Yearly Archives: 2015

The state legislature in North Dakota just voted down a bill that would have protected LGBT folks from discrimination. A newspaper in that state took up its front page to post photos of all those who'd voted.

Here's that front page. See if you can guess which one of them will soon get arrested in a lavatory soliciting others of the same gender or will otherwise be exposed as a closeted gay person. I see one or two very likely ones in there. Extra points if you can predict how many will find out that they have a gay son or daughter.

And all of these upstanding Americans will eventually be in the same position as the many lawmakers who voted for racial segregation time and again, only to later have to deny they'd done that or work up convoluted explanations of how, well, those weren't really votes for segregation…

Here's David Letterman and a guy who will never be one-tenth the host David Letterman is…

Fred Kaplan thinks the pending deal to strip Iran of its nuclear capabilities looks like a real good one. Somehow, I have the feeling that anyone seeking political office as a Republican (or a paycheck at Fox News) will think it's a terrible deal, that Obama gave away the store, that we were sold out, etc.

WonderCon Anaheim kicks off tomorrow at the Anaheim Convention Center. There are a few badges left for Friday and Sunday but, I hear, not many. I will be there the entire time. I do not have a table there because I'm not selling anything but I will be wandering about, rarely straying far from my amigo Sergio Aragonés, with whom I have a panel tomorrow. Sergio is selling things including books and original art and you'll want to drop by table A-39 and see him…and while you're there, stop by A-40 and make fun of Len Wein's pants.

Otherwise, you'll want to spend your time either at my panels or lining up for my panels to make sure you get a good seat. Here once again is the schedule of what I'm doing. Note that we have happily added the lovely Kathy Garver to the Cartoon Voices panel on Saturday. The entire programming schedule can be read here but these are the ones you really want to attend…

Friday, April 3 – 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM in Room 208
THE SERGIO & MARK SHOW
For years now, a Sergio & Mark panel has consisted of them promising that the new Groo would be out soon; but now there is new Groo out! It's the new limited series, Groo: Friends and Foes, starring the stupidest barbarian ever, plus a lot of folks who want to kill him. The panel will talk about it, what's coming next, and forthcoming Sergio & Mark projects. Join Sergio Aragonés, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo), and maybe, if he can be pried away from the computer, Tom Luth!

Friday, April 3 – 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM in Room 300DE
WRITING FOR ANIMATION
Mark Evanier has been writing cartoons since they were actually drawn on paper. He has worked on many shows including, The Garfield Show, Garfield & Friends, Dungeons & Dragons, Mother Goose and Grimm, Scooby Doo, Thundarr the Barbarian, Richie Rich, Yogi Bear, Superman: The Animated Series, The Wuzzles, CBS Storybook, ABC Weekend Special, Plastic Man, and many more! If you've ever wanted to write for animation, Mark is the guy to tell you how to do it, and maybe even how to sell it.

Saturday, April 4 – 4:45 PM to 5:45 PM in Room 300DE
CARTOON VOICES
Your host, Mark Evanier, gathers together some of the best actors in the animation field to tell you how they do what they do, and demonstrate their amazing skills right before your ears. This time, the dais features Sumalee Montano (Transformers Prime, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis), Bob Joles (Spongebob Squarepants, Planet Sheen), John Mariano (Animaniacs, Hey Arnold!), Julie Nathanson (Final Fantasy XIII, Skylanders), Gregg Berger (Garfield, Spider-Man), and Kathy Garver (Spider-Man, 1954 Alcatraz).

Sunday, April 5 – NOON to 1:00 PM in Room 207
COVER STORY: THE ART OF THE COVER
Covers. Every comic book has at least one. What does it take to design a great cover for a comic book? Five folks who have done it come together to discuss the secrets with moderator Mark Evanier. You will hear from Kris Anka (Uncanny X-Men, Ms. Marvel), Aaron Kuder (Action Comics, Batman), Ken Lashley (Secret Six, Superman: Doomed), Kevin Wada (She-Hulk, Adventure Time), and Kevin Maguire (Justice League International, Guardians of the Galaxy). Come and learn about this vital but under discussed art form.

Sunday, April 5 – 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM in Room 208
SPOTLIGHT ON LEN WEIN
At one time or another, Len Wein has written almost all the major characters for most major publishers. He launched Swamp Thing, The New X-Men, Wolverine and so many more. here is your chance to hear one of comics' most prolific creative talents discuss his career and work, all while being grilled by longtime friend, Mark Evanier. Sizzling revelations are promised.

Sunday, April 5 – 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM in Room 209
JACK KIRBY TRIBUTE
Time to salute and talk about the man some in comics call "The King." The life, times and influence of Jack Kirby will be discussed by Neal Adams, Darwyn Cooke, Fred Van Lente, Crystal Skillman, Len Wein, Paul S. Levine (attorney for the Rosalind Kirby Trust), and Kirby biographer and former assistant, Mark Evanier.

As always, participants, times and anti-gay laws in Indiana are subject to change at any moment.

Tommy Donovan, a devout follower of this site, called this to my attention. It's a clip from a recent The Price is Right and I think it may be an off-air moment during one of the commercial breaks…

You know who that man in the audience is? That's Jimmy Weldon. Jimmy was a kid show host in Los Angeles in the sixties (and elsewhere, before) working with his puppet friend, Webster Webfoot. He supplied pretty much the same voice for the Hanna-Barbera duckling Yakky Doodle and did other voices on H-B shows. More recently, he's been a motivational speaker and he's quite a character himself. Too bad he didn't get selected as a contestant. It would have been great to hear Yakky bidding on a new Lexus.

Dahlia Lithwick on how the arguments for "religious freedom" are at odds with the arguments the same folks are making against Gay Marriage. Most intriguing is when Ms. Lithwick, a devout Supreme Court watcher, suggests that what's going on in Indiana may just sway the notoriously-swingable vote of Justice Kennedy towards legalizing Gay Marriage. Which is not to say I ever believe anyone's predictions on how the High Court will rule.

I get the feeling the Internet has just about exhausted itself over Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. One thing I hadn't seen 'til now though is an annotated copy of the law itself, presented in a non-partisan atmosphere.

A bit more partisan — though apparently accurate — is this piece that debunks the claim that Indiana's version of "religious freedom" act is really no different from many others out there. On the other hand, I'm not sure there's anyone out there who objects to the Indiana law but is in favor of the others.

Reading various discussions and tirades, I see a lot of people who are angry at those who say the Indiana law makes discrimination against gays legal. Well, I think it does…but they ought to direct some of their ire at Governor Mike Pence. He goes on TV. Again and again, he's asked if this law makes discrimination against gays legal. Again and again, he obviously refuses to answer. What else are people going to think?

The late Don DeFore was one of those actors who was in absolutely everything, in part because he made the difficult transition from being a leading man to being a good comic actor. I knew him first as the latter, starring in the popular sitcom of the sixties, Hazel. Before that, he was a regular on Ozzie and Harriet and before that, he racked up an impressive list of film credits including The Human Comedy, A Guy Named Joe, Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, It Happened on 5th Avenue, My Friend Irma and even She's Working Her Way Through College. Today on Stu's Show, your enthusiastic host Stu Shostak welcomes two of Don DeFore's children, Ron DeFore and Dawn DeFore Burdine to talk about their illustrious father.

Stu's Show can be heard live (almost) every Wednesday at the Stu's Show website and you can listen for free there. Webcasts start at 4 PM Pacific Time, 7 PM Eastern and other times in other climes. They run a minimum of two hours and sometimes go way, way longer. Whenever a show ends, it's available soon after for downloading from the Archives on that site. Downloads are a measly 99 cents each and you can get four shows for the price of three. And that's no April Fool's Day joke.

Header cartoon aside, there will be no April Fool's Day jokes on this blog today.

I just fixed the link on the previous item. It now actually takes you to the article mentioned, which I thought would be a nice touch.

Looks like RadioShack has received a last minute reprieve from the governor…or actually from a judge in bankruptcy court. Perhaps the new owners can morph the stores into something more successful. I hope it will occur to them to try hiring employees who know something and paying them well enough that they'll stick around.

I'm thinking this whole mess over "religious rights" in Indiana shows us how far we've come in terms of L.G.B.T. rights in this country. Few if any of the politicians who ever want to get elected or re-elected and who are defending the law are saying, "Yeah, it discriminates against gays and we think that's good." Governor Pence instead has had to come out and say he wants legislation "…that makes it clear that this law does not give businesses a right to deny services to anyone."

He won't go so far as to come out for statewide anti-discrimination protections for L.G.B.T. Hoosiers. After all, he still wants the Republican nomination for president. But not all that long ago, the argument would have been that businesses should be able to kick out gay couples who want to buy wedding cakes…and now the folks who believe that have pretty much been driven into the closet.

This morning, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson who was expected to sign a bill similar to Indiana's, has said he wants modifications in it. Here's how I think that roughly translates…

Listen, I need to sign an anti-gay bill because my base will be furious with me if I don't. But too many people will be pissed at me if I sign an anti-gay bill so I need an anti-gay bill that I can argue isn't one.

This kind of thing may work but not for much longer.

Tom Ruprecht, who used to write for David Letterman and now writes for Larry Wilmore, has some anecdotes about his days with Dave.

• I seem to be the only person who writes about comedy on the web who has no idea what kind of a Daily Show host Trevor Noah will be.

On April Fool's Day of 1957, the BBC broadcast this video, which has been called the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on TV viewers. I don't know if whoever said that considered some of the shows I worked on which were advertised as comedies…but what the BBC did was truly impressive, given how many viewers apparently didn't get that it was a prank.

I wrote here the other day that I think most pranks are infantile and an awful lot are just nasty. The exceptions would be those that don't hurt or embarrass anyone and which have a bit of wit about them. This one would qualify…

It looks like it's final. The Sportsmen's Lodge out in the Valley, which I wrote about here, will lose its banquet and meeting facilities in a few months when they're torn down to make way for a shopping center. I can't even imagine how many Bar Mitzvah receptions, weddings, memorial services, business meetings, coming-out parties, lectures, fund-raising dinners, social gatherings and such were held on those soon-to-be-extinct premises.

Here are some photos of bygone days. You'll notice some people going trout fishing in the bodies of water on the grounds there. That was a long time ago. I wish they'd had trout the last twenty-or-so years there. I could have brought along my Popeil Pocket Fisherman® and been spared eating the Play-Doh Tri-Tip and the Silly Putty Potatoes.

It's been a bad month for the Usual Gang of Idiots. Tom Koch, who wrote for MAD for close to forty years died March 22 at his home in Laguna Woods, California. If that alone doesn't impress you he was a great comedy writer, try this: He was also one of the primary writers for the great radio comedians, Bob and Ray.

Koch wrote an estimated 3,000 comedy spots for Bob and Ray, mailing them in from his home in Indiana. Only rarely was a submission of his not used. Said Bob Elliott of the team, "Everything he did was funny. He was a gold mine of funny thoughts and exactly what we needed to punctuate what we had already been doing."

In 1957, MAD was trying to lure readers with articles "written by" top humorists of the day — Ernie Kovacs, Henry Morgan, Stan Freberg, etc. With one or two exceptions, MAD just secured the right to adapt existing material performed by these folks. Bob and Ray were also featured and their short routines, illustrated for MAD by Mort Drucker, fit in better than any of them. Most of these routines were written by Koch (pronounced "Cook," by the way) and he got involved with their adaptation to magazine form. Al Feldstein, who was then the editor there, was short on writers and he suggested Koch could also contribute on his own to MAD. Koch began doing so and his presence in MAD long outlasted that of Bob and Ray.

He wrote over 300 pages for the publication and several paperback books, his most memorable piece being "43-Man Squamish," which appeared in a 1965 issue. He was reportedly as proud of that as he was for all the work he did in television for Pat Paulsen, George Gobel, Jonathan Winters and so many others. He even wrote for situation comedies including Petticoat Junction, My Living Doll and My Mother, The Car.

Koch rarely socialized with the rest of the MAD family and many of its other contributors either didn't know him or didn't know him well. They all respected his work though and envied his very clever mind and sense o' humor. I sure liked what he did.

It's Cookie Monster. Just watch it…