A nice review of the Sergio Aragonés issue of Solo.

So one night on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, they had the Reverend Al Sharpton booked as a guest. This is in the early days of that fine program. They booked Sharpton but apparently no one told Sharpton. If he'd known, he'd have been there. No force in this universe can keep Al Sharpton from a TV camera. But there was a screw-up somewhere and when it came time to roll tape, he was nowhere to be found. So what did The Daily Show do? Click today's video link and see for yourself. (The beginning of the clip is washed out in green but it'll clear up in a sec.)

Fred Kaplan tells us what this Korean missile business is all about.

Let's all go peruse a good article from 2002 about the late Jan Murray. It starts with a small error when the writer says he watched Murray host Treasure Hunt in 1964. That show went off the air in 1959. But after that, it's well worth a read.

Here's a piece from the Washington Times about how Congressfolks feel about their appearances on The Colbert Report. What's odd about the response is that (a) some of the ones who've been made to look ridiculous seem pleased with the response and (b) this is the first time I can recall disagreeing with anything Barney Frank said.

Enron überthief Kenneth Lay died this morning. Matt Drudge, with his usual flair for accuracy, briefly had it up as a suicide, then switched to a heart attack.

Obviously, anyone's death is a tragedy. Obviously also, it's hard to get too emotional about Mr. Lay, who swindled so many people out of their retirement funds, health insurance and old age money. There's some sort of irony in there having to do with him not needing retirement funds now but I don't have time to phrase it properly.

When I read of the news this morning, I thought I'd post something here about how we're going to have to put up with conspiracy theories that someone — say, George W. Bush — had him murdered so he wouldn't rat on them. But I didn't get around to posting until now and I see they've already started. Let's hope this one doesn't reach Vince Foster proportions.

Jon Meacham on the American tradition of being united, rather than divided by religious differences.

I haven't gotten around to seeing the Broadway show, Avenue Q…but everyone I know who's seen it says it's wonderful. Here's a number from the 2004 Tony Awards telecast that would seem to bear this out…

Jane Mayer on the Bush administration's view of its own power…with special emphasis on Dick Cheney's interesting interpretations of our laws.

Here's a link to the L.A. Times obit on Jan Murray. Amazingly, it makes no mention of all the fine work he did over the years hosting the Chabad Telethon. It also makes some factually-awry statements like, "In 1965 he moved to Los Angeles and found work in films and on TV series such as The Lucy Show and Car 54, Where Are You?" About twenty seconds of Googling would have told this reporter that Car 54 was produced in New York from 1961 to 1963. Oh, well.

One of the best things I've seen on or around Broadway was the revival of 1776 that the Roundabout company mounted in 1997. In fact, I saw it twice: Once with its original star, Brent Spiner, as John Adams and later with his replacement, Michael McCormick, in that role. Today's clip from the Tony Awards ceremony broadcast in '98 features Mr. McCormick.

I had a great time both visits…though I have to say I've never loved the score for 1776. It really is that rarest kind of musical — the kind where the book is better than the songs. The composer, Sherman Edwards, was not a facile tunesmith. He had co-written a few pop songs that were performed by Elvis Presley. His most lasting hit was probably "See You in September," as recorded by The Happenings. 1776, which took him many years to write and more years to sell, was his only musical.

I've seen 1776 three or four other times and always enjoyed it. Somehow, the book by Peter Stone does an amazing job of making you forget that you know how the story turns out. Halfway through at intermission, you're saying, "Those poor saps…they'll never get that Declaration of Independence signed." When they do, there is always a burst of giddy, joyous applause from the audience. It's one of my favorite moments in any musical…and there hasn't been a song in over twenty minutes.

So here, in honor of the Fourth of July, is the opening number from 1776. Wish I could show you the whole thing.

This article by Trudy Rubin makes some strong points about what both Democrats and Republicans are doing wrong with regard to the Iraq situation. Well worth a read.

Our national shortage of Old Jewish Comedians worsens with news that Jan Murray has passed away at the age of 89. Mr. Murray had been in poor health for some time — too ill to even host the annual Chabad Telethon for many years.

But when he did, he was wonderful at it. If you never saw him preside over that ritual, you missed some truly great television. Every twenty minutes or so — more often as they near the conclusion — they go to the tote board to see how much money has been pledged and when they do, all the men on stage link hands and dance in celebration. When their number included Murray, it was hilarious to watch as he'd get wearier and wearier throughout the show. I think he was in his early eighties the last time he did it…and he did it with an attitude of, "Oh, no! I have to dance again." I'm confident some people were calling up to donate money just so they'd do another tote and see if they could kill Jan Murray.

Well, I hope you're happy, people. You finally got your wish.

And I write that with only admiration for his performances. Murray played his mounting fatigue for every bit of comedy he could wring out of it and he was very funny. Others have hosted the telethon since he retired and they've all been terrible. It's never been the same since he left it. (This year's is September 10 and Shelley Berman will be taking a spin at filling Jan Murray's dancing shoes. If anybody can…)

Most of Jan Murray's career in television was spent hosting game shows.  One of these days, I need to tell the story of when the youthful me met him in the corridor outside where they taped Treasure Hunt and he impressed the heck out of me.

I only met him twice after our 1959 encounter in the halls of NBC. Once was at the Friars Club and once was on the set of the Chabad Telethon. Both times, he struck me as the same guy I'd met as a kid: Funny, polite, charming and very much in control. I don't think I ever saw him actually do anything you'd call an act…but when I think of Jan Murray, I think of a guy who sure knew how to work an audience. And whose career was a matter of dancing 'til he dropped…which, sadly, he just did.

From the 1990 Tony Awards, here are Brent Barrett and Michael Jeter performing "We'll Take a Glass Together" from the musical, Grand Hotel. I didn't care much for the show but this number was worth the price of admission.

Brent Barrett was last seen in the movie of The Producers, playing a member of Roger DeBris's in-house staff, and he's currently in Las Vegas in the version of Phantom of the Opera being offered there. Michael Jeter's story is a lot sadder. Later in this same award show, he won the Tony for Best Actor in a Musical…for a role in which he played a dying bookkeeper. I'm sorry no one seems to have his acceptance speech online because it was quite emotional with him saying, "If you've got a problem with alcohol and drugs and think you can't stop, I stand here as living proof to the contrary." He said it in a modest way but with such impact that I couldn't help but think it must have affected some people who needed to hear things like that.

The Tony brought him attention and seems to have led to his regular role on the TV series, Evening Shade. He won an Emmy for that show and later went on to a recurring role on Sesame Street and several choice movie roles. But in 1997, he again jolted people with his candor when he announced he was gay and HIV-positive. He died in 2003, shortly after completing his scenes for the film, The Polar Express. In hindsight, knowing all that he endured, the exuberant dance he does as the terminally-ill bookkeeper, out for a last "fling" seems especially bittersweet.

Jimmy Carter discusses the Freedom of Information Act and why we need less secrecy in government.