buckley and Groucho Marx. When I did, I said this about it…

William F. Buckley hosted the TV interview show Firing Line for 33 years of often-pretentious speech and pontification. He sounded eloquent, at least to those easily impressed by excessive syllables, but if you listened hard enough and could figure out what he was saying, it always struck me as shallow and selfish. There was this odd subtext that the world should be run by smart (by his measure) and wealthy people and that the poor and stupid should just do everyone a favor and comply or, better still, disappear. That's an exaggeration on my part but, at times, not a huge one. He was also darn good at over-intellectualizing topics to the point of missing the entire point. The first few minutes of a 1967 interview with Groucho Marx, which is our video embed below, demonstrates this.

I remember one time on his show Buckley really lost whatever remaining respect I had for him. It was a discussion about capital punishment…and I must admit I've never fully understood the Conservative point-of-view on the topic. It seems to be that though the government is always inept and that it should have as little control of our lives as possible…we can trust and even encourage it to execute people. That is, as long as it executes the people "we" (i.e., the upper class) know should be executed. In one discussion that amazed me, Buckley said he wasn't concerned about innocent people being put to death. We just needed to make sure we had smart jurors because, after all, any intelligent person could hear a case — or even just read the newspaper accounts of a trial — and know for certain who was guilty.

Mr. Buckley lived well into the time when efforts like the Innocence Project were using DNA to free (to date) 258 people from prison, many from convictions for First Degree Murder. To my knowledge, he never commented on this.

That excerpt is no longer online but the entire show now is. I'd forgotten what an uncomfortable train wreck the whole thing was, what with Buckley trying to treat Groucho quips as literal statements…

Everyone who ever had their moment with or near David Letterman seems to be posting it on the 'net this week. My pal Jerry Beck directs people to a brief video clip from long ago, back when Dave was on NBC. It happened in 1986 in connection with David Letterman's 4th Anniversary Prime-Time Special, which was taped on a jet en route from New York to Miami.

Jerry, thanks to a friend on Dave's staff, got to be on that flight. On a non-prime-time episode, Dave showed some clips from that flight and in this one, you'll see him identify our pal, animation authority Jerry Beck, as Don Johnson, the star of Miami Vice.

Oddly enough, three years later the real Don Johnson starred in a movie called Dead Bang in which he played a detective named — wait for it — Jerry Beck! How's that for weird? Anyway, here's the clip of the Letterman spot with a quick shot of the real Jerry Beck, and then I'll show you my brief moment on Dave's show…

Okay, I'm back. This is a rerun of a piece I've run twice before on this site so I guess I need to put up one of these…

All right, where was I? Oh, right. This is one of my two little moments of having my face on David Letterman's show for a second. It also appeared for about the same length of time on another episode when he was at NBC.

When I was in New York I would go by the office to see friends and if I could, stay for the taping. I was pretty good at poaching on sets. When I did it on the set of Mr. Carson's Tonight Show, there was an area just off-camera in front of his desk where the producers sat with Fred DeCordova presiding. Mr. DeCordova was known to all as not doing most of the work that his title denoted during the day but during the tapings, he made damn sure he was in the producer's chair where Johnny could see him and he could occasionally make decisions about the work in progress.

People could stand right behind him if they looked like they belonged there. Whenever I was in the building at the proper time and not otherwise occupied, I'd go over and look like I belonged there. During a taping in Letterman's studio in New York, the corresponding spot was stage left near the door to the hallway. Dave or others would often go in and out that door during the show so if you were standing near there, you got to be on camera and I did once. Watching it at home, I didn't think I looked like I belonged there…but then I never think I look like I belong anywhere except the chair I'm in at the moment. Here's what I posted here some time ago about the other time I was seen on the show…

The brilliant comedian Jeff Altman has been a frequent guest with David Letterman as long as Dave's been on TV. They met at the Comedy Store in the mid-seventies and were regulars on a short-lived 1977 variety show featuring everyone's all-time favorite musical group, the Starland Vocal Band. I always loved seeing Jeff appear with Dave, not only because Jeff is so funny — if you ever get the chance to see him live, do not hesitate — but because Letterman always seems so danged happy to have him there. Dave rarely appears pleased to have anyone on but there's always a certain delight when he has Altman in the guest chair. I suspect it's an admiration because Jeff can do all the comedy things that Dave can't: Impressions, characters, physical comedy, etc.

Some time in the eighties, back when Dave was on NBC, his show gave Jeff some money to make some short videos that he could use in his appearances. Jeff decided to shoot some bits where he'd be a "test boy" at NASA, being subjected to various experiments, and he enlisted a couple of friends to help. I was one of those friends. The idea was that we'd tape about thirty ten-second gags and every time Jeff guested with Dave, he'd show three more. They were shot in one long afternoon in a video studio out in Woodland Hills.

Our clip today is a long segment that Jeff did with Letterman and near the end, he shows three of those short vignettes — the only ones that ever aired. Shortly after this, and before the time Jeff was next booked with Dave, there was a huge accident — the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster, I think it was — and someone decided it was not a good time to be making sport of folks who train for NASA missions.

The black guy in the first one is some acquaintance of Jeff's whose name I don't remember. I'm the guy holding Jeff's eyes open in the last one. But the more difficult role I played was holding the leash in the second one, keeping Jeff (a very strong person) away from a friend of mine I asked to come out and put on a bikini for a couple of bits. Her name was Angela Aames and she was a lovely, gifted actress who died unexpectedly one night at one of those ages where you're way too young to be dying unexpectedly. She still has fans and friends who remember her fondly and I'll bet few (if any) knew that that was her in that blackout. So I thought I'd mention it here so that those who Google her name, as so many do, will know.

The late Robert Goulet had a long, successful career in show business. In the last decade or so, he became the subject of a number of jokes that I suspect flowed from the fact that he did some movies and shows he probably should not have done. Nevertheless, I thought he was a tremendous talent. If a magic genie granted me the power to have any singing voice in the world, it would be a toss-up between Mel Tormé and this guy.  And I think he, the band and the back-up singers were all live for this number…and given that it was The Dean Martin Show, probably expected to get it in one take…

PBS debuted that documentary about Johnny Carson this week. In case you didn't see it (or can't in your area), I've embedded a window below which, at least for a while, should show you the entire two-hour presentation.

I thought it was generally very good…a bit too fawning in some areas. I think there actually are areas where Carson gets too little credit — his wisdom about how to manage his show, for instance. Or his role model for stand-up comedians of a couple of generations. But there were points in the doc where it got a bit repetitive hearing what he meant to those who advanced their careers on his show. I'm also a bit skeptical about the psychological deductions, especially trying to explain Johnny in terms of his mother. Was this analysis of the Carson psyche a view held by those close to him? Or was it the construction of someone who barely if ever knew or talked with Johnny? It sounded like the latter.

The other thing I'll kvetch about is that documentaries about comedians seem to always cut the clips too tight. It's like they have a piece of video with a straight line set-up and then the funny reply…and they just use the funny reply because, well, we've got a lot to cover and that's the part people laugh at. The video of Johnny's last appearance — the cameo on Letterman's show — would have been so much more meaningful if they'd showed the set-up with Calvert DeForest so you could see what a surprise Johnny's entrance was and that he didn't just walk out onto the stage as a star appearance but as the punch-line to a nicely-constructed joke. In fact, here's the whole clip of that spot with Dave…

They always seem to do this with documentaries about comedians. You get the feeling someone is saying, "This is going on PBS. We can't leave a lot of jokes in!"

But there was a lot in there. I'll probably watch it again this weekend and may write more about it. I may also write something about why I think Ken Tucker misses the whole point of Carson in his Entertainment Weekly review. It isn't that Johnny did this or that better or worse than Steve Allen or other talk show providers. It's that Johnny connected with America in a way that none of the other guys ever did…or probably ever will. Even if we thought they were funnier, they never mattered to us as human beings the way Carson did.

Anyway, here's the special in case you need to watch it here…

James Lipton gives Mitt Romney advice on how to come across as a more "authentic" human being. This is a little like Newt Gingrich counselling couples on how to have a long, faithful marriage but here you are…

John Cleese, stuck in traffic…

Here's about a half-hour of Stephen Sondheim being interviewed. The person who posted this to YouTube didn't explain what this is but I think it's material that was recorded for that big TV documentary about Hal Prince last year. It's interesting but some of the segments are out of sequence so it jumps around. If you know a little Sondheim history, you can overcome the odd chronology and figure out what he's saying…

Since there's nothing else to look at on the Internet today, you might like to watch seven minutes of Dean Martin with Don Knotts. This is from before Don had even become Barney Fife. It's a 1960 Dean Martin TV special…

Jimmy Durante selling cereal. I could watch this guy doing anything…

You may have seen this but just in case you haven't, here's a profanity-laced montage of insults uttered in major motion pictures. You hockey puck.

This is a 1984 profile of Mel Brooks done by Hugh Downs on the ABC program, 20/20. It's in two parts which should play one after the other in the player I've embedded below. And that's about all you need to know about it…

Marc Tyler Nobleman has a new book coming out…one that may help folks to understand why every year at the Comic-Con in San Diego, we give out The Bill Finger Award to two writers who've contributed much to comics but without receiving sufficient recognition and/or reward. Here's a little video trailer for it…