I'm so weary from the events of the day that I didn't tell you that not only did two different airlines cancel several flights and reservations we had for today and yesterday but they've also started canceling our return flights.  I hope I like it here in Charlotte, North Carolina.  I may be here the rest of my life.

I'n guessing it's a new policy of the Trump Administration: As soon as airline reservations are made in the name of Mark or Sergio, that flight must be canceled. An amazing gent named Doug Merkle was busier than an I'm-Too-Tired-To-Make-Up-A-Joke today. He filled in for me as moderator on several of the panels I couldn't host because I wasn't there while simultaneously trying to rebook our reservations as fast as various airlines could cancel them. Sometimes, they canceled those flights; sometimes, just our seats. But somehow he got ahead of them and I'm typing this from a hotel room across from the Charlotte Convention Center. We'll be there for the last two-thirds of Heroes Con. Whew! is right.

Someone last night tweeted about our situation and directed that tweet towards whoever runs the American Airlines account on Twitter. Here's what they got back…

In instances like this, I think I'd rather not get this kind of "apology."  I get bothered by efforts that fall into the category of, literally, "the least you could do."  Sometimes when I post here that someone I know has died, I get messages that say, "Please convey my condolences to the family."  I know this is cynical but I see something like that and I think, "Wow. You cared enough to spend the three seconds to type that."  Often, the folks who want me to convey those condolences of theirs do have an e-mail address for the family but, well, you know…that might take ten seconds.

And writing something specific to the moment…something that applies to the deceased…hell, that could take up to a minute.

The person who sent the American Airlines "apology" had my Twitter address in the tweet to which they were responding. Instead, they sent it to someone else to pass on to me. How minimally thoughtful of them.

I probably sound more rankled by this than I am. It's kind of standard these days. You're wronged and then someone who had nothing to do with the wronging is in charge of apologizing for it without actually caring or doing anything to prevent it from happening to someone else. Or even to you again.

I guess I'm annoyed that we're no longer surprised by this kind of thing. If that offends you, I'll have my assistant apologize without really meaning it.

…but Sergio and I have. Despite the collusion of not one but several major airlines, we are in Charlotte, North Carolina. We'll be at Heroes Con tomorrow and Sunday.

It was rough getting here but we couldn't disappoint our fans. Or Thelma Lou.

After being screwed over by American Airlines canceling our flight to Charlotte at the last minute, Sergio and I are finally on our way there.

And just to keep its reputation intact, American Airlines has just canceled our return flights. Honest.

Back in this message, I linked to a video on how orange juice is made.  Here's another look at the same vital topic…

There are a lot to choose from but I think I'll take his leap from "I never colluded" to "I'll collude in the future if I get the chance!" Fred Kaplan has the details on this one.

Thanks to some miracles of ticketing — and the conscientious, heroic Heroes Con crew — Sergio Aragonés and I will be at Heroes Con on Saturday and Sunday. Needless to say, we are not flying there on American Airlines.  For more on this gala event, see here.

For those of you who are coming to get books or subpoenas signed, I will be at my table (#1102) from 10 AM to 11 AM on Saturday and then you may be able to catch me in Room 208B between the panels I'm hosting there for the rest of the day. On Sunday, I'll try to be at the table from 11 AM to Noon and again from 4 PM to 6 PM. Sergio will be at his table (#1103) for most of those two days. And yes, this should be the real Sergio, not one of the skilled Sergio impersonators we sometimes send out for personal appearances.

But most importantly, the day after the con, I'm coming to see ya, Thelma Lou!

Looking better that Sergio and I will be at Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC on Saturday and Sunday. And yes, I will go visit Thelma Lou. I didn't even call and tell her I wasn't coming. I'm optimistic enough to finish packing.

I've been up for a while seeing if there was any way to salvage the trip to Heroes Con. There might be, though it would mean missing the first day. If this matters to you at all, check back here in a little while. I might still get to see Thelma Lou…

Hey, remember how excited my buddy Sergio Aragonés and I were to be guests this weekend at the Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina? Well, guess what? We're not going to be there.

We were all packed and ready to go when a few hours ago — at 9:22 PM our time — we were notified that our flight was canceled. Here — I'll show you the text message they sent…

Half an hour later, they notified us that they'd rebooked us on a flight so early in the morning that Sergio would have to leave for the airport about now, whereas I could get two hours sleep before I had to start out.  That flight would take us not to Charlotte but to another city far from North Carolina for a long layover…but that doesn't matter because there's no way we can get to that flight on time.

So then I spent an hour on the phone with a lady at American Airlines who really couldn't have cared less if we got to our destination…and I'm not kidding. She didn't care and it really took an hour. A couple times, she said, "Let me check on other flights" and then disappeared for 8-12 minutes.  I used one of those "on hold" intervals to check other airlines for other flights and there was nothing there that would work.

The flights she offered for today were all dreadful, unacceptable options and there were no flights whatsoever on Friday. The only reason she could give for our flight being canceled was "aircraft maintenance." She didn't say or know any more than that but I'm guessing it had something to do with this…

American Airlines announced Sunday that it will extend flight cancellations through Sept. 3 for Boeing's embattled 737 Max, a new passenger jet that has been out of commission for almost three months after its flight-control software played a role in two deadly crashes. The cancellations will affect approximately 115 flights per day, the airline said.

Our flight was on an Airbus A321 but obviously, American has a shortage of planes to go with their shortage of caring people on their reservations line. Whatever the cause, Sergio and I decided it was impossible to get there and we're pretty unhappy about that. We know there were folks who decided to make the journey to Heroes Con to see us. Well, him. There were people there we wanted to see, as well. And you know who I really feel sorry for? Their programming director — a great guy named Andrew Mansell, who now has to find other moderators for the eleven panels I was going to host.

And I feel bad that I won't be making the "side trip" I had planned for Monday. I had an Avis car booked in which to drive to Mt. Airy, a lovely (I hear) town an hour or two north of Charlotte but still in North Carolina. Mt. Airy was where Andy Griffith grew up and the town of Mayberry on The Andy Griffith Show was roughly modeled on Mt. Airy. In turn, Mt. Airy has since modeled some of itself on Mayberry…and that's also where the Andy Griffith Museum is.

I was going to spend most of Monday getting a tour of the city. Barney Fife's old girlfriend Thelma Lou was going to show me around and then I was going to take her to dinner. I'm not kidding about this.

I grew up in West L.A. In the house next door to ours lived Betty Lynn, a busy actress who did many things in her career but is best known for her years on the Griffith Show playing Thelma Lou. The Lynns and the Evaniers were very close and Betty was like an aunt to me — a wonderful, loving aunt and I adore her.

I haven't seen this lady since 2006 when she moved from L.A. to Mt. Airy where she is by far the biggest celebrity in town. When I wake up in the morning, I have to call her and tell her I'm not coming. I'll promise her that I will, though…very soon.

And I want to emphasize that our non-appearance there is not the fault of the convention or its organizers, who have been nothing but peachy to us. If they'll still have us, Sergio and I will make it to a Heroes Con soon…especially if there's another airline that can get us there. I still can't get over how indifferent that lady on the phone was.

I'm a fan of Billy Wilder's 1974 remake of the movie The Front Page, done this time with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.  Many of you will disagree with me when I say I prefer it to the 1931 version with Adolphe Menjou and Pat O'Brien, and I also prefer it to His Girl Friday, the 1940 remake with Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant.  (Well, you can't disagree that I prefer it over them but you might feel that no sane person would…)

I think Lemmon and Matthau are both sensational and I don't mind the changes in the original play that give Walter Burns (the character Matthau plays) a larger role.  I also think that, Carol Burnett aside, the casting of the other roles is spot-on.  Vincent Gardenia darn near does the impossible when he comes within scoring distance of stealing a Lemmon and Matthau movie from Lemmon and Matthau.

But it's one of those films that's never gotten its due.  It didn't fare well at the box office because, I think, it was just ill-timed for the marketplace.  Films in 1974 had to be a little less conventional, a bit edgier.  I remember taking a date to it at a theater in Westwood and after it, she told me that she thought at first it was an old movie and only realized it was new when Burnett came on the screen.

It's been available for some time on home video but it's about to get a fancy, much-deserved Blu-ray release which, I'm told, will look splendid and will serve the superb Art Direction better than ever.   The release will also contain the theatrical trailer and interviews with a couple of folks involved in the production, one of them being Austin Pendleton, who was also so good in it.  There's also an audio commentary by film historian Mike Schlesinger and me.  I had a bad cough the day we did this and I hope the sound editors cleaned most of it out. It might have been better if they'd cleaned me out.

It'll be out from the fine folks at Kino Lorber in August and you can advance order a copy here.  I will, of course, mention it again in August.

Here's a link to a pretty long podcast interview of David Letterman. His comments on Donald Trump are interesting. His comments on Jay Leno are, as usual, comments about himself. The story he tells about the attempts of Johnny Carson's close associates to position Dave to take over The Tonight Show and then oust Carson are somewhat different from the way Dave has told that story in the past. But he's still one of the most interesting "talkers" ever in show business. The interview is long but you may find it worth your time.

The song we were discussing earlier today from the Tony Awards was a parody of a tune in the current Broadway musical, Be More Chill. It's called "Michael in the Bathroom," Michael being one of the show's teenage characters who is groping to find his identity and acceptance in the world. This has become a not-uncommon theme lately on Broadway and especially Off-Broadway, where Be More Chill played to sell-out crowds before relocating to The Great White Way and the Lyceum Theater.

Joe Iconis, who wrote the musical, took to Twitter to say…

Just wanna set the record straight so there's no confusion: I had no idea a "Michael in the Bathroom" parody was happening on the Tony Awards. I heard that there was going to be some mention of the song but never imagined it would be so involved. The first time I heard the song was when I was sitting in the audience and I had nothing to do with the rewritten (and totally delightful) lyrics. (Sidenote – would love to know who actually wrote those lyrics. They rhymed! I appreciated that.) Our show is a little musical not based on a famous movie or a famous musical act and so national tv exposure is a huge deal for us. Hopefully folks who saw the parody last night will take it upon themselves to research what musical the song was actually from!

Just in case they don't, do me a favor and help spread the word that the song that was parodied on the Tonys is called "Michael In The Bathroom." It is performed in the show by the actor George Salazar whose gut-wrenching and brilliant performance is a good part of the reason that our cast album was streamed hundreds of million times before we ever got to Broadway. It was orchestrated by the genius Charlie Rosen (l think the track that was used last night was recorded especially for the broadcast but it was clearly based on Charlie's iconic arrangement!) It's from a musical that celebrates people who feel like misfits, losers, underdogs. That musical is called Be More Chill and it's currently playing at the Lyceum Theater on Broadway. Come see us this summer.

Apparently, James Corden received some criticism for not identifying the lineage of the song. He then tweeted…

Our song "James in the Bathroom" is a parody of an incredible Joe Iconis song from the musical @BeMoreChill. It's my favourite song of the season and here is the original.

…and he followed that with a link to the video of the song posted below here. Iconis responded, "James Corden. Classy man. Thanks, sir." Which is fine but neither we nor Mr. Iconis know who wrote those parody lyrics that he praised. Here's the clip with George Salazar as Michael…

From NPR…

Comedian Jon Stewart slammed members of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday in a hearing on funding for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, saying it was "shameful" that more of them did not attend.

I'm sitting here trying to think of (a) any issue before us today which should prompt more immediate, non-partisan action and (b) of any professional entertainer who devotes more time and passion to "just doing the right thing" on an issue by which he or she can in no way profit. Jon Stewart doesn't even have any current project that might get a boost from the publicity he would get.

I suppose if I thought long and hard, I might come up with someone who could match him on (b) and there might be an issue that could match funding health care for 9/11 responders…but I don't see how you could beat it. Take nine minutes and watch a visibly-frustrated Jon Stewart address the committee with righteous anger, utter clarity and an eloquence that must be hard to achieve when you're that enraged and/or outraged…

He complained and complained that our NATO allies needed to spend more on defense weaponry…and now they're doing it and Trump's mad. Why? Because the whole idea was to get them to spend more with U.S. weapons makers and instead, they're buying from within their own countries. Fred Kaplan has more.