Monthly Archives: January 2015

What's Craig Ferguson up to now? Mostly, he's on tour with his stand-up act. You'll be able to find out if he's coming near you over at his new website.

Yeah, I watched some of the Golden Globes last night. I liked the monologue (duologue?) by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler but I'm rarely in the mood for hours of millionaires honoring each other and it's especially hard to take when it's an award that everyone knows is voted on by a small group of unimportant folks. It would be like if all the gardeners who cut lawns on my block got together and named The Garfield Show Best TV Series Ever and I put on a tux and thanked everyone as if the whole world had decided that. The Academy Awards at least are chosen by people who are close enough to the business to get free screeners.

Each year, my pal Bob Elisberg explains on his blog why the Golden Globes involve a lot of people pretending they mean something when they don't. He also debunks the myth that they're even a good barometer of how the Oscars will fall. Bob's right. But of course, it's a big party and it's televised and the award has a cool name and it looks good on your mantle or in ads. So everyone goes along with it.

The only two good things about the ceremony each year are the opening jokes and Ken Levine's review the next day.

---

Here's another report on Frank Ferrante's show yesterday. I enjoyed meeting Daniel Faigin after the performance and you can read on his blog how much he enjoyed Frank.

By the way: I met Hal Holbrook a few months ago when I went to see him do Mark Twain Tonight. I was hoping to run into him yesterday in the parking lot so I could ask him about the slush fund controlled by H.R. Haldeman and he could tell me to follow the money.

(In case you don't get the reference: In the movie of All the President's Men, Holbrook played the character of Deep Throat, the informant who helped out Woodward and Bernstein. It must have been an interesting challenge for Mr. Holbrook. He had to portray a real person without knowing who that person was. At the time, Bernstein and Woodward wouldn't tell the filmmakers who D.T. really was and the filmmakers were worried that it would come out that Deep Throat was a black dwarf or a lady wrestler or something. Woodward assured them the casting of Hal Holbrook was a good choice. And if you ever saw an interview with Mark Felt, the gent who was eventually revealed to be the Mystery Man, you can see that he was.)

I am still dealing with e-mail problems and also with deadlines so there may be a Soup Day or two in the coming week. Your understanding is always appreciated.

Another couple of classic Disney tunes from The Magic of Voices…

So this article by Joanna Robinson says that Stephen Colbert will debut as host of The Late Show on September 8. The headline on the piece calls that "almost a year" but it's actually a bit less than eight months from now or, if you want to get specific, eight months and 21 days since the final Colbert Report. I have a hunch that when the decision was made as to when to end that show, the deciders thought Mr. Letterman would be leaving after the February sweeps instead of the May sweeps.

Dave's last show is May 20. That means sixteen weeks before Colbert debuts and as the article notes, CBS plans to fill those weeks with reruns of prime-time series. Ms. Robinson writes, "It's interesting that CBS is choosing to go with reruns rather than hiring a roster of guest hosts like Judd Apatow, Drew Carey, Will Arnett (or, hey, maybe even a lady), as they are doing to cover the gap between Craig Ferguson's exit and James Corden's debut on The Late Late Show." I believe it was also suggested that Corden's show could start an hour earlier during that time period.

Why are they doing it this way? Because, I assume, some folks thought that putting anyone else behind a desk in that slot would feel like they were auditioning potential replacements for Colbert if he doesn't perform up to expectations. Certainly, some of the folks who are filling in at 12:35 — though probably not Drew Carey — will be feeling it's their chance to show what they would do with that show or a show like that. There would also be the problem of where to do that interim show and then you'd have to assemble a crew to do it. The place-filler show at 12:35 now is just using Craig Ferguson's old set, staff, logo, announcer, etc. Even non-Ferguson footage from his opening.

I watched Drew Carey's first week and there were some funny moments, many of them courtesy of his Price is Right sidekick, George Gray, who tagged along. Carey had some sharp monologue jokes but otherwise looked like he was watching someone's house for them while they were out of town and was eager to get back to his own home. On Friday, they had a last minute cancellation of their lead guest, Sharon Osbourne. So who did they get? They got the guy who's always available and will do anything to get in front of an audience — the same guy they called when that happened with Ferguson. That's right: Larry King. Next time I have someone cancel on one of my panels at Comic-Con, I'm calling Larry. I'll bet he'll be there in a flash.

I'm still curious about something. All this week, that timeslot will be inhabited by a nighttime version of the daytime show, The Talk. Then the following week, Jim Gaffigan and Judd Apatow are splitting the week. The CBS production schedule shows that Gaffigan and Apatow are recording their shows each afternoon of that week and then the shows air later each day. Okay, fine. But the schedule also shows that this week, Drew Carey is hosting three more shows. On Wednesday, for example, he has on Pauley Perrette, Josh Malina and Cathy Ladman.

The production schedule goes through February 20 and is filled with shows that will air ten or so hours after they're recorded. So why are they doing three shows this week with Drew? I can't recall a network ever taping a late night talk show six or more weeks before it was telecast.

And the other question arises when you look at the list of guest hosts that includes Will Arnett, Wayne Brady, Tom Lennon, Kunal Nayyar and John Mayer. Are they really going to not let any women host before James Corden takes over?

Yesterday, I went to see Frank Ferrante do An Evening with Groucho in the afternoon. By my count, this is the eighth time I've seen him do this but that's fine because the show's a little different each performance — Frank varies the content plus there's all that improvisation with the audience. Even if it was the same show, I could watch him over and over.

I especially love the opening when he comes out as Frank and talks with the audience about what Groucho meant to his life as a point of personal inspiration. As he's doing this, he applies the last of his makeup — the eyebrows and 'stache — and then suddenly, the Italian guy disappears and there's Groucho. The audience always make a quiet, impressed gasp and it's like someone has made the late, great comedian appear before us.

And then he goes on being Groucho for the next 90 minutes or so. The folks yesterday who packed the place sure enjoyed it.

One was another point of personal inspiration in Frank's life: Hal Holbrook. Hal Holbrook, who just about invented the concept of playing a historical figure in a one-man show as a theatrical experience, was in the house and very approving. There was a lot of mutual admiration in the air. I was also gratified by the number of folks who came up to me, said they'd bought tickets because of this very blog and said, "You were right about Frank." It's always nice to be told you were right about anything.

This was Frank's last Groucho date until April, when he'll be in Palm Beach. When his entire 2015 schedule comes out, I'll let you know so you can go see him, enjoy his fine show and then write and tell me I'm right about him.

Here's a blast from the past — from 7/8/02 to be specific…

Time to recall another toy from my childhood: I was never particularly into toy guns but around the time I was eight, Mattel brought out what momentarily seemed like a Must-Own. It was the Shootin' Shell Buckle Gun…a tiny toy derringer built into a belt buckle. The premise here was that you were caught unarmed by the bad guys. "Put your hands up," they'd command and, since they had more conventional Mattel cap pistols (like the lethal Fanner 50 model) trained on you, you'd comply…and it would look like you were done-for. But! What they didn't realize was that you, shrewd lawman that you were, were wearing your Shootin' Shell Buckle Gun belt buckle. Just as they were about to pull their triggers, you would stick your tummy out and spring the control on the obverse side of the buckle. Suddenly, the derringer would pop out and fire at whoever was standing in front of you! What a secret weapon.

Of course, in real life, it didn't work precisely the way it did in the commercials. Few toys of my childhood ever did. First off, if you exhaled too much — or sometimes, for no reason at all — the derringer would spring out and fire before you were ready. The answer to this was that there was a little lock on the bottom of the buckle. Just before you were ready to fire, you had to take the lock off…which, of course, telegraphed to the bad guys that you were up to something and they would kill you before you could.

Another problem was that, in the commercial, the good guy would pop the buckle and shoot one bad guy, then snatch the derringer off the buckle lever and use it to fire several more shots, felling the other villains. This looked neat in the commercial but once you got your Shootin' Shell Buckle Gun, you discovered that it could only fire one shot before you had to stop and reload.

This took about five minutes. Mattel Shootin' Shell guns worked with a three-part ammo. One part was a plastic bullet — this was the part that actually fired. The derringer came with ten of these and after you shot people, you had to run around and find your plastic bullets so you could reuse them. Often, you couldn't, so you had to run out and buy another pack of plastic bullets.

You would insert one plastic bullet into a metal casing with a little spring in it. The derringer buckle came with two. Then, you'd take a page of Mattel's special caps — little round, green ones on a sheet of peel-off labels. You'd apply one cap to the back end of the bullet casing and you'd have a complete bullet you could insert into the gun and fire.

It was all a clumsy, awkward assembly and half the time, the cap would not explode so the plastic part of the bullet would be launched with an unexciting thud.

I remember having a semi-wonderful time with my Shootin' Shell Buckle Gun for about three days, or until I'd acted out the big ambush scene with all five of my friends. Then I stuck it in the back of my closet and got out my Chutes-'n'-Ladders board game. It didn't make a loud bang but at least it didn't force me to crawl around in the grass looking for my plastic bullets. Paladin — the guy on Have Gun, Will Travel — never had to do that.

Ray Bradbury lived for much of his life in a lovely little home in the Cheviot Hills area of Los Angeles, not far from where I grew up. The address was never much of a secret and when I was about twelve, a friend of mine and I walked over to it, then walked back and forth past it a few times. I guess we were hoping to spot him coming in or out and then we'd wave to him and he'd talk to us and invite us in and give us autographed books or…well, I'm not sure what we were hoping would happen. We would have been happy just to get a glimpse of him. We settled for the "closeness" of knowing we were walking past his home.

Later, I got to know him. A few times when he was at comic or science-fiction conventions, I'd offer to save him the cab fare and drive him home. Twice…maybe three times…he invited me in and we talked for a while. So there was something a bit magical to me about that home.

Last May, his family put it on the market with an asking price of $1.5 million. For that neighborhood, that was reasonable so I'm guessing it went for something around that figure. And late last week, they began tearing it down to build something new.

I just read some online messages that when they quit the demolition work on Friday, the house was without a roof. And now it's raining in Los Angeles…

Those of you who are familiar with Ray's story "There Will Come Soft Rains" will appreciate the imagery.

The local comedy/improv community is mourning the death of one of its well-loved players. Taylor Negron was a funny man who distinguished himself in roles large and small. He was in movies including Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Stuart Little, The Last Boy Scout, Angels in the Outfield and Better Off Dead. He was in TV shows including Friends, Seinfeld, ER, Hope & Gloria and Curb Your Enthusiasm. He was one of those "money-in-the-bank" performers who was hired by folks who knew he'd always come through for them…and he always did.

I first became aware of him in local improv groups and comedy clubs. It seemed like every time someone was assembling a troupe or casting a funny play, they tried to get Taylor Negron — for the same reason he got hired so often for TV and movie roles. I didn't know him well but the few times I was around him, he seemed like the kind of person everyone wants to be around. He just died of cancer at the age of 57 and an awful lot of funny people are very, very saddened by the news.

A long interview with a man of great talent, Frank Oz…

John Ficarra, the editor of MAD, will be on CBS Sunday Morning tomorrow morning. He'll be discussing, I'm assuming, the state of political satire in magazines or something connected to the Charlie Hebdo killings. The note I got from John said, "There's always a chance I could get bumped. The producer was hoping to get footage of a squirrel on tiny water skis…"

I still have nothing to say about the Charlie Hebdo matter beyond the obvious things that everyone in the comedy and humor community is saying. I agree with just about anyone who isn't in hysterics about this and maybe even with a few who are.

Also on CBS Sunday Morning, there's to be a segment on Dean Kamen, the inventor who gave us the Segway and many other neat things. My love of synchronicity forces me to mention that he is the son of the late comic book artist Jack Kamen, who worked extensively for EC Comics and even contributed briefly to MAD, back when that firm published it.

This ran here on 6/19/02. I have a lot more examples now…

I have another theory. It's that many old TV shows have been secretly refilmed to make them cheap-looking and less entertaining. I formulated this notion a few years ago when I caught a couple of vintage reruns of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. I just know this series didn't look that chintzy and wasn't as silly when it first aired. Using doubles of Robert Vaughn and David McCallum — or perhaps employing sophisticated computer imagery — someone has managed to drain the entertainment value of them.

I started thinking the same kind of monkeying had been done to David Frost's 1977 interviews with Richard Nixon. I watched them when they first aired and I watched the first two hours again the other night on the Discovery Civilization Channel. Something, one can't help but think, has changed. Maybe it's CGI animation or maybe they found David Frye and got him to redo Nixon's role…but I don't recall our 37th president being that rotten a liar. He's really terrible. My recollection is that while Frost landed some solid punches, Nixon held his own for much of it and made some solid points on his behalf with regard to Watergate and its allied scandals.

I could then understand how his supporters could have believed him…something I cannot fathom after the other night. He seems nakedly insincere and his tactic for diverting questions is in full view and utterly ineffective. I never liked or trusted the man but I thought he was a better fibber than this.

Perhaps the tapes (Frost's tapes, that is) have indeed been altered. The shows now airing have been recut to include material that was previously unused. Still, I find it hard to believe they cut out Nixon's better moments for this version, or that they omitted his worst, the first time around. I find it more credible to believe that in the quarter-century since, we've endured so many lying, weasely politicians up-close and personal on the cable channels, the art form of political misdirection has had to advance. They've had to improve on what Nixon did, and his skills of misdirection are no longer State of the Art. I wonder if people who once supported him watched these shows this week and said, "I can't believe I voted for this guy."

Around the world, 2015 will probably be best remembered as the year of a twelve-issue Groo series, the first installment of which goes on sale January 21. It's called Groo: Friends and Foes and each issue, Groo and his faithful canine companion run into a different character (or two) from Groo's past. Here's a sneak preview of #1.

It will probably not do any good but I would like to (again!) try to correct a recurring error that people make about this comic. Often on promotional materials, they say "Story by Mark Evanier, Art by Sergio Aragonés." That's not really accurate. For one thing, Sergio made up the story in that issue, as he does in most issues. He's mainly responsible for the plots, I'm mainly responsible for the dialogue. Sometimes, we overlap or I suggest a plot idea or a visual gag or he suggests a line. Mainly though, he does the stories and I do the words…but not totally.

There have been instances in past comics where the guy who did what I do would take the entire writer credit. Those instances often have led to blatant misattribution of who contributed what and often to resentment and ill feelings. To avoid that, Sergio and I decided years ago on Groo to avoid credits that said one guy wrote it and one guy drew it. Once in a while, I contribute so much to a story that Sergio insists I be credited as Writer but usually, the official credits we designate say "by Sergio Aragonés" and then the credit for me is either a joke or something vague. Lately, it's been "Wordsmith."

You'd be amazed how infrequently it is that people get this. Not long ago, I found myself explaining this to a longtime comic book writer who kept asking me, "Which of you is in charge of the writing?" and was not satisfied with my explanation that we both are.

"No, no," he kept saying. "Suppose you want Groo to do one thing in a story and Sergio wants him to do something else. Who has the final say on that?"

I said we both do.

"No, no, no," he said. "Two people can't both be in charge. If you don't agree, one person has to have the deciding vote."

I said no, if we don't agree, we talk it over until we do agree. "Human beings can do that," I explained. "Not everything in life has to be a power struggle."

"No, no, no, no," he said, escalating yet another no. "There must come a time when Sergio insists Groo slay the green dragon and you insist Groo slay the red dragon and neither of you will budge."

I said, "We've been doing Groo since 1982 and that's never happened. The longest argument we've had lasted about three minutes before it was settled to our mutual satisfaction. And by the way, in that situation, we would probably have Groo slay both dragons and the maidens they were menacing."

The guy never got it. A lot of people don't get it…or else when they write articles or promotional materials for this comic, they see a blank space that says "Story by" and another that says "Art by" and they figure Sergio draws it so they'll give him the latter credit and stick my name in the first slot. When you see that, don't believe what you see. Usually.

This may sound trivial but I really feel uncomfy when I get a credit that rightly belongs to someone else…or sole credit when it should be shared. I don't really have a lot of respect for anyone who doesn't.

How Yogi Bear's collar revolutionized television. This account is basically correct…

It finally happened. As you may know, I get pestered all the time with phone calls from contractors and folks they hire to make "cold calls" to a list of homeowners. Often, they start these calls by lying. "Mr. Evanier," they say, "we spoke last August about some work you wanted to have done on your house and you asked me to call you back around now so we could discuss coming out to give you an estimate."

I got one of these the other day and I did what I usually do. I told him he was lying and if I did need work done on my home — I don't — I wouldn't hire someone who started off by lying to me.

Usually, that ends the call but this time, the fellow on the phone said to me, "Uh, now that I'm done with the sales pitch, could I ask you something?" Curious what it might be, I said yes.

He said, "Are you the Mark Evanier who writes comic books and cartoons?"

For a second, I thought a sly salesguy had Googled my name…but no. When I told him I was, he told me enough things to convince me he really knew who I was and liked my work. That never doesn't not surprise me. I finally told him, "Well, I'm flattered and now I wish I had some work to do on my house."

But of course, neither of those things is true. The guy is, after all, a liar.

This coming Sunday afternoon, our pal Frank Ferrante is doing his Groucho show in Los Angeles — at the American Jewish University. Why haven't I mentioned this here lately? Because it's sold out. Zero seats are available. I'll be occupying one so if you're a follower of this blog and you see a guy who looks like all the Sergio Aragonés caricatures that head up this page, say howdy. I predict a 40% chance of light rain and a 100% chance of loving Frank's performance.

Hey, it just dawned on me that Frank is the opposite of Chico Marx. Chico was a Jewish comedian playing an Italian guy. Frank is an Italian guy playing a Jewish comedian. I don't know what that observation is worth but it fills a few more lines of this blog.