I featured that clip of Jay Leno because Johnny Carson's company just put it up on YouTube. And I just realized that they must have put it up because today is Jay's 70th birthday.

We have today a clip of Jay Leno's first appearance with Johnny Carson after it was announced Jay would be guest hosting, switching off with Garry Shandling. This was after Joan Rivers was abruptly removed from that position, which happened the moment NBC and Carson learned she'd signed to do a competing show against Johnny on Fox. The folks at NBC were already annoyed with Joan and discussing replacing her…which was probably why she signed with Fox.

Upon learning of her Fox deal during a week she was sitting in for Johnny, they wanted her off their air A.S.A.P., lest she turn that week into a promo for her new show. Garry Shandling was suddenly drafted to host the next night on short notice. He was the first choice to be the new Permanent Guest Host of The Tonight Show and it was not necessarily something he had time to do, nor was it in his then-current career plan. I didn't know Garry that well but I knew he was a meticulous advance-planner and he was also fully committed to It's Garry Shandling's Show, which was then in production.

He filled-in for Johnny a few nights but someone else was needed. Leno was then under contract to NBC in one of those deals where they sign someone just to keep that person away from the competition…and then can't really find anything to do with that person. They signed Jay for that reason and also because, I suspect, they were fighting so much with David Letterman that they wanted an option in case Dave took a hike. Jay was kind of engaged as the guest host's guest host but I don't think Garry hosted very much, if at all, after the date of this segment. (And note Johnny's little joke reference to Ms. Rivers grabbing another offer).

I really like Jay Leno. I have since long before he ever set foot on the Tonight Show stage when I saw him at local comedy clubs. If you don't like him, you oughta see him perform live some day, assuming there is ever live performing anywhere in the future. He's always seemed like a genuinely nice guy to me and I never bought into the spin that he shoved Johnny or Conan off The Tonight Show. Ratings did that quite effectively. And one of the reasons I found myself rooting for him was that I kept hearing people predict failures that never happened.

When he became Johnny's guest host, they said he'd never be given the show. Then when he was given the show, they said he'd be canceled in thirteen weeks. And then when he kept the show in first place, they said NBC would wise up and replace him with Dave. And then when Dave went to CBS instead, there was a time he was clobbering Jay and they said, "Well, that's it for Leno. He'll be back opening for Patti LaBelle in six months."

And then after the first night Jay beat Dave in the ratings, it was "that's the one time it will ever happen" and then it happened almost every night for year after year after year. Jay only lost the show to Conan because someone at NBC fearlessly predicted that within the five years of his last contract, Jay's ratings would surely plunge…and five years later, they hadn't. Lorne Michaels was quoted in one of Bill Carter's books as saying, "Fortunes have been lost in this business by underestimating Jay Leno." I just enjoy that. Here's Jay with Johnny…

The problems with my car turned out to be deeper than just the battery and I wound up having it towed into the dealership yesterday. I just okayed repairs that will total a bit over $2500…on a car I probably won't drive more than three or four times the next few months. My mechanic said they're shorthanded and asked if he could have a few days on it. I told him he could have a few months on it.

Aside from that, the big news here ain't terribly big at all. It's just me playing with online videos and doing these nightly chats for the next few days and then the Cartoon Voices Panel on Saturday. I honestly don't know how much of this I'm going to do in the future. This is kind of a learning experience for me. I want to learn how to do it and I want to learn how much I do or don't enjoy doing it.

And my iPhone just received breaking news that "sources" say Hillary Clinton will endorse Joe Biden for president. Shouldn't "breaking news" tell you something that you couldn't have just assumed? You and I could have been the sources for that story.

Lastly for now: A lot of folks have written in to ask why I haven't discussed or embedded the big online Sondheim Tribute the other night. I figured everyone who would be interested in it didn't need me to guide them to it…and I haven't had time to watch it yet. Mr. Sondheim has no greater admirer than Yours Truly and I recognize that given his age and past repertoire, we shouldn't expect or need more masterpieces from the guy…but wouldn't it be nice if every time he gets a birthday tribute, he gives Bernadette Peters one new song to sing?

Here's a replay of a live drawing lesson which my buddy Eric Goldberg did three years ago at a table in one of my favorite restaurants…

Each night for the rest of this week, I'm going to be online at 7 PM Pacific Time (9 PM Central, 10 PM Eastern, etc.) for a somewhat informal conversation with one or more friends of mine. It'll just be us talking as we might over lunch and you're welcome to listen in and send comments or questions. I have no idea how long they'll run but it's kind of an experiment and it's to give me practice playing host and director, plus I get to talk with someone I've enjoyed talking with in the past.

Tomorrow night (Tuesday), I'll be talking with Paul Harris, who has logged more hours as a radio host than anyone else I know. He's retired from that now but he posts great stuff on his blog. Once upon a time, you weren't anyone in this world if you hadn't been interviewed on The Paul Harris Show and I'm pleased to say that I was, many times. We'll be discussing the late night shows and how they're coping with the absences of studio audiences and even studios, and I also want to talk a little about Las Vegas, where Paul often goes to play poker and I often go to not gamble anymore.

In addition to not knowing how long each webcast will run, I don't know if I'll be making them available for later viewing online, nor am I sure yet who'll be on the other three webcasts this week or if I'll do them in the future. All I know is that Paul and I will be there tomorrow night starting at 7 PM my time. Hope some of you will be, too. Click on the logo above or here to get to newsfromme.tv.

The animation in this is a little creepy but the sentiment is wonderful. In fact, it was wonderful before any of us ever heard of the coronavirus. Doctors and nurses and others who help people have my undying admiration and gratitude. The ones who helped my mother and my lady friend in their final years were, with very few exceptions, very good human beings and I was constantly impressed at their willingness and ability to do a job that I don't think I could do. I'm sure glad there are people in this world who can…and do.

I do not understand the occasional people I see on the news acting like it's those damned nurses who are keeping the economy and the bars shutdown. There are just people in this world who have a problem with folks who put others — even (gasp!) strangers — ahead of themselves.

Okay, here's one of the first things I'm going to do with my new playground, though there may be one or two other things before then.

Every year at WonderCon and Comic-Con International, I host one or more panels of top cartoon voice actors, discussing and demonstrating their craft. Since neither con is happening this year, we're going to try moving it online so you can watch them do what they do in real time.

Appearing live from their own home recording studios will be Bob Bergen (the voice of Porky Pig and many other classic characters and heard on Curious George and the Star Wars cartoons and more), Julie Nathanson (from Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay and Ubisoft's Far Cry 5, among other credits), Phil LaMarr (from Justice League Unlimited, Samurai Jack, Static Shock and many more), Secunda Wood (heard on Boss Baby, Fast & Furious Spy Racers and dozens of videogames) and Fred Tatasciore (The Hulk, Family Guy, American Dad, et al).

I'm frontloading this one with five of the best voice performers I know, which is not to say there aren't plenty of others if we do more of these. If you'd like to help there be more, spread the word. Repost the ad above wherever you can repost it and blanket your social media. And, of course, be there for it live this Saturday afternoon.

It will probably be online to watch later but it'll be more fun live, plus we'll be fielding your comments and questions. And if nothing else, you can watch me screw up the tech end of this and that will be highly amusing…for you, not me. Oh — and subscribe to newsfromme.tv and set a reminder for this webcast!

The last week or two, I've been setting up an online video presence for this blog. I'm still configuring this and that but we'll be doing a webcast next Saturday afternoon that you'll all want to see and maybe one or two before that. Also, during this week a few of my friends and I will be popping in and out of the channel for little casual chats and practice and testing. I'll try to post notice of them here and I may even try to embed them here. No special codes are necessary to watch. Just forgive me if I screw things up. And when you're over there, hit the subscribe button.

A musical moment from the world's most popular frog. That's Matt Vogel, the latest portrayer of Kermit…

Heritage Auctions is selling another batch of Stan Freberg memorabilia. But if you want a reminder of this great comedian/satirist, you'll have to hurry! Bidding closes in about 20 hours from the time I'm posting this. Go take a look. Stan would have written a much better commercial for this than I just did.

This is a soundie and in case you don't know what a soundie is, here's what a soundie is. Imagine an old jukebox in some public place like a restaurant. The juke box plays records. Now imagine that instead of playing records, it plays little movies in which musical performers of the day performed the songs they also performed on records. Those films were called soundies. Here's one featuring the great Fats Waller and I'm going to guess it was made around 1941…

I recently saw an interesting exchange on Twitter between someone named Ben Marcus and the stand-up comic Michelle Wolf. Mr. Marcus, who may be the acclaimed author with that name or may be a different Ben Marcus, wrote…

Vulgar comedy is just that — vulgar. It's tired. Grownups telling dirty, cheap jokes to appear edgy. Why do you think Seinfeld and Ellen have done so well? Because they are clean. They don't stoop to being dumb and vulgar. It's tired. So….

Well, I can't argue with his first point. Vulgar comedy is vulgar. When the man's right, he's right. And I'd certainly agree that some who tell dirty, cheap jokes are trying to appear edgy in lieu of just making people laugh. Last time I was at the Comedy Store, I saw a few who checked all those boxes…but they did make people laugh. Which brings me to Michelle Wolf's reply to him…

You know who's also incredibly successful? "Vulgar" comedians.

She's right, too. The suggestion that comedians should work clean because Seinfeld and Ellen work clean is kayoed by the fact that Dave Chappelle is successful, Jim Jefferies is successful, Kevin Hart is successful, Michelle Wolf is successful, etc. There's a long list of millionaire comedians Mr. Marcus would probably consider vulgar.

Ms. Wolf would be even righter if she'd inserted the word "some" into that tweet. If you want a real insight into the world of stand-up comedy, don't just see the best people. Go to some Open Mike Nights. I can pretty much guarantee you won't enjoy them and might sit through three or four before you even so much as chuckle.

If you have the slightest bit of empathy in you, your heart will break for a couple of the folks who get up there. You can see dreams shatter in real time…like those of some guy who has always been pretty amusing around his friends, saying witty and funny things. Maybe some of them even said to him, "You oughta be a professional comedian." On at least one occasion and probably more, that auditioner saw someone on TV who didn't make them laugh and so said to himself or herself, "If that loser can get on TV, I oughta be a professional comedian."

So they write an act and they perhaps try it out on that least-accurate barometer of funny…their friends. They may even break it in somewhere where it doesn't matter…and of course, that doesn't matter. But at some point, they take it to some place that is or resembles a real comedy club — a stage where professionals work — and they get on that stage, having imagined the raucous laughter that will follow each and every line…

…and two jokes in, they're thinking, "Say…this isn't as easy as I thought it was."

In those cases, even the "f" word can't save them. Vulgarity can't save them. One time, I even saw a guy who, five or six jokes in, suddenly began doing jokes out of George Carlin's act. I think what happened was that his original jokes bombed and he still had a few minutes up there before they gave him the "get-off-the-stage" signal so he thought, "Well, maybe it's the audience."

So he did some Carlin jokes and when they didn't get laughs either, he left the stage thinking, "It's just a crappy audience. My jokes are just as good as George Carlin's." I'm guessing that it didn't dawn on him that doing George Carlin's material doesn't make you George Carlin nor would working clean, a la Seinfeld or Ellen. That guy could have split himself in two, done both parts in "Who's on First?" and not gotten a single giggle.

In the Twitter exchange above, Mr. Marcus is correct that some comics are vulgar and trying to appear edgy. Ms. Wolf is correct that some comedians Mr. Marcus would call "vulgar" make audiences love them and laugh at them and new comedians are going to follow in their well-compensated footsteps. And I think I'm correct that it's all about what makes an audience laugh. If a comedian can do that and the jokes aren't stolen, that comedian is doing the job right. Even if some people think they're telling dirty, cheap jokes to appear edgy.

This is another of those Cirque Du Soleil specials featuring beautiful images of people who are more physically fit than you doing things that you can't believe a human being can do. In that sense, they're a lot like most porn. This one's a sing-along, inviting you to sing along with songs you don't know, often in languages you don't speak. So not only will you not be able to do anything the performers do physically, you won't be able to do what the chorus does, either…

I follow a number of people online and often check in with J.P. and Julia, who star on not one but two YouTube channels — this one and this one. Both channels are filled with their adventures, all of which are food-related. For a while lately, they were traveling to exotic locations and doing things like checking out a McDonald's in Vietnam but now they're home and quarantining and what do you do when you're a foodie and you have to stay at home?

That's easy. You open a Five Guys in your apartment…

Sorry I didn't post this yesterday. You have less than 24 hours to watch this, the sequel to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera. This is Love Never Dies and it fell way short of either the acclaim or the turnout for Phantom. It opened in London in 2010 and went through a couple of post-opening rewrites and other productions without ever venturing to Broadway. Given that Phantom has now played there to mostly-packed houses since January of 1998, you can imagine the meeting in which they decided there was insufficient interest in the follow-up…