Aww. I never met Harry Anderson but I saw him perform a number of times — at the Magic Castle and other venues. He was always slick, funny and able to send the audience out chuckling. I always thought it was interesting that he basically played two roles in his performing career. One was as an unscrupulous con man who would bilk you of your last greenback if he could get away with it. The other was as a judge.

To be truly great at magic, you need more than the ability to deal off the bottom of the deck or palm a coin or misdirect an audience's attention while you hide the potato under the cup. You need a talent for delivery and it's not far removed from the talent needed to tell a joke effectively. Most magic tricks have punchlines and like an expert comedian, you have to be able to time them just right. Mr. Anderson was an expert comedian and an expert magician and no one did a better job of intersecting those skill sets.

Kind of a busy week ahead, ending with the San Diego Comic Fest, which I expect to enjoy aplenty. But I have to get about ninety-three things done before I can get to it so don't expect to see a whole lot of me here.

The convention is a small one by the prevailing standards of comic book conventions in that city.  That's one of the things people like about it.  I also like the big one in July but for different reasons.  The reasons to like this one are the reasons it was founded…by a few of the folks involved in the founding of the other one.  It's not mobbed, it's not high-energy, it's not just about current product, it's not all about companies selling you that current product and a lot of it's about comic books, especially older comic books.

I will be hosting or appearing on six panels over its three days.  You can read the entire programming schedule here.  If you're anywhere nearby and the topics you see on that schedule appeal to you, you might want to come join us.  Which reminds me of another way in which this convention is different from the monsterpalooza in July.  You can still get into this one.

Also if you're in the area: Monday, April 23 and Tuesday, April 24, my oft-plugged-and-with-good-reason friend Frank Ferrante is performing his wonderful show at the North Coast Repertory Theater in Solana Beach — two evenings, two shows each at 7:30 PM. The theater (I just Google Mapped this) is 19.6 miles north of where the San Diego Comic Fest is being held.

Info and tickets may be found here. A bunch of my friends and I will be at the Monday evening performance, watching as Frank miraculously transforms himself into one of the greatest comedians who ever lived. I don't know how he does this but it probably involves witchcraft.

• Comey says Trump is morally unfit to be president. Trump says Comey was the worst FBI director in history. Let's just agree they're both right and neither of them should be holding public office.

This is the Tachibana High School Marching Band from Kyoto performing at someplace Disney — and boy, are they good. This is a Facebook video embed so you may have to turn the audio on…

Friends keep asking me what I think will happen with or to Donald Trump. That's right: They've gotten so desperate to figure out where it's all heading that they're asking the guy who writes the dialogue for Groo the Wanderer. There's a great credential as a prophet.

What I'm doing now is passing the buck. I send them to someone who seems wiser than I on the topic…and that could be anyone except Donald Trump. At the moment, I'm thinking your best prognosticator may be Adam Davidson. If what he says is true, you'd better get used to hearing the term, "Crime family."

For a limited time, BBC Radio has free online streaming of some audio productions they did of great Broadway musicals. For instance, you can listen to a recording of Guys and Dolls starring Mandy Patinkin, Claire Moore, John Challis and Anita Dobson.

Or Kismet or Sweeney Todd or Carousel. Mandy Patinkin is in the production of Carousel, too.

No, no…don't thank me for these links. Thank Shelly Goldstein who sent the links my way.

I keep getting calls and e-mails asking me about the revelations in the continuing drama surrounding Stan Lee, who probably never imagined that things would be so dramatic when he was 95. I've been reticent to write much about it for two reasons, one being that I'm not in touch with Stan at the moment. I'm in touch with a few folks who are and they tell me things are under control. Other reports say things are not, including some heartbreaking stories about Stan being unable to sign his name at a recent convention appearance without someone spelling it out for him.

One thing I can offer that may help a wee bit: I seem to have to keep reminding friends who are dealing with elderly people that getting old often means Good Days and Bad Days. Their health Monday may be very different from their well-being on Tuesday and neither may be indicative of the average. That would seem to be the case with Stan…Good Days and Bad Days.

My distance from it is one reason I don't want to get too involved. Another is that, at least from afar, it seems to me that there are already too many people involved and that reporting on rumors and on circumstances that change from day to day doesn't help. It probably just makes things worse.

A friend who's a psychologist and I were once discussing why Show Biz Marriages that end — marriages where one or both partners are famous — seem to always end in such anger and recrimination. He pointed out to me that, first of all, a lot of non-Show Biz Marriages end in similar pains and screaming. You just don't hear about those break-ups because you've never heard of and don't care about the combatants. Good point.

But he also said that once the break-up battles are being fought in the press, everyone thinks they're being defamed in front of the whole world and it's emotions times ten. It becomes ten times as difficult to pull it back and find common ground. People can't "unsay" things they said about each other in the media, especially in these days of Google Search and cached webpages.

It's probably too late for the Stan Lee matter to be moved out of the Glass House.  I tell myself that as I hesitantly link to, and therefore send more eyes to this article by Gary Baum in the Hollywood Reporter as well as this article by Ben Widdicombe in the New York Times. They don't just tell two different stories. They tell about eight. I'm assuming the truth may be in there somewhere but maybe not.

What I would take away from the two of them is that We Don't Know. Since it's None of Our Business, it doesn't bother me that We Don't Know but we don't and it won't make things any better if we pretend we do.

How do they make pineapple juice? Easy. They get a bunch of pineapples and they feed them into the glopeta-glopeta machine…

In the pantheon of columnists I follow, my two go-to guys for war-related stuff are a liberal (Fred Kaplan) and a conservative (Daniel Larison). Neither thinks any good will come from our new air strikes against Syria though Larison seems to me to be the more outraged of the two…

• Read this Kaplan column and then this one and then this one.
• And then read this Larison column and then this one and then especially this one.
• And if you want to get terrified of what may result, read Matt Taibbi.
• In other news, we have a wide array of columns about what an incredible failure Paul Ryan was as Speaker of the House…unless, of course, all that matters to you is that rich people pay less in taxes no matter what it does to the deficit and the social safety net.  Read Matthew Yglesias, Tara Golshon, Jamelle Bouie and (again) Daniel Larison.
• Joe Conason thinks Trump is about to do something very bad to Veterans.
• And Martin Longman finds eerie similarities between Richard Nixon in his last days in office and Donald Trump in these days in office.

With all this going on, it's easy to forget that the re-trial of Bill Cosby is well under way.  They're up to the part where various alleged victims tell what Cosby did to them and Cosby's lawyers try to brand those accusers as liars and opportunists.  Coming soon: The part where Cosby is portrayed as an old, sick blind man who did so much good for so many that it would be cruel to send him to prison and therefore to his death.

Years ago, there was a very fine TV program called Likely Stories which featured great short films and sketches. It was produced by my pal David Jablin and he's given me the okay to bring you a segment that was done for it starring our dearly departed Chuck McCann. David writes…

It was written and directed by the very talented David Wechter and done mostly in blue-screen with matte paintings which was pretty unusual for 1982. We actually made a kinescope of the finished piece to make it feel like an authentic TV show of that era.

I was always a big fan of Chuck's and knew he was a video technology nut. He was totally fascinated by our "highly inventive" video production and really got into it. He was a blast to work with and as you well know, full of great stories. I also cast his pal Pat McCormick in the piece as a doctor from the future.

Chuck is playing the father and I recognize Ed Peck as the narrator and the other roles he plays. Take a look at his IMDB listing and see if you can name a TV show of the sixties or seventies that never hired him, usually to play a humorless authority figure. But mostly just enjoy another bit of glorious silliness featuring Chuck…

The magazine known as MAD got started about the same time I did. I bought my first copy of it at the old Westward Ho market on Westwood Boulevard here in Los Angeles. It was issue #70, cover-dated April 1962…so it probably came out in January of that year when I was not quite ten years of age.

Its impact on me was so overwhelming that I began to search local second-hand book shops for back issues and by the time MAD #71 came out, I owned copies of all the magazine issues plus most of the paperbacks and specials. From where I sit as I blog today, I am about twenty feet from my complete run and I own other MAD memorabilia. I even have one of its star cartoonists — some guy named Sergio — who is here much of the time. I consider him part of my collection.

So I love MAD. I love some eras of it more than others but I love MAD and have contributed to it and written a book on its history. I also know (or knew) most of its major contributors…like its recently-departed (but still very much alive) editor, John Ficarra. For years I told John that though I liked him very much, if I ever thought he was ruining MAD, I would rip his friggin' guts out. I like to think that's the main reason he did such a good job as editor there: Fear of me.

As you may have heard, MAD has migrated. It's no longer based in New York with that staff there. It's now edited in Burbank, California with that staff there, headed up by my longtime friend Bill Morrison. MAD has been slightly reinvented and revamped — not as much as some feared when the changeover was announced but there was certainly at least the slight possibility that it might stink.

This worried me because, as we've established, I love MAD. I also like Bill and didn't really want to rip his friggin' guts out.

I spent much of yesterday over at the offices of DC Comics, which of course publishes MAD. I was there to discuss another matter but when I had to wait for one meeting, someone handed me a copy of the new MAD #1 to pass the time. It'll be on newsstands any day now and this was the first I'd seen of it. First reaction? I was actually a little scared: What if it sucked the big one and I had to go rip out my pal Bill Morrison's friggin' guts?

Then again, at that moment, Bill was just down the hall in his office. So if I did have to rip out his friggin' guts, it would be very convenient. I wouldn't have to make a special trip to do that.

Well, I'm happy to say no gut-ripping was necessary. It's pretty good. It also still has much of the old Usual Gang of Idiots. It's got Desmond Devlin and Dick DeBartolo and a fold-in by Al Jaffee and "Spy Vs. Spy" by Peter Kuper and some stuff by that guy Sergio and other familiar styles. I laughed out loud at a number of things, which is all an issue of MAD really has to do. I suggest you give it a try.

My biggest complaint? You're going to think this is potrzebie but I think the paper is too good. Someone picked out a great, durable stock which is so good, it may even make it difficult to fold-in your fold-in. (I didn't attempt this.) It just doesn't feel — in the tactile sense — like MAD and great paper somehow makes good but crude drawings seem misplaced. I wish they'd had this stock when the magazine printed Mort Drucker, Jack Davis and Wally Wood. Even if you don't buy a copy, grope one and see if you don't agree with me.

So deep exhale. Bill is safe until #2 and I have the feeling the new MAD will just get better and better. If it goes downhill…well, there are just some things a man's gotta do.

Another selection from Sgt. Sonny. I like this guy…

My buddy Mike Clark has assembled an interesting history and discussion of colorizing old movies and especially old TV shows. There are some hot 'n' heavy arguments on the 'net about this and I think it might be more constructive if all the arguers could first agree on a number of points…

1. Some colorization is bad because it's just plain badly done.  The issue of whether films or TV shows should be colorized at all is a separate discussion.
2. Some black-and-white movies and TV shows use light and the absence of color so artfully that a major aspect of them is lost when you colorize.
3. And with some, it's not as important.  Maybe what you lose in some cases is more than made up for by what colorization brings to a project, even if it's only to make the episodes of a series that were filmed in b&w more of a piece with other episodes that were made in color.
4. Sometimes, the filmmakers like having their work colorized.  Carl Reiner is ecstatic over it being done to The Dick Van Dyke Show.  Frank Capra was reportedly enthusiastic about the colorizing of his movies, especially when he was going to participate in the process.  It would be a different discussion if, as has also happened, someone with creative moral authority was saying, "I hate what they're doing to that film I worked on."  And it's yet another kind of discussion when, as is increasingly the case, there's no one around who has any kind of creative moral authority on the work in question.
5. The discussion of whether or not to colorize certain works is largely more of a financial discussion than a creative one.  Maybe that shouldn't be but that is always a factor when art is sold to the public.
6. Often, consumer rejection of black-and-white films and TV episodes is not really (or only) because the work lacks color.  Often, it is because the available black-and-white prints are pretty lousy in terms of image quality and/or completeness.  Most colorized versions at least are completely restored.

And there are probably other things to be said.  I don't think it's a major sin that "these kids today" won't watch anything in black-and-white.  First off, I think they will if the production is highly recommended or it seems relevant.  Hell, there's stuff on Turner Classic Movies that I TiVo and then am unable to sit through.

I think we forget how much media there is out there for a young person to investigate and enjoy.  Just wading through all the good current or recent TV shows and movies is a daunting task.  It could easily consume the portion of one's life one is willing to spend in front of a TV or movie screen.

If they do start investigating "the old stuff," there are plenty of old films in color that are worth watching.  It would be nice if they got around to the black-and-white stuff, especially certain TV shows like Bilko and Twilight Zone…and if colorizing The Dick Van Dyke Show gets it moved up higher on their "to watch" lists, that's fine by me.  Especially since it's fine with Carl.

I'm getting tired of writing about people dying so I'll be as brief as I can about Mitzi Shore, who has passed away at the age of 87. This obit well recounts the facts of her life and how a divorce gave her ownership of what turned out to be the most important franchise ever in the world of stand-up comedy.

The list of funny people who benefited from performing at the Comedy Store is endless, though nowhere near as endless as the list of those who got onto her stages, tried to emulate the success stories of that profession and wound up selling insurance for a living. Unless you saw an Open Mike (Try-Out) Night at the Store, you have no idea how unfunny some people who think they're hilarious can be.

Mitzi culled from those auditioners the <1% who showed some talent — which I never thought was as difficult to discern as some insisted — and gave them a showcase and a shot. Many who parlayed their shot into stardom will tell you that they owed much of it to her. As a writer for a few of those guys during the Golden Era at the store, I was in a position to observe without having to kiss up to Mitzi for good time slots and I'll give her this: She was really, really good at running the business side of that business and it made her very wealthy.

One of these days, when more time has passed since her passing, I may be in the mood to write about the flip side of that. It has to do with how in show business, some people will give you a great break and even though they profit from it too, they expect you to keep paying them back forever for it. For now, let's just thank her for helping out the careers of a lot of people we know, love and laugh at.

What I did Monday evening was to take Leonard and Alice Maltin, along with my friend Amber, to see the fine cabaret performer Mark Nadler. It's rare to see him playing the piano and singing show tunes in Southern California but he was briefly in town. I wanted to see him. I wanted Amber to see him. I thought Leonard and Alice would enjoy seeing him. If and when you get the chance, you will too. He plays well, he sings well and he annotates the songs he plays with fascinating and funny facts. In this case, it was an evening of songs written by Cole Porter…and showtunes don't get much better than that. Just as performers of them don't get much better than Mark Nadler.

The location for this was Upstairs at Vitello's, a small but serviceable room on the second floor of Vitello's restaurant in what they call Tujunga Village, but I think it's actually Studio City out in the valley here. Vitello's is probably most famous as the Italian restaurant where Robert Blake dined with his wife just before she was murdered by some unknown person who most people think was Robert Blake.

The place should be known as one of the better rooms around L.A. for cabaret-style performing, which is as easy thing to be as most of them are pretty awful. It is a constant frustration of performers that the venues where they can perform do not share the income fairly and force them to invite people to come see them in a room with cramped seating, poor sight lines, mediocre food, overpriced mediocre food and, often, maddeningly-poor service. A subject for another time here.

Naturally, we talked a lot about our friend Chuck McCann. Leonard has penned a fine tribute to the man and you can read it here.

As you may know, my life abounds in strange coincidences. Just as we were getting away from the topic of Chuck, Leonard and I noticed that about twelve inches from us, seated at the next table was Sonny Fox. At the same time Chuck was a superstar of kids' TV in New York, so was Sonny Fox on Wonderama and other shows, and their paths crossed constantly. After Mr. Nadler did that voodoo that he do so well, we had a great conversation with Sonny about Chuck. Sonny even produced Chuck's last attempt to do classic-style programming for children. It did not go well but Sonny's love and respect of Chuck was not diminished.

Then last night, I attended a meeting of Yarmy's Army, the local social club of funny writers and performers to which I belong. Chuck was among its founding members and we all sat around, ate Chinese food and told anecdotes about the guy. I still don't know if and when there's going to be a memorial for Mr. McCann but I feel like I've already been to two of them. Which is fine because there's no end to the stories that can be told about the guy.