A bald eagle nest in Big Bear, California…

The folks over at Snopes correct a load of misinformation about the personal wealth of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He doesn't have most of that stuff some claim he owns and may not even have a double-Y in his last name.

What was I doing on March 25, 1961? I was almost certainly watching this show…

On the recent mysterious deaths of Gene Hackman, his wife and one dog, there was some new information released today. It came from — and I'll put this in all caps because it's important to keep this in mind — DOCTORS AND PROFESSIONAL INVESTIGATORS WHO ACTUALLY EXAMINED THE BODIES AND THE HACKMAN HOME. Since this story hit the web, we've been bombarded with endless theories from people who aren't doctors, aren't professional investigators, didn't examine the bodies, didn't visit the home, etc. And the info released today indicates that all the past theories were wrong.

So now, I'm seeing a whole new round of speculation and theories from the folks who aren't doctors, aren't professional investigators, didn't examine the bodies, didn't visit the home, etc., on the premise (I guess) of "Why be wrong only once when you can be wrong twice or maybe even more times than that?" Me, I'm going to wait and see what else the professionals with actual evidence come up with. That's kind of why we have experts.

Mark Bosselman writes…

I know how much you enjoy Four Mad World but are there any films that tried to replicate Mad World that you kinda of enjoyed?

Depends on what you mean by "replicate." There have been a couple of movies that "borrowed" the idea from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World of someone setting a mob off on a grand chase and then that mob — full of familiar faces and growing — goes off on a big find-the-treasure hunt. The only one of those I've seen was The Million Dollar Mystery from 1987…

…and I didn't like it very much, though I have trouble really disliking any film with Eddie Deezen in it. One friend of mine was one of its screenwriters and another guy I knew died doing stuntwork on the film. I don't think either one of them liked it very much either. The film ran a contest with a million-dollar prize and it was won by a 14-year-old girl from Bakersfield. I would imagine she thought it was the greatest movie ever made.

If you're talking about all-star "gang" comedies, there were a few that seem to have been green-lit by studios because they wanted to replicate the success (not the plot) of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. I liked The Great Race and I liked Who's Minding the Mint? and I sorta liked Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines but I don't see any of them as being on the same tier as Mad World. I suspect that the main element of Mad World that was most imitated was hiring Jack Davis to draw a big crowd scene for the poster.

Fred Kaplan debunks many of the things people have said about the War in Ukraine, dating back to during the election when Trump said that if he won, he would end the war in 24 hours, maybe even before he took office.  Yeah, right.

In 1949, for promotional purposes (I guess), MGM Studios held a big luncheon for all their stars and made some kind of newsreel about it. They were celebrating the studio's twenty-fifth anniversary. And twenty-five years later — in 1974 — they did the same thing for their fiftieth. Here's a video that shows footage from both celebrations. It's not the best video quality but it'll have to do until we find something better…

I told part of this before once but I didn't do it justice and need to expand on it…

When I was working on the Garfield and Friends show, I became close friends with a brilliant, out-of-his-mind-in-a-good-way actor/comic and performer of cartoon voices named Howard Morris. We really liked each other and through Howie, I met Aaron Ruben and his wife, the actress Maureen Arthur. Aaron was, as explained in this post, a writer for Caesar's Hour — a show that featured not only Sid Caesar but also Howie. He went on from it to a stellar career in television, producing The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and many more.

Aaron and I did not become close friends but we exchanged a few phone calls and letters, and I ran into him at various gatherings. He was a smart, funny man and I liked him a lot.

The last time I saw him was at the Memorial Service for Howie in May of 2005. A lot of great comedians and TV stars were there but folks couldn't help but notice the absence of two gentlemen who'd worked an awful lot with Howard Morris: Sid Caesar and Mel Brooks. It was whispered around the gathering that Mr. Brooks was not present because his wife Anne Bancroft was very ill…and, of course, everyone understood.

After the ceremony, I was standing with Betty Lynn and Andy Griffith, and Aaron came up and said sadly, "We're going to be doing this for Sid any day now." He said he'd seen Mr. Caesar a few days earlier and the man was in such bad shape that — and this is a near-exact quote — "I'll be surprised if he lasts two weeks." Andy bowed his head a bit and said something about how sad it was. We all did.

Well, Sid Caesar lived for more than two more weeks. This was in May of 2005 and he outlived Aaron Ruben, who passed away in November of 2010. He also outlived Andy Griffith, who left us in July of 2012. Sid Caesar finally died on February 12, 2014. That was just short of eight years and nine months since Aaron Ruben said Sid couldn't possibly last two more weeks.

I've had this experience on any number of occasions. I knew two comic book fans, both in their fifties, who asked me for Carl Barks's phone number because, as one so delicately put it, "We wanna go meet him before he croaks." Both of those fans died before Carl did. Carl was about 80 when they said that and he made it to 99. That was not a very good prediction.

There was a very wonderful comedy writer named Pat McCormick who spent his last years in the Motion Picture Country Hospital, unable to speak. But if you went to see him, Pat would motion to a guest book he had and insist you sign it. The last time I visited him, I signed it right below his two previous visitors, who I believe had come at different times — Johnny Carson and Buddy Hackett. I'm sure they both assumed it was the last time they'd ever see Pat…and it was. But he outlived both of them.

I'm not telling these stories to be morbid…quite the opposite. My experience is that when non-doctors assume someone's soon to die — including themselves — they're wrong an awful lot of the time. I can't say it's most of the time but it's often enough that they shouldn't make or believe those predictions….not without the say-so of a doctor who's actually examined the person in question. Fate has this strange way of surprising us.

In his Not-the-State-of-the-Union address, Trump said something about how Stacey Abrams — a lady he does not like — "somehow got her hands on nearly $2 billion" that was part of an energy initiative. This, of course, is not true as Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post explains. I suspect everyone of any prominence who has ever opposed Trump on anything will eventually be at least vaguely accused of some heinous crime.

Dale Herbest asked me this question which a lot of people have sent me…

Even just from brief snippets, did you watch enough of the Oscars to be able to judge Conan as host?

I would never presume to judge anyone from "brief snippets," especially hosting a show that I really don't like much, no matter who hosts it.

My ideal Oscar host would be someone who came out with all the envelopes and said, "All right…tonight, no monologue, no presenter speeches, no musical numbers. I'm going to open all the envelopes in rapid succession and if you win, run up here to thank whoever you want to thank but keep it under ninety seconds. Someplace in there, we'll stop and run the "In Memoriam" reel, which we're going to make three minutes longer so we can honor thirty more people than usual. Then we'll open the rest of the envelopes and be out of here in ninety minutes! The first award is for Best Supporting Actor and the nominees are…"

But of course, that's not what anyone wants. The network wants a long show so they can sell a lot of expensive commercials. The studios want clips and a lot of talk about the product they sell. The stars want hours of attention on them and a lot of endless praise for themselves and their profession. The current way of doing it services all those wants and I still don't think it matters much who the host is.

Sorry there wasn't more on this page yesterday. My power went out for several hours and when it returned, there were more pressing things that needed to be written. I'll make it up to you in the coming days. Personally, I think it was all Trump's doing.

And it's about time Randy Rainbow posted another video…

In addition to the Fact Check that CNN posted last night on Trump's speech to Congress, we have FactCheck.org fact-checking the speech, Politifact fact-checking the speech, The Washington Post fact-checking the speech, The Associated Press fact-checking the speech, N.P.R. fact-checking the speech, The New York Times fact-checking the speech, The B.B.C. fact-checking the speech, NBC News fact-checking the speech, ABC News fact-checking the speech, CBS News fact-checking the speech, Steve Benen over at The Maddow Blog fact-checking the speech, The Guardian fact-checking the speech, Al Jazeera fact-checking the speech…and there are probably a few others I missed.

Interesting how much these different journalists agreed upon, how many some of them missed that others caught…and how little truth matters to low-income people who think President Trump is going to make their lives better.

The other day, I came across this clip on YouTube. It's Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the 1936 movie Swing Time, introducing the song, "Pick Yourself Up." I don't recall ever seeing the entire movie but this scene triggered a powerful flashback memory for me. I'm about 99% certain that I was remembering seeing this scene when I was four or five years old. I remember the old black-and-white TV set we had in the living room at our house, I remember this scene on it, I remember singing the song over and over again for a few days after…

…and that's all I remember. But it's one of my earliest memories…

While we're at it, I came across this fragment of a Sammy Davis/Jerry Lewis special that I never saw before but in the first few minutes, they do their version of the song. I liked Fred and Ginger better…

Paul Boross is a speaker, comedian, business psychologist and former pop star whose Humourology podcast has much to teach you about Funny — what it is, how to create it, how it can improve your life. As you might guess from the spelling, it's British-based but sometimes, he has on funny people from this country…and next Tuesday, his guest is our pal Shelly Goldstein, who knows a thing or two thousand about Funny. Tune in, learn and laugh.