Stayed a few extra days in Vegas, saw a few more shows.  Show prices are rising faster than Al Gore's vote total in Florida.

Funniest thing I saw in Vegas since the previous funny thing: A memorabilia shop called Antiquities in the Caesars Palace mall is selling a hairpiece that they claim was worn by Frank Sinatra.  How could you possibly authenticate such a thing?  (Also saw more Windows error messages in public places…in this case, on the monitors at the airport giving Arrival and Departure times.)

Here we see Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, who are starring in the new stage version of Mel Brooks's The Producers, presently heading for Broadway by way of Chicago.  That's a great movie and two terrific stage performers, and I have no idea if I think this is a sure-fire smash or a probable disaster, though I'm certainly eager to see which.

The show has a site that's going up any day — which you can reach by clicking here — and there are lots of rehearsal photos over at Broadway.Com and even more at Theatre.Com, along with a summary you may not wish to read of how the plot differs from the film.  More plot details can also be found in an article at Playbill.Com.

So would you invest money in a play about two guys who con people into investing money in a play?  And just how do we know Mel hasn't sold 25,000% of this thing?

Visiting Las Vegas I went to shows, attended the Video Software Dealers Association convention and got a lot of writing done on my laptop which, being almost a year old, is hopelessly obsolete.  The V.S.D.A. con was a sparsely-attended bore.

Almost as few people were in the audience when I saw my pal Pete Barbutti, who is fronting a strip revue at the Plaza downtown, but that was far from a bore.  Pete — who logged an amazing 65 appearances on Mr. Carson's Tonight Show — is one of the great storytellers and stand-ups, and a master at working a dead house, which is the norm for the shabby Plaza showroom.  No one else could have gotten that much laughter out of so few people, and a lot of it came from me.  (And, yes, Pete has a website.  The link is right here.)

Also caught Legends of Comedy, an impersonator show at the New Frontier which features fine carbons of Jay Leno, Roseanne, George Burns, Rodney Dangerfield, etc.  This is a nice, little show which could be a killer if located in a hotel that (a) wasn't a dump and (b) would make room to advertise it on the big sign outside.  Its producer is another pal o' mine and I told him he should try to hire the publicist who's promoting the $3.99 Prime Rib Dinner in the coffee shop.

Funniest thing I saw in Vegas besides Pete Barbutti: Outside the Paris hotel right on The Strip, there's a 15-foot illuminated sign that flashes messages about eateries and shows.  The graphics come from a computer and Tuesday, when I walked past, there was a huge Windows error message up there — "System Resources Are Low."  It looked like the screen of a cheap home P.C. blown up to billboard size — and the window that contained that message was partially-overlapping one that was running Dr. Watson, a primitive Windows diagnostic program.  Computer buffs were standing around on Las Vegas Boulevard (the C.E.S. is in town) and laughing, "They can't even afford the Norton Utilities!"

R.C. Harvey writes solid, incisive articles and books on comic art.  You can read some of the former and order most of the latter at his website, which is reachable by clicking…oh, let's have you click right here.  I don't want to slight his other works as I gush over his most recent release, which is Accidental Ambassador Gordo: The Comic Strip Art of Gus Arriola.  It's both a sampler of a splendid, underrated newspaper strip and a biography of the fine cartoonist who produced it for an astounding 44 years.  (It's also a mystery: Why was this sweet, wonderful strip in so few papers and so often overlooked by the cartooning community?)  Anyway, you can buy the book many places but if you buy it from Bob's site, he'll sign it for you and you can order his other volumes while you're at it.  I suggest you do this.

I get my computer equipment from a gent named Bill Goldstein who is that rarity: An expert who really is an expert…and is honest, to boot.  If you live anywhere near L.A., I highly recommend Bill for all your computer needs.  If you don't live near L.A., you oughta at least visit his website and read up on how to delete personal files from a computer before you give it to someone else.  In fact, you might like to view a short segment Bill did on a local news broadcast, which you can also do on his page.  They went to thrift shops and Bill took donated computers and restored all the allegedly-deleted data (financial files, passwords, etc.) of the donors to demonstrate how easy it sometimes can be.  It'll make you go racing to reclaim that antique 286 you gave to your nephew.

Scott Shaw! and Jerry Beck confirm my belief that Hanna-Barbera never produced a Car 54 cartoon show.  The studio tried to sell one, as witness the presentation art over on the Car 54 website…but, like most studios, H-B tried to sell hundreds of shows that never made it to actual production.  Scott and I got to recalling some of the weirder ones we'd witnessed and/or worked on…and I suspect we'll do an article somewhere about them.  Some were just as bizarre as (awkward segue to plug:) anything you'll find in Scott's Monday-thru-Friday Oddball Comics column over on Comic Book Resources.  It is, like Scott, always entertaining…and hard to forget.

Ooh! Ooh! It's amazing how many TV shows have spawned fan-concocted websites full of photos, facts and even audio/video downloads.  I just happened on one for one of my favorite shows, Car 54, Where Are You?  You can check it out by clicking here.  And if you do and you're Jerry Beck or Scott Shaw!, check out the section on an alleged Hanna-Barbera Car 54 cartoon show which, the operators of this site say, existed for eight episodes within the series, Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home.  This one's news to me, folks, but the artwork looks like a legit presentation done at the H-B Studio.

From their site — and now, from this one — you can hop to the official website of Al "Grandpa Munster" Lewis.  It's also amazing how many stars of TV shows past are selling autographed pics and such through personal pages.  Gilligan's Island fans can visit sites for Bob Denver, Dawn Wells and "Professor" Russell Johnson.  Fans of the Batman TV show can snag pics of Adam West, Yvonne Craig and Frank Gorshin.  Larry Hagman has a website.  So does Dwayne Hickman, who played Dobie Gillis.  Bernie Kopell from Love Boat has a site, Erik Estrada has one that plays the theme from CHiPs…even my dear pal Howie Morris has one that sells Ernest T. Bass memorabilia.  These folks are making more money on the Internet than two-thirds of the "dot-com" companies out there…and I think it's terrific.

Had lunch yesterday with my buddy Dan Gheno.  I've known Dan since around 1970 and watched him turn from a devout comic fan/letter column filler into a superb painter and art teacher who has been, among other achievements, recently cover-featured on American Artist.

This is not to suggest he is not still a devout comic fan.  You can reach his website by clicking here.  There, you'll find not only his recollections, including one of a 1973 visit that a group of us slobbering duck fans paid to Carl Barks.  That's when I took the above photo.  There's also a terrific interview with Dan Spiegle and other treasures.  And while you're in that neighborhood, click over to the section that showcases Dan's paintings and enjoy his unique, penetrating approach to portraiture.  He's another of the good guys and it's great to have him on the web.

Good morning, year! Spent this a.m. doing a global search-'n'-replace to change all the copyright notices on this site.

My pal Nat Gertler pointed out (and I have fixed) garbled text in a couple of columns.  In converting Microsoft Word files to HTML, a number of odd things have happened, here and there, including dropped or repeated blocks of text.  If you happen across any, please drop me an e-mail at my address, which is at the bottom of every page.

By the way: Nat is an actor, writer and all-around good guy.  He's also one of the world's foremost authorities on Peanuts and Charles Schulz.  Clicking on Nat's name above will transport you to his website where he maintains, among other valuable info, a complete list of every Peanuts book, and an on-line store to order those you lack but which are still in print.

And, speaking of catching mistakes, Nat is the person who explained to me that the recently-released Peanuts 2000 book had a rather glaring omission in its first printing: Some genius at the publishing company had the bright idea to collect Mr. Schulz's last year of Peanuts but they somehow managed to leave out the final strip!  Brilliant work there…almost worthy of Charlie Brown, himself.  So if you're picking it up, you'll want to look for a copy of the second or any subsequent printings, to which that farewell strip has been added and avoid first printings which don't contain it.  (See what valuable stuff you can learn when you log in here?)

Happy year to come and let's all hope that none of the predictions of dire economy and Dubya incompetence come to pass.

Here's a plug for a new CD by one of my favorite musical groups.  Big Daddy is presently and sadly inactive, but a division of their former label, Rhino, has brought out The Best of Big Daddy.  Ignore the inappropriate cover seen at left.  These guys are funny and talented, and what they do is to take contemporary rock hits and perform them as if they'd been recorded in the fifties.  Often, the new (or, rather, the "old") versions are distinct improvements.

If I've configured things correctly, you should be able to hear 30-second samples of their work by clicking on the links below.  You'll need to have Real Player installed on your computer and if you don't, you can get it by clicking here.  Ignore where they try to sell you the $29.99 version and look for the free Basic edition.  Meanwhile, the whole Big Daddy CD is available in all the usual places (mymusic.com has it for $12.90 plus shipping) and even some unusual ones.

The folks at Dark Horse Comics have just released the first of two volumes reprinting Little Annie Fanny, as created by Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder and friends, and published in Playboy Magazine.  Perhaps needless to say, what once seemed risqué and adult is now about as naughty as the fart jokes on Bevis and Butthead.  Still, the comic is brilliantly written, stunningly illustrated and — most notably — a great record of sixties' issues and sensibilities.  Wisely, compiler Denis Kitchen has supplied annotations that decode most of the topical references for those born too late to know that the Bay of Pigs isn't a bad waterfront bar.  Anyway, this new collection is a must-have, though I do wish it had the page size and reproduction of the first Annie Fanny collection, issued back in '66.

Since I know none of you ever venture near the Playboy website — which, rumor has it, has pictures somewhere on it of nude women — I'll alert you that there's an article on the book and Mr. Kurtzman there, along with a lame attempt at Flash animation of an Annie Fanny page.  Here's a direct link in order to spare you the danger of browsing through the site and possibly glimpsing some centerfold.  (Don't stand in awe of my bravery; my computer has a chip that filters them out.  Needless to say, it is silicone.)

Billy Barty's last TV appearance was on the E! True Hollywood Story profile on Sid and Marty Krofft that debuted on Christmas Eve.  Billy died the day before, and Marty spent quite some time on the phone, trying and failing to locate someone at the E! Channel to ask that they insert some sort of dedication/tribute to the long-time Krofft player.  Billy had been in poor health for some time and the E! folks only deemed airable, about eight seconds of a very long interview they taped with him.  (Wish they'd used as little of me.  I'm thinking of making that my last TV appearance, as well.)

I wrote a long article about Billy which will be in next week's Comic Buyers Guide and which will turn up on this site, eventually.  Basically, it talks about how funny he was…and how his long, amazing career was built on a lot more than dwarfism.  Hervé Villechaize (with whom I also worked) was a fluke, hired only for the accident of his height.  But Billy Barty was, first and foremost, an actor.  That's why he worked constantly for something like seventy (!) years.

Have you seen those clever parody commercials the Eveready battery people have running on TV?  The ones that are interrupted by the rabbit with the drum?  Well, several of them give addresses for websites for the fictitious products.  Like, there's the one for "Growzan," a new hair-grow medicine.  The commercials, if you listen carefully, are pretty funny…and the websites, like www.growzan.com, are even funnier.  Take a peek if you run out of stuff to read here.  Not that you will, of course…

Okay I know, I know!  For years now it seems, I've been answering the eternal question of when I was going to do this with, "I stand on my Constitutional right not to have a website."  But since our Constitution doesn't seem to mean a lot lately, I figured it was about time I got this thing up and running.  (And say, why don't we save the country the cost of a robe by sending Clarence Thomas home and just giving Scalia two votes?)  For a year or three, I even put off registering www.evanier.com.  I mean, who else would want it?

There are only about a dozen Evaniers on the planet, most of whom don't understand the scientific principle behind the hammer, let alone the Internet.  Finally, one day, Josh Jones — who operates www.groo.com with our blessing — offered to help me sign up so I figured I might as well.  The next day, a cousin I'd never met tried to register the name.  Can you imagine the fights that must have ensued over www.jones.com and www.smith.com?  Yeesh.

Anyway, after a year or three of leaving this site "under construction," I've finally decided to stick a mess of my old columns and a few other goodies here for your perusal.  If you have any special requests not involving nude photos, let me know.  I'll try to add something new every week or two…but you know how that goes…