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."

I'm a big fan of Penn and Teller…not of everything they do, of course. I think, for example, they're responsible for what I see as an unfortunate belief among some newer magicians. That's the notion that a trick is hip if you can only work some self-mutilation and stage blood into it. But that's okay. One of the things I like about them is that they try different things and aren't afraid to alienate one segment of the audience to entertain another.

For a time, they had a bad name among magicians for allegedly exposing tricks. I thought that was an unfair rap. The few tricks they did expose were the kind that anyone with an I.Q. higher than their shoe size could figure out in ten seconds. The one exposed in today's video link is just such a trick. I figured out how it was done when I was six. I mean, how else could you put a box containing a live human head on the floor unless the rest of the human was under the floor? There would be little entertainment value in doing the trick and pretending it was fooling anyone. There's plenty in doing it in a way that shows you how hard it is to do.

The clip is from a pretty good TV special they did in 1990 called Don't Try This At Home and it runs a little more than three minutes. So let's blast off…

Rush Limbaugh, as you've probably heard, has reached a pretty favorable plea bargain (his lawyer calls it an "agreement") regarding prescription abuses relating to his drug dependency. He is paying a $30,000 fine (his lawyer calls it a payment to defray the public cost of the investigation) which represents something like two hours' income for the radio host.

The initial news reports said "Rush Limbaugh arrested" and his supporters are scurrying to claim that since he turned himself in, the word "arrested" is inaccurate. Not only is it inaccurate, they say, but the use of it is an example of Liberal media bias.

I don't think I buy either spin. The word is probably technically correct. If there's a warrant out for you and you go in and you're booked and they take a mug shot photo of you, you've been arrested, albeit voluntarily. But the word is also misleading. The first thing people think of it you say someone's been arrested is that the cops came and put the cuffs on him, which is not what happened here.

It isn't bias. It's just the way reporters write stories. A few moments ago, I did a Google search on the words "surrendered to police" and one of the first things I found was this item about an NFL player who's out there setting a wonderful example for today's youth…

Green Bay Packers fullback Najeh Davenport was arrested Monday, accused of breaking into a university dormitory and defecating in a woman's closet. Davenport, 23, surrendered to police Monday and was charged with a second-degree felony count of burglary and a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief, said Richard Master, a Miami Shores police spokesman. The former University of Miami player was wanted on a warrant issued in April.

There was a warrant for the guy and he turned himself in…and they used the word "arrested." I think it's a bad choice of word but it's pretty standard for this kind of story. It wasn't used just to make Limbaugh look bad.

And what do you want to bet that if it had been a Democrat or Liberal in exactly the same situation, Rush would be out there proclaiming that a dangerous, immoral criminal had been arrested…and then a bleeding-heart, weak-kneed prosecutor had given him a slap on the wrist instead of throwing the slime in prison where he belongs? I'm not saying that would have been the proper punishment for Limbaugh. But you know that's what he would have said.

Veteran TV-movie writer Harvey Bullock died last Sunday at the age of 84. Bullock was an amazingly prolific author of scripts, usually in partnership with R.S. Allen, whom he met while writing a radio show starring Abe Burrows in 1949. The team of Allen and Bullock went on to become one of the top teams in television writing with credits on The Real McCoys, The Andy Griffith Show, I-Spy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Danny Thomas Show, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Bill Dana Show, The Joey Bishop Show, Rango, Hogan's Heroes, Gomer Pyle, Mr. Terrific, My World and Welcome To It, Love American Style, The Doris Day Show, The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, Alice and dozens of others. They also wrote numerous scripts for animation including The Flintstones, Top Cat, The Jetsons and Wait 'til Your Father Gets Home. (Bullock and Allen created and produced the last of these.) This is a very partial list, and I should emphasize that Bullock and Allen wrote some of the most memorable episodes of the TV shows listed. For instance, they did 31 episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, including the one about the goat that ate dynamite, the one where Barney Fife had to track down a cow thief, and the one about Aunt Bea entering a pickle-making contest.

In the world of motion pictures, they wrote Honeymoon Hotel, Girl Happy (starring Elvis Presley), A Man Called Flintstone, With Six You Get Eggroll, Don't Drink the Water and one of my favorite unheralded comedies, Who's Minding the Mint?

Bullock's career slowed in 1981 when his partner Ray Allen passed away…though Harvey did team up in '86 with Everett Greenbaum (whose partner Jim Fritzell had died in '79) and together they wrote the highly-rated TV-Movie, Return to Mayberry, which reunited the characters from The Andy Griffith Show.

Harvey's work will live on and so will his name. In 1974, a police lieutenant character was added to the Batman comic books and he soon became a permanent part of that character's mythology. His name is Harvey Bullock and I don't know quite how it happened but he was apparently named after the writer. I'm told he felt honored.

The annual White House Correspondents Dinner is tomorrow night. I always find this interesting because of the tradition of bringing in some comedian — usually someone who does topical humor — to entertain, right in front of the current president and a goodly portion of the Washington establishment. Last year, they had Cedric the Entertainer but the highlight was a speech by Laura Bush. This year, Stephen Colbert will be toplining and I have a feeling he's going to be quite wonderful.

The event airs on C-Span, which will probably repeat it a couple of times over the weekend. You'll have to keep an eye on the ever-changing C-Span schedule to know when but at the moment, they're planning to run a 90 minute live preview at 8 PM Eastern time and the dinner itself at 9:30. Don't believe the part where they say it'll only run an hour.

Here are two articles about why the price of gas is so high, one by Charles Krauthammer and one by Michael Kinsley. Krauthammer says it's all a matter of supply and demand, completely overlooking the question of whether the oil companies are manipulating the supply, or taking advantage of shortages to crank prices up more than necessary. Kinsley says it's all because of the Iraq War and that we should tax windfall profits to help pay for that war. That makes more sense to me but it'll never happen. It won't even be seriously considered.

A full-size replica of the robot from the Lost in Space TV series.

Tired of endlessly replaying William Shatner's stirring interpretation of Elton John's "Rocket Man?" Well, do I have a treat for you. Yes, it's William Shatner performing Harry Chapin's song, "Taxi" on an old episode of Dinah Shore's show. (If the ifilm link below doesn't play in your browser, go here.)

I've been a member of The Magic Castle for something like a quarter of a century…maybe longer. For the benefit of those of you who've never been there, it's a private club in Hollywood for magicians…or people who love magicians…or people who can cough up the initiation fee. You have dinner there — and the food, which once was pretty mediocre, is now pretty good. Then you can wander around and look at curios and wonderful decor and perhaps drop by one of several showrooms where magicians perform all evening. You can find out more about the place over at its website.

If you check out the "Now Appearing" page this week, you'll see that a performer named Jason Alexander is appearing in the Parlour of Prestidigitation. This is the mid-sized showroom there — it seats 68 people — and yes, this is "the" Jason Alexander, the guy from Seinfeld. We all know he can sing and dance and do comedy but it turns out, he also does magic. I don't know how good he is because everyone I know who's gone to see him has been unable to get in. Like I said, the room only seats 68.

But I think it's neat that he's doing it. The Castle is notoriously conservative in how much it pays its performers (some would say "stingy") and I would guess it's the worst money he's worked for in a long time. Of course, it's not like he needs it.

I've just read about a dozen reviews of United 93, the new movie about the fourth plane that was hijacked on 9/11. I will save you the trouble of reading any of them. They all say…

This film was made with great respect and integrity and skill and boy, do I wish I hadn't had to go see it.

It'll be interesting to see what the box office is like this weekend. There may be some kind of "thrill-seeking" audience, like the folks who rushed to see The Exorcist after they heard it caused audience members to faint. But I have the feeling that a lot of people will feel the way I did: Wait and see it at home, if at all. This was an option that wasn't available to those who saw The Exorcist when it came out.

I love acts that represent years of hard work and ingenuity — jugglers, magicians, etc. Today, we spotlight a great act…David and Dania, who tour the world doing a stunning "quick change" routine, often at halftime at sporting events. You can see many videos of them at work over on their website but if you click below, you'll see a minute and twenty seconds of what they do…

I get a lot of e-mail from folks who want to get into doing voices for cartoons. I'm always a little baffled by these inquiries. Somehow, the person found my website but though they claim to be passionate about breaking into the business and doing whatever it takes to make that happen, they never seem to have bothered to read the material I put up about how to do this. They just hit the e-mail link and write to ask me to tell them how to make their dreams come true. I usually direct them to this page which they could probably have found in ten seconds by going to Google and searching for almost any phrase similar to "break into cartoon voice work."

It's frustrating because some of the messages are so eager and sincere, and I wish I could give these folks a firmer route into a highly competitive profession. Fortunately, I can now offer a real good piece of advice…easily the best I could give to anyone who's interested in working in voiceover.

On May 9 at the Learning Annex in Los Angeles, my buddy Paul Doherty is conducting a class in how to break into the business. Paul is the head of the Los Angeles Division of Cunningham, Escott, Slevin & Doherty, which is one of the top agencies for folks who announce, narrate and act with their voices. I can't think of anyone who knows more about the field. If I was anywhere near Southern California and trying to launch a career in that area, I'd go to Paul's class and do absolutely everything he said. I'm serious about this.

George Tuska, who's been drawing comic books almost as long as there have been comic books, was born 90 years ago today in Hartford, Connecticut. His first comic art job was in 1939 assisting on the Scorchy Smith newspaper strip and soon after, he went to work for the Eisner-Iger Shop (that's Will Eisner) where he worked alongside artists like Lou Fine, Bob Powell and Nick Cardy, and soon proved himself as bold and skilled as anyone in the field. He drew super-heroes (including Captain Marvel) before going off to fight World War II…and it was upon his return that he really began to shine. Before long, one of the top-selling comics in the country was Crime Does Not Pay, and Tuska was the book's "star" artist — the one others tried to imitate.

He later returned to the Scorchy Smith newspaper feature, this time as lead artist, and drew the Buck Rogers strip for a time. In the sixties, he was a mainstay of the Marvel line, especially on Iron Man, X-Men and Luke Cage, Hero for Hire. For DC, he drew Challengers of the Unknown, Teen Titans and many other comics and he was among the illustrators on T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents for Tower. Lately, in semi-retirement, he's been doing commissions which show he's still got it.

Stan Lee dubbed him "Gorgeous George" Tuska for good reason. He could have also called him "Gentleman George" and "Gallant George," for he is a charming, delightful man. I don't think you're on the Internet, George…but please, someone tell him that a lot of us here on the World Wide Web are delighted to wish him a happy ninetieth.

A cartoonist friend of mine is writing an article about his experiences back in the sixties trying to sell gag cartoons to some of the crummier men's magazines of the day. He would like to know the name of the publishing house responsible for Dude, Escapade, Gent, Caper, something called Gags and Dolls, and a magazine called either Army Laughs or Army Laffs. Can anyone drop me a line and help this person?

I don't think I'm going out this weekend to catch United 93, the new film dramatization of the events that occurred on 9/11 aboard United Flight 93. This is despite the fact that I keep hearing that the movie is expertly made and done with total respect and as much taste as anyone could bring to an account of such a horrible event.

When it was first announced, it sounded like something I'd want to see, that perhaps I should see. I've certainly read enough about the events of that day and seen at least a half-dozen documentaries with actual footage. But now that it's about to open at a theater near me, I think I'll wait for either the DVD or a showing on HBO. That's if I even watch it at all.

It figures to be an emotional experience. In this world, you can't always control when you have your emotional experiences but to the extent you can, I think you should. If I watch United 93 at home via DVD or TiVo, I can start it when I want, stop it when I want, pause it when I want. If I go to a theater, all of that will be out of my control. It's bad enough that it will be out of my power to change what happens on screen. Flight 93 will crash and kill everyone aboard whether I remain in my seat to see it or not…and I guess that's what I'm afraid of: That feeling of powerlessness. At home with remote close at hand, I'll feel a tiny bit in command, maybe not of the fate of that plane and the people aboard but certainly of myself.

You may call it cowardice. I call it not subjecting myself needlessly to things that may be unpleasant. It's the same reason I don't go on roller coasters or hang-glide or listen to The Howard Stern Show any more.

Some movies, of course, you want to watch on a big screen and/or with an audience. This one, I'm thinking I'd rather watch without anyone else around, or at least only with people I feel close to. That's if I watch it at all…and I'm thinking I might. Still, the problem with seeing it in a public place is that it's a public place. I don't want to deal with the grief of the lady sitting in front of me, the kids sitting behind me, the people on either side. I want to be able to cry or to get angry…and I may even feel like yelling at the screen. A good comedy should be shared with others and their laughter can make it a more enjoyable occurrence. But some tragedies — especially the kind you can't do a damn thing about — are best experienced alone.