This year's Tony Awards telecast is Sunday, June 7, which is 100 days from today. This press release says the show will come from Radio City Music Hall and it'll be produced and directed by the same guys who've done it for a long, long time. But something is missing…who's going to host it? Shouldn't they have someone by now?

It may have been my favorite show of the year when Neil Patrick Harris hosted, and James Corden is proving himself just as good. Come on, Broadway League, American Theatre Wing and CBS. Get together and sign one of those guys.

Paul Krugman has a tough-but-accurate (I think) overview of how the Trump Administration is dealing with the coronavirus. They're not treating it as a threat which could kill thousands of people. They're treating it as a threat to the two things Donald Trump cares about: The stock market and his personal popularity. Here's a selected paragraph…

So the Trumpian response to crisis is completely self-centered, entirely focused on making Trump look good rather than protecting America. If the facts don't make Trump look good, he and his allies attack the messengers, blaming the news media and the Democrats — while trying to prevent scientists from keeping us informed. And in choosing people to deal with a real crisis, Trump prizes loyalty rather than competence.

And of course, there's a problem with Trump's definition of "loyalty." It has to be to him not, say, to the Constitution or The Rule of Law. I'm wondering whether Roger Stone gets his Presidential Medal of Freedom before or after the pardon.

Cookie Monster breaks the Internet…

It seems to be all over the Internet that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that men shave their beards to protect against the coronavirus. According to Politifact, which is as reliable a fact-checking site as you can find, this is not true. The C.D.C. is not actually recommending this. So if you have a friend with a beard, tell him he doesn't have to shave it off…

…unless your friend is David Letterman. Please don't tell him he doesn't have to get rid of his.

Like every single person on this planet — including it would seem, people who are supposed to be experts at this kind of thing — I have no idea how bad or threatening the coronavirus is or may be. It's one of those times when in my head, I hear the Mel Brooks song, "Hope for the Best, Expect the Worst."

What we need of course is for science to save us, primarily doctor-type folks who are even now figuring out how to handle this pandemic. At any time, this would be a scary thing but it's scarier because we have leaders now who don't believe in science and who have slashed funding for exactly the kind of response we now need. Laurie Garrett, a former senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, lays it all out in this article and I'll quote just this much of it…

For the United States, the answers are especially worrying because the government has intentionally rendered itself incapable. In 2018, the Trump administration fired the government's entire pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management infrastructure. In numerous phone calls and emails with key agencies across the U.S. government, the only consistent response I encountered was distressed confusion. If the United States still has a clear chain of command for pandemic response, the White House urgently needs to clarify what it is.

That was written almost a month ago and it still applies. Trump has put Mike Pence in charge of coordinating the White House efforts, which sure suggests he's treating this as a political problem and a threat to his own popularity, not as a medical problem and a threat to human lives. We've been saying on this blog for months now that the 2020 Presidential Election would be about all sorts of scandals and issues that were not yet on our radar. Here's one that nobody was mentioning a few weeks ago.

Have you watched Desus & Mero on their Showtime series? It's a talk show but with an energy quite unlike talk shows we've seen before. I don't watch it all the time because I don't know who the hell some of their guests are, even after I see them interviewed…but I know who David Letterman is and he was a guest on a recent show. (And if you're going to watch it, watch it here instead of Showtime because this version is a few minutes longer.)

You know what talk show I haven't been watching? Letterman's. And it's not just that I'm disinterested in his guests. He rarely makes me feel like he's interested in his guests. He just recorded a show for next season — a whole hour with Kim Kardashian and you just know he was dying to have her on. Here's what I think they oughta do with that series: Bring in a different guest host each week to interview Dave. He's more interesting than anyone he's had on with the possible exception of Barack Obama.

So here he is with Desus & Mero. They fawn a little too much but that's kind of required on talk shows these days. The big thing is that they keep things moving and don't ask the same old questions, thereby prompting the same old responses. Make sure you stick around for the Quentin Tarantino story…

I watched as much of the South Carolina debate as I could take, which was a little more than half. The "talking over" one another was not conducive to understanding anyone's positions and they often seemed to be forgetting that they have a common enemy and it isn't each other.

I'm sure that four years ago or eight or twelve, I must have written how I think the wrong way to approach these debates is to try and determine who "won." It ain't like a baseball game where you can look at a scoreboard and see how many runs one side scored. The goal is to improve one's standing with the voters and that's not something that's easily measurable, nor is it something that only one person can do. The main poll I saw after the Las Vegas debate indicated that both Sanders and Warren were up two points, Biden stayed the same, Buttigieg and Klobuchar each lost one and Bloomberg lost three.

You could say, I suppose, that Sanders and Warren tied in that meet-up. You could also say that Warren "won" in that she needed the boost more and may have saved her entire candidacy by reminding the voters who liked her why they liked her. But then you look and see that that poll had a two-point margin of error so maybe in reality, it was closer to a five-way tie with Bloomberg only slightly behind the pack. Hell, you could even argue that considering how many shots to the head Bloomberg received in that wrestling match, he "won" by not being knocked out.

I didn't think anyone last night markedly improved their position or harmed it. I would have loved it if someone had because I'm still wrestling with my decision on who to vote for. My reservations about Sanders flow from reading too many articles about why he can't win in November and might even hurt Democratic chances in the House and Senate — even with the all-important Dick Van Dyke endorsement. Some of those articles are hard to dismiss and nothing I heard in last night's debate changed that. I may have to write-in Fred.

Dick Van Dyke endorses Bernie Sanders. If Bernie's the nominee and Dick keeps campaigning for him, we're going to hear Trump say that Dick Van Dyke is a loser who never did anything anyone cares about and his English accent in Mary Poppins was terrible and he couldn't even enter a room without tripping over a footstool…

…but I'm going to defend Donald Trump about something…

Donald Trump and his entourage reportedly failed to eat a single item of a special vegetarian feast prepared for him during his trip to India. The American president and his wife, Melania, were presented with the menu during their visit to Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, one of the former homes of the Indian independence hero.

In an effort to please the famously carnivorous tastes of the president, the chef — a well-known award-winning chef called Suresh Khanna — adapted a number of famous Indian delicacies to make them more recognizable for their guests and even included more familiar items such as chocolate-chip cookies and apple pie. But neither Mr. Trump nor the First Lady touched anything from the special high tea menu.

The article goes on to say that many people were outraged that they didn't eat what was served while others were outraged at the selections offered to them. The menu can be read at that link and there's not one thing on it that I would have (or could have or should have) eaten.

Having many food allergies — and having occasionally suffered greatly when I ate something I sensed I shouldn't — I am quite militant on this point: No one should ever be pressured even socially to eat what they think is wrong for them, nor should they be criticized for their decisions. The fact that the Trumps may not have any food allergies does not change that. It's your body and you need to be the sole arbiter of what goes into it. "I don't think I'd like it" is a perfectly valid reason.

In Trump's position, I would have refrained. I might even have been a little ticked-off at my staff people for not anticipating this problem and preparing for it. There are vegetables I can eat and someone could have arranged something. But Trump did the right thing…for once.

It's 148 days until Comic-Con International in San Diego but it's only 45 days until this year's WonderCon in Anaheim. WonderCon is run by the same folks. It's their "smaller" convention since it "only" has a turnout of 66,000 or so people. If you're new to convention-going and the prospect of attending the monster in San Diego is intimidating, you might be comfortable "breaking in" at WonderCon. It's also humanly possible to get admission badges for WonderCon.

I will be at both and at WonderCon, I'll be hosting six panels which I'll tell you about after March 20, which is when the complete programming schedule will be posted on the convention website. (Hint: My schedule for the 2020 WonderCon will look a lot like my schedule for the 2019 WonderCon.)

WonderCon is April 10-12 and this may or may not be a drawback: Attending WonderCon on Easter Weekend means you'll be going very close to "The Happiest Place on Earth," aka Disneyland. This website tracks and predicts when Disneyland is most crowded and it says "Yup, it's packed" to April 10 and 11 but "Hey It's Alright" to April 12.

You might figure that into your travel plans. Also, a mere sixty miles south of Anaheim, my friend Frank Ferrante is performing his much-lauded An Evening With Groucho on the evenings of April 13 and 14. That's at the Northeast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach, California and you can get info and tickets here. This will probably be the only time this year in this state you'll be able to see this guy do his uncanny facsimile of Julius "Groucho" Marx.

You'd have a great time seeing Frank. You'd have a great time at WonderCon. And hey, you might even have a great time at Disneyland if you bring lots of money, real comfortable shoes, either a child or the mind of one and the good sense not to go there on Friday or Saturday. You can probably get on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride late the afternoon of Saturday, April 11 if you get in line sometime this week.

And here we have Lou Christie's 1965 hit "Lightnin' Strikes" as performed the right way by Klaus Nomi…

Sitting here watching coverage of the verdict in the Harvey Weinstein case…or maybe I should say "the first Harvey Weinstein case." He's got sentencing, appeals, appeals of the appeals, the other charges in California, civil cases and many other courtroom visits ahead of him. Above and beyond whatever time he spends in cells, the guy may have a lifetime sentence as a prisoner of the legal system…and the ongoing, unceasing "fine" of paying legal fees. This is all probably a good thing.

Hearing the talk, my mind goes to two kinds of people. One is women I've known — actresses, mostly — who endured the kind of deeds for which Weinstein is now paying a price. In most cases with my friends, they were unsuccessful attempts at those deeds but they were still chilling and upsetting and injurious to the career of those who fought off a predator. I'm thinking of one lady in particular who was constantly propositioned, groped, flashed, chased around desks, fired or "not cast" because she refused to "play along." She's not here today to see the Weinsteins and Cosbys brought somewhere close to justice…but boy, would she have been happy.

And I'm also thinking of all the men who did these kind of things and got away with them…so far, at least. Some of them, maybe all of them have to be terrified, as they were when Cosby was led away in manacles. Most of 'em have to be cleaning up their acts and sweating about things they did back when powerful and/or wealthy men thought the rules could never apply to guys like them them. Making it clear that those rules do apply…well, that's a good thing too.

My pal Jim Brochu has been mentioned many a time on this blog. He's mainly an actor and playwright these days but in his lifetime, he's done just about every job in show business apart from playing Mama Rose and topless dancing. Knowing Jim, he's probably at this very moment trying to figure out how to blend those two things before the next time I get to New York.

In the meantime, he sent me this which I quote with his permission…

I've enjoyed your featuring Lou Christie the last couple of days. In 1980, I produced a show at the Tropicana in Las Vegas which was a rock-and-roll show called "Let The Good Times Roll." The two headliners were Anthony and the Imperials, and Lou Christie.

We did fourteen shows a week and every night, Lou gave it his all. His voice was amazing. And to hear it up close was far more impressive than the records.  I am also happy to report that he was one of the nicest guys I ever worked with. Very accessible, very friendly and always 100% professional. He always had time for the fans afterwards and he and I spent early morning hours in the coffee shop together having a good laugh.

I'm very happy that he's still working and so happy that you're giving him these tributes.

Nice to hear he's a nice man — and I know Jim well enough to know he wouldn't say that if it wasn't true. I'm glad to send some attention to a guy who recorded some of my favorite songs of the sixties.

Mr. Christie's website doesn't say where he's appearing these days but if anyone hears of him appearing in Southern California — or I'd go as far as Vegas — please let me know. Here's my second-favorite hit of his…

Bernie Sanders may indeed wind up the nominee of the Democratic Party but despite what some corners of the Internet are saying, that ain't happened yet.  And I say that as someone who's about 88% decided on marking my ballot for the guy in the California Primary.  But we're living in the era when everything in the news is clickbait.  All news is Breaking News.  All disputes are someone "eviscerating" someone else.  All election developments are so significant you dare not look away.  And all contests have to be decisive proof of a Bigger Victory…until the next contest.

Many backers of that guy I'm not mentioning this weekend have come to regard all news as bogus.  I tend to regard most of it as exaggerated.  The big victories probably aren't that big.  The crushing defeats probably aren't that crushing.  Just because I'm already sick of this primary ballot doesn't mean I'm ready to believe it's over before it really is.

It's the same thing with the pending verdict in the Harvey Weinstein trial in New York.  No one outside the jury room knows how the jury's leaning but as the late journalist Jack Germond said of his profession, "The trouble is we aren't paid to say 'I don't know' even when we don't know."  A lot of experts — some of whom are only experts because we're told they are — have predictions based on the jury's questions to the judge. Some of these predictions may turn out to be right but the only certainty is that some of them will certainly turn out to be wrong. I can wait for the real answer.

We're getting an earlier start this year on the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing…

Each year at Comic-Con International in San Diego, we hand out two of them — one to someone we hope will be with us to accept it and one, posthumously, to someone who left us but is worthy of recognition. The award was founded by the late Jerry Robinson and it recognizes a writer of comics who produced a splendid body of work but who did not receive proper recognition and/or financial reward. At the time Jerry proposed this award, that was all too true of his late friend, Bill Finger.

Mr. Finger's name now does appear on his great co-creation Batman but since others do not receive their due recognition, the awards continue. This is the annual announcement that as its Administrator, I am now open to receive nominations and suggestions for the 2020 presentation. Here's what you need to know…

1. This is an award for a body of work as a comic book writer. Every year, a couple of folks doggedly nominate their favorite artist. One guy steadfastly refuses to understand how we haven't given it to Curt Swan already. It might have something to do with the fact that Mr. Swan, though a brilliant artist. never wrote a comic book in his life. Here, once again in boldface and italics: It's for a body of work as a comic book writer.
2. "A body of work" is not one or two comics you liked written by someone relatively new to the field. Our judges do not take seriously nominations for someone who's been in comics less than twenty years.
3. This award is for a writer who has received insufficient reward for his or her splendid body of work. "Reward" can mean insufficient recognition or insufficient financial compensation or it can be, and often is, for both.
4. And it's for writing comic books, not comic strips or pulps or letters to your grandmother or anything else. We stretch that definition far enough to include MAD but that's about as far as we'll stretch it.
5. To date, this award has gone to Jerry Siegel, Arnold Drake, Harvey Kurtzman, Alvin Schwartz, Gardner Fox, George Gladir, Archie Goodwin, Larry Lieber, John Broome, Frank Jacobs, Otto Binder, Gary Friedrich, Bob Haney, Del Connell, Frank Doyle, Steve Skeates, Steve Gerber, Don Rosa, Robert Kanigher, Bill Mantlo, Jack Mendelsohn, Don McGregor, John Stanley, Elliot S! Maggin, Richard E. Hughes, William Messner-Loebs, Jack Kirby, Joye Hummel Murchison Kelly, Dorothy Roubicek Woolfolk, Mike Friedrich and E. Nelson Bridwell. Those folks, having already won, cannot win again.
6. If you have already nominated someone in years past, you need not nominate them again. You can if you want but either way, they will be considered for this year's awards.
7. If you nominate someone for the posthumous award, it would really help if you also suggest an appropriate person to accept on the honoree's behalf. Ideally, it would be a relative, preferably a spouse, child or grandchild. It could also be a person who worked with the nominee or — last resort — a friend or historian who can speak about them and their work. And if it's not a relative, we would also welcome suggestions as to an appropriate place for the plaque to reside — say, a museum or with someone who was close to the person we would honor.

Here's the address for nominations. They will be accepted until March 15 at which time all reasonable suggestions will be placed before our Blue Ribbon Judging Committee. Their selections will be announced soon after and the presentations will be made at the Eisner Awards ceremony, which is, as it always is, Friday evening at Comic-Con. Thank you…and please stop nominating your favorite artists.