Sarah Silverman is on James Corden's show tonight, not tomorrow night. This is the old mental block I've developed from thinking of shows by their TiVo dates. I saw she was on his Tuesday show and I forgot that since his show starts after midnight, his Tuesday show is tonight. You have seen me make this mistake before.
Thanks to about three dozen of you who wrote to correct me on this. Apparently, the readership of this blog includes a lot of people who like to catch her when she's on.
Every so often, an encounter with someone will make you realize something you meant to do and haven't done. A couple years ago, the performer Sarah Silverman did an HBO special which caused a critic for Variety to write that she seemed "…determined to prove she can be as dirty and distasteful as the boys." Even before I saw the show in question, that struck me as a silly review and I said so.
I can understand how someone might think some comedians have gone too far but if that's the case, they shouldn't be watching HBO stand-up specials. And they should remember that comedians do that because audiences love it…and if audiences love something, they're going to get it. (I believe this critic in another piece praised one comedian highly for not stooping to "dirty" material: Bill Cosby. Hey now, there's someone you should emulate.)
In any case, if you're upset at the trend in comedy overall, that's no reason to pick on Sarah Silverman…unless, of course, she's not funny. But then I saw the show and it was very funny. She usually is.
I wrote then that one of these days, I'd do a post explaining how much I like her as a performer…and then it went onto the long, long list of things I say I'm going to cover on this blog and never get around to. Last evening though, I was at a small dinner party and Sarah Silverman walked in with her friend, Michael Sheen.
I'd met her twice before — once on the set of The Larry Sanders Show and once at a screening and panel discussion of the film, The Aristocrats. In neither case was there a moment when it would have been non-awkward to tell her to her face what I like about her. I didn't really find an opening at the dinner last night either but I did talk with her and listen. She's very smart and very funny and most of all, she has as much courage as any comedian who ever lived and more than roughly 95% of 'em.
Around 1994, my friends and I started to notice her a lot, popping up on this show or that one. She was so visible that she aroused the ire of a comedian I know — a guy who habitually pronounces every new comic as (a) not funny and (b) going nowhere. I think this guy believes there's a finite number of laughs in the world and if a new comedian comes along and starts getting some, that's fewer laughs that are left for him. In her case though, there was a bit of misogyny in play because he added (c) "People won't like her because if a woman's going to be that outspoken, she's got to be fat, ugly or probably lesbian."
When he said words to that effect, I did a double…maybe a triple take. Once upon a time in a land not so far in the past, the only way a woman could get accepted as a stand-up was to get up there and ridicule her own appearance…and the worse her appearance was, the more material she had to work with.
Really, there were three main ones — Phyllis Diller, Totie Fields and Joan Rivers — and their acts were all about how sexless they were, how their husbands wouldn't touch them, how men thought they were homely, etc. I didn't think Joan was bad-looking but that was a key premise of her act. And while I don't know if she ever uglied herself up for an appearance, it wasn't until she was much older and well-established that she tried for a bit of glamour. It's like someone said, "We'll let women do stand-up comedy as long as it's all self-deprecation and not really about important topics."
Comedy has evolved since then…in what I think is a good way in spite of what that guy in Variety might say. There have been a lot of good female comedians but I've never seen one who more proves that that comedian I know was wrong. And even he eventually thought so about Sarah.
She won him over with many things but the killer stroke was the short film she did a few years back about how world hunger could be solved if only we could sell the Vatican. I linked to it back then but the link went bad so here it is again…
I think it's hilarious and very, very brave. That comedian did too, though he insisted on saying it showed she "has balls" — which reminds me: How long is it going to be before folks stop praising a woman by awarding her honorary male body parts? Might it not be possible that women can just be brave and clever as women…or better still, as people?
Sure it is…and Sarah Silverman is the best example I've seen. She does things that are powerful and which say important things about the world and how it maybe oughta be. Somehow, just sitting across a dinner table from her last night, hearing her talk and remembering some of the fine work she's done, I was impressed more than ever.
She's going to be on with James Corden on Tuesday night tonight and then on Thursday morning, Bravo is running an Inside the Actors Studio with her discussing her new film which I hear is wonderful. When my knee heals, I hope to get out and see it…but in the meantime, I've decided to start alerting you to upcoming TV appearances, as I do with other comedians I like. This dawned on me last evening somewhere between the Calamari appetizers and the arrival of our entrees. I'm sorry it took me so long.
We've been writing here about the Johnny Carson reruns that have just started on Antenna TV. This of course has led to a lot of e-mails in my box from folks who can't get Antenna TV where they live.
Antenna TV is what is called a digital multicast television network. In many cities, it's an extension of a regular, over-the-air TV channel airing on one of their sub-channels. It may or may not be carried by one of them in your market and it may or may not be carried by your local cable provider. Here's a map to show you where it is and where it isn't.
These shows did not come cheap and I would guess that Tribune Media, which owns the channel, ponied up the bucks after a conversation that went something like this…
Exec #1: We need to get more cities to carry Antenna TV. How do we do this?
Exec #2: I've been looking at our lineup. We're running old episodes of All in the Family, Mister Ed, Newhart, Three's Company, Maude, The Partridge Family…these are not shows that have ever been scarce. You can watch a lot of them on other channels or on the Internet. I'm thinking we need to get some show that everyone remembers but which has never been on MeTV, Get TV, TV Land and all the others.
Exec #1: Exactly! We'll find some show that's a classic that has never been rerun but which we can air exclusively. Only then will people phone their cable companies and local stations and demand they pick up our channel!
And then I'm guessing they did some research and realized that old Carson shows were their best bet. I'm not sure what the second choice would have been. Maybe Letterman from his NBC days.
So if you can't get Antenna TV where you are, maybe it's worth your time to call your cable company. A few years ago, I met a guy at Comic-Con who worked for a cable provider. He told me that what worked best at his place of business was when someone called up the number to order a new installation and demanded that certain channel. Such a call would go something like this…
CALLER: Hello! I'm interested in getting cable TV installed in my home.
SALESPERSON: Excellent! I can help you with that and we have many fine packages of channels from which you can select.
CALLER: I know just the one I want! The one that includes Antenna TV!
SALESPERSON (after scouring a list:) I'm sorry but I don't see that we carry Antenna TV in any of our packages.
CALLER (with outrage:) What!? Well in that case, forget the whole thing! [CLICK!]
I don't know if they track such non-sales at your cable company but the gent I met at the con said his sure did. And he even pointed out that you could do this if you were already a subscriber. Just don't give them your name before you demand the channel you crave. The trick, he said, was for them to get a bunch of these. You can round up friends to call or if you're good at disguising your voice different ways, that works too. (Isn't this how Lucy Ricardo got Ricky hired back when he lost his job at the Club Tropicana?)
Last night, they ran a 90-minute show from January 1, 1975 with Foster Brooks, Victor Buono, author Adela Rogers St. Johns and Joan Embery from the San Diego Zoo. The animal segment and Victor Buono's spot were great and Johnny's monologue was okay. Ms. Rogers telling of her friendship with Amelia Earhart was of great historical interest but it was the kind of slow conversation that just doesn't fly on a talk show these days. When Johnny cut his show from 90 minutes to an hour in 1980, it was in part to get rid of spots like this.
I can well imagine someone young watching Foster Brooks on this show and wondering how this man had a career. Playing inebriated is kind of passé these days and even when it was in vogue, it was the sort of act that was good for about five minutes. A writer I knew who worked with him told me that when Brooks started playing Vegas, he went out with old jokes cribbed from magazines and joke books and got a decent-enough response but everyone advised him he needed better material. So he invested money hiring top comedy writers and got some great stories to tell…and when he went out with his new act, the result was exactly the same. People weren't listening to what he said. They were just laughing at his delivery.
I saw what must have been one of his last Vegas appearances before he passed in 2001. He was on the dais of a "roast" for Sid Caesar and he did 10-15 minutes of what sounded like (and may actually have been) old Playboy Party Jokes. He got an awful lot of laughs with material that if performed by anyone else would have evoked naught but silence sprinkled with a few groans.
The interesting thing about him — to me, anyway — was that he had been an unknown character actor for years doing small parts (and not a lot of them) on TV shows. Then someone found out about this great drunk he could do and he was booked, first on one of Steve Allen's talk shows and later on Carson's. In both cases, they brought him on as a serious guest — Carson introduced him as the Mayor of Burbank — and he got increasingly plastered as he talked and sipped from a cup.
Suddenly, he was an overnight sensation booked all over the country and it wouldn't surprise me if his income increased a thousand-fold. His fame sure did…and he was well over 65 when it happened. I didn't like his act that much but I love stories of late success.
But for me, the highlight of last night's Carson replay was a sketch they did after the monologue. For several years running, Johnny's first show of a new year would be an interview with a diapered adult playing the New Year's Baby. Sometimes, it was Johnny in the diaper being interviewed by Ed McMahon. Sometimes, as with this show, it was writer Pat McCormick. It was funnier with Pat who was 6'7", rather flabby and notably crazier than Carson.
Pat, who I wrote about here, here and here, was one of those rare comedy writers who was as funny as what he wrote. The diaper was not the least amount of clothing Pat wore on Johnny's show. During the week that "streaking" was all the rage in this country, Pat interrupted Carson's monologue with a nude sprint. Everyone who knew him well has great, more outrageous stories.
I always thought those New Year's Baby sketches made an interesting point about Johnny Carson. A lot of performers can be Bud Abbott or Lou Costello — one or the other. Few can switch roles but Johnny could be interviewer or interviewee. He exhibited the same skill as a talk show host. If he had a Buddy Hackett or a Don Rickles in his guest chair, he generally played straight for them, letting them be the funny one. When he had a non-comedic actor or author, Johnny could effortlessly become the funny one. He was also willing to put on the diaper, something most talk show hosts would never do. Some years, he would also appear on the last show of the year playing the old year giving its exit interview.
Anyway, I enjoyed last night's rerun a lot. I hope you're getting them where you live. If you do and you're trying to find them on your DVR guide, remember that the name of the program is Johnny Carson, not The Tonight Show. They're pretty entertaining, if not for the comedy then at least for all that Show Business History.
If this poll is indicative of America today — and I fear it is — it's disheartening. Basically, it says that there are a lot of people out there who support "religious freedom" but really only for their religion. Others, they feel, are less deserving of protection. That isn't how this country is supposed to work.
But then when I hear a lot of the angrier people demanding "religious freedom," it sounds to me like they're saying this: That they have a right to live in a country where no one of another religion does anything that runs counter to theirs. That's not how it's supposed to work either.
From 1952, here's ten minutes of one of my favorite performers, Spike Jones and his unique style of music, in this case with a medley of Tchaikovsky songs that Tchaikovsky would have a hard time identifying. It's live TV so there are a few mistakes but it's still a fine rendition…and about eight minutes in, Spike's joined by special guest star Jim Backus…
I watched the first Johnny Carson rerun on Antenna TV last night and enjoyed it a lot. The chat with McLean Stevenson reminded me (and a few other folks I discussed it with) that Johnny's interviews usually went at a more leisurely pace than we now get on talk shows. Stevenson was a very funny man, though this wasn't one of his stronger appearances. Still, Mr. Carson gave him plenty of time in the guest chair to score…and also spent ample minutes with Eddie Murphy, even to the extent of bumping a guest.
Linda Hopkins was there and presumably had rehearsed a number, possibly with extra musicians and back-up singers…but Johnny, who knew exactly what he was doing when he decided how long to let a conversation run, made the decision to cut her from the proceedings. I can't think of too many times these days when hosts make that call. And in some cases, I'll bet it's not the hosts but the producers.
I'm going to keep watching, of course. A reader of this site named "tory" sent me this link to a list of all the episodes Antenna TV will be running this month. They look like some good shows…though I have to admit some of the guests' names are unfamiliar to me. And hey, won't it be fun to see Kreskin again?
Another New Year's Resolution you can all watch me prove unable to keep is that I've decided to pay a lot less attention to the Bill Cosby cases — and to remind myself that we're talking cases, plural. I dunno if a jury is ever going to say with any finality that Cosby is a rapist but it does seem to me like the guy's going to spend the next few years in and out of courtrooms, doing nothing else but fighting to stay outta prison and to not have to pay huge, guilt-establishing sums to ladies he wronged.
I would expect him to just get sicker and sicker, at least for our benefit and maybe even in reality. It's got to be pretty miserable and depressing in his house, no matter how this thing turns out. I think people who are concerned that there will not be justice for his misdeeds are missing one entire kind of justice that's already occurring.
Justice comes in two varieties: The kind you get (sometimes) in court and the kind you get (again, sometimes) in life. Skilled lawyering may be able to minimize the first kind in these cases but I don't see any way Bill Cosby gets back his legacy, reputation, career and perhaps the majority of the estimated $400 million bucks he was recently worth. That fortune is going away even as you read this. Nor is he likely to recover any kind of stability and peace in his life, plus there's whatever this whole thing is doing to his health. I sure couldn't sleep at night if I had a tenth of his problems.
It would be great to see our court system establish the truth in a way most people could accept as valid…but the other kind of justice is not nothing and it has already spoken. The punishment phase of that kind isn't over yet and won't be for the rest of that man's life.
I could waste a lot of mine following this story and I'll surely wind up regretting how much attention I pay to it. I already regret how much I once gave to reading books and watching specials about the O.J. Simpson cases…and for that matter, the Kennedy Assassination and a few others. It was not time entirely wasted. I did learn a lot about human nature and about the human capacity to jump to wrong conclusions and to deny evidence…but I could have learned all that without becoming so fixated on absorbing every available detail.
You'll probably see posts here about Cosby because I write about most of what's on my mind and I won't be able to completely turn away from the trainwreck that was once one of the world's great comedians. But you'll see less of it than you would have had I not made this resolution. And that's not a promise to you. It's a promise to me.
Here we have the first eighteen minutes of the 1957 Academy Awards — with your host, Jerry Lewis…
I have not eaten at a Chick-Fil-A since the firm's anti-gay stance became known and people began interpreting its sales chart as a referendum on Gay Marriage. In my case, I haven't been not dining there because of that. It's because the only Chick-Fil-A where I venture is at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue.
I usually drive through there on my way to or from meeting someone for lunch or dinner so I don't need to stop off en route and grab a sandwich. And if I did, that intersection is such a nightmare — and the Chick-Fil-A parking lot and drive-thru line always look so crowded — that I'd decide to go elsewhere.
If and when I'm hungry some day and near an accessible Chick-Fil-A, I'll consider the close-by alternatives and decide how I feel about contributing to the profits of a company that took the position it did. I'll probably remember that despite a surge in sales when the chain became a symbol of opposition to Gay Marriage, Chick-Fil-A backed off its position and either ceased or drastically cut its support of such causes. And then if there isn't a Five Guys across the street, I'll probably patronize Chick-Fil-A.
I'm thinking of them more favorably today because I just learned that they've done a truly wonderful, decent thing. They've decided to drop cole slaw from their menu. This kind of thing must be encouraged.
True, they're doing it to make room on their menu for other items I can't eat like kale and broccolini but my anti-slaw stance has never been about the fact that someone offers food that I find repulsive or to which I am allergic. Way more than half the foods in this world are on that list. My campaign against cole slaw has always been about how hard it is to not get it on your dish, oozing into the chow you actually want to eat when you're in a restaurant; how they so often ignore the phrase "No cole slaw, please" or interpret it to mean "Extra cole slaw, please!"
Actually, this post is to announce that as the first (and maybe last) of my New Year's Resolutions, I've decided to stop picking on cole slaw. It seems to really upset some people that I don't like some food that they do. I think a couple of folks who've written me on this topic have a genuine concern that the guy who puts words in the mouth of Groo the Wanderer has the power to get cole slaw banned.
Of greater import is that I'm starting to get really weary of folks on the Internet who hate certain TV shows or comic books or fashions the way you'd hate someone who murdered a beloved housepet. I'll write some posts in the weeks to come about this…but I see so many people getting hysterical because there are movies out that they don't like or that someone likes recording artists they find ghastly.
I can understand being angry because there are folks out there who love Donald Trump. If Donald Trump gets elected or even if the mindset of some of his supporters catches on, it could cause some changes in this country that some of us think would harm lives. I don't understand getting enraged because Jimmy Fallon is successful or because Dancing With the Stars is still on.
I don't care for Dancing With the Stars but I find it quite easy to avoid…unlike, say, cole slaw. Of the two, I find cole slaw the more entertaining but I'm no longer going to crusade against either. At least until someone tries to make either or both mandatory.
Lucas Kavner gives us a handy-dandy viewing guide to the best segments of 2015 on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Which is pretty much all of them.
Among the interesting aspects of that show to me is that Oliver and his staff will build a solid (yet funny) case against some practice — say, public money going to subsidize private sports enterprises…and then almost no one will disagree. You see just about zero rebuttals in any form. Things don't necessarily change but though Oliver rips someone in front of a pretty vast audience, no one says he's wrong about much of anything.
Thanks to Phil Conley for alerting me to this. New episodes of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver begin airing February 14.
I don't drink beer but I have to wonder: Did anyone actually watch that short where Larry, Moe and Curly ran a brewery and then say, "Oh, how I wish I could drink what those guys make"?
But I've got a slogan for this product: "One taste and you'll feel like someone poked you in the eyes and ran a saw across your scalp!"
Here's something about the Cosby case that bugs me and it has nothing to do with Bill Cosby. It's that a lot of sources are noting the man in charge of prosecuting him — Montgomery County District Attorney-Elect Kevin Steele — has a conviction rate of 98%. In other words, he's a great prosecutor.
Or is he? Wouldn't that depend on how many of the people he prosecutes were actually guilty? I mean, not everyone who goes on trial is guilty. Sometimes, acquittal is the right result.
If 98% of the ones Steele has prosecuted are guilty then he's doing a great job. If 85% of them are guilty, then he's sending a lot of innocent people to prison. That could mean a lot of things but it certainly doesn't mean he's serving the cause of truth and justice. Remember that when you convict an innocent person, it usually means that a guilty one gets away with the crime…and of course, you destroy the life of someone who did nothing wrong. You may well destroy the lives of those around the wrongfully-convicted as well.
In the last decade or so, we've seen a lot of prisoners freed after it was proven they were innocent. Often, they were convicted because of prosecutorial misconduct. But I'll bet those prosecutors felt like they'd done their jobs well by getting those innocent people tossed in the slammer.
Also, I would imagine a lot of cases are pretty easy to win. A lawyer I know once told me he was asked to defend a man who'd robbed a bank. They had ten eyewitnesses (three of them, nuns) and they had surveillance camera footage of the guy pointing a gun at the teller and they had the testimony of the guy's wife saying, "He took his gun and he left the house, telling me he was going to go rob a bank!" I kinda think I could get a conviction on that one without breaking much of a sweat.
Hey, what's Mr. Steele's track record on getting convictions of aging once-beloved entertainers who have $400 million dollars? That might impress me.