The Kentucky Democrat

The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody

2009-11-24T19:29:00.000-05:00

Remembering John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy

2009-11-22T12:15:00.002-05:00

The world would be a better place if Jack Kennedy were still with us today.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Born Brookline, Mass. (83 Beals Street) May 29, 1917
Died Dallas, Texas November 22, 1963

-Published "Why England Slept" in 1940 despite writing it in 1938
-Graduated Harvard in 1940
-Joined the Navy in 1941 and rose to the rank of lieutenant while commanding a PT boat.
-United States Congressman from 1947-1953
-United States Senator from 1953-1961
-Published "Profiles in Courage" in 1953
-Published "A Nation of Immigrants" in 1958
-Earned the Democratic nomination for the presidency on July 13, 1960
-Elected President of the United States on November 8, 1960
-Sworn in as the 35th President on January 20, 1961

Notable quotes:
On September 12, 1960: "I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters - and the Church does not speak for me."

On September 14, 1960: "If by a 'Liberal' they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a 'Liberal,' then I'm proud to say I'm a 'Liberal.'"

Inaugural address on January 20, 1961: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country"

Jack, we will forever miss you. Rest in peace.

Second City visits Kentucky...

2009-11-19T23:36:00.002-05:00

Andy Samberg was in Chicago this past Sunday at a YLD event.

Switching gears, Bazer and Samberg discussed the comedian’s Jewish identity. He said his parents raised him with a strong cultural Jewish identity, but, at first, not a particularly religious one. One day his sister, in the fifth grade at the time, came home from her Jewish day school and said, “We’re way more Jewish than you guys are telling us.” From that point on, Samberg and his family ate Shabbat dinner and observed the Jewish holidays.

He talked about the role his Jewish identity plays in his comedy. “My comedy is not Jewish,” he said. “I’m a comedian because I’m Jewish. That’s like every fifth Jew is a comedian, right? And every other four have a pretty good sense of humor.”

He says he grew up on a diet of Mel Brooks and Woody Allen Jewish humor, but that today’s young comedians must mix it up. “For some reason, this generation of comedians, [no matter] what their ethnicity, can’t base their whole act on one thing because to me that feels a bit limited. A lot of comedians are like, ‘So, I’m single…’ and that’s their whole act,” he said.[...]

When asked whether Samberg finds the constant YouTube parodies of his videos flattering, he said he absolutely does. “When I see a group of 10-year-old girls doing ‘Lazy Sunday’ in their small rural town and they’re clearly having fun, that’s inspiring,” he said. “It reminds me of what ‘Saturday Night Live’ meant to me as a kid.”

Actress Natalie Portman has become a vegan after being a vegetarian for over 20 years.

Some talented friends of mine were performing at the University of Kentucky earlier this month when Second City's Blue Co was touring the commonwealth earlier this month.

Shad Kunkle went from Iowa to Chicago hoping to make it to the Super Bowl.

But he wasn't playing for Da Bears. He wanted to get to the Second City comedy troupe.

"It's the first Oregon Trail, it's the first place where comedians sought to use satire to affect people, and the place where people sought to do a blend between stand-up and actual comedic acting," says Kunkle, who will be on stage Friday night when Second City's touring company performs in the University of Kentucky's Memorial Hall.

If the name Second City doesn't ring a bell, many of its alumni certainly will — and they will explain why Kunkle refers to the theater as "the Super Bowl."

The veterans include current A-list comedy stars Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert. And the star-studded list of alumni stretches back through Gilda Radner and John Belushi to early stars including Fred Willard and Robert Klein.

If you are ever in Chicago, make sure to hit up a show at Second City, iO, The Annoyance, The Playground, etc.

The Who will rock the halftime show at the upcoming Super Bowl? The Who? Yes? Who? Yes. Okay, that's going to be a failed joke.

Brian Williams writes about Jon Stewart on the Newsweek website.

Jay Leno sucks and FOX can't get with it...

2009-11-11T17:00:00.002-05:00

First things first, the television season is starting to really see some cancellations. It's not like the olden days when the networks saw what happened during the rerun season. These days, if you can't get an audience, you get the axe. That's what's going on.

Kelsey Grammer's latest project, Hank, has been cancelled after only five episodes.

According to the NY Times, they were working on the 10th episode when the announcement was made.

The network said it would halt production on the series after work is completed on a 10th episode. Five episodes have been broadcast, and ABC has not yet announced its plans for the five remaining episodes it will have on hand. “Hank” is the second short-lived series for Mr. Grammer, who played the unctuous Dr. Frasier Crane for 20 years on “Cheers” and “Frasier”. His sitcom “Back to You,” on which he and Patricia Heaton played rival television news anchors, ran for one season on Fox in 2007-8.

Dollhouse, a low rated show on FOX, is also a goner.

According to multiple insiders, Fox has informed Joss Whedon that it will not be ordering additional installments of his low-rated drama beyond the current 13-episode order.

Back to the Jay Leno experience, it has been a failure for NBC. Anyone could have told NBC that this would happen. Were they expecting that people would watch him 90 minutes earlier? I would certainly not think so.

When it came to ratings, the network's goal was modest because the show costs almost nothing to make compared to average 10pm dramas. But what's going to happen to the great Jay Leno experiment now that the show isn't even garnering the tiny audience NBC expected for it? Up against juggernauts "Monday Night Football" and "CSI," Leno's last two Monday night shows have dipped way below even their modest goal. To make things worse, other NBC shows and local affiliates are starting to complain that Leno's unpopularity is dragging their own ratings down, too. The phenomenon even has a nickname: "The Leno Effect," and it's turning into a disaster for other NBC shows.[...]

"The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien," for example, was building an audience and holding its own against David Letterman before Leno's show debuted. But now with a poor lead-in, "Tonight's" ratings are so dismal that Letterman beats Conan soundly night after night. Similarly, "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," which was a moderate success when it debuted last spring, can point directly to Leno for its own ratings dip. And even NBC staple and fan favorite "Law and Order" is suffering because Leno's show stole its classic 10pm time slot. The producers of these shows are no doubt grumbling in-house, where Leno is probably not very popular right now. But making some very definite noise are NBC's local affiliates around the country, who are finding that nobody is watching their post-Leno local news shows because by the time they air, the audience has long since changed the channel.

Take a look at what Mark Harris had to say on the matter.

It’s easy to enumerate how dire things are for the network: The fourth-place finishes, night after night, in both total viewers and the 18-to-49-year-old demographic that still serves as TV’s gold standard. The absence—for the third year running—of any new hit show. (For the week ending November 1, NBC placed exactly one series in the top 30.) The continued attrition of the network’s Thursday-night lineup, which throughout the eighties and nineties was the bedrock of both NBC’s wide appeal and its yearly Emmy tally and now has only The Office and 30 Rock keeping that old tradition-of-quality candle burning. And the fact that the network’s one big prime-time ratings success—Sunday Night Football—goes off the air in early January, making the season’s second half, particularly after the Winter Olympics, even bleaker.

And when you step back for a broader view, things get even worse; they devolve from “What’s wrong with this network?” to “Why own a network at all?” Because this isn’t just about the new sitcom with Chevy Chase and the guy from The Soup pulling in only 5 million viewers, or Trauma failing to become the next ER. This is about a company that has lately seemed to hold in contempt the very idea of a broadcast network, and that has become a symbol of the death of ambition in an industry that, in its glory days, attempted to program for both mass and class. Without that goal, a network is nothing but a basic-cable channel with a gloomier business plan and an uglier balance sheet.[...]

And then came the Leno move, for which Zucker was so intent on the cost-per-hour benefit to NBC that he failed to anticipate the collateral damage. With its wee audience—around 5 million people per night—Leno has robbed the network of viewers that could be watching promos for its following evening’s lineup, which means that, except when it airs football or The Biggest Loser, NBC tends to start each evening’s prime-time schedule with an already diminished audience. Handing 10 p.m. to Leno has also hurt ratings—severely in some cities—for the late-night newscasts of NBC’s affiliates. That, in turn, has dinged the Tonight Show, which, in the shaky hands of Conan O’Brien, now loses to David Letterman (who, even mid-scandal, seems to be having the time of his life). And that weakens NBC’s Jimmy Fallon and helps CBS’s Craig Ferguson. Back in prime time, NBC’s highest-rated scripted series, the durable warhorse Law & Order: SVU, has suffered because of its eviction from its longtime 10 p.m. slot. And on October 26, a humiliating report in Advertising Age revealed that NBC has been able to charge an average of only $57,486 for a 30-second ad on Leno, in contrast to CBS’s $127,000 for a new hit like The Good Wife and ABC’s $240,000 for a demographic blockbuster like Grey’s Anatomy.[...]

But these days, with its lineup zigzagging from football to low-end cheapo reality like The Biggest Loser to botched onetime hits like Heroes to media pets like 30 Rock, NBC’s brand is scattershot. The face of the network, by virtue of sheer omnipresence, is Jay Leno, who, at 59, is not any network’s demographic ideal. He may not be killing NBC, as TV Guide recently speculated, but it’s beginning to feel like he’s participating in an assisted suicide. One thing’s already clear: Remaking an entire prime-time lineup in his familiarly peevish image was a Hail Mary pass, not a long-term business strategy. And one suspects the network knows it. With Jeff Gaspin already working hard to repair NBC’s relationship with the creative community by signing deals with high-profile producers like Jerry Bruckheimer and J. J. Abrams, it’s hard to imagine that he and Zucker are not beginning, very quietly, to consider a Plan B. That could involve paying off Leno and canceling his show, cutting it back to three or four nights a week to give the grid a little more flexibility, or even returning Leno, “by popular demand,” to the Tonight Show. Start sweating, Conan; Leno recently told a trade reporter he’d take that deal if he were asked to—a seemingly offhand comment that sounds a lot like the beginning of a gigantic face-saving maneuver. In any case, even if, as media watchers gossip, the 44-year-old Zucker is unlikely to survive for long under Comcast, the various regulatory hurdles the deal has to clear will give him at least a year either to right the ship or sink it.

Neil Diamond covers Adam Sandler's Chanukah Song?

2009-11-08T22:53:00.001-05:00

A Jewish parody of Walk the Line

2009-11-08T12:07:00.002-05:00

CAUSE I'M A JEW...
Lyrics by Country Yossi

I wear a kippah on this head of mine.
I daven mincha in the proper time.
and by havdalah in my pockets I put wine
cause I'm a Jew, I do that too.

I put my sh'lok down when it starts to rain.
I shake a lulav, which my neighbors think insane
I like to bury my gefilte fish in chrein
Cause I'm a Jew, I do that too.

Chorus:
Cause I'm a Jew, cause I'm a Jew,
because the Torah tells me to, I do that too,
I do the strangest things a man could ever do,
cause I'm a Jew, I do that too.

Oh there are times when I where sneakers with my suit
and I must confess that it looks rather cute
and there is a time when we must send each other fruit...
cause I am a Jew, I do that too.

Oh once a year I twirl a chicken over my head
and it wouldn't be that bad if it were dead
and there's a time when I go outside and burn my bread
cause I'm a Jew, I do that too.

Chorus:
Cause I'm a Jew, cause I'm a Jew,
because the Torah tells me to I do that too,
I do the strangest things a man could ever do,
cause I'm a Jew, I do that too.

Oh Once a month I go outside and bless the moon
and once a year I have to eat all afternoon
and there's a time a pound my chest and sing a tune
cause I'm a Jew, Ia do that too.

On Pesach I will drink four cups of wine, it's true
and then eat matzah till I have no strength to chew
then I eat horseradish until I am turning blue
cause I'm a Jew, Ia do that too.

Chorus:
Cause I'm a Jew, cause I'm a Jew,
because the Torah tells me to, I do that too,
I do the strangest things a man could ever do,
cause I'm a Jew, Ia do that too.

Chandler on Health Care Reform

2009-11-08T10:01:00.002-05:00

Ben Chandler released a statement on why he voted the way he did.

“After hearing from many constituents on both sides, holding meetings throughout the district, and reading a 2,000-page bill which has changed dramatically in the past week, I voted against the bill because I do not believe it is the best course of action for the people of Central Kentucky, specifically our working families, small businesses, and seniors.

“In particular, the cost of this bill for the taxpayer is too high. We already spend more on healthcare than any other country on earth, and now we are being asked to spend a trillion dollars more. The Congressional Budget Office states that the bill does not bring down the growing cost of healthcare and perpetuates a system that is fiscally unsustainable. I have serious concerns about forcing people to purchase health insurance they cannot afford, especially if we are not bringing down the costs.

“I am also concerned the reform bill would not adequately protect our rural hospitals and our small businesses—the engines of job creation. I have had these same concerns throughout this difficult debate, and in the end, do not believe this bill is the best for the Sixth Congressional District.

“I appreciate the efforts of President Obama and the Democrats to put together a bill which incorporates a number of reforms that are long overdue, including greater regulation of insurance companies, the elimination of lifetime caps on coverage, and prohibiting denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

“There is no doubt that our healthcare system is broken, but I am not convinced that this bill today would lower costs, improve coverage, and maintain quality care in the long term.”

I will say that I did not read the 2,000 pages of the bill so I can't comment on the matter without knowing all the facts.

Comedy Central orders Onion pilot

2009-11-06T09:39:00.001-05:00

Comedy Central has ordered a pilot for a show based on the Onion Sports Network.

It's the sports world at its funniest: COMEDY CENTRAL has ordered a pilot from The Onion for a half-hour, scripted comedy series based on its popular Onion Sports Network online video series, as announced today by Lauren Corrao, president, original programming and development, COMEDY CENTRAL.

The as-yet untitled series will take on the whole universe of modern sports – teams, players, leagues, sycophantic fans, ridiculous products and over-hyped sports coverage – with an eye towards appealing to sports fanatics and more casual fans, as well as long-time followers of The Onion and The Onion News Network.

"We are thrilled to be in business with a cultural icon like The Onion to give our audience the sports show they deserve," said Corrao. "The short-form content on the OSN Web series is outstanding, hilarious and exactly what you'd expect from the gang. We're really excited to take this great idea and turn it into a regular, weekly series."

"The Onion is the biggest, most fearless, most influential news organization in the free world," said Steve Hannah, CEO of Onion, Inc. "And we see a collaboration with COMEDY CENTRAL as the next logical step in the expansion of the Onion Sports Network's hard-hitting coverage."

Executive produced by Onion News Network producer, Julie Smith and director Will Graham, the half-hour scripted comedy takes its cue from The Onion Sports Network video content which authentically replicates the flashy look, breathless pace and general insanity of modern sports coverage.

"Get ready for the most intense sports coverage humanity has yet witnessed," Graham said. "We won't rest until you're perched in front of your TV, shouting in breathless excitement, neglecting your loved ones and your job because you are so completely addicted to our sports coverage."

Ricky Gervais to host the 67th Annual Golden Globes

2009-10-26T22:27:00.002-04:00

People Magazine reports that British comedian Ricky Gervais will host the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony.

He's provided memorable moments on the Golden Globe awards in the past – and this year Ricky Gervais will have the chance to do so again. The British comedian will host the 67th Annual Golden Globes in January, PEOPLE has confirmed.

“Not only is this the biggest Hollywood celebration of the industry, which includes both film and TV, but also an environment where I feel I can get free reign as a host," Gervais said Monday. "I have resisted many other offers like this, but there are just some things you don't turn down."

This marks the first time that the telecast has had a host since 1995.

"We are delighted to have Ricky Gervais as the host on our show," said Philip Berk, President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Gervais, 48, proved to be a highlight during last year's telecast when he cracked a joke about best supporting actress winner Kate Winslet, her movie The Reader and his own lack of a nomination. "What did I tell you, Winslet – do a Holocaust movie, win an award," he said at the time. "That's the trouble with Holocaust films: There's no gag reel on the DVD."

A four-time Emmy winner, Gervais has also won three Golden Globes. In 2008, his HBO show Extras was named best television comedy at the Globes.

The Golden Globes will be broadcast live on NBC on Jan. 17 from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles (8 p.m. ET). Nominations will be announced on Dec. 15.

It's very clear...

2009-10-25T20:03:00.003-04:00

AIPAC still dominates in Washington and that's not about to change any time soon.

Israel's national security is predicated on three strategic pillars: The commitment, resolve and resilience of Israel's people; the Israel Defense Forces and other defense agencies; and the "special relationship" with the United States. All three face serious challenges today.

The U.S.-Israel relationship is largely unparalleled in history, one carefully nurtured over decades and in which AIPAC has played a vital role. It is a relationship under attack from numerous quarters, including pro-Arab and generally left-leaning groups, renowned scholars who write scurrilous attacks on the "Israel lobby," and others. It is a relationship showing increasing signs of "Europeanization," where it seems Palestinians and Arabs can do no wrong, Israel no right.

It is a relationship weakened by well-meaning but dangerously misguided Jewish Americans who established the group J Street as a "moderate" alternative to AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

My beef is not over the issues. On some I agree with J Street. It is about the best ways of ensuring the long-term vitality of the U.S.-Israeli relationship and the security and well-being of Israel.

It is presumptuous of our brethren in the United States, and frankly offensive, for them to believe that they "know better" what is right for Israel. The Jewish state is a vibrant, pluralistic democracy. Only Israel's citizens, who endure the consequences, bear the responsibility for its policies. The place to change Israel's policies is in Israel, not Washington. A corollary of sovereignty is the right to err. We waited for that right for 2,000 years.

J Street's stated position -- that it "supports political solutions over military ones" regarding the Palestinians and "strongly opposes the use of force by Israel or the U.S." against Iran -- is the height of presumption and chutzpah. So was its position earlier this year, during the Gaza operation, when it opined that "escalation will prove counterproductive" and called for an immediate cease-fire.

We all prefer diplomatic solutions. Sometimes it is not entirely up to us; sometimes there is no recourse but military action. The residents of Sderot, now enjoying their ninth months of relative quiet, might question the military expertise behind J Street's assessment. Israel and only Israel will decide whether to attack Iran's nukes.

Go read the op-ed in full.

A related article in The Forward on J Street and their credentials problem.

Jason Segel, star of How I Met Your Mother, shows he has a serious side.

"I think the key is to keep treating him normally and not change the way you would normally talk to someone just because they have cancer," Segel said at the launch of Lacoste's 2009 Pink Croc collection, which benefits the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Turning the subject over to Funny People, here's what's due out on the DVD being released on Nov. 24, 2009:

BONUS FEATURES
Throughout the production of the film, Judd Apatow and his entire production
team were mindful of home entertainment audiences, gathering exclusive footage
of the filmmaking process and creating special features that they knew fans
would love. Accordingly, both the two-disc Collector's Edition Blu-ray(TM) and
DVD come loaded with exclusive bonus features, including:
- Hilarious gag reels
- Deleted & Extended / Alternate Scenes
- Line-O-Rama: Re-watch some of the movie's funniest scenes, but this time with alternate punch lines
- Feature Commentary with director Judd Apatow and stars Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen
- Documentaries:
- Funny People Diaries: A documentary in four parts which takes audiences inside all aspects of the filmmaking process from early cast table reads and joke brainstorming sessions, to the various filmmaking techniques employed throughout the production.
- Judd's High School Radio Show
- Raaaaaaaandy!: This mockumentary takes fans on the road with Aziz Ansari's Randy character from the film.
- Music from Funny People: Listen to music from and inspired by the film from James Taylor, Adam Sandler, Jon Brion and RZA
- From the Archives: Watch Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow on a 1990
episode of The Midnight Hour with Bill Maher; Sandler's first appearance on David Letterman; and Seth Rogen doing stand up at 13!
- The Films of George Simmons: Watch footage from George Simmons'
greatest films including Sayonara Davey and Merman
- Prank Call 1990: Watch Sandler as he performs an actual prank phone call, in this archival footage from Judd Apatow's personal video library
- "Yo Teach...!": Go "behind-the-scenes" of "Yo Teach...!", the television show featured in the film Funny People

Funny People on Blu-ray(TM) Hi-Def includes everything on the two-disc
Collector's Edition DVD, plus more exclusive content and interactive features,
including:
- Enjoy more hilarious laughs with two more Line-O-Rama's
- Watch additional Deleted, Extended and Alternate Scenes
- Additional music and an extensive look at James Taylor on the set
- Over an hour of stand up performances by the film's cast
-Additional archival material including Sandler's second Letterman appearance, Sandler at Los Angeles' famed Comedy & Magic Club and Judd Apatow performing on The Dennis Miller Show
-Hilarious prank calls from Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow
-Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow's appearance on "Charlie Rose"
-U-Control(TM): Funny People music: Universal's exclusive signature feature puts the viewer just a click away from additional insights into the music in the film without ever leaving the movie.
-BD-Live(TM): Access the BD-Live(TM) Center through any Internet-connected player to download more exclusive content, the latest trailers and more!
-My Chat: Using any Internet-connected player, host a text chat with friends while watching the movie in synchronization
-My Funny People Commentary: Create play-by-play video, audio or
text movie commentary and share it with friends through UniversalHiDef.com and the BD-Live Center
-My Scenes Sharing: Bookmark favorite scenes from the movie to
share with BD-Live buddies

The Funny People single disc DVD includes a gag reel and feature commentary with director Judd Apatow, Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen.

Philly transit union workers to strike

2009-10-25T18:12:00.002-04:00

This sounds like a bad time to host the World Series.

Philadelphia transit workers have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a walkout less than a week before the Phillies play their first home game of the 2009 World Series.

Union president Willie Brown says 4,700 workers authorized him Sunday to call a strike if last-ditch negotiations with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority fail.

Brown says he hopes the series would not be affected by a walkout on buses, trolleys and the subway, which runs from central Philadelphia to the stadium. But he says workers have been without a contract since March and says this will be the "last week" they'll work without one.

SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney says he hopes a deal can be reached in the next few days.

Philadelphia will host games three and four of the World Series next weekend, and, if necessary, game five on Monday.

RIP: Soupy Sales

2009-10-23T15:12:00.001-04:00

Legendary comedian Soupy Sales has passed away at the age of 83.

Soupy Sales, whose zany television routines turned the smashing of a pie to the face into a madcap art form, died Thursday night. He was 83.

Mr. Sales’s former manager, Dave Usher, said the entertainer died in a hospice in New York City after suffering from multiple health problems.

Cavorting with his puppet sidekicks White Fang, Black Tooth, Pookie the Lion and Hobart and Reba, the heads in the pot-bellied stove, transforming himself into the private detective Philo Kvetch, and playing host to the ever-present “nut at the door,” Soupy Sales became a television favorite of youngsters and an anarchic comedy hero for teenagers and college students.

Clad in a top hat, sweater and bow tie, shuffling through his Mouse dance, he reached his slapstick heyday in the mid-1960s on “The Soupy Sales Show,” a widely syndicated program based at WNEW-TV in New York.

Some 20,000 pies were hurled at Soupy Sales or at visitors to his TV shows in the 1950s and ’60s, by his own count. The victims included Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis, all of whom turned up just for the honor of being creamed.

His memoir “Soupy Sez!” (M. Evans, 2001), written with Charles Salzberg, supplied the precise ingredients for successful pie-throwing: “You can use whipped cream, egg whites or shaving cream, but shaving cream is much better because it doesn’t spoil. And no tin plates. The secret is you just can’t push it and shove it in somebody’s face. It has to be done with a pie that has a lot of crust so that it breaks up into a thousand pieces when it hits you.”

But the key to his comedy went beyond the smashing of a pie.

“Our shows were not actually written, but they were precisely thought out,” he explained in his memoir. “But the greatest thing about the show, and I think the reason for its success, was that it seemed undisciplined. The more you can make a performance seem spontaneous, the better an entertainer you are.”

For all the staged mayhem, the truly unpredictable did occur. “I remember one time we were working with Pookie at the window,” Mr. Sales recalled. “He was doing a bit where he was breaking eggs and one of the eggs turned out to be rotten. My God, the smell was terrible! And I’m sure, watching us at home, everyone knew there was something wrong from the look on our faces.”

Soupy Sales was born Milton Supman in Franklinton, N.C., where his parents, Irving and Sadie Supman, owned a dry goods store. His last name was pronounced “Soupman” by neighbors, so he called himself Soupy as a youngster.

Drawing on the physical comedy of the Marx Brothers and Harry Ritz, he entered show business after graduating from Marshall College in Huntington, W.Va. Working as a teenage dance-show host and D. J. on television and radio, he appeared on stations in Cincinnati and Cleveland, then began “Lunch With Soupy” in 1953 on WXYZ-TV in Detroit. He took the name Soupy Sales in part from the old-time comic actor Chic Sale. After appearing on local TV in Los Angeles and on the ABC-TV network, he made his debut on WNEW in the fall of 1964.

Then came an infamous moment. On New Year’s Day 1965, Soupy Sales asked youngsters to go through their parents’ clothing and send him little green pieces of paper with pictures of men with beards. He later reported receiving only a few dollar bills and said he donated them to charity, but Metromedia, the station’s owner, suspended him briefly after a viewer complained to the Federal Communications Commission that he was encouraging children to steal.

May he rest in peace.

Jews banned from Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Conference in Egypt

2009-10-21T11:33:00.002-04:00

Israelis were banned from attending the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Conference in Egypt.

A United States-based organization’s conference on breast cancer awareness, to be hosted in Egypt, has been touted by international news networks as an example of “unprecedented cooperation” in the region. However, according to Channel 2 news, the celebration of unity may be premature, as Israeli doctors were told at the last minute that their invitations to participate had been rescinded.

The conference will be held in Alexandria, Egypt this week, under the auspices of the American group Susan G. Komen for the Cure – the world’s largest breast cancer advocacy organization. It is to include meetings between leading researchers from the U.S. and several Mideast countries.

Israeli doctors were invited to the event as well, and several had planned to attend. However, on Sunday night, the doctors received brief notices telling them that they were no longer invited to the conference, by order of Egyptian Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali.

The notices did not include an explanation of Gabali’s decision.

This is a travesty.

Take action

2009-09-23T09:33:00.001-04:00

Please take action and flag the video as inappropriate.

Protect our Insurance Companies

2009-09-22T09:35:00.002-04:00

Protect Our Insurance Companies featuring Will Ferrell, Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde, Thomas Lennon, Robert Ben Garant, Masi Oka, Jordana Spiro, Linda Cardellini, and Donald Faison

I tried posting the video but for some reason it messed up the entire blog.

What?

2009-09-21T01:16:00.002-04:00

Did you not get the memo?

I would be more than happy to respond in private but you are a coward hiding behind a psuedonym like that.

I don't know who you are or what you even do for a living but please, feel free to release your name or at minimum an email address so that people can get in touch with you.

2009 Emmy Winners for the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards

2009-09-20T21:37:00.013-04:00

I didn't make any predictions for the first time in quite a while and I'm actually watching on the DVR because of the St. Louis Cardinals-Chicago Cubs game and because Rosh HaShanah just ended tonight.

Outstanding Supporting Actress, Comedy: Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies
Outstanding Writing, Comedy Series: Matt Hubbard, 30 Rock (Reunion)
Outstanding Supporting Actor, Comedy: Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men
Outstanding Actress, Comedy: Toni Collette, United States of Tara
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series: Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live (Previously awarded)
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series: Justin Timberlake, Saturday Night Live (Previously Awarded)
Outstanding Actor, Comedy: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program: Jeff Probst, Survivor
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program: The Amazing Race
Outstanding Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Shohreh Aghdashloo, House of Saddam
Outstanding Supporting Actor, Mini-series or Movie: Ken Howard, Grey Gardens
Outstanding Actor, Mini-series or Movie: Brendan Gleeson, Into the Storm
Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special: Andrew Davies, Little Dorrit
Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special: Dearbhla Walsh, Little Dorrit
Outstanding Actress, Mini-series or Movie: Jessica Lange, Grey Gardens
Oustanding Made for Televison Movie: Grey Gardens
Outstanding Directing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Series: Bruce Gowers, American Idol (American Idol - Show 833 (The Final Three))
Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Series: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Steve Bodow, Jon Stewart, David Javerbaum, Josh Lieb, Rory Albanese, Kevin Bleyer, Jason Ross, Tim Carvell, John Oliver, Sam Means, Rob Kutner, J.R. Havlan, Rich Blomquist, Wyatt Cenac, Elliott Kalan, Rachel Axler
Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics: 81st Annual Academy Awards - Hugh Jackman Opening Number; John Kimbrough and William Ross, Music; Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab, Lyrics
Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Outstanding Supporting Actor, Drama: Michael Emerson, Lost
Outstanding Supporting Actress, Drama: Cherry Jones, 24
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series: Ellen Burstyn, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Previously Awarded)
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series: Michael J. Fox, Rescue Me (Previously Awarded)
Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series: Rod Holcomb, ER (And In The End)
Outstanding Writing, Drama Series: Kater Gordon and Matthew Weiner, Mad Men (Meditations In An Emergency)
Outstanding Actress, Drama: Glenn Close, Damages
Outstanding Actor, Drama: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Outstanding Series, Comedy 30 Rock
Outstanding Series, Drama: Mad Men

Three's Company remake?

2009-09-17T18:42:00.002-04:00

I think the premise of this DC-based sitcom is interesting but here's the thing: It should not be called a remake of Three's Company, because a remake is blasphemy.

"How I Met Your Mother" executive producer Greg Malins will try to resuscitate "Three's Company" for ABC -- only this time it's set in Washington and the three young people who are shacking up together . . . are all newly elected members of Congress!

But wait -- it gets better. Malins has partnered with Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington and founding editor Roy Sekoff to develop the sitcom. Huffington and Sekoff will be executive producers on the show if it goes forward and are hard at work cooking up Web tie-ins to the gestating series, including campaign sites for the fictitious characters.

This project is far from a certainty. So far, ABC has thrown some money at Malins for his pilot script -- one of the boatloads of scripts ABC has ordered for next season. Network suits have not decided whether to move forward with Malins's project.

Malins is giving this version of "Three's Company" a thorough dusting off. This time, instead of two chicks (making a star of Suzanne Somers, but not of Joyce DeWitt) and a guy (making a star of John Ritter), it will be two guys and one chick who wind up sharing an apartment in Washington.[...]

Malins told Variety he'd always been a political junkie "following all that stuff."

We'll take a moment here, so you can savor that sentence.

Back to work: But Malins says he only recently learned that members of Congress "often live together," adding, "There's your story right there."

The trades said lawmakers who room together include Democrats Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin, George Miller and Bill Delahunt, who share a house. And yet, not a chick in the bunch. Too bad!

Apparently "following stuff" does not extend to, oh say, reading the New York Times, which wrote about these same four Dems who shacked up together in 1994, 1995, 2005 and 2007. Too bad Malins didn't at least catch that 2005 article in which the reporter suggested "this has the makings of a television sitcom."

If ABC greenlights the series it would be produced by Fox Television, where Malins has an "overall" deal.[...]

And because the show would be a broadcast sitcom, Malins must adhere to the genre's One of This/One of That Rule.

So, he says, one of the politicians will be left-leaning, one will be right-leaning, one will be an independent -- and hilarity will ensue.

Also, one will have a wife back home, one will be single, and one will be recently divorced -- which is laugh riot right there.

L'shanah tovah

2009-09-17T18:19:00.000-04:00

L'shanah tovah tikatevu v'techatemu! To those that this applies to, may you and your families have a safe, healthy, and joyous new year!

The system is down?!?

2009-09-17T12:24:00.002-04:00

Check this one out by Ken Levine. Time Warner apparently has some issues. This sounds eerily similar to an Abbott and Costello routine.

The Toronto film festival, this past week, is, well, go read for yourself.

My condolences to her family but that sounds like it's a rather large funeral. I wonder how huge the dance floor gets at weddings and bar mitzvahs.

RIP: Mary Travers

2009-09-16T23:34:00.002-04:00

The rapture continues.

Louisville native Mary Travers, a member of the folk band Peter, Paul, and Mary died.

Mary Travers, who as one-third of the hugely popular 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary helped popularize such tunes as "Puff (The Magic Dragon)" and "If I Had a Hammer," died Wednesday after battling leukemia for several years. She was 72.

The band's publicist, Heather Lylis, says Travers died at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut.

Bandmate Peter Yarrow said that in her final months, Travers handled her declining health with bravery and generosity, showing her love to friends and family "with great dignity and without restraint."

"It was, as Mary always was, honest and completely authentic," he said. "That's the way she sang, too; honestly and with complete authenticity."

Noel "Paul" Stookey, the trio's other member, praised Travers for her inspiring activism, "especially in her defense of the defenseless."

"I am deadened and heartsick beyond words to consider a life without Mary Travers and honored beyond my wildest dreams to have shared her spirit and her career," he said.

Mary Allin Travers was born on Nov. 9, 1936 in Louisville, Ky., the daughter of journalists who moved the family to Manhattan's bohemian Greenwich Village. She quickly became enamored with folk performers like the Weavers, and was soon performing with Pete Seeger, a founding member of the Weavers who lived in the same building as the Travers family.

Cancer claims Myles Brand

2009-09-16T16:58:00.000-04:00

ESPN:

NCAA president Myles Brand died Wednesday after a nine-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

Brand, 67, was diagnosed with the disease in January.

"Myles Brand was a dear friend and a great academic leader. He was a tireless advocate for the student-athlete," Michael Adams, University of Georgia president and the chair of the NCAA executive committee, said in a statement. "Indeed, he worked to ensure that the student was first in the student-athlete model. He will be greatly missed."

Brand has been the NCAA's president since 2003.

Wow.

Not safe for work...

2009-09-16T13:27:00.000-04:00

I spoke at a roast a few weeks ago. This is not safe for work, I repeat, this is NOT SAFE FOR WORK.

Kanye West interrupts President Barack Obama

2009-09-14T09:45:00.001-04:00

RIP: Larry Gelbart

2009-09-11T17:48:00.002-04:00

We lost legendary comedy writer Larry Gelbart. I had the chance to email back and forth with him for the past few years.

Gelbart was born February 25, 1928 in Chicago. He was 81 when he died this morning.

Gelbart is probably best known for developing M*A*S*H for television.

Here's an obit from the LA Times:

Larry Gelbart, the award-winning comedy writer best known for developing the landmark TV series "MASH," co-writing the book for the hit Broadway musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and co-writing the classic movie comedy "Tootsie," died this morning. He was 81.

Gelbart, who was diagnosed with cancer in June, died at his home in Beverly Hills, said his wife, Pat.

Jack Lemmon once described the genial, quick-witted Gelbart as "one of the greatest writers of comedy to have graced the arts in this century."

Gelbart's more than 60-year career began in radio during World War II when he was a 16-year-old student at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles. He wrote for "Duffy's Tavern" and radio shows starring Eddie Cantor, Joan Davis, Jack Paar, Jack Carson and Bob Hope, with whom he traveled overseas when Hope entertained the troops.

He moved into television with Hope in 1950 and spent the next few years writing for the comedian as well as for Red Buttons' comedy-variety series.

He moved into television with Hope in 1950 and spent the next few years writing for the comedian as well as for Red Buttons' comedy-variety series.

In 1955, Gelbart joined the fabled writing staff of "Caesar's Hour," Sid Caesar's post-"Your Show of Shows" TV comedy-variety series. Among his fellow writers were Neil Simon and Mel Brooks.

In the writers' room, as colleague Carl Reiner later told Time magazine, Gelbart "popped jokes like popcorn."

Indeed, after Gelbart went to work for "Caesar's Hour," Hope contacted Caesar to say, "I'll trade you two oil wells for one Gelbart."

During his time on Caesar's show, Gelbart shared three Emmy nominations for comedy writing -- in 1956, '57 and '58 -- and earned the admiration of Brooks, who once described him as "the fastest of the fast, the wittiest man in the business."

Moving to Broadway in 1961, Gelbart bombed with the musical "The Conquering Hero," for which he wrote the book. The show closed after eight performances.

But Gelbart returned to Broadway in triumph in 1962 with the hit Stephen Sondheim comedy musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." Gelbart and Burt Shevelove wrote the book, which they based on the comedies of the ancient Roman playwright Plautus.

"Forum," whose cast included Zero Mostel, ran on Broadway for more than two years and won a Tony Award for best musical, as well as a Tony for Gelbart as coauthor.

Gelbart later wrote the 1976-78 Broadway comedy "Sly Fox," his updated adaptation of Ben Jonson's "Volpone"; the 1989 comedy "Mastergate"; and the book for the 1989-92 Broadway comedy musical "City of Angels," the Tony best musical winner for which Gelbart won a Tony for best book of a musical.

For films, he wrote the screenplay for "Neighbors" and co-wrote "The Notorious Landlady," "The Wrong Box," "Not With My Wife, You Don't!," "Movie Movie" and "Blame It on Rio."

He also received an Oscar nomination for his screenplay for "Oh, God!," the 1977 comedy starring George Burns and John Denver. And he shared a screenwriting Oscar nomination with Murray Schisgal and Don McGuire for "Tootsie," the 1982 comedy starring Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange.[...]

But most famously there was "MASH," the long-running series whose blend of laughter and tragedy made TV history.

Set in the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War, TV's "MASH" grew out of director Robert Altman's hit 1970 movie written by Ring Lardner Jr., which was based on the 1968 novel by Richard Hooker (the pen name of Dr. Richard Hornberger, who had been a military surgeon in Korea).

Gelbart and his family were living in London, and he was producing the British TV show "The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine" in 1971 when producer-director Gene Reynolds called him about writing a pilot script for a TV series based on "MASH."

In writing the pilot, Gelbart recalled in his 1998 memoir "Laughing Matters," he knew that it "was going to have to be a whole lot more than funny. Funny was easy. How not to trivialize human suffering by trying to be comic about it, that was the challenge."

"MASH" debuted on CBS in 1972, with Gelbart serving as executive script consultant. He and Reynolds were both executive producers of the show -- and shared Emmys -- when it won the award for outstanding comedy series in 1974.[...]

"MASH" ran for 11 years. But Gelbart's involvement ended in 1976 after four years and 97 episodes. As he later told The Times, "After four years, I had given it my best, my worst and everything in between."

The son of Eastern European immigrants -- his barber father was from Latvia and his seamstress mother was from Dumbrova, Poland -- Gelbart was born Feb. 25, 1928, in Chicago. Growing up on Chicago's mostly Jewish West Side, he spoke only Yiddish until he was 4.

Gelbart, who studied clarinet for 10 years while growing up -- "I wanted to be the next Benny Goodman" -- inherited his sense of humor from his mother.

"My mother was extremely witty and caustic," he told People magazine in 1998, "and my father knew more jokes than anyone I've ever known."

In 1942, Gelbart's family moved to Los Angeles, where his father's Beverly Hills clientele included actors and agents.

Gelbart had his father to thank for the launch of his comedy writing career in 1944 at age 16.

One of his father's show business customers was comedian Danny Thomas, who had a weekly segment playing a Walter Mitty-type character on "Maxwell House Coffee Time," a radio show starring comedian Fanny Brice.

After Gelbart's father boasted that his son had a gift for writing comedy, Thomas told him, "Have the kid write something and let's see just how good he is."

At the time, Gelbart recalled in his memoir, "my only real 'gift' was for showing off, doing imitations, putting together sketches, speeches, monologues at Fairfax High School."

But he wrote a sample comedy sequence for Thomas, who showed it to the radio show's head writer, and Gelbart suddenly had an after-school job writing comedy for "Maxwell House Coffee Time."

He was an 18-year-old staff writer on radio's popular "Duffy's Tavern" when he received a postwar draft notice.

But his career was not sidelined by his military service: Assigned to Armed Forces Radio Service, he continued to live at home while writing for the star-studded AFRS variety show "Command Performance," as well as continuing his other radio-writing jobs.[...]

He continued writing until three weeks ago, said his wife.

Gelbart married his wife, Pat, a Broadway actress and singer known professionally as Patricia Marshall and the mother of three children from a former marriage, in 1956. They had two children, Adam and Becky.

In addition to his wife and two children, Gelbart is survived by his stepchildren, Gary and Paul Markowitz; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.