Monthly Archives: December 2019

A question from Phil De Croocq…

I've really enjoyed reading about your exploits "crashing" the studios of NBC Burbank and gaining access to, well, just about every studio and every show that taped there. But I don't recall, or else missed, the backstory of how it all began.

How did you even get the idea to do it? What was your plan the first time you did it? How did you feel the first time walking in? How confident were you going in the second time? And anything else that went into the planning and continuation of your visits that you can share would be most welcomed.

You're right: I left this part out of the story. Okay, here's how I began doing it…

My first real writing job was for Laugh-In magazine, which was kind of a cross between a fan magazine for the show and an imitation of MAD. It didn't last long after I began working for it, inaugurating a pattern which has persisted to this day. Still, I continued to do freelance writing for the company that published it. For some time after the monthly publication ended, they were in occasional conversations with someone — I have no idea who — about doing some more with the Laugh-In people.

The publisher put out magazines for teens focusing on stars like David Cassidy and Bobby Sherman, as well as movie "gossip" magazines, most of which had Burt Reynolds and/or Elizabeth Taylor on their covers. There were talks about doing special features on Laugh-In in those publications and maybe putting out quarterly specials about Laugh-In and the performers on it.

None of that ever happened but one day when some of it looked likely, an editor there asked me if I wanted to work on such projects. I said yes. He asked me if I wanted to visit the set of Laugh-In and watch them tape. I said yes again, only more emphatically.

He gave me the number of someone over at NBC. It's a half-century later and I don't remember this woman's name but let's say it was Zelda Zekely. He said to call her and she'd clear me to visit the set. I called her and she cleared me to visit the set, which on the date in question was on Stage 5 at NBC. I did. I was fascinated and enjoyed it very much. A few weeks later, I went over to do it again. The guard called her office and didn't get an answer but since he remembered me from before, he cleared me again. This time when I visited the set, they were in Stage 3 which adjoined Stage 1 where Johnny Carson was taping.

The Tonight Show was then based in New York but they taped from Burbank now and then. So after watching Laugh-In for a while that day, I went over to watch Mr. Carson's show, standing in that little area where the show's production people sat or stood during the taping. No one stopped me. No one asked who I was.

I think it was during that taping that the following happened. Johnny was answering audience questions during a commercial break and someone asked who'd hosted The Tonight Show before Jack Paar. Johnny said it was not Steve Allen, as most people assumed. He told them a little about the show Tonight: America After Dark that had filled the time slot for not very long between Allen and Paar. He said it was hosted by Jack Lescoulie and later by some disc jockey guy whose name he didn't remember. Then he turned to the staff, amidst whom I was standing, and said, "Someone on my crack research team will know. What was the name of that disc jockey?"

Everyone on the staff muttered "I dunno," which got the intended laugh from the audience and I whispered to a man next to me, "Al 'Jazzbeaux' Collins." He in turn yelled it out and Carson acted shocked that someone really did know it, which got another laugh. I can't quite explain it but after that, I felt like no one would question my right to be there. It's like I'd proved myself useful to have around or something.

The next time I went to NBC, I just walked in and waved to the guards and they let me in. I watched some Laugh-In but I wound up wandering into other studios.

By now, I was freelancing for Disney, which was a few blocks away. I'd take the bus out there (I didn't drive yet) and spend the morning on that lot meeting with editors and picking up or turning in assignments. One day, my editor there — a lovely gent named George Sherman, who passed away way too young — and I were lunching in the NBC commissary with a friend of his when Gene Kelly — that's right…Gene Kelly, the guy who sang in the rain — walked by.

George's friend knew Gene Kelly and Mr. Kelly sat with us for a bit until he had to scurry back to NBC. He was then taping what turned out to be a short-lived variety series for them called The Funny Side. I mentioned that I might be over there later and he invited me to come watch them tape. (The show did not have a studio audience, at least not on that day.)

An hour or two later, I walked into the main entrance at NBC as I had the previous times and I was about to tell the guard that I'd been invited by Gene Kelly. Before I did, he nodded that he recognized me and waved me in. So I walked on in and realized I could probably do that any time I wanted as long as I didn't stay away so long that the guards forgot my face. So I visited any time I had to go out to Disney. Outside the entrance, there was a vending machine that sold Daily Variety and I'd sometimes buy a copy to carry on my way in so I looked more like I was in show business.

I was prepared with things to say (like "Gee, Zelda Zekely was supposed to clear me") if I got stopped but I never got stopped. I probably did this about twelve times, the last three of which were spent in part hanging around the studio where the Golddiggers from The Dean Martin Show were rehearsing.  I was trying to strike up a conversation with…well, any of them but one in particular.

Finally on that last exploratory visit, I started noticing stagehands and security guys staring at me like, "Who the hell is that guy?" Before any of the Golddiggers could meet me and therefore fall madly in love as I'm sure would have happened, I decided to stop my network invasions. It just didn't feel like it would be fun to be hurled bodily from the premises and banned forever from Show Business.  The next time I entered that building, I had a for-real pass and reason, and I was there to see someone about hiring me.

And I later did work there on a few shows and it was an amazing place, especially with Mr. Carson in permanent residence and the other stages full of shows and specials.  I'd pass Orson Welles or Sean Connery or Doris Day and think that if I'd just wandered the halls there for two weeks, I would have run into every single recognizable person in the entertainment field.  In today's television industry, there isn't a single place where even a fraction of that could happen.  Or someone with as little authorization as I had could even get half past the metal detector.

Here's a nice rendition of Tom Lehrer's season-appropriate tune, performed by the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles…

A Good Day to you all and I hope you have your purchases purchased, your dining plans planned and your spirit spirited. I'm not looking (much) at the news because I assume the nation will still be there December 26th. Hope I'm right.

Yesterday, I had to go into Beverly Hills for a quickie doctor visit — nothing serious. I was in and out in eight minutes. But it put me one block from Rodeo Drive so I was at, like, Ground Zero for serious shopping. At one point, I was stuck in unmoving traffic on Santa Monica Boulevard for more than the eight minutes.

Via a miracle as great as any that has ever happened this time of year, I found a parking space in a public lot. But I had to wait in line to pay for said space and as I did, a lady ahead of me in that line turned my way and said, not necessarily to me but anyone in the line of fire, "God, I am learning to hate Christmas!" She then ticked off a killer "to do" list of shopping, wrapping, delivering, cooking, decorating and — worst of all — picking someone up at LAX on Christmas Eve. Some of those other things can be fun if you let them be…but no human being who cares about another human being should ever expect to picked up at LAX on Christmas Eve.

I said, "It sounds like you need a holiday from the holidays," and she laughed and agreed and that was about the extent of the conversation. But I thought how fortunate I am that I don't have to do enough of those things to turn them into chores. The last dozen-or-so years with my mother, it was understood that Christmas is a time to be good to your loved ones and often that could be best-accomplished by minimizing the shopping, the wrapping, the delivering, the cooking…

We kind of got around all the problems involving gifts by giving them to each other all year 'round for no calendar-centric reason. If I didn't give her one or vice-versa on 12/25, it was no big deal. I'd take her to a favorite restaurant — preferably one where she could order seafood — on Christmas Day but I also did that other days for no visible reason. The point was that we did what we wanted to do with no "we have to do this because it's Christmas" rituals. It's something to consider as you get older. Merry Tomorrow.

Here's a nice rendition of Tom Lehrer's season-appropriate tune, performed by Michael Feinstein…

The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats was derived from the 1939 Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot. Webber began developing the material in the late seventies and the show, produced by Cameron Mackintosh, directed by Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Gillian Lynne opened at the New London Theatre in the West End in 1981 and at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway in 1982. The London version ran for 21 years (8,949 performances) and the Broadway one for 18 years (7,485 performances).

I did not see any of those 16,434 performances.

It's not that I don't like cats (the real kind). I love cats. As you may know, I've fed an awful lot of them in my backyard. I just fed Lydia out there, as I've been doing for something like eighteen years now, and I fed others before her. But I've never seen Cats on stage.

Avoiding the British staging was easy since I have never been to the United Kingdom. But avoiding the New York version was also not difficult. When I was in town during those 18 years, I just went to other shows. I was never in Manhattan long enough to see every single show on Broadway, nor did they all interest me. There were always enough shows that seemed more enticing…and since Cats seemed to have permanent residence, it was always a matter of "Well, maybe I'll catch that on my next trip or the one after…" Once its original cast and Betty Buckley had moved on, I had no reason to think, "I'd better see it now."

Eventually, it was like those TV shows that sit unwatched for months — even years — on my TiVo. I was interested enough to have them recorded but not interested enough to watch them so eventually, I deleted them. I walked past the Winter Garden Theatre in New York every trip east for a decade and a half and never felt the slightest urge to buy a ticket. Finally, I suppose I decided, "I guess I'm not interested enough in that." I know I felt that way about touring productions in Los Angeles and, I think, other cities where it was playing when I visited.

Would I have liked it? Hated it? I don't know.

The show got fairly good reviews when it opened. It won many awards, including a Tony for Best Musical. I knew people who saw it and loved it. I also knew some actors of the kind who work in musical theatre who had such affection for real cats that they dreamed of singing and dancing dressed as cats. A few of them did and I didn't go to see them.

The point I'm trying to make here is that it's humanly possible to have absolutely no opinion of Cats. All you have to do is not see it.

I have encountered people who didn't seem to know that. They went because they thought if something is popular enough, you have to purchase a ticket and go. Like it's mandatory or something. A few loved it, a few were indifferent but a fair number of them hated it — and it wasn't just "I didn't care for the show." It was more like, "There is something gravely wrong with humanity if that show exists, let alone is considered a smash hit."

I understand hating someone who harmed your loved ones. I understand hating someone who did something evil to you. I even understand hating a politician who you believe is harming the world and causing people to suffer. I don't think "hating" is a good way to go about it and I honestly don't think I hate anyone or anything unless, of course, it's a salad consisting primarily of finely-shredded raw cabbage with dressing. But I can understand why some people hate.

I just don't understand why anyone would hate a musical comedy the way some people I've encountered hate Cats.

I can think of one guy I met once at a party…I think if you murdered one or both of his parents and then staged a production of Cats, he would be angrier over the latter. He was screaming about how everyone involved in its making should be immediately spayed or neutered. A lady at the same party was convinced that no human being anywhere ever liked it, including the people who voted it Best Musical or bought the tickets to those 16,434 performances. She had not been to see it but, come on. People singing and dancing dressed as cats? How could that not stink?

Or so she felt.

I continued to have no opinion whatsoever of Cats, that show I had not seen. I did though form an opinion of people who couldn't shut up about how much they hated it, and it was not a favorable opinion…of them.

Fortunately, such talk died down as there were fewer and fewer instances of Cats being performed. But under the heading of "Here We Go Again," they recently made a movie of it.

Is the movie any good? I don't know. Attendance is still not mandatory. My pal Leonard Maltin liked it on the stage but felt much of the magic went away on the screen, though he did recommend it for families and said his wife liked it. Other folks though I see on the 'net are hysterical with rage that it was even made. Many are celebrating that it seems to be a failure at the box office, which as we all know is sometimes the case with movies we love.

You have every right to not like it, especially if you actually gave it a chance and saw it. I might not like it if and when I ever see it…and I might see it. The nice thing about movies in the era of home video is that they never go away. You cannot go now and see the original Broadway production of Cats. As once did not seem possible, it finally closed. But the movie will always be around and it will be exactly the same if I watch it twenty years from now. But I may get to it a lot sooner.

This is the time of year when my mailbox is full of "screener" copies of new film releases. Cats hasn't shown up yet but it still might…and there will always be the option of buying it or renting it or streaming it or whatever way Hollywood next invents to sell us movies. I'm thinking I may bring Lydia in from the back yard to watch it with me.

Here's a nice rendition of Tom Lehrer's season-appropriate tune, performed by David Wall and the Art of Time Ensemble from Toronto…

As I've written here before, I think that among the phoniest of phony outrages is when someone claims that someone else has stopped them from saying "Merry Christmas." I absolutely understand why some businesses tell their salespeople to use more inclusive greetings like "Happy Holidays" or "Best wishes for the Holidays!" or "Joy to the World." It's another way of saying you welcome the spending of the few non-Christians who might think there's an implied exclusion in "Merry Christmas."

I think it's dumb, when someone says "Merry Christmas" to you to think they're suggesting something of the sort. But I think it's a lot dumber to think that "Happy Holidays" is a negative…about the institution of Christmas or anything else. When You-Know-Who in the White House brags he's changed America so it's safe to say "Merry Christmas" again, he might as well be saying "I've reversed the ban on chocolate ice cream!"

I just saw a clip of him on TV taking credit for the M.C. ban. This is a time of year when there should be Peace on Earth. Actually, all times are good times for Peace on Earth but we'll never get there if we can't do it in the latter half of December. We should not be looking to demonize people who express benevolent sentiments just because they're not the "right" benevolent sentiments. And that's the last I'll say about You-Know-Who here until December 26 unless he does something really, really hateful or criminal. Please…be good to each other.

This is the most popular thing I've ever posted on this weblog. In fact, it's so popular that proprietors of other sites have thought nothing of just copying the whole thing and posting it on their pages, often with no mention of me and with the implication that they are the "I" in this tale. Please don't do that — to me or anyone. By all means, post a link to it but don't just appropriate it and especially don't let people think it's your work. This is the season for giving, not taking.

Yes, it's true…and I was very happy to learn from two of Mel Tormé's kids that their father had happily told them of the incident. Hearing that was my present…

I want to tell you a story…

The scene is Farmers Market — the famed tourist mecca of Los Angeles. It's located but yards from the facility they call, "CBS Television City in Hollywood"…which, of course, is not in Hollywood but at least is very close.

Farmers Market is a quaint collection of bungalow stores, produce stalls and little stands where one can buy darn near anything edible one wishes to devour. You buy your pizza slice or sandwich or Chinese food or whatever at one of umpteen counters, then carry it on a tray to an open-air table for consumption.

During the Summer or on weekends, the place is full of families and tourists and Japanese tour groups. But this was a winter weekday, not long before Christmas, and the crowd was mostly older folks, dawdling over coffee and danish. For most of them, it's a good place to get a donut or a taco, to sit and read the paper.

For me, it's a good place to get out of the house and grab something to eat. I arrived, headed for my favorite barbecue stand and, en route, noticed that Mel Tormé was seated at one of the tables.

Mel Tormé. My favorite singer. Just sitting there, sipping a cup of coffee, munching on an English Muffin, reading The New York Times. Mel Tormé.

I had never met Mel Tormé. Alas, I still haven't and now I never will. He looked like he was engrossed in the paper that day so I didn't stop and say, "Excuse me, I just wanted to tell you how much I've enjoyed all your records." I wish I had.

Instead, I continued over to the BBQ place, got myself a chicken sandwich and settled down at a table to consume it. I was about halfway through when four Christmas carolers strolled by, singing "Let It Snow," a cappella.

They were young adults with strong, fine voices and they were all clad in splendid Victorian garb. The Market had hired them (I assume) to stroll about and sing for the diners — a little touch of the holidays.

"Let It Snow" concluded not far from me to polite applause from all within earshot. I waved the leader of the chorale over and directed his attention to Mr. Tormé, seated about twenty yards from me.

"That's Mel Tormé down there. Do you know who he is?"

The singer was about 25 so it didn't horrify me that he said, "No."

I asked, "Do you know 'The Christmas Song?'"

Again, a "No."

I said, "That's the one that starts, 'Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…'"

"Oh, yes," the caroler chirped. "Is that what it's called? 'The Christmas Song?'"

"That's the name," I explained. "And that man wrote it." The singer thanked me, returned to his group for a brief huddle…and then they strolled down towards Mel Tormé. I ditched the rest of my sandwich and followed, a few steps behind. As they reached their quarry, they began singing, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…" directly to him.

A big smile formed on Mel Tormé's face — and it wasn't the only one around. Most of those sitting at nearby tables knew who he was and many seemed aware of the significance of singing that song to him. For those who didn't, there was a sudden flurry of whispers: "That's Mel Tormé…he wrote that…"

As the choir reached the last chorus or two of the song, Mel got to his feet and made a little gesture that meant, "Let me sing one chorus solo." The carolers — all still apparently unaware they were in the presence of one of the world's great singers — looked a bit uncomfortable. I'd bet at least a couple were thinking, "Oh, no…the little fat guy wants to sing."

But they stopped and the little fat guy started to sing…and, of course, out came this beautiful, melodic, perfectly-on-pitch voice. The look on the face of the singer I'd briefed was amazed at first…then properly impressed.

On Mr. Tormé's signal, they all joined in on the final lines: "Although it's been said, many times, many ways…Merry Christmas to you…" Big smiles all around.

And not just from them. I looked and at all the tables surrounding the impromptu performance, I saw huge grins of delight…which segued, as the song ended, into a huge burst of applause. The whole tune only lasted about two minutes but I doubt anyone who was there will ever forget it.

I have witnessed a number of thrilling "show business" moments — those incidents, far and few between, where all the little hairs on your epidermis snap to attention and tingle with joy. Usually, these occur on a screen or stage. I hadn't expected to experience one next to a falafel stand — but I did.

Tormé thanked the harmonizers for the serenade and one of the women said, "You really wrote that?"

He nodded. "A wonderful songwriter named Bob Wells and I wrote that…and, get this — we did it on the hottest day of the year in July. It was a way to cool down."

Then the gent I'd briefed said, "You know, you're not a bad singer." He actually said that to Mel Tormé.

Mel chuckled. He realized that these four young folks hadn't the velvet-foggiest notion who he was, above and beyond the fact that he'd worked on that classic carol. "Well," he said. "I've actually made a few records in my day…"

"Really?" the other man asked. "How many?"

Tormé smiled and said, "Ninety."

I probably own about half of them on vinyl and/or CD. For some reason, they sound better on vinyl. (My favorite was the album he made with Buddy Rich. Go ahead. Find me a better parlay of singer and drummer. I'll wait.)

Today, as I'm reading obits, I'm reminded of that moment. And I'm impressed to remember that Mel Tormé was also an accomplished author and actor. Mostly though, I'm recalling that pre-Christmas afternoon.

I love people who do something so well that you can't conceive of it being done better. Doesn't even have to be something important: Singing, dancing, plate-spinning, mooning your neighbor's cat, whatever. There is a certain beauty to doing almost anything to perfection.

No recording exists of that chorus that Mel Tormé sang for the other diners at Farmers Market but if you never believe another word I write, trust me on this. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Sesame Street characters do impressions of other Sesame Street characters…

Actually, I believe it's Matt Vogel doing an impression of Jerry Nelson as The Count doing impressions of other Sesame Street characters, and David Rudman doing an impression of Frank Oz as the Cookie Monster doing impressions of other Sesame Street characters, and Ryan Dillon doing an impression of Kevin Clash as Elmo doing impressions of other Sesame Street characters, and Leslie Carrara-Rudolph as Abby Cadabby doing impressions of other Sesame Street characters. But you get the idea…

Tammy Crotty has this to ask…

I've been wondering about this since the Bill Cosby scandals, but I was wondering how royalties work. Whenever I hear about people boycotting a tv show/movie/book, I wonder who else receives royalties from that work and so who might be getting more screwed than the creator/star/author. When The Cosby Show was pulled from networks, did that hurt, say, Keisha Knight Pulliam? Would she still be earning some kind of royalties when the show airs? What about production crews and such?

Well, just to be nit-picky, you're mainly asking about residuals, not royalties…but the answer is yes. There are various folks who are compensated when a TV show is rerun and when it isn't, they don't get the money they'd have received when it was. Some folks get residuals and some get royalties or various forms of back-end compensation and profit participation.

Keisha Knight Pulliam gets less…probably way less, and so does the company that owns the show and wishes to use it as a continuing source of revenue. That also happens when the star doesn't disgrace himself and go to prison but the series just plain fails to attract enough viewers for a healthy life in syndication. Some once-popular shows don't.

This may not seem fair. After all, it's not Keisha's fault that so much of America no longer wishes to watch Mr. Cosby scold others for doing the wrong thing. But that's how these things work. Producers, writers, directors, actors and folks in a few more categories share in the ongoing profitability of a show.

I just got a residual check — one of those tiny ones that cost them more to process and mail than the face value of the check — for an episode I wrote of Bob, one of Mr. Newhart's shorter-run sitcoms. If it runs, I get these checks. If it doesn't, I don't. If it's revealed that Bob Newhart has long been a serial rapist and he goes to jail and no one wants to watch this show, I stand to lose over the next few decades, maybe thirty-five dollars. I sure hope that doesn't happen.

Jim Davis, with whom I have worked since 1987, is selling off his vault of originals to his strip, Garfield. Yes, I already have a few…including one Jim sent me because it contained a sly reference to me. People have occasionally asked me how they can get one. Well, here's how you can get one.

Jim, by the way, did the foreword for the new volume of The Complete Syndicated Pogo — the sixth in the series reprinting Walt Kelly's wonderful newspaper strip. Due to distribution problems I described here, only a few stores have received their copies but in about three weeks, it should be everywhere it's supposed to be. The books for the first printing have been printed. They're just making their way to retail outlets by having a duck hand-deliver each copy…or something. Order yours with confidence…confidence that you'll receive it soon, confidence that you'll love what you read in there. You can also order a boxed set of Volumes 5 and 6 at this link.

Here's the annual TCM Remembers video noting people from the movie biz who've passed away in the past year. I don't know why they put this out in the middle of December because someone significant always dies in the last two weeks of the year and they have to go back and edit that person in.

Folks who get way too upset (in my opinion) at omissions in the "death reel" at the Academy Awards often ask why that montage can't be like the ones TCM assembles. I'd be fine with that but here's one thing to consider…

The segment at the last Oscar ceremony ran 4:21 and covered fifty names. This TCM effort runs 4:30 and covers ninety names. I would guess the difference is that the folks who assemble the one for the Academy Awards feel they have to give everyone a little more screen time, especially the really well-known faces that the live audience at the event will want to applaud. The TCM one doesn't play to a live audience — though of course, you're free to clap as much as you like as you watch this…

A longtime friend asked that I post the excerpt below from a recent message he sent me, that I respond to it here, and that I leave his name out of it. Okay, longtime friend. This is about my most recent post on Harvey Weinstein…

You had me 100% with your Weinstein remarks until I got to the part about "it's always a little sad when those people find out the rules do apply." There is nothing the slightest bit sad about what's happened to that asshole. It's a cause for celebration and there's nothing the least bit sad about it. We should all be cheering like we're in Times Square and they just dropped the New Year ball. Please explain to me, as I'm sure you can, why I should find anything sad in that prick's downfall.

Humans are capable of emotional multi-tasking. When my dear Carolyn finally stopped breathing, I was as sad as anyone could be about losing her but simultaneously relieved that her ordeal was over…and mine as well. In the altogether different case of Harvey Weinstein, I am absolutely pleased that he was nailed for his sicko misdeeds and even more pleased that he's now a big, bold example for others who'd been doing (or might have started doing) the kinds of things for which he was arrested and is now being sued the proverbial eight ways to Sunday.

But I'm also capable of being sad — and that's the right word for it: sad — that any human being could descend down the food chain to that level. When you are blessed enough to attain great wealth and/or great power, I think you have a responsibility to mankind and to yourself (in that order) to use them properly. This is only the subtext of, like, 97% of all the super-hero comic books ever written. And it's sad to me when anyone makes the wrong choice. That man could have had a really good rest-of-his-life if he'd hadn't treated others the way he did.

The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills is a lovely place that preserves the history of television and offers interesting screenings and panels and exhibits. I've never been to the Paley Center for Media in New York but I assume it does the exact same thing equally well. I shall have to get familiar with it because the one in Beverly Hills is going away in mid-2020. The institution will keep doing some of its events in other facilities as they already do, but they'll no longer have that lovely building.

Yes, it's a shame. I never quite understood why they chose one of the priciest hunks of real estate in the world in the first place…but it's still a shame. It also may be understandable because so much of what you might have gone into the Paley Center to view can now be found on YouTube, archive.org or one of several other online repositories. What you can't find are videos of most of the in-house-produced Paley events, especially the early Paley Fest programs which were about the history of television. The ones today are almost wholly to honor current programming and to declare shows "classics" early in their first seasons.

I understand that an organization like this has to always think in terms of what will bring in the most bucks and that honoring recent shows and letting the videos of those events be released commercially has been a much-needed source of income. I also understand that a lot of old shows can't be honored because everyone involved with them has died. But they did some wonderful, important seminars and panel discussions with people who are no longer around to be interviewed and I hope that material is available somewhere else than their New York headquarters.

I really like Jordan Klepper. Comedy Central gave him two shots at his own show. The first was funny but at times, it felt like a cheap foreign knock-off of The Colbert Report. The second was clever and sharp and daring and, from what I can discern, watched only by me. Now, he's back on The Daily Show and doing something he does real well: Venturing with a camera crew into what you might call "Enemy Territory" and finding utterly clueless people to interview.

I feel twinges of guilt enjoying a segment like that. I don't like prank shows because I think they're largely rigged: You either make a fool of yourself or you get edited out. This is almost that but not quite. I'm sure when Klepper went around with his microphone, he chatted with some people who didn't come off as clueless clowns. But that's not funny so that's not in the segment. To his credit though, he's done this with Democrats so he reinforces my belief that every political movement has its idiot faction. But really, what I like about him is that he usually manages to achieve smart and funny at the same time. See if you don't agree…