Thanks to the inveterate Chris Dunn for a heads-up on this.  It's a little sing-songy cartoon in the spirit of the old classic Schoolhouse Rock videos that taught kids about how government works, among other things. 

This was something that my friends Robert and Michelle King decided to add to the end of their show, The Good Fight -- a song about how impeachment works.  Robert says that it's a hope to have more songs like this in other upcoming shows next season, though that hasn't been decided yet.

For this, this song by Jonathon Coulton, with lively animation by the company Head Gear, based in Toronto.

Last night, Conan O'Brien had another of his Without Borders shows, this time in Italy.  It was a bit different from most.  Rather than focus on Conan exploring a country, it was more about him traveling around with his associate producer Jordan Schlansky, who loves Italy, has made the trip 20 times and is a regular "punching bag" butt of jokes on the Conan show, for having somewhat of a distant personality (with perhaps nerd tendencies) and Conan never knowing exactly what he does, other than "various things."  So, this episode was more of an extension of that on steroids, rather than his normal travelogue.  It was very funny, just not as much about Italy which is a bit of a shame since the country has so much to offer.

Still, it was fun.  And what was particularly a clever idea was a trailer they put together at the very end, done in the style of an on old 1950s Italian art film, Due Buffoni.

It's always a good time to jump back and bring in a bit of Jiminy Glick.  For this clip, his guest is Jeff Goldblum, and he has a particularly fun time with him.  I especially love one throw-away quip he makes at Goldblum's expense -- I don't want to give it away, but it comes at the 4:11 mark.

Yesterday, I posted a video I'd come across (I'm a little late to the party...) by a fellow who gives himself the name of Randy Raindow.  As I said, the song parody itself was not only good, but he put together an impressive and fun video production on top of it.

He's been doing this for a while, and has a whole portfolio of songs, so I thought I'd post another one to give you an even further sense.  This is a parody of the song, "Those Were the Good Old Days," from the musical Damn Yankees, with a score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross.  I always thinks it helps a parody when you know what it's parodying, so if you don't already know the original song, here it is -- with Ray Walston as The Devil wistfully reminiscing of better (or rather, worse...) times.

And here is Randy Rainbow's parody.  Once again, he has an especially-elaborate production to support his song.  Whereas yesterday's piece may be a better all-around video, there's something about this parody that I think I enjoy even more.  Besides which, the comic timing is wonderful, aAnd there's a joke at the 1:45 mark that I find a hoot, all the more so for its subtlety.)

I came across the parody song last night by a fellow named "Randy Rainbow."  Yeah, I'm going to guess that's not his real name.  Though I'm surprised he's using a pseudonym because not only is the parody quite good, but the production of the video is absolutely wonderful and joyfully clever.

The song is to the tune of "You Can't Stop the Beat" from the musical, Hairspray, written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.  This version is called, "You Can't Stop His Tweets."

If you don't know the original, here it is from the film.  No need to watch the whole thing (since it runs almost nine minutes...), though it's a lot of fun, but enough to get an idea of it.

And here is Randy Rainbow's version --
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This is a very charming and whimsical TedTalk sent me of John Hodgman, which he did in 2008.  It's not long, only about 15 minutes, and he's such a good storyteller, it carries you along.  It's titled, "​Aliens, love -- Where are They?"  Thanks to Catherine Clinch for sending it to me.

In it, he talks about aliens, time, space and somehow ties it all together in his observation about the equally alien concept of falling in love.

Last night, I went to a Passover seder at a home I've been going to for years.  It's always very enjoyable, except for one particular thing:  about five years ago, the host switched from a very simple haggadah – which is the book used for the service (and unless you're with an especially serious group, people tend to prefer simple, and the simpler and more lively and fun, the better ) – to something called The New American Haggadah. In a word, it is interminable (though happily we don’t read through most of it) and in a few additional words, it's pontificatingly awful and pompous, about 100 pages long -- a preferred haggadah is about 30 -- edited by a fellow named Jonathan Safran Foer.  It might be something interesting to read is you were on a desert island and feeling devout.  But as a haggadah for people who want to celebrate and get through the wine, matzoh, gefilte fish, camaraderie and meal, it’s dismal, and I don’t think anyone there likes it.  Even the host has started to grow weary of it.  But he's determined and sticks with it, editing the service more and more each year.  As is only right and proper.

But his self-awareness was especially noticeable when he himself brought up that only a few days ago, he had seen that The Onion did a satire piece about…Jonathan Safran Foer!!!  Yes, the editor of the haggadah.  The headline of the article alone is funny enough and I could have stopped right there, “Jonathan Safran Foer Guesses It’s Time to Give Up on Silly Dream of Becoming a Good Writer.”  Hilarious.  I have no idea what brought this about -- Foer has actually had a successful career, including the novel, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, which was made into a movie I quite enjoyed.  Perhaps The Onion writer has been through one too many seders with The New American Haggadah, or if that was just a happy coincidence and a genial jibe in general.  But it did my heart good.  The article is very short – one paragraph, but quite funny.  If you’re interested, here’s the link.
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​Here's a sketch from a couple nights ago with Stephen Colbert occasionally trying to keep a straight face as he interviews Dana Carvey playing an absolutely lunatic John Bolton.
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Fun, goofy, elaborate, but still a bit low-key.

And that left it up to the two team executives.  And together they put together their plan.  A video that would play during an upcoming game.

It required the participation of Anthony Rizzo, the team's leader, who did the narration.  And throughout the film there are clips of La Stella answering questions about himself.  But it's important to know that those weren't done for the video, but actually they were outtakes from a 2015 promo that the team did.  Clips that had never been used, and were just sort of off-beat.  So, La Stella had no idea.

Throughout the day, before the game, Rizzo kept going up to La Stella, setting the table, and preparing things beforehand.  "Tommy's a perfect candidate to be able to take something like that," Rizzo said. "All day I was telling him that I loved him and 'Tommy, I want you to know I love you and you're a good friend.' I'm buttering him up."

And then at the end of the third inning, La Stella came to the plate and line out into a double-play, ending the evening.  As he walked back to the dugout, he passed Rizzo who was next at bat.  "He lined out and I'm on deck," Rizzo explained, knowing what was coming in a few seconds, "and I said, 'Hey, this is the reason I've been telling you this all day.'"

And this is the video they ran on the big Jumbotron scoreboard before the fourth inning, for the entire packed stadium to see --