I enjoyed the Tony Awards. I'm kind of in awe of how hard James Corden works. Just in terms of how much time on The Late Late Show obviously goes into rehearsal and remotes, I suspect he's the hardest-working late night host ever. Add in the fact that he also does prime-time specials, shows like the Tony Awards and he did that The World's Best series…and the guy makes Steve Harvey look like a loafer. Corden's also really good at everything except not fawning too much over his guests.

Apparently, there is some concern on the 'net that now that Les Moonves is no longer at CBS, the Tonys may not be televised there. Before Moonves was in command, they almost seemed to be running the show under duress and cramming it into a too-short time slot and the show was forbidden to run even a minute over. Moonves was the guy who loved the event and let it run longer and at a loss. Each telecast, they always got a shot of him in the audience as a kind of "thank you."

There's a contract in place to keep the Tony Awards on CBS through 2026 but of course, there could come a point where someone in charge there would say, "Let's get out of that deal." TV networks have whole legal squadrons that specialize in weaseling out on deals.

Early reports say the ratings were notably down from last year…and last year, they weren't so hot. It may turn out to be the lowest-rated Tony telecast in some time. Also, some of the reviews this morning strike me as unfairly harsh. I would agree though with those who said it could have used more of its host and fewer presenters brought to the stage by the fine voiceover skills of Randi Thomas.

The concern may be unwarranted. We haven't heard anyone at CBS say that maybe it's time to re-examine the network's commitment to the Tony Awards. But someone's got to at least be thinking it…

By the way: I erred when I said I didn't see any of the nominated shows. Amber and I went to see Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations during its pre-Broadway Los Angeles engagement.

At the PaleyFest in L.A. last March, Stephen Colbert sat down for nice chat with Pete Holmes. Here are two bright men talking for an hour…

…and since I started watching non-live via DVR after watching John Oliver, I'm only at the 1:13 mark. I didn't see any of the nominated shows so I don't have any predictions or rooting interest…but I think Beetlejuice just won the competition for doing a scene from your show that sends people rushing to the Ticketmaster website to buy seats.

And I think it's kinda funny that on a broadcast designed to celebrate the joys of live TV, no one told the sound guy to make sure the right microphones are on when people are talking.

John Hall Baumann and Associates (that's who the e-mail said it was from) wrote to ask…

IMDb lists you having written "unknown episodes" of Pryor's Place. How many did you write? Of these, how many aired?. I have no recollection of this children's show. Is there a good reason for that?

In 1984, Sid and Marty Krofft and CBS persuaded Richard Pryor to do a live-action Saturday morning show for kids. Mr. Pryor, who then was near the peak of his movie stardom, had a powerful desire to do something to "give back" and make some effort to assist young folks with the struggles and lessons of life. Most of the episodes were based on Richard saying, "Let's do a show on so-and-so," and "so-and-so" was some topic where he felt he had something to say.

It turned out that while he did have something to say about each topic, it was only a sentence or three…so the rest of the half-hours were filled with comedy and dramatizations about the issue…and puppets. Yes, puppets. A young actor named Akili Prince played Richard as a kid and then Richard played several different characters in Little Richie's neighborhood.

There were many good things about doing a kids' show fronted by Richard Pryor, one obvious one being that it got attention that would not have been there with a lesser star. Another was that every star in show business wanted to appear on a show with Richard Pryor even if it meant working for scale. Among those folks were Robin Williams, Sammy Davis Jr., Rip Taylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Scatman Crothers, William Marshall, Lily Tomlin, Pat Morita and Henry Winkler.

One of the episodes that I wrote guest-starred Marla Gibbs, Willie Nelson, Ray Parker Jr. and John Ritter. We had a tiny problem with Mr. Ritter who wanted very much to do the show…until he got his script and discovered all his scenes were with Little Richie and not with Richard. A short scene had to be added — one which had nothing to do with the plot of that episode — so Ritter could play a second role and have some camera time with Pryor.

Downsides? Well, Richard was not the most reliable fellow in the world and he had an odd concern about being too funny. The episode with Ritter and the other guests was about Little Richie overcoming stage fright to appear in the school play, a production of Romeo and Juliet. I'd suggested Pryor might have some valuable advice to dispense to kids about having the courage to appear before an audience. It was only the foundation of his entire success in life.

When the idea was run past him (not by me), he sparked to it and I was given the go-ahead to write the script. In a key scene, it's just before opening night and Richie — dressed in full Romeo regalia — has a panic attack and runs from the auditorium. He flees to the alley where Bummer more or less lives. Bummer was a homeless guy, one of Pryor's recurring characters.

As written, Richie admits his cowardice and Bummer says, "You ain't a coward. You're one of the bravest cats I've ever seen." Richie asks what makes him think that and Bummer replies, "I sure wouldn't have the guts to walk around this neighborhood dressed like that." Everyone thought that was a funny line…even Pryor, who laughed and then insisted it be cut from the script.

I have had bizarre moments in my career but few as bizarre as standing in Richard Pryor's dressing room, listening as others (not me) argued for it and Pryor said, "It's too funny and I'm not doing this show to be too funny. I can be too funny on other shows. I'm doing this show to talk to kids and teach them something." I still don't quite understand that but he axed lines from other episodes for the same reason.

The other problem with Pryor was that he had a short attention span. As he was doing this show, he was simultaneously prepping a somewhat-autobiographical movie he'd direct called Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling. After taping six or so episodes of our series, he suddenly announced he wanted to devote full time to the movie and wouldn't do any more episodes of Pryor's Place until he'd finished the film. The contract with the network required that thirteen be delivered in just a few months from then.

Various folks explained, begged, pleaded, threatened, cajoled and otherwise — finally! — convinced him to come back and finish the thirteen in time. But he felt he'd said what he wanted to say to kids and so doing more was a dead issue. As it turned out, the ratings were good but not great…and even if they'd been through the proverbial roof, he wasn't doing any more.

The show was nominated for a bunch of Emmys but only won two — for Art Direction and Costume Design. Pryor and Tomlin were both up for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Program but were beaten by John Carradine. The writers (Lorne Frohman, Paul Mooney, S.S. Schweitzer and me) were beaten by Mister Rogers. And the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Series went, as it usually does, to Sesame Street.

The show went on the air on September 15, 1984. For some reason, Wikipedia and other online sources say it went off in December but it really left the CBS Saturday morning schedule the following June. Most or all of the episodes were available for a time on VHS but as far as I know, they've been seen nowhere else in this country. I have not received a residual check for it since the end of the Reagan Administration.

Finally, to answer your questions: I wrote two of them, both of which were filmed, both of which aired multiple times. I was not involved with the show's creation or development. It was created by my buddy Lorne Frohman and Sid and Marty Krofft. I was just called in to write what I wrote, primarily working with a very fine gent named Carl Kleinschmitt, who along with the whole Krofft team deserved a lot of credit for what was good about Pryor's Place.

I suspect the show hasn't gotten more attention because although I think a few of them are on YouTube, there's really been no place to see it for over thirty years. That's what happens to a lot of shows that only have thirteen episodes.

A recent profile/interview of John Cleese…

I've been trying not to think or read about Trump this weekend and I made it until about 3:30.  That's not bad.  One thing that I think some of his supporters like about the guy is that he annoys people like me…and they forget that so would a horde of locusts or a lethal pandemic.  Eventually, most things that annoy me get around to everyone.

William Saletan writes real good articles by actually reading documents and noting what politicians say and comparing that information to what others write and do and to also apply a bit of common logic to it all.  One thing that Trump has going for him with regard to the Mueller Report is that almost no one has read the Mueller Report…and certainly not those who claim it says Our Beloved President is wholly innocent of Obstruction of Justice. In this article, Saletan matches up what Barr says it says with what it actually says.  Are you surprised there are some — ahem! — serious differences?

Also: I think it's way too early to say Trump can't win or Trump can't lose.  Between now and Election Day, a hundred major (and unpredictable) things will happen that will impact his chances of winning or losing.  I suspect we're in for at least a few very public breakdowns that will cause even some of his staunchest supporters to wonder if he really is insane. And I still think there will be a serious challenger for the G.O.P. nomination…someone whose selling point will be "I'll give you the Trump Agenda with a better grasp of how to get things done and less of the hatred and scandal."

That said, if it would please you to hear a lot of reasons why Trump might lose big if the election were held today, read Josh Marshall.  And notice all the caveats and cautions about presuming things can't change.

I shall now attempt to get him off my mind until at least Monday.  I'd rather it be September or October but I'll settle for Monday.

Here's a few minutes of driving down Sunset Boulevard in 1967 Hollywood.  Let's watch it together and then I'll point out a few things I recognize…

Twelve seconds in, we're driving past the Body Shop, a strip joint that's darn near the only thing in this brief video that's still there.  I've never set foot inside the place (honest!) but from what I hear, some of the same girls are still working its stage.

44 seconds in, there's the statue of Rocky and Bullwinkle that was unveiled there in 1961.  Jay Ward, producer of the Moose and Squirrel's adventures, had a bunch of small offices in this block, some behind others, so you're kind of getting a peek at the Jay Ward Studios.  If you enlarge the video and look to the right of the statue, you'll see the sign that tells you that.

At 53 seconds in, there's a restaurant called the Plush Pup.  In 1971, it was replaced by the Dudley Do-Right Emporium, a store Jay opened to sell merchandise of his characters.  It was shut down in July of 2004 and there's now a taco restaurant there.

Then we come upon Lytton Savings, a now-defunct financial institution which was famous (at least in '67) for exhibits.  They had a kind of art gallery on the premises that housed some tourist-luring shows and there was also a spot you'll see to the left of it where they sometimes had a large tent with something interesting.

Okay, I'm going to tell a story here.  In 1962 when I was ten, Lytton Savings housed an exhibition about animation and I got my parents to take me to it.  There were artifacts and cels from Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Walter Lantz and a disproportionate amount of material from Jay Ward.  It was almost half Ward stuff which didn't bother me but it was puzzling.  That was before I learned that Mr. Ward's company was about 100 yards away.

Jay Ward often had his crew produce promotional items — posters and booklets and such — that he'd send around Hollywood to members of the press and other opinion makers. A popular one had been a little book of song parodies called Sing Along With Bullwinkle, mostly produced by George Atkins and Allan Burns. So popular was it that it spawned a sequel — Son of Sing Along with Bullwinkle — and the Lytton Savings exhibit had the pages of a copy displayed on one wall.

My parents and I found it hilarious and my mother asked one of the curator-type employees there where one could purchase a copy of the book. A nice lady told her, "I don't think they sell them but the studio is half a block from here. You might pop in and ask if they have an extra copy lying around." We did and they did.

I don't think I can describe how excited it was for me that day to walk with my parents in the front door of an actual cartoon studio…one that made some of my favorite shows. We only saw the lobby but there was neat Bullwinkle art all over it and I was quite thrilled. It was one of the most memorable moments of my childhood and, yes, I still have the copy of Son of Sing Along with Bullwinkle that they gave us that day.

Moving on…

After Lytton Savings, we come to the corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights Boulevard. At about 1:30, we see a lady in a red-and-white dress standing there.  For a brief time (like, two weeks) in '69, there was a bit of a local fuss about another lady who hung out (and I mean hung out) approximately where that lady is standing in the video.  The woman in 1969 was a hooker…one of several that could be found at that intersection until the local police chased them to some other agency's jurisdiction.

The particularly notable courtesan was a tall, stunning blonde woman who wore a long coat with nothing underneath.  As cars drove east on Sunset, she was known to flash their drivers, resulting in a number of collisions.  She also created major congestion as some cars circled around the block repeatedly in order to pass her, hoping for an encore performance.  Some motorists stopped to negotiate for her services, thereby proving the value of advertising.  Others stopped to tip.

But the real mess came because every reporter and TV news crew came out there…and they succeeded where the police failed.  The cops couldn't chase her off but the power of the press did.  I'm surprised the strip club two blocks west didn't try the same stunt.

After that, the video repeats but isn't that kind of an interesting three block stretch?

Each year at Comic-Con, they present the Eisner Awards for Best This and That, as voted by highly-professional professionals within the profession. If you are a highly-professional professional within the profession, don't forget to vote before June 14. If you haven't signed up to be a voter, you'll need to sign up and if you are signed up, you can vote. Both those things can be done right this minute at this site.

And while you're there and you get to the category "Best Archival Collection/Project-Strips," please consider picking the first option: "Pogo, vol. 5: Out of This World At Home by Walt Kelly, edited by Mark Evanier and Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics)" You may be able to figure out why I want you to do this.

…and then I'll stop thinking about the guy for the weekend. He makes it tough, though. At times, I get the feeling some aide tells him, "Mr. President, our monitoring says that Mark Evanier is not thinking about you" and he goes "We can't have that" and he quickly thinks of something to say that will piss me off and he calls an impromptu news conference to say it.

I don't subscribe to his Twitter feed and I even have him blocked, just in case he decides to assert some Executive Privilege to address Americans who don't want to read his silly ramblings. But I just know that after he sends each tweet, he tells that aide, "Make sure someone Evanier reads quotes that."

And every so often, everyone who does Trump jokes — even me — gets a message in some form from someone who says, "Hey, could you lay off those lame attempts at political humor?" Often, those communiques sound like desperate pleas from someone who voted for Trump, still craves some of what he promised to do to/for this country and doesn't want to be reminded that he or she helped put such a horrible human in the White House to further that agenda.

But the interesting thing to me about Trump jokes is that most of them aren't political jokes. They're jokes about his hair, about his girth, about his manners, about his obsession with self-praise, about his rudeness towards anyone who doesn't kiss Trump butt, etc. We were making jokes about all those aspects of him before he was even remotely a candidate for political office…back when he was a staunch pro-choice Democrat. (Since 1987, he has changed his party affiliation five times.)

Most political jokes — about Trump or anyone — are not about the person's politics. Most of the ones about Bill Clinton were about his marital fidelity and lack thereof. Most of the ones about George W. Bush were about his mangling of the English language and him doing things like choking on a pretzel. 90% of the jokes about Joe Biden seem to be about his handsiness or other social faux pas.

You could take an old fat joke about Orson Welles or Kate Smith or Dom DeLuise or someone and switch it to Chris Christie — and people do. That does not make it a political joke. Even jokes about an official's hypocrisy — saying one thing and doing another — you could argue are not really political.

Of course, if you really wanna see Trump get Term #2, I suppose you could look at any joke at the expense of Donald J. and think it's a political joke because it may diminish someone's opinion of the guy and cost him votes. In that case, you shouldn't get mad at the people who make the jokes. You should get mad at your candidate for personal behavior that makes it so easy and irresistible to make the jokes.

This is from the website Vox…

President Donald Trump spent most of Thursday in Normandy, France, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day and honor the Americans who fought and died to liberate France from Nazi occupation in World War II. But he didn't let the solemnity of the occasion stop him from talking trash about his political enemies.

Sitting just a few feet away from the thousands of white grave markers at the Normandy American Cemetery, where more than 9,000 American war dead are buried, Trump gave an interview to Fox News's Laura Ingraham in which he insulted former special counsel Robert Mueller and said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — or "Nervous Nancy," as he called her — is "a disaster."

But of course. Donald Trump is always more important than anyone or anything else. He talks about his own greatness and perfection, and he maligns those who dispute or deny that greatness and perfection…and that's about it. Once in a while, it's subtext in a statement ostensibly about something else but it would never occur to Trump to talk about those who had died in service to America except maybe as small talk before proclaiming his own greatness and perfection.

Someday when he's out of office — and yes, I still believe that will happen in our lifetimes — every single person in or around the Trump Administration will write a book about what it was like in there. They will all be negative about him and filled with scandalous revelations because, first of all, that's how you sell a book. And secondly, all those folks will want to distance themselves from his crimes and cruelty and they'll profess, "Of course I knew what a maniac he was but instead of calling me an accomplice, you should thank me for hanging in there and stopping some of his crazier demands from being done."

I will be (that is to say, I am) curious as to how the guy with the Hindenburg Ego dealt with all the TV shows — news and comedy — that call him a liar and a fool and a crook, etc. We know he watches Fox News the way some people watch porn but does he ever catch more than thirty seconds of Colbert or Seth Meyers or SNL or Jon Oliver? And if so, how does he react not just to the jokes but to the way those shows get great tune-in and happy audiences by presuming their audiences hate Trump? He attacks them for attacking him but does he get that audiences are laughing because they agree?

For no visible reason, I got to thinking today about The Hero, a short-lived 1966 situation comedy that came and went from the NBC schedule in about nine seconds. The series debuted on 9/8/66 and starred Richard Mulligan as an actor who plays a skilled expert western star on TV but is an absolute klutz in real life. It was a Leonard Stern show with something of a Get Smart feel about it but it was gone after sixteen episodes. The video below of the opening titles is all I've seen of it since.

All I remember about it that Mariette Hartley played his wife, that is was the first time I was ever aware of Richard Mulligan…and that I thought he and the show were pretty funny. Assuming episodes of it exist somewhere (which may not be true), I'd be curious to see I still found it pretty funny. There are many shows I laughed at in the sixties but which now cause me to say, "Gee, when I was a teenager, I thought this was a better show." If and when some episodes of The Hero turn up, we'll see if I say that but I sure hope not.

I'm going to lunch in a little while with my friend Ron Friedman. Ron is the guest on this week's episode of Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast. It's Ron's second appearance and they had him back because he was so hilarious on his first. What they may not know is that they could get rid of all their other guests and just have Ron on every week and he'd never run out of great stories. Listen to this latest installment here, as well as other places around the 'net.

A number of you have written to ask for more details of how I got my shoulder fixed. It's a long story and for a reason I may or may not be able to explain here some day, I don't want to tell you much more…but I did not go to a practitioner of unusual or unconventional medicine. I'm a big believer in conventional medicine, at least for my body. You're free to make your own choices. But I went to one orthopedist who didn't know how to solve the problem and then I found another orthopedist who did. No matter how we manage or alter healthcare in this country, nothing will change the fact that some doctors are better than others.

A week from tomorrow, Sergio Aragonés and I will be appearing at Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina. In a post here, I mentioned that I won't be at my table much because (a) they have me doing loads of panels and (b) I don't like sitting for long behind a table at a convention. This has caused several folks to write and ask, "Does this mean you won't be doing any signings?" I'll be there occasionally and I'll also sign stuff if you catch me wandering about. But don't bring a lot. Trust me: No one needs my signature on more than about three books, if that many. They're not going to skyrocket in value. I used to think "I'll just sign whatever Sergio signs" but that, of course, is humanly impossible.

Every so often in this world, you hear about a situation that is so messy and convoluted and has so many layers and lies, it's best to say, "I'm not going to pay any attention to this, at least for a while." For me, the matter of alleged elder abuse and swindling of Stan Lee is just such a situation. So everyone can stop asking me about it.

Gotta go meet Ron. Back later.

I have decided to become a shameless pimp for Puppet Up!, a show from the Henson Company…the part of it not owned by Disney. The show is live and adult and dirty and mostly improvised and this weekend! That's right: This weekend! They do this every so often (I think, just whenever they feel like it) on the big soundstage of the film studio at Sunset Boulevard and La Brea in Hollywood. That's the studio that, no matter how many times they rename it, people still refer to it as "The Chaplin Lot."

Two shows Saturday evening, one show Sunday afternoon. Some seats are still available for this time and there's no telling when they'll do it again. I go every time and I'll be in the audience for the late show Saturday. Try not to sit in front of me.

Just a few hours from now, our pal Stu Shostak will welcome two of the best voice actors in the world to his Internet TV/Radio program. Keith Scott is the master from Australia, best known in this country as for speaking for Bullwinkle after the urelated Bill Scott passed away. Billy West has been heard on dozens of shows here — most notably and recently, Futurama plus he voiced Bugs Bunny in Space Jam and elsewhere.

If you like hearing voice actors do what they do and talk about how they do it, listen to the audio version of Stu's Show. If you like watching, catch the TV version. A visit to the Stu's Show website will set you up with either. It all starts at 4 PM Pacific Time and it's live, live, live so you can figure out what time it starts where you are.

What appeared to be a sudden, unexpected storm near San Diego last night was not a storm at all. From the Los Angeles Times…

…the massive blob showing up Tuesday evening on the National Weather Service's radar in San Diego County was just a lot of ladybugs. Joe Dandrea, a meteorologist with NWS San Diego, said from the radar, the ladybug bloom appears to be about 80 miles by 80 miles, but the ladybugs aren't in a concentrated mass that size. Rather, they're spread throughout the sky, flying at between 5,000 and 9,000 feet, with the most concentrated mass about 10 miles wide.

Just wait. Before the year is out, it's going to be raining frogs somewhere. Actual frogs falling from the sky.