Yearly Archives: 2015

Catie Lazarus does a popular monthly video podcast in New York and it's probably just a matter of time before some network gives her a wider stage. Right after Jon Stewart announced he'd be departing The Daily Show, she had him on for a very interesting conversation…

I have mixed feelings about Whole Foods Market. Most of what they sell looks so good in the store and is so disappointing when you get it home. Often, the ambiance of the place makes you feel like you're getting healthier just by shopping there but when I read labels…well, a lot of it doesn't seem any better for me than the corresponding, cheaper item at Ralphs.

Apparently, I missed the news that Whole Foods' sales were down and that they were lowering prices to try and get shoppers back. This article says it's working. So now I guess my big complaint is that when I drive there, I always have trouble finding an organic parking spot.

The Supreme Court heard arguments this morning on a lawsuit that could cripple Obamacare. A lot of reporters are now out predicting how the High Court will decide based on the questions that were asked and not asked, and on certain remarks by certain of the justices. I remind you, as I remind myself, that reporters who've tried to predict the outcome based on things like this have a pretty bad track record for being correct. It's roughly the same as if they flipped a coin. Maybe a little worse…

Today on Stu's Show, your genial host Stu Shostak welcomes…me! Oh, and also the world's most honored cartoonist, Sergio Aragonés. On this, the 400th episode of Stu's Show, the topics will be Sergio's career (working for MAD magazine, appearing on TV shows and in movies, etc.) and his work with me (Groo the Wanderer, etc.) We have loads of silly stories about our silly work, together and apart, and we'll be befouling the Internet with them, as well as answering questions you send in. It may not be the best show Stu has done but at least for a week, it will certainly be the most recent.

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. Or you can get all 400 shows for the price of 300!

If you're interesting in a career in voiceover work, take an hour and watch this panel. It's our pal Bob Bergen talking about his profession with David Lyerly, Lisa Marber-Rich, Collette Sunderman and Tim Walsh…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke before Congress this morning about what he believes the U.S. should do with regard to Iran. I'm no expert of this kind of stuff but I am an expert on Popeye and Netanyahu sure sounded like Popeye's friend Wimpy saying, as he often did to other parties, "Let's you and him fight." Fred Kaplan, who is an expert at this kind of stuff, explains it in a more realistic manner.

We're a few weeks from WonderCon, which will be held April 3-5 at the Anaheim Convention Center. Three-day badges are sold out. Saturday badges are sold out. You can still buy a badge for Friday or Sunday but I doubt that will be possible for very long. All the info is over here. Some of the programming looks quite exciting and I'll be telling you about my panels there shortly.

I want to thank all those who sent or posted or otherwise conveyed birthday greetings yesterday. I tend not to pay much attention to any of my birthdays except when they get me to an age divisible by five but I am not unappreciative. I'd write to thank each of you individually but that would take me until my next birthday.

I'm watching the whole Bill O'Reilly scandal under the assumption that it will all blow over before long with O'Reilly suffering no damage except maybe lower sales on the "historical" books that bear his name. As many have noted, his audience does not watch him for truth. He's had pretty good luck for years deflecting criticism by merely charging that the critic is a left-wing smear merchant so whatever they say can and should be presumed false and/or ignored. That's about all the rebuttal he's ever needed and it seems to be working here.

I caught — well actually, my TiVo caught Jon Stewart last night on that WWE Wrestling show. It's so odd to see wit in that setting.

I seem to be the only person on the entire Internet with the slightest interest in The Late Late Show on CBS as it features guest hosts in the run-up to James Corden's debut on March 23. This week, Drew Carey is back as host in programs taped several weeks ago, then there will be two weeks of reruns…and neither TiVo nor the CBS website seems to know what they are. That's how little anyone cares about this. Some very good people have appeared on the program during this stopgap period both as hosts and guests, and no one has done anything interesting. Most did not seem to even be trying, like the premise was to make Corden look good by preceding him with the most generic, bland talk show possible. The best host was probably Thomas Lennon and even he seemed to have a leash holding him back.

Stuff to do today. Back later.

Over on YouTube, there are dozens and dozens of regular programs in which someone teaches you how to cook. An amazing number of them are devoted to replicating popular fast food items in your own kitchen. After all, it saves so much time and money to make a McDonald's cheeseburger as opposed to the difficult and expensive practice of somehow finding a McDonald's and buying one. I also love that every single cooking video ends with the chef sampling his or her own creation and telling you how utterly and incredible wonderful it smells and tastes and how he or she wishes you could be there to experience it for yourself.

My favorite of all these shows is Greg's Kitchen. I'm not quite certain who Greg is or where he is or even why he grins like that. But he's very entertaining and he sure loves to cook. He posts two of these a week…

David Copperfield on The Power of Magical Thinking

You know, I have no idea how to defeat ISIL, nor am I spending any time trying to figure one out. If it comes down to our nation needing my thoughts about this, the terrorists will already have won.

But a lot of the arguments I'm reading remind me of a trait some people have which annoys me. It's "talking tough without doing anything." Back during the '88 Writers Guild strike — actually, during all the many Writers Guild strikes through which I've lived — I kept finding myself in this conversation with some writer who was sure he had the key to victory…

HIM: We have to be tough.

ME: Okay, fine. We'll be tough. What are you suggesting we do?

HIM: I just told you. Be tough. Let them know we won't give in. They're tough. We have to be tougher.

ME: I get that. How would you suggest we express this toughness? What should we do that we aren't doing yet?

HIM: Win. Get in there and fight and battle and be tough. They'll give in, trust me. All we have to do is be tough.

I could never get any of these tough-minded people to suggest an action on our part…or if they did, it was something we were already doing. I guess it made them feel vital and powerful to think they'd actually come up with a solution. There's a saying that "hope is not a plan." Well, neither is an attitude.

Politicians like to talk tough, especially when we seem to be in a war situation. It's easy to talk tough. Hey, my dad can beat up your dad. But it's kind of meaningless without any workable idea how to apply all that alleged toughness. Check out almost any speech lately about how to defeat ISIL, especially those from folks who want to be the next President of the United States. Talking tough may have its place but it's not the same thing as being tough. Or even being smart.

I just ordered Richard Zoglin's new, exhaustive biography of Bob Hope…and you can, too. You can also read Frank Rich's review of the book which suggests that while the Hope estate cooperated in its writing in order to burnish Bob's legacy, they may not be happy with the resultant portrait.

I am surprised that they apparently sanctioned mention of Rapid Robert's womanizing, which was one of those things everyone in Hollywood knew about and no one dared mention. One time on Larry King Live, Bill Maher mentioned it as an example of how the press loves to dump on certain people and protect others. Mr. King hurriedly changed the subject. He couldn't deny what Maher said about Hope but he couldn't not deny it, either.

Rich's review says Zoglin credits Hope as the first prominent comedian to acknowledge he had a writing staff. I'd be curious to hear more about that because I've always heard that was Jack Benny. In fact, I seem to recall reading somewhere that when Benny started crediting his writers, Hope was among those who asked him to stop because, just like the public didn't really want to know that Douglas Fairbanks had a stuntman, they didn't want to know their favorite comedians didn't think of all that funny stuff themselves. But who knows? Maybe Hope was first.

I've written here about my few brief encounters with Mr. Hope. I certainly never saw anything that went against the image of him as a joke hustler who didn't think too deeply about anything except pleasing the next audience. Once upon a time, that was all a comedian had to be. It's not his fault that he lived into an era where that was not enough.

Some people are offended that William Shatner, who had previously committed to a charity event in Florida, could not attend Leonard Nimoy's funeral today in Los Angeles. I'm offended that are are news stories today headlined, "William Shatner defends decision not to attend Leonard Nimoy's funeral" and that the New York Daily News dubbed him "Captain Jerk" in a large cover story. That's the kind of decision no one should ever have to defend in public…or even private.

We've heard lots of tales of Mr. Shatner that might earn him the title of Captain Jerk. As far as I know, we never heard any from Leonard Nimoy. I guess it says something about what Star Trek meant to some people that they're disturbed that the funeral of one of its stars isn't going to go the way they imagine it should. Could they possibly grasp that this is not about them?

And what do you want to bet that if Shatner was there, he'd be criticized because he didn't say precisely the right things or he got too much attention?

Here's another video of this guy singing with himself. I could sing this well if I had that many different-colored t-shirts…

What airlines were like before smoking was banned. I remember a few very uncomfy, nausea-filled flights not because of turbulence but because the person sitting next to me considered it their God-given, enshrined-in-the-U.S.-Constitution right to light up and blow it my way.

Once en route to somewhere or maybe somewhere else, I was seated in the No Smoking section — this was back when they were trying to have it both ways — and a lady next to me lit up a butt. When both I and the flight attendant told her she couldn't do that, she responded with what seemed to her like crystal-clear logic: "I requested a seat in the Smoking section but since they couldn't give me one, I get to smoke here." She seemed like a nice lady but she was quite adamant that she had to smoke and that no one had the right to stop her.

There was much arguing but the flight attendant (they were called stewardesses back then) settled it without violence by arranging for the lady to swap seats with someone who was in the Smoking section and not taking advantage of it.

Happily, those days are behind us. Now, if we could just get them to ban (1) people with booming voices who like to talk politics, (2) travelers who haven't showered since they left home weeks ago and (3) non-sleeping children under the age of 13. I also think people with bladder problems should not be allowed to sit in window seats when I've got the aisle.