My activities were interrupted twice yesterday for radio-type interviews on (mostly) other topics. If for any reason you have the burning desire to listen to me babble, here are two places on the 'net where you can do this.

Aaron Barnhart is the TV critic for The Kansas City Star and a special authority on late night talk shows, Mr. Letterman's in particular. He is also the proprietor of TV Barn, a fine site where he offers news and links to TV-related articles, plus he posts podcast interviews and chats that he does with people, most of whom are more impressive guests than me. Here's the latest podcast, which you can listen to or download in MP3 format by clicking below. It's 24 minutes of the two of us discussing the significance of David Letterman having achieved 25 years of late night TV programming…

Then later in the day, my friend Earl Kress and I were guests for two hours of Stu's Show, which is heard on this Shokus Internet Radio I keep telling you people about. We spoke of Earl's career, animation history and obscure TV cartoons. This is not a podcast that you can download any time you like. This is a radio-type broadcast where you have to tune in at a specified hour and listen then. That episode reruns every day for the next week: From 4 PM and 6 PM on the West Coast or 7 PM and 9 PM on the East Coast…except on Sunday when the rerun starts at 10 AM out here and Noon back east.

If you live somewhere else, you can probably figure out the local time from this schedule. And you can tune in to Shokus Internet Radio by going to their page and selecting an audio browser. There's plenty of good stuff to listen to over there 24/7.

The other day, I linked to a clip of the master mime/comic George Carl on The Tonight Show. Here in two parts is George Carl on one the Jerry Lewis telethons.

You know, it dawns on me: I think I saw George perform twice, not once like I said, both times at the Stardust. They're tearing the place down in March but even in its mid-to-latter glory days, that was a great place to see him. Why? Because the Stardust was then the last of the major showrooms with a production show and live musicians. They had an actual orchestra — maybe the last of its kind in that town for a show that featured dancers and variety acts. That was important for Carl's act because…well, listen to the drummer here and on the Carson clip from the other day. You couldn't do that with a pre-taped track and the routine would be so much less without that kind of punctuation and accompaniment.

Further thinking back, I seem to recall that Carl was briefly the headliner in a small revue at (I think) the Riviera around or about 1988. It was him and a line of almost-naked dancing ladies and when I saw it advertised, I thought, "Next time I get to Vegas, I have to go see that." But the next time I got to Vegas, I couldn't see it. It had closed, apparently without much notice. I was disappointed at the time but now that I mull it over, maybe it was for the better. Because he was in a tiny showroom and almost certainly working without a live band so it wouldn't have been the same.

Anyway, here's Part One of George Carl, extracting all the poetry there is to be found within total clumsiness…

That's the first part. Here's the second part. And by the way, what the hell am I doing up at this hour? I had a very busy day. I should be in bed.

Sorry. Here's Part Two. Good night…

I wanted to note the passing of three important writers — columnist Molly Ivins, novelist and screenwriter Sidney Sheldon, and TV writer-producer Bob Carroll. All left us in the last few days and I'm sure you can learn all about any or all three with a minmum of Googling.

Of the three, the only one I ever met was Bob. He was a man who wrote many things during his long career, most of which don't get mentioned a lot because we're all too impressed with the fact that he was one of the main writers of I Love Lucy. A credit that impressive tends to suck up all the oxygen in the room, and I think Bob liked the fact that I talked to him about his other projects like The Mothers-In-Law, a sitcom in that "oughta be on DVD" category. It's probably the obvious cliché to say that his work will be rerun and loved forever but it's also probably true.

As for Sidney Sheldon and Molly Ivins: I never made it very far into any of Mr. Sheldon's novels, not even the one with the thinly-disguised portrait of Groucho. But I sure liked The Patty Duke Show and I Dream of Jeannie. And I sure liked Molly Ivins's writing, especially when she was in high outrage about something Texas-related. I have the feeling we'll really miss her, especially throughout the rest of the Bush administration.

Keith Olbermann discusses the claims George W. Bush made in his State of the Union address that four important terrorist plots have been foiled. Here's a link to the video, which runs a little under nine minutes.

I know you'll all be spending tomorrow scurrying about your neighborhoods in your ape costumes, frightening small children and inducing coronaries in seniors, to say nothing of beating and pummelling anyone you encounter named Fester Bestertester. But if you pause for a moment in the day's occupation, you might want to tune in Shokus Internet Radio…say, between 4 PM and 6 PM for those of you on the West Coast or 7 PM and 9 PM for those on the other one. That's when Earl Kress and I will be guests on Stu's Show, taking your calls and discussing cartoons and animation and records about cartoon characters and all sorts of other fluffy topics. Our cordial host will be Stuart Shostak, who puts the "sho" in Shokus Internet Radio.

You can listen to Shokus Internet Radio by mousing your way over to the Shokus site and selecting an audio browser. And like I've been a'tellin' ya…don't wait 'til Earl and I are on to sample this fine station. Here's a link to the schedule.

Eric Boehlert points out a very silly, inaccurate assertion that swept through the press recently. It was the claim that when John Kerry announced he would not be a candidate for prez in 2008, he teared up, sobbed, began crying, whatever. That's not what happened and Boehlert provides a link to a video that proves that isn't what happened.

So why did so many media outlets report that it had? There are two explanations — they didn't check or they just figured the readers wouldn't — and neither speaks well of the reporters. The same thing was true when there was that big, televised funeral for Paul Wellstone and it was reported as three hours of Republican-bashing. If you actually watched the video, you saw it wasn't. And it makes you wonder about the accuracy of reporting in the majority of cases. If they're that far wrong when there is a video record, what's their batting average like on stories where there isn't?

There's talk that the Broadway version of The Producers will close in June. Business is way down from what it once was, and the St. James Theater may be needed to house the forthcoming musical version of Young Frankenstein.

If so, I'm a little surprised that there haven't been more attempts to pump up the box office by bringing in big stars…or at least, bigger than Tony Danza…although two biggies are being mentioned. According to this article, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, who opened the show, may return to close it. I don't know if there's any truth to this but the columnist is right. Those tickets would go for a lot of money, emphasis on "a lot."

Scott Ritter on the current situation in Iraq and why he feels it must not also happen with Iran. Ritter is one of those folks who was right about the Iraq War from the beginning so, of course, he rarely gets on the news talk shows. It's more important to give maximum air time to the people who have been dead wrong at every turn.

Clear the next seven minutes of your life. This is one of the best clips I've had up here.

The late George Carl had one of the most brilliant, hilarious acts I've ever seen in my life…and that isn't just my opinion. Johnny Carson once called it "the funniest twenty minutes in show business" and I think Carson knew a little something about funny acts. I only got to see Mr. Carl in person once — it was when he was in the Lido de Paris show at the Stardust in Vegas — but I'm still chuckling over his skills. He came out, immediately began getting a laugh about every eight seconds, and kept up that pace for the full time he was on stage. When he finished and it was time to bring out the beautiful topless women again, even my friends and I were disappointed.

Some time ago — in this posting — I linked to a clip of Carl performing and warned you that the vignette did not give you the full sense of how funny he was. Neither does this one but it's better. It's George performing on Mr. Carson's show around 1985 and part of the joy is how much Johnny enjoys the performance. You will, too.

Jeffrey Toobin on what the Google folks are up to now and what it means.

Each year, the Animation Writers Caucus of the Writers Guild of America, West presents something they call the Animation Writing Award for lifetime achievement. They've given out eight of these in the past and have just announced that the ninth will be presented to Jules Feiffer. Mr. Feiffer is a cartoonist, a novelist, a screenwriter, a playwright, a former writer of comic books…and he has occasionally dabbled in writing animated cartoons. Anyone here remember Tom Terrific? That was one of his efforts in the medium.

This press release will tell you more about him. Or you can pick up the next issue of the Guild's official magazine, Written By, and read a profile of Feiffer by me.

Okay, Microsoft has just released its new operating system. Here's what I intend to do…

1. Not upgrade to it now.
2. Watch experts complain about it and pronounce it a disaster.
3. Wait as various updates and bug fixes come out.
4. Six months from now, I'll ask my Computer Expert Friend if it's worth it. He'll probably say yes and I'll probably upgrade then.
5. But until then, I'm not going to think about it.

You might want to adopt this philosophy. I do it with every major upgrade of an important piece of software and so far, every time I haven't followed this policy, I've regretted it.

Here we go again, people! I will be back on Shokus Internet Radio on Wednesday from 4 PM to 6 PM Pacific. That's 7 PM to 9 PM for those of you who live on that side of the country. And it won't just be me appearing this time on Stu's Show with your genial host, Stuart Shostak. This time, I'm bringing along Earl Kress, a fine writer of many things, cartoons among them. There is no one on this planet who knows more useless information about animation than me…but if anyone comes close, it's Earl.

I'm not sure what we'll be discussing. Probably silly stuff about a lot of old cartoons. If you folks call in and ask good questions, it'll be interesting. You can also call in to answer Stu's trivia questions and snag yourself a free Shokus Video DVD, which is more than Kress and I get out of the deal. Maybe if someone prods me, I can be coerced into announcing the name of the actor who's providing the voice of Garfield the Cat in our upcoming animated projects, taking over for the late Lorenzo Music and the expensive Bill Murray.

You can listen to Shokus Internet Radio on the very same computer that's bringing you this lovely website, assuming it has working speakers and an Internet connection that downloads faster than we can talk. Click here to go to the Shokus site and select an audio browser. And don't wait 'til Earl and I are on to sample this fine station. Here's a link to the schedule.

Here's another story from my visits last week to a hospital's emergency room. I have others beyond this one…

There was a woman, right across from where my mother was being treated, who'd been severely injured. Her name was Lily and I overheard her doctor say something about lacerations and contusions and he also used much more complicated medical nouns that sounded even more painful. Then I heard him mutter something about, "…her husband beating the crap out of her." That kind of thing happens, of course, and we know it happens. Still, it's jarring to see the results of it right in front of you, as done to an actual human being. They weren't attractive.

It was perhaps an hour later that I was sitting on a couch in the hallway outside the emergency room making a cellphone call. A tall, well-dressed man walked up to me, sat down and — completely ignoring the fact that I was in the middle of a conversation — he began asking me if I was ready to accept Jesus Christ as my personal saviour or if I was instead prepared to burn in Hell…those apparently being the only two possible options.

You may know the pitch. It's one of those stories that makes God and Jesus sound like egomaniacal dictators who'll condemn you to torture, no matter how else you've lived your life, if you don't pay proper fealty to their names. Helped the poor? Saved innocent lives? That's nice…but if you haven't taken your loyalty oath, you spend All Eternity in the firepit next to Hitler, Saddam Hussein and the guy who green-lights all those Rob Schneider movies.

I gave him my standard reply when confronted by such people. I tell them that whatever they want to believe is their right, and I'll fight to the death, blah blah blah. But I'm suspicious of a religious sales shpiel that's delivered like someone selling magazine subscriptions. I don't buy cookies from total strangers who approach me with a five-minute prepared speech so I'm certainly not going to change my faith that way. I also threw in, as I sometimes do, that I think it cheapens their message to sell their beliefs almost the exact same way kids in college used to try to sell me marijuana. (There were also people at U.C.L.A. then pushing Jesus. I'll bet the marijuana vendors got a lot more takers.)

The man realized he was not about to make a sale so he apologized, told me he'd pray for me to someday see the light and departed. You may have already guessed where this story is going.

An hour later, I was back in the E.R., waiting outside my mother's cubicle while a nurse inside tended to one of those matters that is best done with the son out of the room. Suddenly, I saw the well-dressed man wandering about in the ward and he wasn't wearing one of the Security Badges that we all had to wear in there. One of the nurses spotted him, too. She pointed and yelled with great alarm, "He shouldn't be in here!" A security guard hurried over and after a brief quarrel, the religious pitchman was escorted out.

I assumed it was because he'd been going around asking the sick and injured if they're ready to accept Jesus Christ, which would be annoying enough. But then someone explained to me that he was the husband who beat the crap out of Lily. I don't know if there is an Afterlife but if there is, I'm betting I fare better in it than he does.

Here's kind of a neat triple feature. Three different women have starred on Broadway in what some would call the "Mary Martin" version of the musical, Peter Pan…one being, of course, Mary Martin. It was written for her, rendering obsolete a previous Peter Pan musical and a couple of non-musical versions. Because it's so famous, people think it must have been a long-running Broadway smash but in fact, Ms. Martin only did it in New York for a few months — October of '54 through February of '55. She did tour with it for years but it's mainly known because she performed it three times on television — in 1955, 1956 and 1960. The first two were live. The third was produced on tape and was subsequently rebroadcast on a number of occasions.

I remember liking the TV version, though with reservations. Even as a kid, I thought Mary Martin didn't look like a lost boy who could fly. I thought she looked like someone's very sweet grandmother on a wire. There's a limit to how much you, as an audience member, can pretend and go along with someone or something on screen that isn't convincing and she came perilously close to my limit when I was a lad. And though I didn't know what "gay" was then, I later realized that's what I always thought Captain Hook, as played by Cyril Ritchard, was in that production. His feet touched the floor even less than hers. In the number where Hook lusts after a mysterious lady who is actually Peter Pan singing soprano, I lost all track of who was the boy and who was the girl…and I think they did, too.

Anyway, here's "I'm Flying" as Mary Martin and Company performed it for the 1960 videotaping. I have a suspicion that when this tape was released on home video, someone went in and digitally "painted out" some of the flying wires. At least, I remember them as being quite obvious when I saw them on my home set at age eight, even though we got lousy reception. With or without them, it's a pretty good number…

In September of '79, the show was revived with Sandy Duncan in the lead. She did it for a year and a half on Broadway, vastly exceeding Ms. Martin's run, then toured it for a year or two. I saw this production out here and thought it was outstanding. By then, her Cap'n Hook was Christopher Hewett, better known as Roger DeBris and/or Mr. Belvedere. Hewett managed to not play it as campy as Ritchard and I thought the story worked better with the villain acting like he wanted to kill Pan rather than to style his hair. I linked to the following clip once before but here it is again…the same number, only as performed by Ms. Duncan and Friends. This was taped for the TV show, Omnibus…

In the late eighties, former Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby began a long stint touring America with a bus-'n'-truck version that played everywhere, including four separate runs in Broadway houses, usually when one had a few months open around Christmas time. She's retired from the role now, which is a shame because I thought she was about as good as anyone could be in the part. Fortunately, her production was videotaped for cable and released to home video. Both the VHS and DVD versions seem to be outta-print but they're not scarce if you hunt around on eBay or at some merchants. Since I never saw the Mary Martin version live, I'm hesitant to say I liked Cathy Rigby better but the fact that I'd consider saying that should tell you something.

This is the Rigby version of…yes, the same number as the other two. Here's how they did "I'm Flying" on the 1991 Tony Awards — a bit abbreviated for the telecast and not as polished as it is on the home video version. It has the addition of Pan swooping out over the audience, which Rigby did each performance as her curtain call "bow" at the end of the show. Sandy Duncan did that in her production, too. I don't care how jaded and sophisticated you are. It's a truly thrilling theatrical moment. If I ever do a one-man show on Broadway, I'll either close by doing that or smashing a watermelon. Maybe both at the same time.