Couple of folks wrote to ask what I thought of George W. Bush's speech/skit that preceded Stephen Colbert's the other night. I thought it was actually a clever idea. I suspect that it came about because someone at the White House said to someone else, "You know, Bush is at his worst when he's trying to be funny. If only we could bring in a stunt double for him to handle the comedy…"

Bush impersonator Steve Bridges did a good job. My mother, who has vision problems, said she couldn't tell looking at the TV which Bush was the real one. George W. probably deserves some credit for going along with the bit and doing some pretty self-deprecating material. I wouldn't have thought he had it in him.

It's tempting to read some subtext into a few of the lines. Bush has pretty well demonstrated that he doesn't think much of reporters, even the ones who report things his way, and I don't think it was untrue that he would rather have been somewhere else that evening. (Later, after Colbert, that seemed even more likely.) But as Freud should have said, sometimes a joke is just a joke.

Here's the video of the routine…

Three years ago today, George W. Bush stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier and proclaimed "Major combat operations have ended" in Iraq. Since then, an additional 2,261 U.S. soldiers have been killed and another 16,927 have been wounded.

This one's too good to wait for tomorrow. I'm not sure where it's from…probably some early Showtime special. It's Don Rickles from Las Vegas with a very odd bunch of guest stars. The song is something Rickles did in his act for years (minus the cameo guests) especially during a period when he seemed to think audiences just wanted to see him sing and dance. The first time I saw him in Vegas, that's pretty much what he did and the talking portions of his stage time were taken up not by insults but by long discourses on how we should all get down on our knees every morning and thank God that he gave us Frank Sinatra. Don later got back more to the kind of thing that had made him famous, like calling people hockey pucks and saying they suck sap out of rubber trees.

You should recognize all of the cameo guests except maybe the guy with the tennis racket. It's Bobby Riggs, the famous tennis hustler who battled (and lost to) Billie Jean King in a vastly overhyped "battle of the sexes" match in 1973. This appearance was probably his sixteenth minute of fame.

The clip runs a little under four and a half minutes. You'll want to play it over and over and over…

Frank Rich comes back from vacation to assess the remaining thousand days of the Bush presidency.

This morning, we have another video of a great magician at work but before I get to it, I want to mention that Billy McComb passed away this afternoon following a long hospitalization. Everyone around the Magic Castle is saddened by the news since Billy was a great, wicked presence at the Castle as a performer, as a member of the Board, and as an endless fount of great stories. If you ever got to chat with the guy or see his act, you're probably saddened by the news, too.

Actually, I think I was sitting near Billy at the Castle the first time I saw Lance Burton perform. If I had to pick the best magician working today, I'd pick Mr. Burton. His show at the Monte Carlo hotel in Las Vegas is state-of-the-art magic, though I must admit I liked him even better when he was at the Hacienda. For five years, he did a low-budget, low-priced magic show there that substituted ingenuity, talent and plain ol' hard work for expensive spectacle. I saw it many times and it never failed to delight everyone in the house, including me.

That show opened as his current show opens: With Burton's championship "in one" routine, producing doves and lit candles from God-knows-where. He did at the Castle the first time I saw him there…and it's one thing to see non-magicians stare in awe at tricks; quite another to see some of the world's top magicians with their jaws hanging open. Someone called it the most perfect bit of stand-up magic ever done and if you saw the whole thing — which I recall as running around twelve minutes — you might well agree. I'm sorry he's trimmed it down but even the two and a half minute version in our clip today is pretty astounding work. Take a look and see if you can figure out where the birds come from. I mean, besides from eggs.

Stephen Colbert's speech last night was at least as critical of the Washington press corps as it was of George W. Bush. Take this section…

But the rest of you, what are you thinking, reporting on NSA wiretapping or secret prisons in eastern Europe? Those things are secret for a very important reason: they're super depressing. And if that's your goal, well, misery accomplished. Over the last five years, you people were so good over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, the effect of global warming. We Americans didn't want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out. Those were good times, as far as we knew. But, listen, let's review the rules. Here's how it works: the president makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Put them through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know…fiction.

This was a dinner for White House correspondents, let's remember. And if you were trying to tell them that you think they're a bunch of incompetents who have damaged the world by not doing their jobs, I'm not sure what you could have written that would convey that charge better than the above.

The more I think about it, the more I think Colbert made a conscious decision not to care if the audience laughed. I mean, if all you care about is making White House reporters guffaw, you do jokes about the cramped offices, the hate mail, the lack of respect they get from others, etc. Whatever you think of the guy, he didn't come out there and pander to the audience for laughs. He insulted the audience. Perhaps he totally misjudged the room but I think it's more likely he just plain said what he thought of them.

Here's a safer link to a video of the speech last night…

• Stephen Colbert, Part One
• Stephen Colbert, Part Two
• Stephen Colbert, Part Three

I've received about forty messages from readers of this site about how they felt, ranging the gamut from "he was hilarious" to "not one giggle." I think both extremes overstate and I'm inclined to agree with this e-mail that came from a Rob Rose…

I think my feelings can be summed up quickly:

1. He had some pretty brilliant lines — some of which were perhaps a bit too pointed for that room.

2. Probably not quite how I would have approached it myself — while I personally loathe the Bush administration, if I were working the stage while the President was sitting there, I would probably not want to kick him while he's down quite as much as Colbert did.

3. On the other hand, it was I think pretty true to Colbert's usual style — which means the blame really lies with whoever decided to hire him. They got what they ought to have expected, I think.

There are times when I see some politician I don't like getting slammed and I feel sorry for them. In spite of what anyone says, these are human beings and even the ones I think are destructive are in some warped way trying to make life better. But then I think about that destruction and about the fact that often, they don't seem to recognize it. I often recall a remark I heard on some political discussion show years ago about one elected official. Some reporter said, "He does not connect what he does with its impact on people's lives. If you tell him someone died because they couldn't afford medical care, he says 'That's terrible' and genuinely feels sorry for them…but refuses to accept that it might have something to do with that bill he signed that cost a million people their health insurance." Even the politicos I support at times do things that devastate lives and our sympathies ought to go to the folks who get killed in wars, lose their homes, etc., not to the ones who, even inadvertently or indirectly, caused or failed to stop that damage.

I also remember that most politicians seem to be fine with calling their opponents mentally ill or criminal or pathological liars, and that they voluntarily get into a line of work where others are going to do that to them. Nixon used to use the old ruse of saying, "What people say about me doesn't bother me but it upsets my family" — to which a reasonable reply was, "Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you decided to seek public office." It sort of comes with the job description.

The man who booked Colbert for the event — apparently the gent you see on the video introducing him — did what they always do: He went for the highest-profile topical comedian he could get. That was probably Stephen Colbert. I'm not sure why they even have a comedian at these things since the audience never seems all that interested in sitting there, listening to an outsider mock them and what they do. But you're right: They got what they should have expected. And everyone Colbert insulted, Bush especially, should have thick-enough skin to endure it.

In the previous message, I posted the following two links to the best copy of Stephen Colbert's routine I could find online. This upset a couple of readers of newsfromme because — as I hadn't noticed, sorry — the links are to a site that also hosts a fair amount of porn. At the moment, I can't find another complete link to a decent copy so for those of you who want to risk connecting with a site that also contains naked people, here they are: Part One and Part Two. If and when I find a "safer" link, I'll post it.

My e-mailbox is stuffed with messages from people telling me either that Colbert was inarguably hilarious or definitely unfunny. Most of these people seem to think he is always whichever way they found him to be at the Correspondents' Dinner.

I haven't quite decided what I think of Stephen Colbert's speech at the Correspondents' Dinner though I'm getting there. I will say that he showed great courage to do some of that material in front of that crowd. I'd be curious to hear reports from people who were actually in the room since the audience was not well-miked and I'm not sure why certain folks were selected for the audience reaction shots. One did get the idea that Mr. and Mrs. George W. Bush weren't delighted with the floor show…as is explained in what I suspect is the first of many articles about the performance.

I've never been to one of these press dinners but I'm guessing it's a very hard room for a comedian. The people aren't there to be entertained. They want to mingle and hobnob with the famous. They'll sit still for a speech by the president, whoever he is at the moment, because it's his presence that elevates the importance of the event they're proud to be attending. But apart from that, I'll bet most of the crowd is eager for it to be over with so they can go back to fraternizing. The gent who was hosting seemed to be having a fair amount of trouble getting the audience to pipe down and listen to the program.

I'd also be curious to know what Colbert's goal was…and it may not have just been to entertain the folks out front in the formal wear. If it was, he probably went about it the wrong way. When you hammer the president that much right in front of him, you make an awful lot of people uncomfy…and not just the ones who side with the guy. I thought some of Colbert's lines were brilliant but if I'd been in the room, I might have spent more time looking at the reactions of others (Bush, especially) to some of them than laughing. On the other hand, Colbert's main objective may have been to cultivate a certain image as a performer…or simply to express his views. He could well have succeeded in one or both of those.

I'm going to watch it again tomorrow and see how I feel about it then. It may be it's like one of those events where the boss is being ridiculed but everyone feels okay about laughing as soon as the boss starts laughing. Only in this case, the boss never started laughing.

Yesterday, I told you I liked Penn and Teller. Today, I tell you I like David Copperfield…at to some extent for the same reasons. Both acts took magic to new places. While I have a great respect for someone who can do the linking rings as well as Jonathan Pendragon or the cups-and-balls as well as Johnny "Ace" Palmer, I also like guys who come out on stage and do something you've never seen before. Or at least, it doesn't look like anything you've ever seen before. (A lot of good "new" magic is putting a new facade on an old structure.)

I know people mock Copperfield's poses and the way he portrays himself…and I find that kind of thing funny and/or creepy when it's done by lesser magicians who haven't his skill or credibility. But there's also a "perfectionist" aspect to his work that I admire and a constant desire to do something different, something that the audience (the members of it not on his payroll) will long remember. Someone posted to Google Video a bit from one of his specials that I heard people discussing in the Ralphs Market, days after it first aired on CBS. It's another one of those tricks that you can figure out if you have the slightest common sense but he does it so well that it works anyway. Here it is…

Well, it looks like Don Imus no longer has the trophy for the most uncomfortable speech at one of these events.

If you just want to catch whatever Stephen Colbert does at the Correspondents' Dinner tonight, C-Span is currently saying that the post-meal program will commence around 9:30 PM (all times Eastern), George W. Bush will speak at 10:05 and the Prince of Truthiness will go on around 10:25. Right after the dinner is concluded, C-Span will re-air the entire thing and they're saying that will start "around Midnight," plus they'll run it all again on Sunday at 12:30, which I assume means 12:30 PM.

That's what they're currently saying on-air. The schedule on the CNN website says something else. This is not unusual for C-Span.

Also, I believe Mr. Colbert is the subject of a story tomorrow night on 60 Minutes.

Here's a birthday shout-out to Lennie Weinrib, one of my favorite friends and one of the most talented. I first worked with Lennie on a show for Sid and Marty Krofft for which he was re-creating the role of H.R. Pufnstuf. Lennie was not only the voice of Pufnstuf but wrote most of that character's first TV series. There was a time there when you couldn't turn on your TV or radio without hearing Lennie: He had hundreds of commercials running and he was on a dozen cartoon shows (including The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, written about here a few days ago).

This period followed the one where you couldn't turn on your TV without seeing Lennie doing a guest role on some TV series. One time a few years ago, I was flipping channels on my satellite dish and I caught him simultaneously on reruns of The Munsters and Emergency, plus some channel was running The Thrill of It All, a Doris Day movie in which he had a small role. The still above is from one of his several appearances on The Dick Van Dyke Show. And at some point in there, he also had a period as a film director. Anyone here ever see Beach Ball? Or Wild, Wild Winter?

He's pretty much retired now and living outside the U.S. but we still talk and e-mail, and in honor of his birthday, I'm actually packing up a box of stuff I've been promising to send him for several months now. In fact, I like him so much, I'm even going to go mail it.

Tonight, CNN is rerunning a Larry King Live from last Tuesday on which King interviewed Mark Felt, the gent who was recently revealed to have been Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's infamous source, "Deep Throat." The interview was pre-taped (i.e., not aired live) at Felt's home and it comprised part of the show. The rest of the hour was a live panel discussion with Woodward, Bernstein, Ben Bradlee and members of Felt's family.

The panel discussion is of little interest due mainly to King's lazy interviewing style. At one point, he asked, referring to Felt, "What manner of man is this?" Which might have been an interesting question if he'd directed to Woodward, who had the friendship with Felt and who met him in that parking garage many times and who visited him recently. But King put it to Bernstein, who never met Felt and who speculates with as much authority as you or I might have had. Then King asked Ben Bradlee if he ever had any doubts about Felt's validity and he lets Bradlee get away with talking about how perfectly accurate Felt was as a source. The moment cried out for an interviewer who would cite some of the questionable "facts" Deep Throat is quoted as providing in All the President's Men…but King obviously didn't know about them.

By contrast, in the interview with Felt, King asked most of the right questions, perhaps because he was reading them (in some cases, as if he'd never seen them before) from notes prepared by someone else. The discussion, which looks like it was heavily edited, is actually a pretty decent chat with Felt, who's a lot more lucid than one might expect from some recent accounts. It also may be the only one we're ever going to get so if the story of Deep Throat and Watergate interests you, you might want to catch the replay tonight. Felt praises J. Edgar Hoover and even Richard Nixon…and while I got the feeling that some of his answers were learned for the interview (the whole show is about promoting a new book), what emerges is a somewhat different set of motives than we might have expected. Felt has bad words for no one, which you have to suspect was not his attitude back when he was helping Woodward. He seems to have had a powerful devotion to the law, which more than any goals involving politics or personal benefit may have been his dominant reason for doing what he did.

In the panel discussion, Carl Bernstein couldn't resist making a couple of comments about how he wished more public servants today were like Mark Felt, placing duty to the truth above duty to the boss. A lot of us feel that way.

I don't know quite why this struck me as funny but when I went to tell my TiVo to record the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner tonight, I laughed to see the listing: "President George W. Bush and Stephen Colbert speak." And I had a mental flash of Colbert looking at this and saying, "Hmm…have to do something about the billing order."