My buddy John Fugelsang has a new book out about what he sometimes describes as "Christ-free Christianity." The book is called Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds and you can order it from Amazon here.

Not only that but you can see John's discussion of it on tonight's The Daily Show with Jordan Klepper…

…or live in a city where the station that should be airing it isn't airing it…

Another tune for today…

What do we do on Rosh Hashanah? I'll let the lovely Ms. Sara tell you in song…

As readers of this site know, I think Las Vegas has become way too expensive and tourist-trappy. As one who used to go there many times a year, I now have zero interest in the town and I'm not alone. Hotel occupancy is way down, restaurants have lots of empty tables and many shows are playing to empty seats.

But! If you are interested in going, check out this huge sale that's on now. You can score a lot of deals with a lot of discounts.

Just found out I lost a good friend a week ago — Ron Friedman, one of the best writers of comedy and an absolutely great guy to have lunch with. He was 93 and Variety says he died from cardiopulmonary arrest at Motion Picture and Television Fund in Woodland Hills. He had been in poor health for some time and I don't think we'd talked in many months.

Animation fans will know Ron's work on many shows but especially G.I. Joe and The Transformers. Fans of non-animated TV will know of Ron's works on shows like — and this is a very partial list — Happy Days, The Danny Kaye Show, The Odd Couple, Starsky and Hutch, The Fall Guy, Fantasy Island, Bewitched, The Andy Griffith Show, Gilligan's Island, My Favorite Martian, Get Smart, I Dream of Jeannie, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The Partridge Family, The Good Guys, That’s My Mama, Lotsa Luck, All in the Family, Chico and the Man, Barney Miller, Wonder Woman, Charlie's Angels, The Dukes of Hazzard, B.J. and the Bear and Love, American Style.

And I'd be surprised if the above list was even 20% complete. Ron was very prolific and liked by everyone. He did a great podcast interview for Gilbert Gottfried's show, after which his producer called me, thanked me for suggesting they book him and saying he was one of their best guests ever. I did my own interview with Ron a few years ago and you can watch it here.

Condolences to his wonderful wife/partner, Val. I'll really miss that guy.

As we all know, Jimmy Kimmel will be back on his show tomorrow night, probably getting the highest rating he's ever had.  My guess is he'll thank Trump and/or the F.C.C. for that along with the many folks who protested in whatever way they could find.  I'll further guess that he'll note that he was inching out of the Late Night Talk Show business before any of this happened, that he will still be stepping aside one of these days but it'll because he thinks it's time to depart, not because politicians tried to silence him.

He may even say that he'll stay longer because of this.

Why are they bringing him back?  Well, let's remember that he wasn't canceled, he was suspended…and suspensions usually end.  Let's also remember that Disney has a pretty good track record at winning lawsuits, so much so that a lot of wealthy and powerful folks cower from going to court against them.  I hope this will turn out to involve a strong stand by TV networks against letting Washington dictate their programming — but that may be too much to expect.

If I were Kimmel, I'd tell the world what I think this was all about…and what I think this has all been about the fact that the news for the Trump Administration these days is bad and they know darn well it will be getting badder.  Trump's on a kick: When the jobs numbers are bad, you fire the folks who report them.  When studies report that most political violence is from the right, you do what you can to suppress the studies.  When your poll numbers are way down, you insist they're faulty polls, even the ones from Fox News.

A lot of people get their news from late night TV comedians.  That's why those guys needed to be reined in or kicked off…especially before more Epstein files get released.

Seems to me Trump is in full-out panic about the Epstein matter.  He used to brag that even if he shot someone on the streets of New York, he wouldn't lose a supporter and that may still be true.  But it's starting to look like there's one thing that most of his supporters won't tolerate and it involves sex with and the trafficking of underage women.  If I were him, I'd be terrified about that kind of thing being widely believed…and by how much air time the late night comics are already devoting to it.

Anyway, let's see what Jimmy K. has to say tomorrow night.  And how whatever it is, Trump will try to spin it as a win for his team.

This looks like a party at my pal Stu Shostak's house but it's not. It's something someone — I have no idea who — made up. It's an impressive piece o' work that I thought deserved to be seen by more than just those of us who stumble across it, as I did, on the Internet. Why, it's even got two (two!) William Frawleys in it!

This is from The Late Show on CBS back on 6/13/13, back when it was hosted by some guy named David Letterman. Here, he gets a phone call from an official at the F.C.C. who even uses something like the language of the current guy here, Brendan Carr, who said, a la Goodfellas, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way." But this call was in 2013.

Actually, the guy on the other end of the phone is Dave's friend (and mine), Jeff Altman, who's still one of the funniest humans I've ever known. Thanks to the various folks who sent me this…

The folks who were in Pentatonix in 2014 — which I think was a slightly different roster from now — visited Sesame Street…

Folks are sending me  alleged inside info on the future (if any) of Jimmy Kimmel on ABC or what he's going to do if there is no future, plus I'm seeing a lot of posts online that purport to tell us what Kimmel's planning, what (if anything) he and ABC are discussing, etc.  There are enough of those "inside" reports and they vary enough that I believe none of them have good sourcing.  You should probably believe the same…for now.

I have a few friends who struggle with essential things in life like keeping track of where they're supposed to be and when and things they need to do. In some cases, a lack of basic organization has caused real harm to their lives and greatly inconvenienced others. We all have moments when little things slip our minds but some people have way too much slippage and cause way too much unnecessary damage to themselves. It should not be an insurmountable challenge to be on time for appointments and to check off everything on your "to do" list. This starts with having a "to do" list.

Over the years, I have experimented with a wide array of calendars and notebooks and ways of keeping lists…and when computers started becoming part of my life, I tried several different programs that promised to keep all my notes and phone numbers and appointments properly organized. Some of the programs were real fancy and expensive — and I found that the more they charged and the more they tried to do, the worse they were. One was so complicated that the first thing I put on its "to do" list was "learn how this f&*kin%g program works!" And then I couldn't find that list again.

I finally decided that what I needed was some programs that were right before my eyes — already on my iPhone and synced to my iPad and my desktop computer. Mainly, what I needed was to use the Calendar, the Notes app, the Reminders app and the Contacts list.  Obviously, others (like the invaluable Joey Bishop app) could help but I have an awful lot of my life in the Calendar, the Notes app, the Reminders app and the Contacts list.

I especially needed to remember that I could put notes in any of these four apps.  On a Contact listing for one of my doctors, I could put notes to remind me of things about him or her like the name of his or her receptionist.  On a listing in the Calendar, I could jot down notes about the pending event.  I put short range and time-sensitive "to do" items in the Calendar and I put long-term items in the Reminders list.  When I subscribe to some online service, I put the expiration/renewal date in Reminders so I don't undergo an automatic renewal of a sub I wanted to let lapse.

So what am I trying to tell you here?  Just that the more I rely on these four apps, the better my life seems to work.  When I've been hospitalized, I put everything that happens to me — every pill I take, every doctor I meet, every test they administer — into the Notes app.  That really helps.  The last time I was in, one doctor started asking me questions about the pain killers that were tried on my when I had my knee replacement in 2015. It was of great aid that I could open my Notes app and show him the contemporaneous jottings I made during that hospital stay.

I have a very good memory and sometimes the problem with that is that you can get cocky about thinking, "I don't have to write that down.  I'll remember that!"  Well, maybe you will but occasionally not as clearly as you might like.

It helps, it really helps.  I have a page in my Notes App that's headed 4 THE BLOG and when I have an idea for something I might write about here, I jot it down.  When I'm stumped for something to write, I go to that page on either my Desktop Computer, my iPad or my iPhone and I select which topic I'll address.  In fact,  I just did.

Here's a charming piece that was on CBS Sunday Morning three and a half years ago. It's about musician Sonny Curtis, who just died at the age of 88, bringing to an end a darn good career. That career included writing at the least one or two songs you know well…

I have many a message asking me to comment on the announcement that death has not ended Stan Lee's convention appearances; that he'll be still be at some in holographic form. Most of those who asked asked if I thought it was (a) morbid or (b) something of which Stan would have approved. To answer (a): Well, yes…sort of. But no more creepy than a Walt Disney animatronic at Disneyland or your basic Elvis impersonator. As for (b), I assume Stan signed off on such usages of his likeness back when he was alive and/or that his heirs have blessed it. Unless it's against his or their wishes, the relevant question is "How well done is it?"

I don't intend to attend the L.A. Comic Con to find out. First off, they didn't invite me and I don't go to cons that don't invite me and ask me to participate in some way that sounds like fun. Also, since I knew and worked with the actual living and breathing Stan Lee, I don't think I want to stand in line, let alone pay to commune with even a reasonable facsimile.

About the third from the last time I saw Stan in person was at some version of that convention in that building. Stan was not only alive then, he was having the time of his life meeting his fans and signing autographs for some serious dollars. There were reports later of financial shenanigans with regards to where all that money went and also reports of Stan being mistreated and forced to do this when he wasn't up to it but I was not a witness to any of that. A documentary was announced that would supposedly validate the horror stories with video clips but it stopped its Kickstarter appeal before it got near its target goal.

So I dunno what to think except that I don't think I need to have an opinion on any of this.

That day at the con, I was with my lovely friend Amber. I pointed Stan out to her and, having heard much about him, she asked if she could meet him ever so briefly. That did not look possible but I decided to give it a try. There was a long line of folks waiting their moment with Stan. There was also a bodyguard or security person who looked like his assignment was to stand there looking like a Marvel Super-Villain who'd crush anyone who got out of line or didn't get into line. He did not have a costume. He just had that kind of face and body language.

I approached him and said, "Hi, I used to work for Stan and he knows me. Is there a way we could get thirty seconds with him and say hello?"

He replied in a firm monotone, "No one gets to talk to Stan unless they buy a ticket and wait in line."

I said, "I understand that but like I said, he knows me. If you'd just tell him that Mark Evanier is here and he'd like to –"

He interrupted in that firm monotone, "No one gets to talk to Stan unless they buy a ticket and wait in line."

I can of course make the case that it was the guy's job to say that and even to say it in a slightly threatening manner. There were, after all, paying customers who'd been patiently awaiting their few minutes with Stan and they didn't need me to butt in and make their wait longer. But I like to think Stan would not have liked the tone or appearance of his protector.

I also don't think he would have liked something I also saw that day. He was enjoying the hell out of meeting fans, signing what they wanted signed and giving some of them a thrill they could talk about the rest of their lives. Some of them, I'm sure, thought it was well worth what they paid But I also saw a few younger folks who came to his booth for the thrill of meeting the Wizard of Oz only to find out they couldn't afford the entrance fee to The Emerald City. Amber and I tried to comfort one young lad who was almost in tears. Maybe, depending on the price, that kid will settle for the hologram.

I did not talk to Stan that day. Later on, because of various things he said and did, perhaps even under oath, I decided it was better if I didn't talk to him at all. He was old and frail and having trouble remembering things. At the breakfast buffet at a subsequent Comic-Con in San Diego, I saw him not know who Marv Wolfman was and I figured it he didn't recognize Marv, he wouldn't recognize me. I certainly wasn't about to direct any anger at that man at that age. Perhaps you have friends you liked at certain times but chose to avoid at others.

From the articles, I gather that the Stan Lee Hologram is programmed to speak sentences that Stan himself uttered in life. I'd pay good money if it could say some of the things he said to me that went unrecorded about how his collaborators — Jack Kirby, especially — had so many of the ideas and came up with so many (and so much) of the stories and characters for which he received the writing — and often, sole creator — credit. But I had a long, up-and-down, on-and-off relationship with Smilin' Stan Lee and I certainly don't need his hologram disappointing me the way the man did.

Here's something else to get that mind of yours off assaults on Free Speech by people who believe in the First Amendment but can always find exceptions when someone says something they don't like. This is a colorized version of The Our Gang Follies of 1938, which represents (I think) a high point in that series. The films which then starred Spanky, Alfalfa, Darla and the others were on the downside by then, having gone from the two-reel format to the one-reel format. Their producer, Hal Roach, was about ready to sell the entire franchise off and get out of the shorts business altogether.

But for some reason, they made this two-reeler — the last-ever Our Gang two-reeler even though the series went on (produced by MGM) until 1944 — and spent a fortune on it. And it looks even more expensive in this colorized version. I like a lot of the Our Gang comedies that preceded this but I don't recall being too fond of any that followed — and this one is loaded with charm and cuteness and funny…