News From ME – Mark Evanier's Blog About All Sorts of Stuff (original) (raw)
I always try to remember — and it isn't always easy — that the Internet is all about clicks and clicks are all about clickbait. In a time like now with an important election looming, a great way to get clicks is to tell people either (a) what they want to hear or (b) what they don't want to hear. And that's why some of those articles get posted to the web; not because they're true but because they'll attract clicks.
Right now, I see a lot of potential places to click that will tell me Kamala Harris is surging and that the latest polls put her increasingly in the lead. That may be so…and Donald Trump is sure acting like she's clobbering him. If I were a candidate right now, I'd absolutely rather have her numbers than his numbers. But I'm going to adhere to the old "It ain't over 'til it's over" mantra. And given Trump's longtime habit of calling every loss or setback a fraud, it may not even be over when it's over.
So my mood is optimistic, not celebratory. You set yours where you want it to be.
I don't expect this website to change a single vote but I am going to post links to a few videos that may remind folks of what this election is about. Here's one…
The folks who bring you Last Week Tonight with John Oliver have uploaded the entirety of Season Five to YouTube. You can watch 'em here.
This coming Saturday is Returning Registration for next year's Comic-Con International in San Diego…which is a mere 311 days away. If you purchased a Comic-Con 2024 attendee badge, this is your chance to score one for next year. I suggest you study this page to learn what to do and when. There will be opportunities later for you if you don't get what you want this Saturday and there will be a chance for folks who didn't purchase a badge last time to purchase a badge for next time. But it all starts here.
Comedy writer Hank Bradford died January 18 at the age of 88 and the cause of death was heart failure. I have a fairly-good excuse for not noting this at the time. I was then in the hospital with my stupid broken ankle and not keeping up on the news as much as I usually do. I only learned of Hank's passing when I saw that scroll on the long-form "In Memoriam" list on the Emmy Awards site.
I didn't know Hank all that well but he was a top-rate comedy writer who, among his other gigs, was Johnny Carson's head writer on The Tonight Show from 1970-1975. People always marveled at Carson's long run as host of that program for thirty-some-odd years but I would think being his head writer for five might have been the greater feat of endurance.
When I was around Hank, he made it sound like he was the main reason Carson fared so well…and not just in those five years but afterwards, as well. I thought he was exaggerating but once when I mentioned Hank's name to Fred DeCordova, who was Carson's producer during that period and after, he said that Hank was maybe not exaggerating as much as I thought. (Fred did not remember why Hank left the show and Hank kept saying that someday we'd sit down and he'd tell me the whole story…but he never did.)
I met Hank at a meeting when we both went in for "audition" meetings about writing for a new program which wound up hiring neither of us. He was gone from The Tonight Show by that point but he recommended me to whoever then had his old job there. As I think I've written here before, I wound up turning down a writer job there several times and I had four reasons. One was that each time I got an offer, I had another job current or looming that I decided would make me happier — especially in light of the other three reasons.
Number two was Hank telling me war stories about what it was like there. Number three was that I knew another former writer for Carson. He'd been fired in what he thought was a more-unpleasant-than-necessary manner and it ruined watching The Tonight Show for him for a long time after. He said, "I used to love watching Johnny but after I got kicked out, it was too painful to enjoy after that." And the fourth reason was that I simply didn't think I was strong enough in the kind of monologue joke writing it would require…so I would not last long there.
Hank told me he had trouble watching Johnny after his severance too…so I'd like to think I made the correct decision. But Hank did eventually start watching again and he also watched Johnny's successors and those inspired by The Great Carson. He rarely liked what he saw.
He called me one time — and I don't remember the precise numbers but it went something like this: "Last night, Leno did seventeen jokes in his monologue. We experimented with Johnny and found out that fourteen was the right number. Do you know anyone over at Leno? Can you call and tell them Jay is doing three too many jokes in his monologues?" Hank was also upset that David Letterman was doing too few.
Another time, it was this: "These guys — Dave, Jay, Conan, all of them — they say Carson was the best, Carson was the greatest but they don't want to have an Ed McMahon on the couch. They all think they can do it without an Ed McMahon! Johnny never went out there without an Ed McMahon!" I thought Hank was wrong about the number of monologue jokes but not wrong about the need for an Ed McMahon in some cases. Conan O'Brien, I thought, was better before Andy Richter left the show. Before that, he'd done well playing Abbott to Andy's Costello. After that — and even when Andy returned — O'Brien was trying to be both Abbott and Costello by himself.
In fact, I thought Hank was right about most of his critiques about the late night shows. He'd call me every so often and ask, "Did you see Letterman last night?" or "Did you see Conan last night?" And he'd point out something they did that Johnny would never have done. Mostly, it involved stepping on a guest's punchline or interrupting the flow of a story. A good interviewer knows when to shut up and he didn't think most of the new guys did.
De Cordova didn't think Hank got enough credit for the success of The Tonight Show in the early seventies when it truly was must-see TV. I suspect he was right. My apologies for the belated obit.
Sometimes, I post a video here just because it made me smile…
I'm still getting messages and seeing posts from people who are upset that some favorite on-camera performer was omitted from the Emmy Awards "In Memoriam" reel. And I still don't see anyone care about producers or writers or directors or behind-the-camera participants who were omitted.
What some folks don't seem to know is that they give out so many Emmy Awards each year now that they present them in three separate ceremonies so they make up three separate "In Memoriam" reels. Plus they also make up one that just lists names without pictures and it purports to list everyone…but I'll bet it doesn't. You can view all four of these videos — plus many from past years — on this page.
So if you're upset that a particular favorite of yours was not recognized, you perhaps should be complaining that they were in one of the non-televised ones or in the one that was just a list of names. That last one was where a lot of people I knew and/or worked with wound up. If you watch 'em all, you'll see that some people got in more than one of the montages with photos and that might also annoy you if your favorite didn't get a photo in any of them.
I have to admit that each year, I'm most interested in the (theoretically) "all-inclusive" list of names. Each year, I watch it and learn that a few people I knew passed away without me hearing about it. That's a helluva way to find out but it's better than nothing.
The exclusion of folks I knew does not bother me much because I've occasionally been involved with or even on committees at the TV Academy and I've seen how very few decisions are ever made by one person…or even one committee. That kind of structure can lead to a lot of democracy but it can also lead to certain things falling between the divisions between departments or committees.
Here's something you may want to watch when you have two hours and thirty-seven minutes: The entirety of the 1958 movie, South Pacific, starring Mitzi Gaynor, Rossano Brazzi and Ray Walston before he became a Martian. It's a pretty good adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway hit. Enjoy…
Several folks have pitched in to identify the cast members from that Lampoon pilot-special that I couldn't make out. The gent after Wayland Flowers is Pat Proft, a comedian and writer who wrote on Police Academy, the Leslie Nielsen "Naked Gun" movies and a whole lot of other things. The next lady over is Joanne Jonas, who among her other credits was in the original company of Godspell on Broadway. Then we have Bo Kaprall, who was part of Second City in Chicago and who's now apparently a writer on Saturday Night Live. Then we have The Lockers (the dance group) and Adrienne Posta, who among her other film roles was in To Sir With Love. Thanks to Mike Hensel, Joby Ball and Raymond Merkh for pitching in.
I am, by the way, finally back on my main computer. It has better sound and I might have caught a few of those names if I'd been using it then.
I always feel a little sorry for folks in unsold pilots. It's always a lot of work to get into one and then be a part of it…and you can't help imagining what it will do for your career if it sells and is a huge hit. Never mind "your career," your life. People on a hit show get married or unmarried or buy new homes or pay off all their debts or get the clout to pursue other dreams or get recognized in public or…
Well, you can imagine what it would do to your world. Alas, there's no consolation prize when the show doesn't make it…and there's a saying on Broadway, "Nobody looks good in a flop." That's not always true. I know cases where the network folks have screened a pilot and said, "This stinks but that kid in the blue shirt is terrific!" Generally though, it's a real all-or-nothing crap shoot.
Changing topics: There's no real political news. You can find polls that show your candidate doing a little better than the other candidate but nothing you'll believe ensures the outcome unless you want to fib to yourself.
Kevin Drum has an interesting post up about how when Donald Trump says something blatantly untrue like the Haitian pet-eating fairy tale, his supporters are desperate to prove it's true.
And Marc A. Caputo thinks that the Trump/Vance ticket is fine with looking a bit nutcase over stories like that because it keeps the dialogue being about immigration (which they think is a winning issue for them) and off topics like abortion and employment (which isn't).
Changing again: I didn't watch the Emmy Awards but caught a few segments. John Oliver is usually so funny and so good when he accepts his annual one or two but I thought he was a bit of a dick this time. (I actually mistyped that as "a brit of a dick" and should have left it that way.) As usual, some folks are outraged that a few TV stars were left out of the "In Memoriam" segment. And as usual, absolutely no one is bothered by the omission of any recently-deceased director, writer, producer, composer, make-up person, etc. Until we show equal outrage about any of those "snubs," I refuse to care about a couple of actors not making it in.
Lastly: I keep getting questions about when Sergio Aragonés and/or I will be appearing at a convention or somewhere. Well, I'm always at Comic-Con in July and will try to make it to WonderCon next March but that's all I have planned and Sergio hasn't yet decided about either. If/when either of our plans change or firm-up, you'll read it here.
In 1974, producer George Schlatter — relatively fresh off Laugh-In — produced a not-all-that-dissimilar comedy-variety pilot for ABC called Lampoon. Now, you may be wondering about that name because at the time, National Lampoon was a pretty popular magazine. Apparently, lawyers had advised Schlatter that National Lampoon didn't own the word "lampoon" so he could use it.
There was legal action which you can read about here and not only did the show not become a series but the pilot never aired. The word "Lampoon" was just too prominent in the show to edit it out.
But now, here we have it. The comedy troupe included Desi Arnaz Jr., Harry Secombe, Brenda Vaccaro, Marshall Efron, Wayland Flowers and Madame, Marion Ramsey, Lonnie Schorr and some other folks whose names I can't understand in the opening intros. If you can identify any of 'em, let me know. There were also some cartoons in the show, one of which was drawn by my amigo, Sergio Aragonés. If you just want to see Sergio's cartoon and hear his name mispronounced, click here to start watching the show at that point. If you want to watch the whole thing, click below…
Here's a look at Project 2025 as it might be explained if Schoolhouse Rock was still around. What I don't think a lot of folks "get" is that wishlists like Project 2025 have been around in Conservative circles for decades. The Heritage Foundation always has them under different names.
What's different now is that the current iteration has been made more public and one of the Presidential Candidates — I'll let you guess which one — seems like he might actually take a lot of pages from this version. Also, Politico says this edition is just plain nastier in its tone…and why shouldn't it be? Their chosen candidate sure is.
Thanks to Prentice Hammond for letting me know about this video…
Still battling a deadline, still working on my backup computer which slows me down a bit. Still guardedly optimistic about the Harris/Walz ticket. Still kinda amazed that there are Trump supporters who don't really care if the "Haitian Migrants eating pets" story is true or not because it makes a point they like. I'm reminded when Reagan aides more or less admitted that all his stories about Welfare Queens ripping off taxpayers were false because they didn't need evidence to be sure that kind of thing was happening all the time. Yeah, but if it happens all the time, why do you need to make up examples?
I'll tell you when I can about this new book I'm working on. It's not my big, exhaustive biography on Jack Kirby although that's nearing completion. I'm working on another book about someone who drew amazing, popular pictures.
I'm always remiss in plugging new things I have out so here's your notice that the first issue of a new Groo mini-series should now be available at your local comic book shop. It's subtitled Minstrel Melodies so as you might guess, it's full of silly poetry about silly events involving our silly barbarian. Even if you don't buy it, take a look at the store at pages 2 through 7 on which Sergio did something amazing, even for him. Three more issues follow.
One measure of how badly Donald Trump did in the debate last Tuesday night is how desperate his backers are to cry that it was rigged, fixed, crooked, whatever. They're complaining that Kamala Harris somehow got the questions in advance and I'll tell you why that's ridiculous. Here's the first question she was asked…
I want to begin tonight with the issue voters repeatedly say is their number one issue, and that is the economy and the cost of living in this country. Vice President Harris, you and President Trump [SIC] were elected four years ago and your opponent on the stage here tonight often asks his supporters, are you better off than you were four years ago? When it comes to the economy, do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago?
It didn't take collusion or espionage or any dirty-dealing to know that a question like that would probably be asked. It's probably been asked in every Presidential Debate since Reagan. And just about any answer about the state of the American economy would fit that question. If you don't have an answer for that one, you have no business setting foot on the stage of a debate like that. The next one was directed to Trump…
Mr. President, I do want to drill down on something you both brought up. The vice president brought up your tariffs you responded and let's drill down on this because your plan is what she calls is a essentially a national sales tax. Your proposal calls for tariffs as you pointed out here, on foreign imports across the board. You recently said that you might double your plan, imposing tariffs up to 20% on goods coming into this country. As you know many economists say that with tariffs at that level costs are then passed onto the consumer. Vice President Harris has argued it'll mean higher prices on gas, food, clothing medication arguing it costs the typical family nearly four thousand dollars a year. Do you believe Americans can afford higher prices because of tariffs.
Would anyone like to suggest that that was an unfair question? That it was one he couldn't answer? That it was one that he and his aides couldn't have anticipated? More to the point, isn't that a question he would have wanted to answer? Tariffs seem to be his answer to every question about the economy.
And it kind of went on like this. The next two questions were about immigration and abortion — two topics a nine-year-old child (or whoever prepped Trump for the debate) could have told you would be brought up. If the moderators hadn't asked about it, Trump would certainly have raised the topic of immigration. He even brought it up a couple times in response to questions about other matters. And Harris would surely have raised the issue of abortion.
Read the transcript. There were no questions the candidates' handlers couldn't have expected and I don't think Trump was caught off-guard on any of them. I just think he gave bad answers and worse facial expressions.
If you like old cars, you're gonna love this. It's some restored footage of drivers in and around Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and Detroit from the thirties — and it shows that some people back then drove as poorly as some people today. The film is not only restored but it's been colorized and a "sound design" has been added to it, meaning that someone today invented colors and audio but it's still interesting. And I can't help watching this kind of thing without wondering which car has Stan and Ollie in it…
I'm on my backup computer because my main one went kablooey on me last Saturday and the Dell people tried to talk me through fixing it over the phone and now they're sending over one technician after another. I suspect it would be cheaper for them to just give me a new computer but they don't seem to want to do that.
Not much to say about the political situation other than that Donald Trump insists he won the debate the same way he insists he won the last election. Someone needs to explain to this man that drawing a crowd to come see you does not translate to votes. If it did, Neil Diamond would have been President of the United States for about eight terms.
I rarely plug GoFundMe causes here but I'll make an exception for this one. A group is attempting to erect a very silly statue of a very silly man. Here — I'll let another silly man tell you about it…
If you'd like to kick in, here's the page.
After a delay of a few weeks, we have a new episode of Everything You Need To Know About Saturday Night Live. This time, it's Season 11 when Lorne Michaels returned as Executive Producer and it didn't look like he was succeeding. This may have been the last time the show teetered on the brink of cancellation — but teeter it did…