So what's the deal with this "invite the Taliban to Camp David" idea and why is there no deal? Fred Kaplan has the whole story. Every time I hear what a "great negotiator" Trump is, I think of a guy who couldn't get laid in a prison with a fistful of pardons.

As you may be aware, the Writers Guild of America — an organization to which I have proudly belonged since April Fool's Day of 1976 — is on strike against agencies that specialize in "packaging" deals. If you need to know about the issues at hand, this article will clue you in.

I get a message or two a day asking me how I feel about the whole matter. I held off writing a piece because I'm lazy and I knew my pal Ken Levine would write it for me and I could just link to his…and indeed, he has. I agree with every syllable.

Back in this message, I told you about a book by friends of mine…The Show Won't Go On by Jeff Abraham and Burt Kearns. This is the book about performers who died on a stage with an audience looking on.

Jeff and Burt will be signing it at 4 PM on Saturday, September 21 at the Dark Delicacies book store in Burbank, California. There will also be an interview of the two of them and that interview will be conducted by me. If you want to hear the interview of them and/or buy a copy signed by them, show up. I believe you can also order a signed copy from the Dark Delicacies shop.

Thanks to the dozen-or-so of you who've written to let me know that the Souplantation chain has its Classic Creamy Tomato Soup on the menu now as a "Limited September Offering." I know not whether it's limited to all of September or part of September but I do know it's great soup and I'll be chugging down many bowls of it before, like Brigadoon, it fades from this land of ours to reappear as a thing of beauty at a later date.

WARNING: "Traditional Cole Slaw" is also listed as a "Limited September Offering" so if you go to a Souplantation (or a Sweet Tomatoes, as they're called in some regions), be on your guard at all times. I wouldn't put it past cole slaw to disguise itself as Classic Creamy Tomato Soup to fool some unsuspecting person into putting it into their mouths. The vile treachery of cole slaw knows no limits. It still has much of the world fooled into thinking its food.

I will also warn you that I've cooled a bit on the glories of the Souplantation chain…at least the three I used to frequent in or around Los Angeles. In honor of C.C.T.S., I'll go try one of them again in the next few days but my last visits there were a bit disappointing. The food didn't seem as fresh, the serving areas didn't feel as clean and they seemed to have troubles keeping the buffet serving areas stocked. They were all in or near L.A. Last year, I went to one in San Diego that was phenomenal — great service, great food, great decor, everything. It reminded me of how good the ones I patronize used to be. I suppose it's just a coincidence that the corporate offices of the Souplantation company are in San Diego…

Comic-Con International 2019 was seven weekends ago and I feel like parts of me still haven't fully recovered. I had a wonderful, wonderful time there but it was the most exhausting thing I've ever done. I don't mean the most exhausting convention. I mean the most exhausting anything. Comic-Con is always tiring but not like this.

Why more than usual? Well, I was a year older than the last time I did one of those. That was a factor. Also, in addition to the long list of panels I usually host, I committed to a whole batch of interviews, some of which required hiking over to nearby hotels. Most of 'em were because it was the fiftieth San Diego Comic-Con and I was one of a handful of folks who'd been to every last one of them. I probably said yes to too many things and this is kind of a note to self not to do that again. (The panels weren't the problem. It was the other things.)

Still, it was a Good Tired. I just have to remember that I'm a finite resource and that one shouldn't think of a four-day convention as a four-day convention. It's more like three days of prep, then the con, then X days of recovery…and sometimes, X is a lot longer than you expect. I don't know how people who do a couple cons per month can do it. My next scheduled one is WonderCon in Anaheim, which is April 10–12 of 2020. April 10 is 215 days from now and I hope to be fully recovered by then.

When I was seven years old, I occasionally caught an unusual TV show that ran on KTTV Channel 11. It was called Check It With Chambers and it aired live, Monday through Friday at 9 AM. It basically consisted of a man named Jack Chambers sitting at a desk and taking phone calls from viewers quizzing him on news items in that morning's Los Angeles Times. Somehow — don't ask me how — Mr. Chambers would memorize everything in every news story in that morning's paper. He was occasionally stumped but not often.

Using my own uncanny memory, I remember the show and I also remember some local skepticism that he was actually memorizing the newspaper and not, for example, getting the answers off a TelePrompter or via a hidden earpiece. Many local reporters tested him and he went on every other local program that would have him on to show that he could do this anywhere. He was asked often not just how he could do it but how he could do it in time to go on the air at 9:00 in the morning.

I also remember the series not lasting long. It was an astounding feat but how many times did you have to watch him do it?

A few years ago, I searched the Internet and could not find a single word about Jack Chambers or his show or his talent. But it turns out he was the first guest on the telecast of I've Got a Secret for 9/23/59 and the Buzzr folks put that episode online. The rest of it's not that interesting but watch the first segment and watch Jack Chambers amaze the panel…

• You don't tug on Superman's cape. You don't spit into the wind. You don't pull the mask on the old Lone Ranger and if you're a Christian who thinks Donald Trump is one, you don't debate the Bible with my pal @JohnFugelsang. Smartest guy on Twitter.

Here from a Royal Gala in March of 1996, we have Penn & Teller with a trick I think they did on every single talk show that was on television for about twenty years. I don't think they perform it any more because, well, everyone's seen it and Teller's gotten a bit old to do his part of it. But it's still a darn good trick…

I keep telling friends that when you try to predict the presidential election, you have to factor in how volatile things always are around Donald Trump. Every week, something happens that you didn't see coming and the way he deals with it is also unpredictable.

This whole thing with the map of Alabama…completely out of nowhere. The one foreseeable thing about it is that when there's something embarrassing or detrimental to Trump's image, he will usually take a one-day story and make a whole week out of it. One time, Barack Obama made a slip of the tongue and said there were 57 states. A few people tried to treat it as a lie…like anyone would have a reason to lie about that or had a chance of convincing America there were seven states nobody knew about. Some of them tried to spin it as mental deficiency on his part. But he admitted he'd misspoken, laughed it off and it went away. If Trump made the same gaffe, he'd insist to his dying day he was right, order his aides to go out and confirm there were 57 states and he'd probably take a black Sharpie and start drawing in stars on every American flag he sees.

And the amazing thing is there'll be at least two more of these before September is over. I don't know what they'll be. No one can predict what they'll be…just that they'll be.

This is a photo of my best friend (male division), Sergio Aragonés. Today is his birthday. I have known Sergio since late 1968 so we're talking about more than a half-century and for most of that time, we have been collaborators and partners on various projects, including the comic book Groo the Wanderer.

During that time, we have had a grand total of two arguments which collectively lasted about five minutes. Each of them was about what Groo should eat in the story we were working on at the time. Both of them were settled when we agreed on what would be funnier. Some of you may be stunned that two allegedly-grown men could work together and only have two arguments in all that time. Me, I'm amazed we've even had the two. Why would you ever argue with someone like that?

You may know him as a brilliantly fast cartoonist and I will not tell you he is not that. I will tell you though that it can be frustrating. For instance, I would like to get him a lovely and funny card for his birthday but I am well aware that in half the time it would take him to open mine, he can drawn his own lovelier and funnier card.

What I know about him that you might not have fully realized is what a decent, kind and delightful man he is. You might think you already know that but I know it to be even truer than you can imagine. ¡Feliz Cumpleaños, mi amigo. Que cumplas muchos más!"

Let's rewind to the 2011 Tony Awards, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. The decision was made to have him close the show with a rap number summarizing the evening. This meant that its writers — Lin-Manuel Miranda and Tommy Kail — had to write most of that rap during the show as the various winners were announced. It also meant that N.P.H. had to learn it well enough during the last half-hour or so of the show to perform it — off cue cards and/or TelePrompter — on the show. Not easy things to do.

This first video is Miranda and Kail in the basement of the Beacon Theatre, watching the show unfold and writing lyrics as things occurred. You'll see actress Nikki James stop by after she won a Tony for The Book of Mormon and you'll see Mr. Harris come by to begin learning what he had to go out and perform before the entire country. Well, as much of the entire country that watches the Tonys…

And here's the final version as it aired on live TV. It turned out pretty good. I'm thinking that Lin-Manuel guy could have had some sort of career after this…

• I'm going to take a copy of the 2016 electoral map, get out a Sharpie and move around borders so Hillary wins Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Steven M. Thompson, who is one of about nine Steve Thompsons who write me, asks…

Hello, Mark. My question is what does a producer do? I thought maybe to procure money for a show or movie, or a scheduler/manager of time and money. Several years ago there was a network Charlie's Angels reboot, I counted nineteen different people credited as executive producer, co-executive producer, producer, co-producer and so on, what do all these people do?

Also noticed when a show is successful, the star of the show will show up with a producer credit in the second or third season. Is this to just show that the star now has a money stake in the show? About ten years ago, I started to hear the term "show runner." Is that a different designation for the producer?

Yeah. "Show Runner" was kinda created because some shows had so many producers, it was difficult to tell who was actually in charge. So on a show that has, say, two Executive Producers, two Supervising Producers, five Producers, three Co-Producers, etc., people refer to one of them as the Show Runner to separate that person from the others whose titles may be honorary or just part of negotiations. Here's how the negotiated ones usually happen…

AGENT: My client wants ten thousand dollars more per episode.

BUSINESS AFFAIRS PERSON: We can't afford that. How about three thousand and a Producer credit?

AGENT: Make it four thousand and a Producer credit and you've got a deal.

There's a certain amount of status in that, especially if it elevates you over someone else on the crew who isn't getting a Producer credit. But the title alone doesn't designate any particular duty or responsibility or power. Sometimes, an agent or manager involved in the sale of a project will grab an Executive Producer credit and then do nothing else. I worked on a series once where two men were credited on the same card as Executive Producers. One of them was heavily involved with every episode of the show. The other one was an agent involved in its sale to the network. I never met the man and have no idea if he even watched the show.

You can give anyone a Producer credit no matter what they actually do. Often, it's linked to who provides or secures the financing. But probably the main thing is that if someone feels important to the success of a show, they want a producer credit. And that's mainly because if the series wins Best Program or Best Comedy Series or Best Anything, everyone with certain forms of "Producer" in their title would get a statuette and be able to say "I won an Emmy."

When I was doing the Garfield & Friends cartoon show, my original formal credit was "Written by." I was the Show Runner and I was also the Voice Director and I did the Voice Casting and I did a bunch of other things but I happen to think you can become a laughingstock via multiple credits. I was recently at a screening of an independent (and largely non-union) movie where one of the men involved had his name in the credits sixteen times.

I don't know if he didn't realize how bad that made him look or if he just didn't care. He was obviously vitally important in the creation of the film but, you know, once it says you produced and directed and wrote the movie, do you really need to add in "Based on a concept by Joe Blow" and "Title Visualizations by Joe Blow" and "Editing Supervised by Joe Blow"? Do you have to devalue the Costume Designer's role by having it say "Costumes Designed by Joe Blow and Mary Whatzername?"

There are some credits that are there for union and legal reasons and others because there's money linked to those particular credits. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a guy who just gets a tingle from his head down to his toes when he sees his name over and over and over.

Anyway, I only took the writing credit on Garfield & Friends because that was really all that mattered to me. It was either after the first or second time the series was nominated as Best Animated Program that the Executive Producer Lee Mendelson realized that if the show won, I would not get one of those glistening statues with all the pointy edges. Thereafter, absolutely nothing changed about my duties or my salary or anything but it suddenly said "Written and Co-Produced by Mark Evanier." That was only so if the show won, which it didn't, I'd be included among those who got Emmys.

On The Garfield Show, which we did a few years later, I was Supervising Producer. What's the difference between that and Co-Producer? I haven't the foggiest.

I mention all this to explain that there's really no definition as to what you have to do to be the Producer of anything. There's a strict definition to get a credit that says "Directed by…" or "Written by…" But to be a Producer, someone just has to give you the title. It's a shame because some of the folks who get it really do brilliant, important things to earn it and they deserve more respect than the folks who took the title in lieu of more money.

We always recommend Puppet Up!, which is an adult improvised puppet show from the Henson folks. They do shows at their studio in Hollywood whenever they feel like it and I don't know of any upcoming dates there. However, they've announced that they'll be doing shows at Knott's Berry Farm in conjunction with that theme park's Halloween redress to become Knott's Scary Farm. I don't know the exact schedule and I won't be going there but if you're down in Orange County, you might want to look into it.

Knott's Berry Farm is a Southern California institution that opened in the twenties (that's the nineteen-twenties) and it was the biggest thing for miles around until Mr. Disney moved in with his Magic Kingdom all of seven miles away. Over the years, it changed a lot…from a place where you could ride a stagecoach and pan for fake gold to a park full of thrill rides…and if they're hosting Puppet Up!, that suggests it now caters to an older crowd than it did the last time I went there.

The last time I was there: It was 1979 and we were shooting silent comedy bits there with the Bay City Rollers for their NBC Saturday morning show. That's how long it's been since I was there. And not even Puppet Up! can lure me back.

I've been fortunate to know a lot of folks who were both wonderful people and wonderfully talented. One of them was the actor-director Howard Morris.

Howie was born September 4, 1919. You can look at today's date and do the math on that one. Howie left us on May 21, 2005. Not a day goes by since then when I don't miss the guy.

I'm not sure I can explain what was so special about him. He was even funnier in real life than he was on the screen and you probably know how funny he was on the screen. He had a fierce temper at times and usually, I don't think being a nice, friendly person 95% of the time excuses the angry 5%. In fact, I can't think of a single person I've ever met where I could excuse the 5%. Except Howie.

You may know him from many, many corners of show business. He was a player on Sid Caesar's TV programs, arguably the best "sketch" show ever done on television. He was Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show, arguably the most beloved situation comedy ever. He was one of the best voice actors to ever work in animation and he directed sitcoms and movies and commercials and…

…and he was just Howie. I wish I could show you how charming he was as himself but there's really not a good example of that on YouTube. You'll have to settle for Howie in front of the camera or a microphone. Like, this is him voicing one of the most memorable series of commercials ever…

And here he is voicing Teen Heart Throb Jet Screamer in the original run of The Jetsons…

And here he is with Sid Caesar in one of the best sketches they did on that arguably-best "sketch" show…

I could post many others. (If you've never seen Caesar and his cast parody the This Is Your Life TV show, I posted it in this message and boy, are you in for a treat!) What I really wish, apart from having him back, is that I could show you how terrific he was when he was just being Howie. A fortunate man am I that I had him in my life for not-nearly-enough years.