Merrill Markoe writes of some of the last days of Sam Simon.

David Steinberg recalls meeting the one, the only…Groucho.

I hope nobody saw the photo and thought, "Oh no! An obit for Carl Reiner!" Because the great Carl Reiner is not the least bit dead. He's 93 today and I'd like to think that's middle-aged and that he has at least as many years left. I'm not looking forward to living in a world without Carl Reiner. He's one of my heroes…and how could he not be? He's a brilliant actor, a brilliant comedian, a brilliant writer, a brilliant director…if he ever wanted to perform surgery on me, I'd probably let him. Because he can do anything.

One of the things I admire the guy about is how he's spent his life making other people look better. He's done almost everything a person can do in show business but there has never been a program called The Carl Reiner Show. He made Sid Caesar look better on Your Show of Shows. He made Dick Van Dyke look better on The Dick Van Dyke Show. He made Mel Brooks look better on the 2,000 Year Old Man records. He made Steve Martin and a host of stars look better in movies he directed. And even at this age, he's busy and successful and every time I've seen him, he sure seems to be happy. If anyone deserves to be, it's him. Happy 93, Carl.

• Is it my imagination or are guys in college frats acting like bigger dicks than ever?

Longtime MAD magazine writer Lou Silverstone died last Monday at the age of 90. He was one of the publication's funniest contributors and also probably its tallest. Silverstone hailed from Plainfield, New Jersey and in college, majored in accounting. He got into that field for a time but longed to try comedy writing.

He began writing for MAD in 1962 with a parody of the TV series Bonanza called, of course, Bananaz. He was one of their best authors of TV and movie spoofs, and his fellow MAD scribe Arnie Kogen just told me he always envied the name Silverstone came up with for his parody of the movie, Five Easy Pieces. He called it Five Easy Pages.

His work appeared often in MAD until the early nineties when he joined the competition, writing for Cracked, which was then edited by former MAD associate editor Jerry DeFuccio. Silverstone eventually became co-editor there for several years. He also briefly dabbled in TV writing (Candid Camera), animation (authoring scripts for the Rankin-Bass studio, including for the Jackson 5ive cartoon show) and in comic books (writing for T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents during its initial publication by Tower Comics in the sixties).

Silverstone's involvement in T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents came about when he was writing sexy stories for men's magazines and contacted former MAD artist Wally Wood about perhaps drawing a comic strip for one of those publications.  Wood instead recruited him for the new comic he was drawing for Tower, and Lou created the character, Menthor.  He also for a time assisted Al Capp with the writing on the Li'l Abner newspaper strip.

I never met Mr. Silverstone but Sergio Aragonés and Arnie both described him as a very quiet, likeable guy who wrote some very funny pieces for the magazine. I remember articles with his byline being very clever indeed.

WonderCon Anaheim is almost upon us. It's April 3-5 at the Anaheim Convention Center and it's darn close to sold out. There are still some one-day passes available for Friday and Sunday but they may be gone soon.

The entire programming schedule can be read here. I know you're only interested in a panel or presentation if I'm on it so to save you the chore of searching for those six listings, here are the ones that involve me…

Friday, April 3 – 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM in Room 208
THE SERGIO & MARK SHOW
For years now, a Sergio & Mark panel has consisted of them promising that the new Groo would be out soon; but now there is new Groo out! It's the new limited series, Groo: Friends and Foes, starring the stupidest barbarian ever, plus a lot of folks who want to kill him. The panel will talk about it, what's coming next, and forthcoming Sergio & Mark projects. Join Sergio Aragonés, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo), and maybe, if he can be pried away from the computer, Tom Luth!

Friday, April 3 – 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM in Room 300DE
WRITING FOR ANIMATION
Mark Evanier has been writing cartoons since they were actually drawn on paper. He has worked on many shows including, The Garfield Show, Garfield & Friends, Dungeons & Dragons, Mother Goose and Grimm, Scooby Doo, Thundarr the Barbarian, Richie Rich, Yogi Bear, Superman: The Animated Series, The Wuzzles, CBS Storybook, ABC Weekend Special, Plastic Man, and many more! If you've ever wanted to write for animation, Mark is the guy to tell you how to do it, and maybe even how to sell it.

Saturday, April 4 – 4:45 PM to 5:45 PM in Room 300DE
CARTOON VOICES
Your host, Mark Evanier, gathers together some of the best actors in the animation field to tell you how they do what they do, and demonstrate their amazing skills right before your ears. This time, the dais features Sumalee Montano (Transformers Prime, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis), Bob Joles (Spongebob Squarepants, Planet Sheen), John Mariano (Animaniacs, Hey Arnold!), Julie Nathanson (Final Fantasy XIII, Skylanders), Gregg Berger (Garfield, Spider-Man), and one more talented person to be named later.

Sunday, April 5 – NOON to 1:00 PM in Room 207
COVER STORY: THE ART OF THE COVER
Covers. Every comic book has at least one. What does it take to design a great cover for a comic book? Five folks who have done it come together to discuss the secrets with moderator Mark Evanier. You will hear from Kris Anka (Uncanny X-Men, Ms. Marvel), Aaron Kuder (Action Comics, Batman), Ken Lashley (Secret Six, Superman: Doomed), Kevin Wada (She-Hulk, Adventure Time), and Kevin Maguire (Justice League International, Guardians of the Galaxy). Come and learn about this vital but under discussed art form.

Sunday, April 5 – 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM in Room 208
SPOTLIGHT ON LEN WEIN
At one time or another, Len Wein has written almost all the major characters for most major publishers. He launched Swamp Thing, The New X-Men, Wolverine and so many more. here is your chance to hear one of comics' most prolific creative talents discuss his career and work, all while being grilled by longtime friend, Mark Evanier. Sizzling revelations are promised.

Sunday, April 5 – 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM in Room 209
JACK KIRBY TRIBUTE
Time to salute and talk about the man some in comics call "The King." The life, times and influence of Jack Kirby will be discussed by Neal Adams, Darwyn Cooke, Fred Van Lente, Crystal Skillman, Len Wein, Paul S. Levine (attorney for the Rosalind Kirby Trust), and Kirby biographer and former assistant, Mark Evanier.

When I'm not appearing on these vital presentations, I'll be roaming the floor and poaching behind other folks' tables…though probably not long at any table. I have discovered my tolerance for sitting behind a table at a convention is about 30 minutes, 45 tops. There will probably come a day when that's all I'll be able to do but until then and even with imperfect knees, I prefer to roam. But I'll be around. As always, participants, times and my hair style are subject to change at any moment.

Sage advice — from that wisest of the wise, Cookie Monster…

This is a true item — and note that it doesn't say anything about how the couples have to be male/female…

Are you engaged and ready to tie the knot? If so, get ready for the biggest wedding ever! The Price is Right is taping a Mass Wedding Special on March 31st at the 8:30am show. You and your spouse-to-be will not only have a chance to win great prizes, but the ordained Drew Carey will also be marrying all the couples in the audience…All at once in a mass group wedding!

So grab your spouse-to-be and up to two wedding guests and "Come on Down!" (Guests must also be over 18 and will not be eligible to be a contestant. Guests do not need to be engaged to attend.) You must bring your California marriage documentation ready to be signed. Only California marriage licenses will be eligible. (You do not need to be a California resident to acquire a California marriage license.)

I just feel bad for the couple that is going to get their marriage off to a bad start by crapping out at Plinko…

Fred Kaplan doesn't think the re-election of Benjamin Netanyahu will be good for Israel. I have no opinion of any of this. I just think that anything short of total pessimism about any sort of lasting peace over there is baseless optimism.

I just saw this news item…

A Catholic cathedral in San Francisco installed a watering system in an attempt to soak homeless people who try to loiter and sleep near its doorways, radio station KCBS reported on Wednesday.

I'm so glad they're doing this because all that stuff about priests molesting children and the church covering it up didn't do quite enough damage to the faith. It is so in keeping with the teachings of Christ to treat the needy as an annoyance that needs to be shooed away like stray animals. Also, this will help Bill Maher in case he's short one "New Rule" for this Friday's show.

The number of Americans who claim No Religious Affiliation is higher than it's ever been and almost certain to get much higher. I don't necessarily believe this is a bad thing as long as everyone is free to choose their own church or lack thereof. I just think someone should realize that it isn't because folks say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" and it isn't because kids can't pray in schools. It's because of religions that are diminished by the human failings of their representatives.

In other news designed to diminish religion, Pastor Creflo Dollar of the World Changers Church International is telling his followers they need to donate more so he can buy a new $65 million private jet. His old one was getting a bit shabby and God, he says, wants him to have a new one.

It takes what my people call chutzpah to demand that the poor people who believe in you should ante up for something like this. Heck, it takes chutzpah just to name yourself Pastor Dollar.

Was there ever a more perfect bit of casting on a TV show than Don Adams as Special Agent Maxwell Smart in Get Smart? Well, would you believe he was not the first choice? This short video will tell you who was…

Several pundits are out there predicting that the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination is going to be a contest to convince those voters that you will expunge every last trace of the Obama presidency, reversing every executive order, overturning every bit of legislation passed and bombing everywhere he declined to bomb. I figure it's going to come down to a contest between the candidate who claims to have a time machine so he can go back in time and arrange for Obama to never have been born, and the one who'll insist he has a way to bring Bin Laden back to life so he can then be killed by a real American President.

The Emmy-winning thespian-for-animation Maurice LaMarche just wrote me about a list that's online called 20 Greatest Voice Actors compiled by a gentleman named Bill Treadway. I assume this is the same Bill Treadway who writes some smart political commentaries on the web so I'll just say as politely as I can that more than half the selections on his list don't make any sense to me. I'm not saying I disagree with his selections. It's that I don't see what his logic or reasoning is…oh, and some of those folks haven't done anywhere near as much as he apparently thinks they have.

Okay, so there's his opinion. Mine is that a list of great voice actors that omits Daws Butler, Don Messick and Frank Welker is like a list of great silent comedians that overlooks Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton. Moe — that's what we call Maurice — wrote to me, "Mark, I think it's time for you to write a list that has some credibility." And it does say something about the list that a guy who was named on it as one of the 20 Greatest thinks it's lacking in credibility. I mean, put me on a list of the 20 Greatest Anything and I'll say you're a genius even if the other 19 choices are infectious diseases, human eyesores or Robert Durst.

So I'm going to whip up a list of some arbitrary number of Great Voice Actors…not today but within the next week or three. Or four or nine. Don't — repeat: don't — send me any suggestions because I want to do this myself and because I'm already wading through nominations here for the Bill Finger Award.

Also, before I even start coming up with names, I'm going to draw up some ground rules and criteria for myself…like I know I'm not going to include folks like Jim Henson and Frank Oz because I won't be doing a list of the 20 Greatest Puppeteers. Both men were brilliant but it's a different skill and if you're going to include them, why not Edgar Bergen and Shari Lewis and Paul Winchell and so on? I may just break it up into two lists — a golden age one and a modern one with 1968 as the dividing point. (There's a reason why 1968 and I'll explain it. The challenge of the job changed a lot that year.) Or the "current" list may take a different form so as to minimize the number of friends I lose. Watch this space.

An open letter to Stephen Colbert.

Today on Stu's Show, Stu Shostak's guest is Brian Levant, who's a director and sometimes a producer. From where do you know his name? Well, from the credits in these movies: Beethoven, The Flintstones, Jingle All The Way, Scooby Doo: The Mystery Begins!, Snow Dogs, The Spy Next Door and many others. He also worked on a lot of hit TV shows but Stu quizzed him about them on his last appearance on Stu's Show. Today, the story continues…the story of a very successful career for someone that everyone says is a real nice guy. They don't always say that about people in his position.

Stu's Show can be heard live (almost) every Wednesday at the Stu's Show website and you can listen for free there. Webcasts start at 4 PM Pacific Time, 7 PM Eastern and other times in other climes. They run a minimum of two hours and sometimes go way, way longer. Whenever a show ends, it's available soon after for downloading from the Archives on that site. Downloads are a measly 99 cents each and you can get four shows for the price of three. It's bargains like that which made Brian Levant wealthy.