Monthly Archives: January 2014

Frank Rich does not believe Fox News really has the power to effect change in this country; that its only power now is its ability to piss off Liberals. I kinda agree with that but I think it's also good at giving Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert a target to shoot at, and at selling walkers and reverse mortgages.

I assume most of you watch The Daily Show but just in case you don't…

Conservative Maggie Gallagher says that Republicans should stop using the term "job creator" because it reminds people of their bosses.

I think they should stop using it because it's kind of a fake term. What they mean is "rich person" but they don't want to say "rich person" so they say "job creator." But a lot of rich people — maybe even the overwhelming majority — don't create jobs except the way a lot of middle-class people do — hiring a gardener or a housekeeper once a week or something like that. Dana Milbank explained all about this here.

We always seem to have one of those "voodoo economics" explanations of why the poor will benefit if the rich pay little or no taxes. It used to be the "trickle down" theory but when we slashed taxes for the wealthy, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. That theory has failed so totally that they came up with the "job creator" one: If we slash taxes for the wealthy, they'll create more jobs. When this one fails a little more, it'll be replaced by another one. Hey, you know if we eliminate taxes for the wealthiest Americans, they'll all start handing out hundred dollar bills to poor people?

One reason Peter Sellers wasn't in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was that he wanted the same kind of money he'd been receiving for being the sole star of the movie and if they'd paid him that, they would have had to pay the same thing to Milton Berle, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, etc. So they got Terry-Thomas instead.

Another reason was that Mr. Sellers had another movie to begin shooting…a pretty good comedy which came out fifty years ago tomorrow. It was Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. According to Eric Schlosser, a lot more of that film was true than some of us might imagine.

Not long after John F. Kennedy was assassinated, my parents took me out to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to hear an evening of folk singers. The main event was Pete Seeger and what I recall is that he sang for a very long time and we all loved him. There were speeches, by him and others, about not letting the murder of J.F.K. kill our hopes and idealism…but the songs were much more eloquent. It was a very exciting evening.

Flash forward to the evening before the first inauguration of Barack Obama. There on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Seeger and Bruce Springsteen overwhelmed the audience — there and all over the world — with a passionate rendition of "This Land is Your Land." And I had to think…

Seeger spent his life singing and preaching about making America a better place. Often, he was denounced as a commie or worse for his messages, few of which seem all that radical today. What would he have thought that evening back at the Santa Monica Civic if someone had said to him, "You'll live long enough to sing that last song on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as America inaugurates a black man as President of the United States"?

He just died at the age of 94. He saw an awful lot of his dreams come true.

I just caught an episode of Pawn Stars — a relatively new episode, I think. It's called "I'll Be Doggone."

In it, a lady brought in a copy of the 1958 Peanuts paperback called Snoopy, containing what was purported to be an original sketch of Lucy by Charles Schulz. Chumlee, of the pawn shop's staff, called in an expert to verify that the sketch and signature were legit. The expert came in, said they were…and Chumlee bought the book from the seller for $1400. Presumably, if this was a legit transaction and not just one staged for the cameras, the book then went on sale in the shop for well over that amount.

Now, I'm always hesitant to say a drawing is real or fake unless I hold the actual drawing in my hands. So I won't go any farther than to say that on my set, it sure looked phony.

There are a lot of articles and Internet posts around that seem pretty certain Woody Allen was a child molester…or worse. If you read and believed any of them, you oughta read Robert B. Weide as he makes a very calm, reasoned case for Allen's innocence.

I don't know what to think and I'm somewhat reticent to convict someone (or condemn an accuser) based on a "trial" via Internet postings. But Wiede does put forth a pretty strong argument that there's a lot more to this story than most of the articles admit, and that there are a lot of outright untruths around.

• If you need to kill a few hours, just go to your bank and tell them you need a cashier's check in Euros.

Here are some of the cutest creatures on Earth — even if not one of them is a baby panda or me…

Lots of messages about Leno, all from folks I'm not sure want their names used so I won't. This one's from a friend in the TV business…

What if the Jimmy Fallon show is getting a .5 rating six months in, and NBC goes back to Leno and says they'll double his paycheck he'll do the show one more time? Did anybody ask him that? (I'm not saying that Jay is planning it.)

If they'd asked Jay that, he would have given the most diplomatic answer — that's not going to happen — but it's also probably the true one. This isn't like last time when Jay was still up and running with his 10 PM show. He had a studio, offices, a full staff, etc. Going back to The Tonight Show was just a matter of bringing in a new desk, booking more guests and changing the name on the studio doors. A pal of mine there then said that if they'd called Jay at 3:00 in the afternoon and said, "Hey, instead of taping The Jay Leno Show in an hour, make it an episode of The Tonight Show," they could have pulled it off.

This time, Jay's whole infrastructure there is being dismantled. There'll be no studio, no offices, no staff, etc. The Tonight Show is moving to New York, remember. Jay would have to start from scratch. NBC couldn't just pop him back into the slot while they looked around for the young guy they think can do the show for the next decade or two. If Fallon bombs to the point where they can't keep him on — which I also don't think will happen — they'll have to go out and find that next fellow in a hurry. (Also, it'll be a little harder to get rid of Fallon than it was to get rid of O'Brien. Fallon has Lorne Michaels behind him.)

This message is from a friend who works with Mr. Leno…

You're right. Jay didn't want to go off the air. I'm surprised as you that he's ruling out another late night slot now because he doesn't have to do that. As recently as a few weeks ago, he wasn't ruling that out. He was just chuckling and saying, "I'm not going to think about that now." Apparently, he has thought about it. It has me wondering if he has a new gig but it doesn't exactly fall under the definition of competing with the other guys in late night.

Maybe. Or maybe Jay's just decided to go out on top and turn into Bob Hope but without the cheesy prime-time specials and the Christmas tours. There really is a void that will need filling soon for Elder Statesperson of Comedy…and it's not like Leno doesn't have plenty to do. He has stand-up dates in Florida the night after he does his last Tonight Show.

That's one of the intriguing things for me about Leno: He's done it a different way from everyone else. He didn't set up a production company to do other shows like Dave and Conan did. He found another source of income. He's kept his stand-up, which he enjoys doing and for which he gets paid a fortune, as a viable avenue. Letterman doesn't seem to have anything else to do in show business once he leaves that show of his. Johnny didn't have anything to do once he left his. Jay's got a job the next night.

Lastly, this is from a fellow comedy writer…

I feel like you do about all the late night shows except that I never saw as much in Craig Ferguson as you once did. Letterman really depresses me. He used to be a guy you tuned in to watch because his show was dangerous and he was constantly doing things that neither he nor anyone had ever done on television before. Now, he seems determined to do exactly the same show, including some of the same monologue jokes, he did the night before. So how long do you think he's going to do it and how well do you think Fallon's going to do?

The answer to how long Dave's going to do it may be answered when we see his numbers without Jay against him. If they go up considerably, he could be there a while. If he finds himself finishing third to two Jimmies…well, he might still stick around as long as they'll let him. I get the feeling Dave's doing that show because he doesn't know what else to do (see above) and he likes having a place to go during the day. He does have a special relationship with Les Moonves there and if not for that, I suspect he would have gotten the tap on the shoulder by now.

One big difference between Jay and Dave is that Jay didn't put NBC in business at 11:35 the way Letterman opened up that time slot for CBS, as well as the one that follows his show. We forget what a desolate wasteland that was before Dave moved in there…and now, no one's assuming there won't be a new talk show there whenever he stops doing his. I kind of assume CBS would like to get a younger guy in there but the affiliates aren't pushing because they recognize that Dave cleared the land. That makes it harder, though not impossible, to kick him off it.

How will Fallon do? I think he'll do well enough for NBC and maybe a little better than that. I don't think his show will beat Leno's numbers but I think NBC is in this for the long haul, and they figure that by 2015 or 2016, Fallon will be equalling or bettering what Jay would have done then if they'd left him on…plus he'll be doing the show for a lot less money. I suspect NBC wasn't prepared for Conan to pull down lower numbers than Jay but they are prepared to cope with that with Fallon. The business has changed a lot in the last few years with regard to late night. It's no longer the major profit center it once was. Now, there's the feeling that if it's ever going to be that again, it's going to require patience and reinvention. If they just wanted to be #1 in the time slot now, they would have left Jay in place until his numbers started to sink.

Speaking of late night: It's after 5 AM and I still have a script to finish before I sleep. More on this tomorrow, assuming I don't sleep through tomorrow.

I'm not plugging a lot of Kickstarters and only ones where the person seeking funds does not ask me. Jackie Estrada did not ask me to plug this one and it's highly worthy of your patronage if you care at all about comic books and the people who make them.

Jackie has been an important figure behind the Comic-Con International for years, not just as the administrator of the Eisner Awards but in many capacities. She is also, as you'll see if you go to her Kickstarter page, a fine photographer. Since darn near everyone important in comics has been to Comic-Con, darn near everyone important in comics has had a pic or two snapped by Jackie Estrada. And now, she's assembling them into a book called Comic Book People.

You'll want a copy of this. Watch the video. Look at the sample photos over on her Kickstarter page. Sign up to back the book at some level that will get you a copy. I can't imagine how you could be even a wee bit sorry. Even if there's a picture of me in it.

I just learned something new about my iPhone from this.

A recurring theme on this blog is how amazing coincidences just seem to happen to its proprietor.

If you watched the 60 Minutes story on Jay Leno earlier this evening as I did, you saw some scenes set at the Comedy and Magic Club down in Hermosa Beach. Darn near every Sunday night, Jay and his friend 'n' fellow comedian Jimmy Brogan drive down there together and Jimmy opens for Jay. They really put on a fine show and those of you who only know Leno from The Tonight Show and wonder about his rep as a great stand-up would do well to get there some time and see him. And you'll also enjoy the heck out of Jimmy, who used to be Jay's main monologue writer. In the 60 Minutes segment, you saw Jimmy coming off stage as Jay went on.

Anyway, so I just took Carolyn over to a market and there, I ran into Jimmy Brogan, who I've known for years. I said, "Hey, I just saw you on 60 Minutes!" and he laughed and said, "I didn't. It was on while Jay and I were down at the club tonight and everyone backstage watched it except me because I was onstage at the time." We talked about other things but I had to ask him about Jay and he said it's pretty much like what he said on the show. He doesn't want to do another talk show and is turning down all inquiries and offers. Jimmy knows Jay as well as anyone who isn't married to him and he thinks Jay is really fine with the whole thing. That's good enough for me.

Cartoonist Morrie Turner, creator of the strip Wee Pals, died on Saturday. He had been hospitalized for kidney problems. As recently as last Thursday, he posted a message on his Facebook page saying, "Have been having some medical issues that require surgery — and I'll be recuperating for a bit." He invited folks near Sacramento (where the hospital is located) to drop by and visit him while he underwent dialysis.

Morris "Morrie" Turner was born in 1923 and grew up to become the first nationally syndicated African-American cartoonist. The heavyweight parlay of Charles M. Schulz (whom he called his "mentor") and comedian Dick Gregory urged him to create his own strip and so Wee Pals made its debut in 1965. It was a charming feature that rarely called much attention to its multi-racial cast, though some of the animations of it over the years were a little loud about that.

In 2003, the National Cartoonist Society awarded him the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2012, he received the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award at the Comic-Con International in San Diego. He was a friendly man, much-liked in the cartooning community and probably by everyone who ever met him. I sure liked him…and I also liked Wee Pals, too.

Well, okay. There's Leno on 60 Minutes saying he's not going to do another late night show. That's news to a lot of folks, including at least a couple who figured into possible future plans that now do not seem possible. I'm still kinda curious if Jay has something lined-up in the way of television or if he actually intends to just do his stand-up act and pop up in occasional guest shots. Wonder if NBC, which still has him under contract 'til September, can or would block him from going on with Letterman.

I see before me a drastic change in my late night viewing. I'll try Mr. Fallon on Tonight but my reaction to his 12:35 program has generally been, "Gee, I like that guy but I have no interest in watching him on that show." I've been catching Letterman and Ferguson when they have a guest on I want to see…which doesn't happen all that often. Either Craig Ferguson has changed a lot in the last three years or I have because I now find him trying way too hard to do silly stuff to amuse his audience…dancing, making faces, etc. Letterman remains Letterman…a cranky guy who occasionally reminds you how good he used to be.

I remain inexplicably uninterested in watching Conan or Arsenio, and explicably uninterested in Jimmy Kimmel. I've tried him a few times and while the show seems to be well-written, I just find the host way too arrogant and mean-spirited. Folks who work on the show tell me he's a great guy but I sure haven't seen that on-camera.

Getting back to Leno: The 60 Minutes piece was the first time I've seen anything in the media that didn't make him out to be the Master Villain in the whole do-si-do with Conan O'Brien. As I've written here, I think Jay got a raw deal, P.R.-wise, in that whole mess. I don't feel sorry for him because, after all, he did wind up with The Tonight Show and a certain vindication by its ratings, to say nothing of the income. But I think people always bought into the idea that he wholeheartedly agreed with giving the show over to O'Brien and then later reneged. I was surprised to see 60 Minutes underscore that that was not the way it went down.

I have a couple of e-mails here asking me questions about Leno and the comedy business. I'll try to answer them here in the next few days.