Folksinger Loudon Wainwright III, a fave of ours ever since he recorded a song called "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road," sings a song about one of our favorite economists — a man who is not dead, not a skunk and definitely not in the middle of the road…
The mystery is solved…the mystery about the "elderly couple" who allegedly walked into the Mayo Clinic, found a piano and gave an impromptu performance that became a widely-circulated, highly-viral video. They're Marlow and Fran Cowan, they've been married 62 years and at one time, they toured with an act where they did this kind of thing on stage. Okay…so who's gonna get them on TV first? Leno? Letterman? America's Got Talent? Here's another performance…
And here they are, telling about their attention-grabbing performances…
So this elderly couple walks into the Mayo Clinic and they spot a piano and decide to give an impromptu performance for the folks waiting there for appointments. Or at least, that's the story that accompanies this video that's making the rounds. I don't know how true it is but I'll bet it makes you smile…
Because the Olympics were shoving around his time slot, my TiVo didn't catch Keith Olbermann on Wednesday.Thanks to Ye Olde Internet though, I was able to catch this "Special Comment" he did that day in advance of the Thursday summit on Health Care Reform. It included a plea to the participants which I doubt they even heard, let alone acted upon. Still, it was a powerful thirteen and a half minutes on Olbermann's current struggle with an ill father and how it relates to the slimy scare tactic of trying to defeat reform by claiming that it would establish "Death Panels." As if the current system, with skyrocketing costs and insurers denying coverage, isn't a Death Panel in and of itself.
This is long but having dealt with similar issues in my own life, I felt it was uncommonly honest. And if you may someday have to cope with making medical decisions for a loved one, or maybe if you won't, it's certainly worth thirteen and a half minutes of your time…
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I was going to wait 'til CBS posted the video of Craig Ferguson's chat with Stephen Fry to link you to it…but a prominent Ferguson fan (prominent enough that he's "followed" on Twitter by Mr. Ferguson's Twitter account) has posted the whole thing in chapters to YouTube. So here's an embed of the opening monologue and then if it intrigues you, you can find your own way to the rest of it.
A couple of comments about the monologue. Ferguson makes the odd point that the studio from which they do his show isn't really large enough for an audience.That's true. One of the things that people don't seem to notice about his Late Late Show is that it's a successful example of something all the networks have been aiming at for some time, which is to drastically reduce the cost of programming. (Mr. Leno's 10 PM show would be the most notable example of an unsuccessful attempt.) Craig's show is very cheap — no band, small writing staff, little in the way of sketches or production values, etc. His long-time competition on NBC, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, was a show that cost two or three times — someone told me five — what the Ferguson program costs to produce, and Jimmy Fallon is only a little cheaper. Someone at CBS and/or David Letterman's company made the decision that they were not going to spend a lot of money on the show that followed Dave.They haven't and it seems to be paying off big for them.
Anyway, I think it was odd that Ferguson made it sound like his show had to be done from that small studio. In the same way, he always complains about the bad lighting on his show like there's no way to change it. He could be in a bigger studio with better lighting. CBS has such things.The folks above him have merely decided not to spend the money.
Also odd was that he said his show's had no promotion and that there are "no bus ads for Craigy, there's no billboards." Uh, yes, there are. I've seen plenty of both in my neighborhood…and I live within walking distance of where Mr. Ferguson tapes so he drives to work past them. Maybe there aren't any if you get more than a few miles from his studio but they do exist. (Back when Pat Sajak did his late night show there, it was said his contract required billboards with his likeness on them in locations where he was likely to drive.There was a huge one right across the street from CBS. More recently, though not at the moment, that billboard had a huge picture of Bill Maher…who does his HBO show from CBS. I think CBS bought it back during the Sajak days and now it always shows someone who's working at Television City in Hollywood. I'm not sure but I believe Mr. Ferguson's Scottish face was on it for a while.)
Anyway, here's Craig. I haven't gotten around to calling for the ratings to see if they dipped. But either way, I hope he does more broadcasts like this.Thanks to Shmuel Ross for letting me know this was up…
Here we have the first five minutes of Craig Ferguson's chat with Stephen Fry.The whole hour has not yet been posted to the CBS website but I assume it will be and will announce that when it is.There's nothing particularly extraordinary in the chat. I just thought it was an interesting conversation and that network television doesn't think people want to watch interesting conversations…
Here are two commercials which I'm embedding even though I'm not getting paid for either.The first is a famous 80's commercial for Big Red chewing gum…
And now, here's the new Verizon commercial. This is the first time I can recall one commercial aping another this way. I like it, though the lyrics make me cringe like the ones in the gum version did. Hey, just because the gum people didn't hire someone who knew what a "rhyme" is doesn't mean Verizon couldn't…
This runs a half-hour and the sound is a little out-of-sync.Then again, the sound was a little out-of-sync on everything Edgar Bergen did, at least in TV and movies where you could see his lips move more when Mortimer Snerd was speaking than Clint Eastwood's do when Clint Eastwood is speaking. Still, we love Mr. Bergen and Mr. Snerd and Charlie McCarthy and their general funniness. Jim Backus is also in this and he's pretty funny, too. It's a special from 1950 and I see at the end, it was directed by Alan Dinehart.
I assume this is the same Alan Dinehart I worked with in the seventies and eighties in the animation business. He occasionally acted, wrote or produced but primarily worked as a voice director. For a long time, he voice-directed all the Ruby-Spears shows like Plastic Man and Thundarr the Barbarian, and we had a friendly but occasionally-contentious relationship. But I'm a bit confused about all the Alan Dineharts who have worked in Hollywood and the Internet Movie Database is more confused than I am.They list five or six separate individuals who are either Alan Dinehart or Alan Dinehart Jr. and I think there have only been three.
The first was a prolific character who passed in 1944. I think all his credits are correct but he had a son Alan and a grandson Alan. The son, who was born in 1918 and died in 1992, is the one I worked with and he had a long career in both cartoons and live-action, writing and directing…and I think most of the Alan Dineharts they list are him. Grandson Alan Dinehart was born in 1936 and they have him listed but I'm pretty sure most if not all the credits they have for him are actually his father's.
If and when I get the time (ha), I may try to straighten this all out. But there must be someone reading this who knows more about the various Alan Dineharts than I do. If that person could help out, I'd be most grateful.The Alan I knew deserves a factual recital of his amazing career…which I suspect was more vast than the IMDB will ever be able to itemize. And now, here are Edgar and his friends…
You'll love this one so thanks to Shelly Goldstein for calling it to my attention. In November of '08, Prince Charles turned sixty and this was noted with a big comedy show hosted by John Cleese.This is the last eight minutes of the show. Do not tune out or stop paying attention during the ballet. As boring as it may seem, just stick with it.
Caroll Spinney, who plays Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street, receives a lifetime achievement award from the TV Academy. Who better?
We love watching the Chabad Telethon every year. We love it but we loved it even more when it was hosted by Jan Murray and it featured performers like Red Buttons…
This blog has gone far too long without a video of baby pandas…
Hey, if you think the Marx Brothers are funny in English, wait'll you see them in Italian. I feel sorry for the guy who had to translate (and I guess, replace) all the puns…and I like the fact that some Italian actor is dubbing Italian dialogue for a Jewish guy doing a bad Italian accent. But I really like the fact that in the original scene (from Horse Feathers, of course) Chico spoke English but occasionally mumbled something in Italian…and in the Italian version, he speaks Italian but occasionally mumbles something in English…
Let's say you're piloting a helicopter. I know you'll probably never do that but just pretend. Let's say a large turkey buzzard suddenly crashes in through the windshield and lands on your lap. What happens then?
Michael Feinstein singing Gershwin…