Monthly Archives: February 2010

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who seems to think he can soon be President of the United States, thinks we should have a balanced budget and even stick an amendment in the Constitution that mandates that. Bruce Bartlett, who was a senior economic advisor in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, explains why Pawlenty doesn't have any idea how to balance the federal budget or what such an amendment would involve.

A brief interview with Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin & Hobbes. Mr. Watterson has now inherited the mantle of "supreme recluse" from J.D. Salinger.

Howard Kurtz wonders if Barack Obama has "lost" Jon Stewart's support. I suspect there are two factors at work here. One is that a lot of folks who lean left have gotten frustrated with the president for lack of action. But I think also it's simply becoming more possible to make jokes about the man. It's always difficult with a new face on the scene to find "access points," things about the subject that lead to humor…but eventually they emerge. Quirks become exaggerated. Flaws become more obvious. I seem to remember some prominent political cartoonist — may have been Paul Conrad — saying that the longer an elected official was in office, the easier he or she became to caricature.

We continue to watch in fascination (but with increasingly less skepticism) the plans by Jerry Lewis to direct a Broadway musical based on his classic movie, The Nutty Professor.

When first we heard of it, he seemed to have the idea, a star, the absolute determination that the show would open soon…and nothing else. No writer, no composer, no theater, no nothing. He later picked up a pretty accomplished writer in Rupert Holmes and a pretty impressive composer in Marvin Hamlisch and I'm assuming he has some sort of funding from somewhere. Now, according to this article, he's about to start casting…with plans to open the show in New York in October or November.

What doesn't he have? Well, he doesn't seem to have a theater yet. That's no small omission. (He says he's meeting soon with James Nederlander, who controls most of the theaters in N.Y. and that he wants the Marquis, which is where he did Damn Yankees. That's not impossible but he's not going to get it soon. The new Twyla Tharp musical featuring the music of Frank Sinatra, Come Fly With Me, is opening at the Marquis on March 1 for an open-ended booking. That means no one knows how long it'll be playing there.)

Lewis also doesn't seem to have plans for out-of-town tryouts anywhere. That's awfully risky.

This thing is starting to feel like it's going to happen…somewhere. Betcha he books it into some regional theater soon…or maybe a tour. And if it does well there…

Thanks to Tom Galloway for letting me know about the article.