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Holiday Music Fest 2020

12/1/2020

'Tis the season. We're back with our Holiday Music Fest of little-known, but wonderful holiday songs or ones that are popular but with fun, unique arrangements -- as well as some uncommonly seen videos. And this year, we have some new additions, a couple of old, wonderful, Christmas TV specials. So, fa la la.

We'll start with a great oddity from the terrific Bad Lip Reading Folks that they did a couple of years ago. This is a rarity for them -- not just a song, but one for the holidays. "Christmas is Here." And given the recently-released hidden recordings of Melania's disdain for all the festive gala, it takes on new meaning this year, as well.

Mulaney Time

11/30/2020

As I think should be clear by now, I'm a big fan of John Mulaney. If you have a Netflix streaming subscription, his stage concerts are wonderful -- especially Kid Gorgeous at Radio City.

This is a half-hour montage of wonderful Mulaney material. It doesn't have the flow of one of his concerts, and despite what the video says I wouldn't call it "The Best" (for starters, it doesn't include his classic "a horse in the hospital" bit, which I've posted elsewhere here) -- but some of it is among his best, and all of it is a hoot, like his stories about zoning out, wanting to get Xanax, and his love of the show Law & Order.

A Call to Arms

11/28/2020

I've posted a bunch of videos from JL Cauvin, who I think is terrific, not just for his basic humor and the vocal quality of his impersonation, but also the little details he tosses in. His latest is a hoot -- Trump feeling sort of obligated to contact the troops overseas for Thanksgiving.

The Thanksgiving Fest 2020

11/26/2020

We'll end our Fest with a longer, special treat.

This comes with thanks to Eric Boardman who brought it to my attention. Eric and I share a love for Jack Benny. He particularly loves the radio show -- and while I do, as well, I also enjoy watching the later TV version which airs two episodes ever Saturday night on the Antenna TV cable channel.

This is the "Jack Benny Thanksgiving Program" episode from his radio show on November 30, 1952.

As Eric wrote, "Yes, I know Thanksgiving is long over, but this particular program will bring joy to any season. Today's sitcom staffers should study the construction. And everybody else should howl with laughter---and marvel at the gags radio encourages. Benny's writers are constantly surprising us with "visual" images. And Mr. Benny generously shares the jokes with his crackerjack cast. (Thanks always to the Sportsman Quartet for making cigarette commercials satisfying.) "The Lucky Strike Program with Jack Benny" is high art, maybe the highest of the genre."

Happy Thanksgiving.

The Thanksgiving Fest 2020

11/26/2020

So, today we're turning these pages over to material about Thanksgiving. And we'll start with how one should -- Stan Freberg and his classic album Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America: The Early Years.

This is actually two sketches in one -- "Pilgrim's Progress," with the song "Take an Indian to Lunch" and Freberg's version of how "The Thanksgiving Story" actually came about.

Having a Frog in Your Throat

11/20/2020

I'm a big fan of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Unfortunately, much of the video of their two TV series in England have been lost, though fortunately a bit still does exist. And also the audio is around, and several albums have been released of their sketches, two of which I bought many years ago on trips to London, long before the Internet came to mind.

Their sketch work together can somewhat be divided into three groups: One are their Pete & Dud pieces of two lower-class Cockneys pondering the great issues of life. Second are the interviews with the upper-class, albeit woebegone snob Sir Arthur Strieb-Griebling, and then finally are the general sketches.

This is one of their Sir Arthur interviews, a wonderful piece, 'The Frog and Peach,' originally done on their TV show which they re-created for the benefit concert, The Secret Policeman's Other Ball. Even before they say a word, the audience is quite appreciative. Deservedly so.

Another New Rainbow

11/17/2020

Randy Rainbow's new song parody is a bit of an odd one. That's because it's based on a very good, but odd song. The number that's it's a parody of is "Not Getting Married" by Stephen Sondheim, from the musical Company.. The original is sort of two songs in one with totally different music and tempos. But odd or not, the Randy Rainbow version is a thoroughly enjoyable one. Because of how the song goes, it doesn't allow for as much production values as he usually has, but he is able to mine a lot of fun out of it, regardless.

Nerves of Steal

11/11/2020

While I wish the "freeze screen" for the video -- and the description -- were different so as to not give anything away, this was still a fun bit on the Conan show that starts normally and takes some enjoyable twists and turns.

What's easy to let slip through the cracks is that both are alum of Saturday Night Live, though not at the same time. Julia Louis-Dreyfus was there from 1982-85, and Tina Fey began in 2000 until 2008. (Actually, she started with the show in 1997 as a writer, and made a few uncredited appearances before she became an official cast member on Weekend Update.) I would not be me if I didn't also note that both began their comedy careers in Chicago -- Julia Louis-Dreyfus in a comedy-improv troupe at Northwestern, and Tina Fey at Second City.)

By the way, Julia Louis-Dreyfus had a great tweet the other day. I don't recall the exact phrasing, but it was basically, "Isn't it wonderful that we finally have someone called 'Madame Vice President' who isn't a fictional character."

More Mean Tweets

11/10/2020

I've periodically posted a segment that Jimmy Kimmel does of celebrities reading Mean Tweets about the. He did one on Politicians Read Mean Tweets. It's not quite as good -- the politicians don't get into the spirit of it as well as artists, but it's still fun. And worth it most of all for the appearance by Adam Schiff.

Last Week Tonight Last Night

11/9/2020

If you missed last night's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, it was an uncommon one -- but you could have probably figured that. Virtually the entire show was just the Main Story. And that one story, of course, was a look at the Nov. 3 election. And the show was wonderful, it was almost a non-stop 27 minutes skewing of Trump that made you think that Oliver was doing it on one breath. It was detailed, wildly entertaining, cathartic and often very funny.