In my limited, clumsy attempts at cooking, I am constantly reminded — and scared-off from further attempts for a time — when I become aware how much I don't know. I didn't know the difference between baking powder and baking soda until I watched this video explanation from Alton Brown who, and I think this is in his job description, makes it sound a lot like all those chemistry lessons I didn't understand in high school. But I think I kinda maybe possibly get it now…

I voted for Bernie Sanders. I did not think he was the answer to the question, "Which candidate is a better bet to defeat Donald Trump?" but I thought he was the answer to "Which candidate would make the best president?" I guess we'll never know if he was either but I think he was a very influential figure in politics. Universal Health Care seems a lot more feasible today because of Bernie Sanders.

I will vote, of course, for whoever can beat Trump. I'd probably vote for you if you could. In past elections, I often heard the phrase, "Vote as if your life depended on the outcome." This time out, I think almost everyone will.

Seth Meyers with the kind of stories we need right now…

Here's a 1977 appearance by Rodney Dangerfield on Johnny Carson's show. Keep your eye on Johnny and you'll see one of the secrets of his success. He was not only willing to play straight man for another comedian, he actually enjoyed it. The whole spot at the desk would have been ruined if Johnny had tried to steer the conversation or insert a joke of his own. A lot of hosts would have thought, "Hey, it's my show, I'm supposed to get some laughs too."

Here's our pal Bob Bergen again, now demonstrating how he might create a new voice for a new character. As I told you back in this message, Bob's great at simulating voices done in the past by Mel Blanc and others but he's also great at baking from scratch.

If you're interested in how one goes about getting a career like Bob's, ask yourself if you have a range like Bob's. There is room in the field for someone who only has one voice if it's a great one. It didn't hurt my dear friend Lorenzo Music. But I think you can see how if you were a producer looking to cast voices for a new show, it certainly wouldn't be a waste of your time to have Bob Bergen come in…and guys like Bob really can come up with ideas and new sounds this fast.

Bob will not at all mind me saying that there are a number of performers like him out there…guys 'n' gals who can do this. When I was casting and voice-directing The Garfield Show, our core cast consisted of Frank Welker (who played Garfield), Gregg Berger (who was Odie), Wally Wingert (Jon) and sometimes Jason Marsden (Nermal) or Audrey Wasilewsky (Arlene) and a few other recurring roles. All of these folks were and are that versatile and could play many other roles along with their main ones.

I did hire other actors (including Mr. Bergen) to guest in certain episodes, mostly for variety and to bring some different kinds of energy to the recording sessions. But I could have done the show forever with just a couple of those men and a couple of those ladies. When they did the classic Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons, four people — Bill Scott, June Foray, Paul Frees and William Conrad — did all the voices — and I mean all.

In these darkest of days, you might need the kind of inspiration one can derive from a Rodgers and Hammerstein song. Here's the most inspirational one as performed by the quartet of Sonny Vande Putte, Sonny Vande Putte, Sonny Vande Putte and — singing lead — Sonny Vande Putte. You can tell the lyrics are by Oscar Hammerstein because there's a mention of a lark in them. Mr. Hammerstein had a thing for larks. He found them inspirational and an easy rhyme.

Sonny Vande Putte, aka Sgt. Sonny, is one of those online guys who makes great videos harmonizing with himself. As one who couldn't harmonize with even one other person singing "Row, row, row your boat," I very much admire this skill…

I have to make a very quick trip out of the house later today. I have my mask and I have my little man-purse which contains another mask, a couple pairs of one-time-use gloves and a little vial of hand sanitizer. I should be out and back in about an hour and I'm kinda looking forward to it. The news is so full of tragic stories that I'd like the reminder that there are still other people in this world beyond those on my phone and computer screen, and that they're going about their lives.

Among the many maddening aspects of this crisis is that no one knows when it will end…and what will still be there (or will come back) when it does. We have lots of theories but no precedents. We also have way too many people who haven't a clue but are quite willing to present wild speculation as close-to-certain fact. Most of them are at least wise enough to leave themselves a tiny "out" if they're wrong. It's like if I said, "After extensive research and testing, I've concluded that the winning numbers in tomorrow's Fantasy Five lottery will be '13 18 20 25 31.' Of course, there's a slight chance I'm wrong…" Kind of worthless.

But I'm okay and when I say that, I'm not being insensitive to those out there who are not okay. I think it's important in times of rising not-okayness to remind each other that most of us are okay and will remain so; that the badness can be and is being avoided in most quarters. I'm eating. I'm sleeping. I'm getting things done. If you have the time to drop by this blog, you're probably doing those three things and if we keep doing them, we'll be fine. There's an end to this. I wish I knew when it will be but if I just focus on eating, sleeping and accomplishing something each day, I can wait it out. So can you.

Speaking of Las Vegas as I just was, here's a live webcam that will show you what it looks like on The Strip at this very minute. Every time I look at this, it seems eerier to me…

Back here, I wrote about Pete Vallee, who's been performing all over Vegas for years as Big Elvis. He currently holds court several afternoons a week at Harrah's there — or I guess I should say that he did before the entire town shut down. Vallee, who once weighed close to a thousand pounds, is down now to around 450 and his shows are very popular.

Recently, Big Elvis did a live online concert for his fans…and speaking of "big," it runs two and a half hours. I don't expect most of you will watch the whole thing but you might enjoy, say, about an hour and forty-five minutes of it. The guy does sound like Elvis and if you ever catch him live, you'll see he does a great job of entertaining folks who loved the normal-sized version…

In 1991, NBC came up with a new show called Sunday Best, which was designed to fill a time slot on Sunday evening and be very, very cheap. Hosted by Carl Reiner, it featured clips from other NBC shows — kind of a weekly "best of…: — intermingled with sketches and new lighthearted segments filed by correspondents. Among those involved in the new material were Jeff Cesario, Linda Elerbee, Harry Shearer and Merrill Markoe.

The show immediately ran into trouble because, if we are to believe various reports, Johnny Carson was then in the midst of one of his periodic feuds with network management. One of the main components of Sunday Best, as conceived, was to show some great moments from Johnny's show as well as David Letterman's, which then followed him. Carson, it is said, withheld permission and convinced Letterman to also refuse to participate. Sunday Best went on anyway, was largely panned and was quickly placed on "hiatus" for some major retooling. It was never seen again.

In one of the few episodes that aired, Merrill Markoe interviewed Hoyt Curtin, the man responsible for the most memorable theme songs on Hanna-Barbera's early shows. Here is that segment…

Randy thinks Andy is dandy…

Here's another Cirque du Soleil special. This should be entirely different from the one I embedded last week.

Incidentally: The Pandemic has put Cirque du Soleil in more danger than any of its performers ever were. They've closed all 44 of the shows they have around the globe, laying off some 4,700 employees. Bloomberg reports that the Montreal-based Cirque needs to deal with $900 million in high-interest debt and is in dire need of financing. Here's what they were like in palmier days…

I'm watching very little news and I think that's a wise thing. The one thing I have seen today with a quick run through the networks is men who have never studied medicine saying, in effect, "No, I'm not a doctor but since there are doctors in this world who disagree, my opinion is just as valid as theirs." I don't buy that and neither should anyone else with an I.Q. higher than their age.

I don't remember it being like this years ago, where people pushing some viewpoint would try so hard to diminish the view of experts. It's like they're saying that experts have an unfair advantage in an argument because they're experts and we need to remove that advantage.

I did watch Bill Maher and John Oliver…and I was going to type "who almost count as news" but I'm feeling Mr. Oliver is way past that. Great show. If you didn't catch it, at least watch this part of it online.

Bill Maher — working in his backyard without a live audience — reminded me of a young, beginning comedian I saw many years ago at the Improv. His name was Bill Maher and he showed much promise.

Unlike 80% of the newbies who traipsed across that stage, you could tell he was going places. But he had an annoying habit that made me recall something I once heard a seasoned comedy writer say to a new comic who didn't go on to be as successful as Bill Maher. He told the guy, "You have a choice. You can laugh at your jokes or we can laugh at your jokes but you can't have both."

Maher, who in those days performed like he'd studied Johnny Carson with a microscope, had one overriding trait that was not Johnny's It was this fake nervous laugh that accompanied almost every line. And he didn't even wait until the audience had not laughed to fill the void himself. Once he overcame that, he became one of the best stand-ups around. Even with intentionally-obvious canned laughter on his monologue Friday night, his "fills" were back…and the problem with doing that is that even as you do the joke, you're telling the listeners that you don't think it's all that funny.

I usually like a lot (never all) of what's on his shows, often for the interplay with the guests and Maher's own interplay with his studio audience. Minus those things, his show was awkward and flat…and I would guess they know that and are working on the problem now. It's tough, after inventing a successful format, to have to reinvent it on the fly.

Things are tolerable here in the Fortress. I've been writing and napping and eating when I feel like writing and napping and eating. Not that there aren't downsides to it — and there are some jobs where it's just not possible — but I like working at home.

I have everything I need here in ample supply and arranged for easy access. I don't have to drive anywhere and be concerned with the traffic getting home. If I hit a moment where it feels like it'll help me in a script, I can go stretch out on my bed or take a shower or in warmer times, go dive in the pool. And I can write at night and sleep during the day. As long as I get it done and someone somewhere is happy with it…

There's lots of speculation out there about how this Pandemic thing will change our lives and how things will be different when it's over. My theories are no more solid than anyone else's but mine do include a lot more people working at home, not because they have to but because they like it and their employers find it beneficial.

This is one of those "just trust me" videos you'll enjoy, though maybe not for the first part. But it's only four-and-a-half minutes and you have nowhere to be for the next month or so…so just click and watch it. This includes you, Scott Shaw!

Here's Peter Biskind with what struck me as a pretty fair review of Woody Allen's autobiography, Apropos of Nothing, which you can order here. Some of the others I've seen have smelled of Agenda on the part of the reviewer but I think Mr. Biskind actually reviewed the book Mr. Allen wrote.

Yes, I finished it. I agree with Biskind that many of the ways in which Allen speaks of women he's known are curious if you're someone out to prove that you treat women with respect. I wish the book had a little less about the people Allen knew and more about behind-the-scenes or in-the-director's-head about his movies. And of course, I lost all respect for Woody on the page where he said he didn't like It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Several of my friends who've read it take issue, as does Biskind, with Allen's assertion that he's never made a "truly great" movie. Based on things Allen said in the book and elsewhere, I suspect by the standards he's using, neither has any other filmmaker except Bergman, Truffaut and a couple of guys who directed the Marx Brothers. But the main thing I liked about the book was that it's funny. It's really very funny and I haven't felt that way about many books I've read in the last decade or three.