Monthly Archives: April 2011

Talking to Gilbert

Posted on Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 2:19 PM

Here's an interview with Gilbert Gottfried that's mostly about how he was fired from his Aflac job for some Tweets he posted about the earthquake in Japan and the resultant tsunami. I've always found Mr. Gottfried very funny though I think I liked him more as an ad-libbing talk show guest (which he never seems to get to be lately, at least on television) and doing observational standup than what he seems to have become, which is a guy who just stands on a stage and quotes Playboy Party Jokes.

I agree with him that the quake victims in Japan probably have had more important things to think about than to take umbrage at some comedian's remarks on Twitter…and I agree with him that some people place way too much importance on actions of microscopic meaning, like putting a flag on your car after 9/11 or wearing a ribbon to cure AIDS. I always think there's a danger when folks begin to equate things like that with actually doing something about a problem.

Then again, the problem with a job like being the spokesduck for an insurance company is that they can fire you any time they feel like it for any reason. They could have dumped Gilbert because they didn't like the socks he was wearing or thought his voice was getting more annoying or because they had a shot at hiring away the Geico Lizard. Firing him because they do so much business in Japan and feared their association with him would alienate clients strikes me as just as good or bad a reason as any…though my guess is they'll wait a year or three, then ask him back.

Getting back to Mr. Gottfied as a talk show guest for a moment, I thought he was one of the best. In Conan O'Brien's early days at NBC, he had Gilbert on a couple of times — this was back when Gottfried was among the bigger names who'd do that show — and they were hysterical spots. I still have — on Beta but I keep meaning to transfer it — a Halloween episode where Gilbert came on and began dumping semi-affectionately on Dick Cavett, who was also on that evening, and hitting on Maureen McCormick of The Brady Bunch. It was one of the funniest hours I ever saw on television and there's no reason he wouldn't have been just as funny in later years or even today on Conan's show or any other. It's just that he doesn't have a big movie coming out or a series debuting and that's the criteria for being a real talk show guest these days.

Leno occasionally has Gottfried on for short sketches but then they give Gilbert his check and send him on his way…and bring out someone who's in a hit movie and has nothing amusing to say beyond the movie plug and one well-rehearsed anecdote. Right there is a lot of what's wrong with talk shows these days…all of them. And I don't think it's so much the case with Jay but I think some hosts are afraid to share the stage with someone who won't confine his remarks to what was decided in the pre-interview.

Go Read It!

Posted on Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 12:44 PM

A profile of Lorne Michaels. I don't think a lot of folks realize how powerful and important this man has been to the businesses of TV, movies and comedy in general…and it isn't just a matter of the stars whose careers he's launched. It has a lot to do with showing the rest of the industry how to access and exploit (I don't mean that in a bad way) the youth market.

So Far, So Good

Posted on Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 11:55 AM

The iPad 2 I ordered arrived recently, about a week before it was expected and I haven't had a moment yet to regret my purchase. I got a black one with 16 GB of storage and 3G connectivity and it's still a little amazing to me to be sitting in a public place surfing the 'net and watching YouTube videos on the thing. Here are some random thoughts about the device…

  • I just got the Logitech Zagg keyboard case which seems like a good keyboard and a bad case and I'm playing around with that.
  • I need to figure out what the best app is for working with Microsoft Word files from my PC. I've been using Docs2Go and while it's OK for raw text, it loses a lot of the page formatting including my footnotes. I gather from browsing iPad discussion sites, there is as yet no perfect app in this regard.
  • I don't seem to be getting the kind of battery life they talked about. Even with 3G turned off, it depletes faster than I'd expected. When I had this complaint about my iPhone, I took it into an Apple Store and one of the geniuses at the Genius Bar tested it, said nothing was technically amiss, then discovered I had some unnecessary program turned on that was draining power for no good reason…though not at a rate that made a huge difference. I don't think that's the case with my iPad but I keep browsing through Settings, looking for things that are on that shouldn't be.
  • Also, it's annoying that unlike my iPhone, it won't charge when connected to the USB port on my computer or to the charger I have in my car.
  • Then again, it is fun just to put the magnetized cover on and take it off and put it on and take it off.
  • The little Mute switch on my iPad doesn't seem to work. This may be one of those things that's too much trouble to fix but I'm going to take the device in one of these days and ask if I'm missing something and if something is amiss, how big a deal it would be to correct.
  • Speaking of audio, it would be nice if every app that plays music had a volume control on it. The iPod app does and I frequently have to dive into it to adjust the level while using some other app.
  • Far be it from me to tell Steve Jobs how to run his business since he's more than three times as successful as I am…but I was surprised the iPad didn't come with a manual or a little video tutorial that ran when you first turned it on. There seems to be some sort of conceit with Apple products that they want to say, "We're so simple that any idiot can figure out how to use it without instructions." And this idiot, who rarely consults the manual on anything he buys, did. But I still felt like something was missing from the box and I wonder if I'm missing some feature or command that I should know about.
  • The camera is really good for taking photos of Hot Turkey Sandwiches. This is very important. I wouldn't want one if it couldn't take a decent picture of a Hot Turkey Sandwich.
  • The amount of work time I will lose over the next year playing Sudoku games will in effect double what I paid for my iPad.
  • I was sure I couldn't get used to reading books via the Kindle app but I did. It took about a minute and a half.
  • Lastly for now: Via the Internet, I bought a Kensington brand stylus that is also a ball point pen and I like using it a lot more than I like using my finger on the screen. Best of all, the Kensington stylus has a clip on it so you can put it in your shirt pocket and it stays where you put it. Every stylus I saw at the Apple Store did not have a clip on it and neither do any of my fingers.

As you can see, none of my complaints are that big a deal and I expect my iPad will, overall, make life a lot more productive. If it just helps me get something written during the many times I'm sitting in a waiting room, it will pay for itself. I'll update this in a week or three. Right now, I have to go take more photos of Hot Turkey Sandwiches. That's really the only thing I bought it for.

Ernie

Posted on Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 2:43 AM

Speaking of guys who invented TV comedy in the fifties: Whatever Steve Allen didn't do, Ernie Kovacs probably did. There's a new boxed set out of Kovacs rarities and while I haven't received mine yet, I want it and I can't believe you won't. It's called The Ernie Kovacs Collection and it's six DVDs containing over fifteen hours of Ernie. How could that not be worth fifty bucks? I like the fact that while it does contain his famous half-hour silent show, it seems to have a lot of material where he was on camera and actually talking. I'm of the opinion that way too much emphasis has sometimes been placed on Kovacs as a visual comedian, doing things that he wasn't even in like props coming to life or surreal shots of paintings on the wall. All well and good…but I've always found him funny.

Now, I'm going to give you a link to order but don't click until you read all the way through. You can order from Amazon and get the 6-DVD set by clicking here. There's also a bonus seventh DVD that you get only when you order direct from the issuers of this set, Shout Factory. You'll probably want to do this since it contains whatever has survived (two episodes) from the brief period when Kovacs hosted The Tonight Show, plus there are other goodies.

In terms of the basic price, it's only five bucks more to order from Shout Factory but Amazon has free shipping for an item of that price, whereas Shout Factory will ding you for at least six and a half bucks for postage and handling. So it's more like eleven and a half bucks to get it with the bonus disc. Still sounds to me like it's worth it. (By way of Full Disclosure: This site receives a small commission when you order from Amazon through our links but not from Shout Factory.)

Anyway, here's the link to order from Shout Factory. I did.

Today's Video Link

Posted on Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 12:14 AM

Here's a gold strike on YouTube: Someone has posted in four parts, a pretty good copy of a 1960 episode of The Steve Allen Plymouth Show. This was another in the long line of Steve Allen programs…and I may be wrong but I think this was the first series he did on videotape as opposed to live. Nevertheless, I'll bet they shot it pretty much as if it was live.

It appears to have been done on Stage 1 at NBC Burbank, which is the studio Johnny Carson used for The Tonight Show years later. The steep rake in that studio (i.e., the way the audience was set up) was reportedly a suggestion/demand of Bob Hope and any time he did something in front of a live audience at NBC Burbank, he insisted on using that stage for it. On most of his specials — at least the later ones — they taped everything except the monologue and the closing across the hall on Stage 3. Then a night or two before the special aired, he'd appear on Mr. Carson's show to plug it and while he was there, they'd fly in a different curtain and Hope would tape his monologue and closing spot for the special using the Tonight Show audience. (Just before tape would roll, he'd make some reference to Carson being his opening act and say, "Thanks for warming them up for me, Johnny.")

The Steve Allen show you're about to see if you click features Tony Bennett as the main guest and the last fourth or so is mostly Bennett performing with Les Brown's orchestra. There are two special treats to look for if you want to scan through the hour. In the second of four parts, there's a very long sketch with Steve Allen as Dr. Frankenstein, Louis Nye as the Monster, Jayne Meadows as the Bride of the Monster and Gabe Dell and Bill Dana in supporting roles. It will remind you somewhat of Young Frankenstein, though I would imagine every variety show that was ever on for more than one season did a sketch that would remind you of Young Frankenstein.

In the third quarter of the episode, Steve does a long (about 10 minutes) segment of just chatting with members of the studio audience and passing out salamis. It's very funny and it's the kind of ad-lib situation that guys like Letterman and Leno would not dare attempt without prepared lines, planned routines and maybe even some advance coaching of the interviewees. If you only have time to watch a little of this, watch that.

As I said, it was uploaded in four parts. They should play one after the other in the player I've embedded below…and you should be able to figure out how to skip ahead to the later chapters if you like. You may also enjoy the Plymouth commercials, especially the one Steverino does. Thanks to Craig Robin for calling this to my attention — and now, enjoy…

VIDEO MISSING

Peek-A-Boo!

Posted on Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 11:44 PM

Want to see some great photos of where you live? Click here.

Deal of the Day

Posted on Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 10:14 PM

Are you interested in a book about flies? Well, I know where you could have picked one up for only $23,698,655.93…plus, of course, $3.99 shipping.

Now, that may seem a bit overpriced to you, especially because it's a paperback. But there's a reason it was priced like that and Michael Eisen seems to have figured it out. I think. Anyway, read what he has to say…and thanks to Mark Thorson for the link and also for his frequent corrections of typos I make here. (Thanks also to Rephah Berg, Gordon Kent and Ronald D. Bauerle for proofing. If I make an error here, one of these four folks will let me know within about three minutes.)

Cover Story

Posted on Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 11:22 AM

Dave Sikula delivers a long and excellent report on the Art of the Cover panel I moderated at WonderCon. A lot of folks love these panels in which artists dissect their work and discuss why they drew this, why they drew that and why they wish they'd drawn something different.

Today's Video Link

Posted on Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 1:41 AM

I recently wrote here about Farmers Market, a fixture of Los Angeles since 1934 and a part of my life as long as I can remember. It's a nice aggregation of merchants, a few of whom still sell fresh produce. In '34, most of them did and a few sold hot food. Over the years, the ratio reversed and you also got gift shops, souvenir shops, a toy store, a couple of jewelers, etc. The main attraction is that you go there, you get something to eat at one of the stalls and then you sit outdoors at a table and eat with your friends…or you can just watch all the interesting people pass by.

For those of you who don't know the Market: I'd recommend the chicken teriyaki at China Depot (yeah, I know Teriyaki is Japanese), the barbecue sandwiches at Bryan's Barbecue, the open face turkey sandwich and the corned beef sandwich at Magee's, anything fried at Tusquella's Seafood, the spaghetti at Patsy's Pizza, the donuts at Bob's and almost everything at the Pampas Grill but especially the chicken stroganoff. A lot of folks think The Gumbo Pot has the best cajun food in Los Angeles and that Loteria has superb Mexican chow but I don't know from those cuisines.

My parents probably took me there when I was an infant and my actual memories of the place begin around age 5 or 6. There was a pet store there that had a talking parrot and later a mynah bird on display outside its door. You would not believe how many tourists clustered around the current bird, whichever it was at the time, waiting for it to say something. Greatest crowd-attracter you've ever seen.

I also used to see celebrities there all the time, starting around age eight with Chuck Connors. I mean I was eight, not Chuck. I told him I always watched him on The Rifleman and he told me to go away because he was busy.

I have hundreds of stories about Farmers Market, above and beyond my infamous near-encounter with Mel Tormé. For a couple of years there, an actor named Chuck Mitchell was a fixture at the tables where folks sit and eat and lounge. Mr. Mitchell was famous for playing Porky in the Porky's movies. He actually had a pretty long, active career, usually playing rednecks and mobsters but no one knew him from those gigs. They knew him as Porky and for a few years there, he was always at the Market, signing autographs as Chuck "Porky" Mitchell and posing for photos and loving every minute of his late-arriving celebrity.

chuckmitchell01

It seemed to me he got there early in the morning so he could grab a certain table where tourists were most likely to pass. At least, he was usually at that table, chatting with actor pals, making like it was an unexpected but tolerated inconvenience when some tourist approached to ask for an autograph and/or pic. Once in a while, he'd just "happen" to have a spare eight-by-ten glossy he would let them have because they seemed like real fans.

When I dined at the Market, I'd sometimes sit where I could watch him in action. He was great at making those who approached feel welcome, telling them little anecdotes about the business and giving them the chance to go back to Idaho and say they'd met someone from the movies. I recall parents shoving their children into place for a snapshot with "Porky" and it never seemed to matter to anyone that he was famous for playing a nasty whorehouse owner in a film the kids were too young to see. He was a star…and as far as I was concerned, a much bigger one than Chuck "I'm busy" Connors.

One time, I was at the barbecue stand waiting for a sandwich and I heard Mr. Mitchell, as he picked up his lunch, remind the counterguy of where he was sitting and that it was okay to tell tourists who he was and to send them his way. I got the feeling he'd told this to the lady at the donut stand, the man at the ice cream counter, the folks at the sushi place, etc. — and I didn't see anything wrong or unbecoming about it. It made him happy. It made visitors happy. If I'd been a manager at Farmers Market, I'd have paid him to sit there all day, drink Bob's Coffee and pass out signed pictures. When he passed away in 1992, his usual table was vacant for a while. Someone put a funeral bouquet on it and an eight-by-ten of Chuck as Porky and it all seemed very warm and appropriate.

Things like that happen at Farmers Market. Here's a little video that the operators of the place put up on YouTube. It's mostly recent footage but they intercut some scenes of the Market in, I'm guessing, the late fifties. It hasn't changed all that much, which is nice because most everything else has. You'll get some sense of what the place is like…though they somehow missed including any footage of the place that makes the great Hot Turkey Sandwiches. They're probably saving that for a Special Edition.

VIDEO MISSING

Recommended Reading

Posted on Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 1:18 AM

When you get a moment, read David Frum's seven-part series (they're short) about the Welfare State in this country and how Conservatives need to appreciate what it is, not calculate how to dismantle it. Frum is basically where today's Republican Party would be if it hadn't listed rightward.

Art for Art's Sake

Posted on Friday, April 22, 2011 at 5:56 PM

You ever hear of the Guggenhead Museum of Awfully Modern Art? Probably not so let me tell you about it…

Around 1967, two folks named Paul and Lee Anthony in Scottsdale, Arizona decided to open a funny art gallery — a satire on recent trends in art and also in art galleries. I'm not sure if either Anthony created any or all of the works but they put together a bevy of very silly paintings with humorous commentaries on the little cards mounted next to them on display. The "collection" got a lot of press and before long — like, the next year, I think — it was touring the country, mostly turning up in little tents in shopping malls.

In Los Angeles, it "played" for a time at a bank complex at Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights — a big community center affixed to a branch of Lytton Savings, built on the site of the famous apartment complex, the Garden of Allah. There's now a strip mall there with a McDonald's and a Pollo Loco and places like that. Later as I recall, the Guggenhead show moved over to Century City for a few months, and it apparently went all over the country. (I would gather they had many duplicates of the paintings, not just the one set.)

Created in proper deadpan style, it was quite funny if you got the jokes and I'm not sure everyone did. It also made a pretty strong, clear statement about how a lot of what was being hailed as art was probably rubbish…but hey, if it spoke to you, fine. I may have gotten more in terms of lasting imagery and things to think about from the Guggenhead than I did out of a lot of so-called real art shows I attended.

The Guggenhead no longer exists in the real world but I was pleased to find that some of its works are online. Take a stroll through the gallery when you get a minute. It doesn't have quite the impact when you're not looking at the works (most of which were three-dimensional) in person but you may get a chuckle or three.

The Most Important News of the Year

Posted on Friday, April 22, 2011 at 1:57 PM

skidoo01

Okay, it's finally happened. They're bringing Skidoo out on an official DVD.

Don't know Skidoo? Well, understand this. This is not a good movie. It's also not really a bad movie. It transcends the concepts of "good" and "bad." It was directed by Otto Preminger in 1968 in a spectacularly-misguided attempt to capture some kind of youth audience and what makes it odder still is the cast: Jackie Gleason, Carol Channing, Mickey Rooney, Burgess Meredith, Peter Lawford, George Raft, Frankie Avalon, other folks like that…and in his final motion picture appearance, Groucho Marx in the role of God. Gleason called the picture "the greatest meatball of all time" and he didn't mean that as a compliment despite his apparent love of meatballs.

The DVD will be out in July and you can advance order it from Amazon by clicking here. If you've seen it, you probably want a copy just so you can show it to others who don't know the film and watch their reaction. They will have one. It may be shock, horror, hilarity, diphtheria or disgust but they will have one. I once experienced all those feelings and that was just during the opening titles.

That's Skidoo. It's more than just a movie. It's the reason so many people my age can't remember the sixties.

Today's Video Link

Posted on Friday, April 22, 2011 at 12:12 AM

From a 1966 episode of Hollywood Palace: Carl Reiner interviews a man who is actually two thousand years old. Hey, they couldn't claim that if it wasn't true…

VIDEO MISSING

Madelyn Pugh Davis, R.I.P.

Posted on Friday, April 22, 2011 at 12:05 AM

Madelyn Davis wrote an awful lot of things for television besides all the things she wrote (or co-wrote with partner Bob Carroll Jr.) for Lucille Ball. She wrote and sometimes produced Alice and The Mothers-in-Law and many, many other popular programs. But just the episodes she and Bob and (usually) Jess Oppenheimer wrote for I Love Lucy were enough to get her into anyone's Hall of Fame. People give Lucy all or most of the credit…but Lucy didn't ad-lib those shows. The writers knew how to make them funny and to give her what she needed to be funny.

I met Madelyn a few times and helped out in the writing room of one of her shows for a few days. She was gracious and modest and very good at what she did. And what she did was to help entertain an awful lot of people for an awfully long time.