It will probably be a long time before you see me there but I'm curious about what will happen with the "reopening" of Las Vegas. This article by Julie Creswell covers some of the alterations and safety precautions that will greet visitors when some (not all) of the casinos reopen in a few weeks. Since some people are flocking to the beach, maybe they'll flock to Vegas but we have no precedents to go by.

I disagree with one of the "experts" in this piece. "Nobody comes to Vegas to spend time by themselves," said Brian Labus, an assistant professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Nevada. I've sometimes gone there to work in my room and spend lots of time away from all the distractions of life at home. I liked the availability of entertainment and food at any hour when I craved them but I did little socializing unless you count declining offers from hookers.

But I do get that the spirit of "fun" in that town may be muted or reduced by masks and plexiglass shields and no more buffets or shows for a while. We'll see how many people who are eager to gamble with their money are willing to gamble with their health.

Busy day here…so busy I haven't been able to finish the article about Nursing Homes but I will. Had a plumber in because I had three problems that I thought required a plumber. He fixed two and told me the third was out of his area of expertise. My washing machine is not leaking water because of a busted hose (as I thought) but because of something within its housing, which is the jurisdiction of an appliance repairman guy.

My appliance repairman guy arrived two hours later, figured out what was wrong but didn't have the required new part on his truck. He'll come back tomorrow, which will work out fine because my cleaning lady comes on Thursday and can do my laundry then.

Then I went to my bank to clear up some matters and popped over to a Subway sandwich place to get a meatball sandwich and a tuna sandwich, as it turned out, engage in some verbal fisticuffs with a gent who was unmasked. He was outraged at the sign on the door that said he needed a face covering to go in and buy his foot-long Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki on 9-Grain Honey Oat bread. He kept saying it was "discrimination" and based on the other political thoughts he voiced, I would guess it was the only discrimination of any kind anywhere that ever bothered him.

Our exchange would not interest you but the last two lines of it were him saying, "Wearing a mask is stupid" and me telling him, "Maybe so…but I have two sandwiches and you have none."

Tonight at 7 PM my time, I will be interviewing my friend Steve Stoliar about Groucho Marx. Thursday evening at 7 PM my time, I will be interviewing my friend Frank Ferrante about Groucho Marx. This coming Saturday at 4 PM my time is our third Cartoon Voice Panel, this time with Dee Baker, Laraine Newman, Alan Oppenheimer, Vanessa Marshall and Bill Farmer.

Next Tuesday at 7 PM my time, I will be interviewing screenwriter-actor-director Carl Gottlieb. And in the weeks to come, I'll be chatting with Leonard Maltin, Jeff Altman, Dennis Palumbo, Jewel Shepard, Jeff Abraham, Jim Brochu and a whole bunch of other people. Unless I get tired of this.

I continue to marvel at (and replay) the amazing video I embedded here. It's much of the Broadway community, from the safety of their homes, performing the closing number from the musical Hairspray. I've seen friends of mine who love great musicals debate to what extent Hairspray is one but even the folks who weren't that keen on the show itself thought the closing number was one of the greatest finales in the history of the stage.

What we have directly below this paragraph is a video of the last seven-or-so minutes of what I'm told is the original Broadway production with, among others, Tony winners Harvey Fierstein and Marissa Jaret Winokur, both of whom were in the "at home" video. A hunk of dialogue has been edited out but otherwise, it's the way that show ended…

But as they say in infomercials, That's Not All! What do you suppose if would look like if you were a musician playing that show and taking your cues from a conductor you were watching on a monitor? Here's that view of the last nine minutes of the show, including the bows. Make sure you stay tuned for the conductor's…

I'm allowing myself one per week these days.

I'm not that enthused about Joe Biden as president except in the sense that I'm very enthused about anyone who isn't Donald Trump or a Trump wanna-be being president. I still think there's a chance — slim perhaps but not zero — that something will happen that will lead to Mr. Biden not being the nominee. But two things…

First of all, I wish that when he says something so clumsy or dumb that he feels the need to apologize — as he will in the future — his supporters would point out that apologizing for errors is a sign of integrity and character. And they might continue to point out that saying fifty times as many stupid things, many of them dangerous, and refusing to ever apologize for any of them and even doubling-down on many, is a sign of cowardice and childishness.

Secondly, when folks post a photo of Biden wearing a protective mask and ask, "Does this look presidential?", my answer is "Maybe not. But it looks smart and also considerate of others. And I would much rather my president be smart and considerate of others, rather than obsessed with his own appearance."

In 2016, the Yivo Institute for Jewish Research hosted a panel discussion about Jewish comedy and comedians. The dais consisted of Gilbert Gottfried, and Robert Klein, Alan Zweibel, caricaturist Drew Friedman, my pal Kliph Nesteroff, and pop culture scholar Dr. Eddy Portnoy. The moderator is Frank Santopadre, who is unaware throughout that his microphone is not on. Much time is spent discussing Rodney Dangerfield and the genitalia of Mr. Milton Berle so parental caution is advised…

For a long time, Lydia had my back yard all to herself. I've been feeding feral cats out there for an awfully long time and I usually had a few lurking about…but when it came down to just Lydia, I started thinking that maybe she'd be the last. I thought that once she died or disappeared, as feral cats eventually do, I'd stop putting food out there. Raccoons and possums and sometimes even crows wind up eating as much of it as the cats do.

Then around February, a new cat began stopping in. Unsure at first whether it was a male or female, I named it Murphy. Murphy howls a lot but she — I finally decided it was a she — seemed to be well-behaved. It wouldn't let me get within ten feet of her but it also wouldn't get in the way of me feeding Lydia. I'd set out a bowl of chow and Murphy would wait until Lydia had had enough and then when Lydia left the feeding area, Murphy would sneak up and wolf down whatever remained in the dish. Like I said, well-behaved.

But not lately. Lately, I put out the food for Lydia and Murphy sits there, a few feet away, growling and meowing and putting out vibes that yell, "Hey! Hurry it up! Some of us are hungry!" And as the growls get louder, Lydia finally flees and Murphy scampers up and devours every single scrap of what's edible in that dish. The dish itself is metal or else she might take a bite out of it.

Then when Murphy finishes, she howls for more…but it's a self-defeating demand. When I do step out onto the porch to get the dish for refilling purposes, Murphy flees from me, sprinting clear out of the yard. I fill it, put it back out on the porch and Lydia wanders back up to finish dining.  I suppose it all works out okay.

By the way: As I mentioned, when the new cat began showing up in my yard,  I named it Murphy.  That same cat has also been seen in my neighbors' yard and they also gave it a name.  Want to guess what they named her?  Murphy.  They also named her Murphy.  I guess there's just something very Murphy about her.

If I were running the Joe Biden campaign, I would make more of the fact that when Joe Biden says something stupid, he apologizes. Especially since he'll certainly be doing more of that before the election and his opponent, of course, will be doing none of that.

Martin Short discusses various characters he's played over the years…

I don't like it when John Oliver takes a week off. The least he could do is get Mr. Nutterbutter to guest-host for him while he's away.

Busy weekend.  The last chapter of the article on Nursing Homes should be here tomorrow.  Or maybe the day after.  Or the day after.  Time moves at a variable pace when you're in isolation.  Every so often, I have a day that must be forty-five hours, given how much I manage to get accomplished in it.  But then that's almost immediately balanced by a couple of those nine-hour days in quick succession…the kind where you get up, get out of your pajamas and into actual clothes, eat something…and then it's time to get ready for bed.  You've all had them.

This week, my one-on-one podcasts have a theme in common and that theme is Groucho Marx.  On Tuesday, I will be talking with my friend Steve Stoliar, who worked as Groucho's secretary for the great comedian's final years and witnessed the antics of the controversial Ms. Erin Fleming.  Steve is also a fine writer, a student of non-Marxian comedy and a talented voice actor and impressionist.

On Thursday, I talk with another friend…Frank Ferrante, who as readers of this blog are sick of hearing, tours the continent with his magical show, An Evening with Groucho.  Frank is so good, he can even sometimes do An Evening with Groucho in the afternoon…and like Steve, he also does a lot of other things.  We'll talk about them, too.

Next Saturday is the third Cartoon Voices Panel and…well, I hope you folks are enjoying these because I am.