John Oliver devoted his latest episode to an examination of the Republican Party. It’s even worse than you probably thought.
Humor
Forget Me Not
Here’s a second Graham Norton post right after yesterday’s, but if you haven't listened to or watched this episode of Wanging On, I wanted to bring it to your attention. Now that his chat show has resumed, Maria asks him about it and he reveals that without the teleprompter he’s apt to forget the names … Continue reading Forget Me Not
John Oliver Talks Ken Paxton
On Sunday evening John Oliver devoted most of his opening to a discussion of Ken Paxton as only John Oliver can. I couldn’t help but pass it along.
Dummy With the Wig on Top
Time for another Randy!
Dilemmas, Diets, and Dick
Here are some recommendations for podcasts and videos that have lately become available. First up is a recent episode of Wanging On with Graham Norton and Maria McErlane. Graham has an anecdote about his first show on the BBC being interrupted when the pope died, and then he and Maria field dilemmas from a mother who … Continue reading Dilemmas, Diets, and Dick
Them That’s Got Shall Have
I heard this on the jazz station the other day… On an unrelated note, John Oliver has a followup to a story he did a couple weeks ago.
Dial a What?
Here’s a Bob Newhart routine from 1969, you know, when Richard Nixon was president and Spiro Agnew was vice-president. The video is labelled “Dial an Atheist” but that’s misleading. That’s from the opening banter that Bob uses to get into the routine.
Groucho and the Real Old Lady
There’s a quote that I remember from Walter Kerr’s Tragedy and Comedy, and I even used it in preparing a speech for a public speaking course I took at Penn State. This may account for the mysterious distinction Groucho Marx once made between an amateur and a professional. An amateur thinks it's funny, Groucho said, if … Continue reading Groucho and the Real Old Lady
Tragedy and Comedy
Walter Kerr, in addition to being the husband of humorist Jean Kerr, was a theater critic for the New York Herald Tribune and later on for the New York Times. During his time as a critic, he gave absolute raves to fluffy musicals such as Hello, Dolly!, and he consistently panned everything that Stephen Sondheim … Continue reading Tragedy and Comedy
John Oliver on Soap Operas
A while back John Oliver offered to appear on a soap opera if they could meet his conditions. On his most recent episode he revealed what became of that offer: