Here's close to an hour of Kitty Carlisle reminiscing about Broadway and her career. Wonderful stuff…

Just started to write a piece about something Stephen Colbert is doing that I don't like one bit. My pal Ken Levine doesn't like it either and I see he's already written pretty much the same thing I would have written. I just might not give Colbert the benefit of the doubt and suggest it's possible he didn't know what his producers were doing.

It is Kosher to require that applicants for comedy writing jobs show you some samples of how they write. What they're asking for here though is way beyond the norm. If I were a wanna-be writer looking to break in, I wouldn't play along even if only a hundred other wanna-bes were invited to submit. The fact that they may get thousands of submissions is all the more reason to not go along with this.

Suppose they get 10,000 entries. Do we think those will all be read by someone with true hiring power? They certainly won't be read by someone who's high up in the show's hierarchy. Those folks are already working night and day to put on five shows a week. What they'll more likely do is have a bevy of interns wade through the stacks and pass on anything they think is outstanding. It doesn't do you any good to submit brilliance if it has to pass muster with someone who can't recognize brilliance. And of course, the show doesn't lose a cent if they find some good prospects in the first 300 submissions someone considers and then they just dump the rest.

I can imagine a good agent suggesting it might be worth a client's time to whip up a package like the Colbert folks are demanding. That good agent would only do that though if he or she had reason to believe the submission might be one of only a dozen or maybe two dozen and that they would all be read by Colbert or the show's Head Writer or one of its producers.

But one of the points I try to make to aspiring authors is this: Most institutions (magazines, publishers, producers, etc.) that you want to have hire you or buy your writing have some version of what's commonly called a Slush Pile. If you want to be a professional writer, you need to stay out of the Slush Pile. It's called that for a reason. Those are the submissions that no one seriously solicited…the stuff sent in by (mostly) amateurs. Much of it is never read, at least by anyone important. That it's in that pile at all renders it suspect because most of what's in that pile is pretty lousy.

Most of what the Colbert Show will get will be pretty lousy. Yes, they may hire a couple of writers because of this process but, you know, a couple of people do win the lottery now and then. That doesn't mean that the odds are good you will.

Julien Neel, who sings wonderful four-part harmony with his partners, Julien Neel, Julien Neel and Julien Neel, favors us with the Barbershop Quarter arrangement of the Mister Ed theme…

I was away longer than I'd expected today so I didn't get to repost here that the Antenna TV Johnny Carson rerun was the episode with Richard Pryor and Rod Hull that I wrote about here. Hope you caught it. The second airing of it is occurring even as I post this.

The show originally aired June 9, 1983 and I wrote about it from memory for an article that was first published in May of 1999. I got a lot of it right but I think my recollections compressed two appearances. This was actually Pryor's second appearance with Johnny following the "accident" in which Richard suffered severe burns but since everyone was talking about his recent plastic surgery on the set, I guess I remembered it as his first and recalled him talking about the accident. He actually discussed it on the earlier appearance, which I did remember and I kinda combined those two.

I got the segment with Rod Hull and Emu pretty much right except that the point where the bird puppet attacked Pryor came later, just before the show ended. Anyway, it was all pretty funny. This Saturday, they're running a 1978 episode with Don Rickles and Ray Bradbury that I do not recall at all…but doesn't that sound interesting?

I see a lot of folks on the web who are furious about today's Supreme Court decision striking down certain abortion restrictions in Texas. Kevin Drum points out what a sham the law was. It required doctors who performed abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. That sounds like an attempt to protect women's health but in reality, even the people defending the law in front of the Court admitted that there was no record of any clinic needing have a woman admitted. In fact, hospitals wouldn't even grant admitting privileges to doctors performing that procedure because it was so safe.

Lastly for now: Earlier today, I cautioned everyone about taking too seriously the polls that show Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by double digits. Those were polls, I noted, that ask voters which of the two they'd prefer…but the actual ballots will have more than two names. Today, some more polls came out that do show Hillary having a double-digit lead even when other candidates are listed. Let's see if that's the case with future polls. She might be that far ahead…now. There's still a long time 'til we vote for real.

Well now. The Supreme Court has slapped down the folks in Texas who, under the guise of "protecting women's health" passed laws that closed down an awful lot of places where abortions were performed…and SCOTUS did it 5-3, meaning that the vote would probably have gone that way even if Antonin Scalia were still with us.

A lot of folks are (of course) upset about this, especially in light of polls that now show Hillary Clinton with a double-digit lead over Donald Trump. That's a double-digit lead for a person who would appoint at least one new justice who'd vote the way they don't like. There are rumors that Clarence Thomas — the most reliable right-wing vote on the High Court — is talking about retirement and that's gotta ratchet up the worry even more.

I dunno if I've mentioned this here before but I've long thought the way we replace Supreme Court Justices is screwy. It isn't based directly on the will of the people. It has to do with when sitting justices die or get too old to serve. Hinging it on something so unpredictable and out of anyone's control doesn't seem so bad as long as each elected president gets one pick or at most two picks if they serve two terms. One of these days though, this country is going to have a moment when three or four justices die or otherwise need to be replaced in a very short time. Then, the Court could skew wildly left or right and for a very long time. Everyone on both sides will then agree the process needs to change but it'll be too late. We'll be stuck with what we're stuck with for a long time.

By the way: I'd be pleased to think Ms. Clinton has a twelve-point lead over Mr. Trump but unless I'm misreading polls, that's only true in some of these when those who are polled are asked to imagine a ballot with only those two names on it. It's unlikely that in November anyone will be handed a ballot without Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party and probably also Jill Stein of the Green Party and other names, as well. When you give people other options, the Clinton/Trump race gets a lot closer.

This is above and beyond the obvious caveat that it's 133 days until Election Day, these candidates don't have running mates yet, issues will change, scandals will be charged, debates will presumably occur, everyone will say or do a couple of really stupid things, etc. I continue to think/hope Hillary will win big but the evidence is not there yet to think this thing is even close to over.

Sparked by the tragic shooting in Orlando, a Who's Who of Broadway got together recently and recorded a new version of the David-Bacharach tune, "What the World Needs Now is Love." And yes, I know: The world has always needed love…and there are plenty of other things that there are just too little of, like Gun Control laws, lawmakers who put principle over special interest groups, and restaurants that don't serve cole slaw. Never mind that right now.

100% of the proceeds for this recording are going to an LGBT foundation in the Orlando area. You can pay for a digital download in iTunes or at BroadwayRecords.com.

Here's a video of the recording session. Try and find Nathan Lane in there. He's about as easy to spot as Waldo…

It's been 365 days since the Supreme Court of the United States voted 5-4 that there is a constitutional right to Same-Sex Marriage in this country. Somehow, God has not unleashed locusts and plagues upon us to show his wrath and somehow, marriage between one man and one woman is still allowed for those who wish to get in on one of those.

A number of websites are today recalling the dissenting opinion authored then by Chief Justice John Roberts. Writing with obviously gritted teeth, he said…

…however heartened the proponents of same-sex marriage might be on this day, it is worth acknowledging what they have lost, and lost forever: the opportunity to win the true acceptance that comes from persuading their fellow citizens of the justice of their cause.

That struck me then as it does now as a kind of sour grapes statement. Yeah, maybe they lost the chance of winning true acceptance without a court decision but they got two things in exchange, one being that they settled the issue everywhere at once instead of having to fight it out in every state and city and little community where holdouts could still muster enough votes to keep in place laws that ruined so many lives.

There are still legislatures in this country that think they can pass laws overruling the Supreme Overrulers. Think how long the LGBT community would have had to wait until the kind of "true acceptance" Roberts described trickled down to the Kim Davis level. Heck, there are still places in this country where they don't like the whole idea of racial integration.

And also, they won this: A real world test of whether there was any truth in all those dire screeches that Gay Marriage would destroy America and lead to every conceivable sin and destruction of religion and decency and everything we hold dear. Men married men, women married women and as noted, none of the horrendous promised consequences occurred. Life on Earth did not cease just as it didn't when it was decreed that black people were equals and women got the right to vote. The black folks and the women might in fact save us all when their vote keeps Donald Trump out of the White House.

Roberts is right that it might have been nice if Gay Marriage had resulted wholly from persuading citizens of the rightness of the cause. But a lot of them have since been persuaded because they've seen how Gay Marriage has not done irreparable harm…and some are probably thinking, "Gee, it's nice to not have that debate going on so loudly in our lives." I'd say that's a pretty good trade-off.

The Daily News has put together some pages on talk shows and which guests have appeared most often on which shows over the years. Alas, they derive their raw data from the Internet Movie Database, which is woefully incomplete on this kind of information. Carl Reiner was one of Johnny Carson's most frequent guests but he ain't anywhere to be seen on the Carson list. Pete Barbutti was on with Johnny over seventy times but they only have him down for fourteen.

They also have Johnny down as a guest on the show fourteen times and there's no way that's right. He hosted it for thirty years but guested zero times. (He did do one cameo walk-on one night when David Steinberg hosted.)

There are also silly mistakes like this one: They list as David Letterman's most frequent guest on his NBC Late Night show, George Miller. They say he was on seventeen times and they describe him thusly: "George Miller was born on March 3, 1945 in Chinchilla, Queensland, Australia as George Miliotis. He is a producer and writer, known for Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Happy Feet (2006) and Mad Max (1979). He has been married to Margaret Sixel since 1995. They have two children. He was previously married to Sandy Gore."

That's George Miller the director they're talking about and they have a photo of him. The George Miller who was on with Dave was George Miller the stand-up comedian and he was on a lot more than seventeen times.

The project was a worthy one but it's one of those "garbage in, garbage out" situations and I'm not sure the full data they'd need to do it right even exists. Still, it's nice to be reminded of some of the people who were on those shows, way back when.

I spent last evening out in Pasadena at Vroman's Bookstore, which is a business of a kind that is fast becoming extinct: A real bookstore. I mean, they have actual books printed on paper there and everything, including a staff that loves selling books almost as much as they themselves enjoy reading them.

Last night, they had a signing party for my longtime friend Paul Dini, who has an important and amazing new graphic novel out. It's called Dark Night: A True Batman Story. Here's an Amazon link to order a copy if you can't get out to Vroman's, and this is a book I'm sure you'll hear a lot about.

Once upon a time, my friend Paul was mugged. He was walking home from a date and two big guys decided for no visible reason to beat the crap out of him. He went through a long, emotional recuperation process both physically and mentally. I knew Paul then and I thought (note the past tense) I knew what he went through…but I didn't imagine it was this bad.

What does Batman have to do with this, apart from the fact that it would have been nice if he'd been around to stop the beating? Well, Paul was writing Batman at the time — the animated series and some comic books. And since Paul's the kind of writer who really throws himself into his work, it was impossible to stop Batman and his supporting cast from reflexively entering his life during this period. You'll have to read the graphic novel — perfectly illustrated by Eduardo Risso — to understand how those two realities fused for Paul and how one affected the other but it's a pretty jarring — but ultimately redeeming — tale.

At the signing party, they had me introducing Paul and interviewing him for a while before a packed, standing-room-only turnout. Then came the autographing. The line was so long — I think the last person waited something like two and a half hours — that many of the folks waiting for Paul's signature read the book while waiting. You could see them hit certain sections of the story and glance towards Paul across the room…and you could hear them thinking, "That happened to him?" I think it was reassuring to them on several levels that Paul seemed so fully recovered and complete as a human being.

It was an exciting event — no surprise since it's an exciting book. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I've been featuring excerpts here from L.A. Now and Then, a fine musical revue about Los Angeles that played a brief run in that very city a few weeks ago. It was assembled by Bruce Kimmel, who I believe also wrote this number, which was the Act One closer — a salute to the televised wrestling matches that were once a staple of local TV.

I wrote about the show here. It's reportedly going to return soon in some form but in the meantime, you can buy a copy of the cast album here. And now, let's go to the mat…

My friend Paul Dini will be discussing and signing his new graphic novel, Dark Night: A True Batman Story this evening at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena. The discussion part will consist of me ruthlessly interrogating him…and I'd say I will leave him bruised and battered but as you'll see when you read this amazing book, someone already did that. For real.

It starts at 7 PM but if I were you, I'd get there early. Of course, if you were me, you wouldn't have to because I'm the host and they can't make me wait in line. I hope.

Jonathan Chait — him again — rebuts Ralph Nader's dogged insistence that he bears no responsibility whatsoever for George W. Bush's 2000 victory over Al Gore — and by extension, all the bad things that happened to this country because of the Bush presidency, or at least the first term of it.

Obviously, there were other factors in play besides Nader, starting with the fact that Gore wasn't the greatest of candidates and that the Bush folks ran a much better campaign. It also didn't help that so much of the press obviously didn't think much of Gore and the narrative developed that he was a stiff, cold, policy wonk of a man who lied a lot, like when he said he'd invented the Internet, which of course he didn't say.

Prior to that election, I had great respect for Nader. He was that rarity: A non-elected person who made a real difference in Washington. His drive to become an elected person though turned him into — or maybe revealed him to always have been — not all that different. He was mounting what could have been a real, honest-to-God, could-really-change-things Third Party candidacy but really, it turned out to be founded on only one principle: That Ralph Nader should be President because he was Ralph Nader. It wasn't about anyone else or anything else, just as Ross Perot's Third Party candidacy was only about Ross Perot. Neither man passed on any flag to anyone to carry on their work and build on what they'd done.

There's much to be said for getting a Third Party up and running…and not just that it might someday be an actual player. If it were about something more than one guy's ego-driven yearning to be the President of the United States, it might demonstrate that there's a substantial, growing group o' folks out there who share certain viewpoints. But in neither case — Nader or Perot — were you investing in a long-range plan built on political philosophy if you supported and voted for those men. You were just supporting them and nothing larger.

I mention this because Bernie Sanders is probably too old to run for the presidency again. I really, really hope we don't look back some day and see that whatever movement and excitement he fomented ended once he was no longer running.

Leonard Maltin writes of Janet Waldo and offers up a great interview with this lovely lady. Did I make it clear in my obit for her that she really was as sweet as her voice would suggest?

If you live anywhere near Los Angeles, you have a chance this Saturday night to see the best damned improv comedy troupe I've ever seen. Every so often — and this is the last time until September — they get together and put on an Instaplay, which is their name for an entire musical comedy created on the spot, based on a suggestion from someone in the audience — maybe even you! Yes, they have a live audience — unlike some one-performance musical comedies we could mention! They are also funny and brilliant.

It's Saturday night at the Fanatic Salon Theater in Culver City and tickets are only $11.00. The director is Bill Steinkellner. The cast is George McGrath, Deanna Oliver, Jonathan Stark, Cheri Steinkellner and Navaris Darson with John Boswell at the keyboard. The theater is small and intimate (and about as non-fancy as any place you'll ever see brilliant comedy) but tickets are a lot easier and cheaper to get than Hamilton, and the show will probably be a lot funnier. Here's the link you want to click on. I shall be present.

Since you have nothing better to do for the next two hours and 48 minutes, I'm sure you're going to watch all twelve chapters of Zombies of the Stratosphere, a 1952 Republic movie serial about Martians with a fiendish plan. They want to use a hydrogen bomb to knock Earth out of its orbit so Mars can be the third closest planet to the sun. Hey, laugh if you want but there's at least as much a chance of that as there is of Donald Trump building his wall and forcing Mexico to pay for it.

As serials go, this one's unusually tedious at times. Judd Holdren, who did a lot of things like this, plays the hero…but his best moments are doubled by Dale Van Sickel, a "star" stuntman whose stunting career started in the Marx Brothers movie Duck Soup in 1933 and ended in a crash while he was stunt-driving for the 1976 Disney movie, No Deposit, No Return. The only actor you may recognize in this serial is Leonard Nimoy, who plays one of the scheming Martians. Whatever happened to that guy?