There's always been a generic complement about announcers or actors with great voices, about how "He could make reading a grocery list interesting." Or sometimes it's a "telephone book." Well, it turns out that several years back, someone apparently suggested the great Dodgers announcer Vin Scully give it a go. Scully, who is retiring at the end of this year after a stunning 67 years in the booth, showed why he's been broadcasting for 67 years.
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You may have read about the vote in England on Thursday about whether Britain should stay or leave the European Union, an issue known as "Brexit." But you may not have a great deal of insight as to the issues or what's at stake. Happily John Oliver is here to explain it to you. Impassionately and hilariously. I've posted several "Carpool Karaoke" videos with James Corden. These are little features where he rides along with some singer, and they sing along with the performer's songs. This one is with Selena Gomez -- but it's a bit different from most. Whereas it starts off normally, it takes two or three unexpected turn. Even if you don't know Gomez's songs, or don't care for them, this is still a lot of fun to watch. I shall say no more, other than there's more conversation between the two than usual -- and Corden has a hilarious comeback to Gomez's charming, self-effacing description of when she knew she had made it -- but that's just part of it... This is a wonderful, short video from the group States United to Prevent Gun Violence. Rather than say anything about it, I'll just let the video speak for itself. The other day, I posted the video of an interview with the two then-surviving members of the Goon Show, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan, who wrote all the episodes of the legendary BBC radio show that was the precursor of many British comedy shows that followed, most notably Monty Python. In that interview, Milligan mentioned that the only voice he did that he based on someone else was the one for Eccles, the quintessential Goon. He said it was based on Edgar Bergan's wonderful Mortimer Snerd, who is probably my favorite all ventriloquist dummies. Many of you may not know Eccles, so I thought I'd post an excerpt of him here. This is the famous "What Time Is It, Eccles?" sketch between the genial but utterly dimwitted Eccles and Bluebottle, a little boy. Making this all the more fun is that Bluebottle was voiced by the third member of the Goons, Peter Sellers. Needless-to-say, the clip here and the animated were all added later. The best of of listening to The Goon Show is in your imagine, which in this case means turning away from your computer monitor. But it's certainly fine either way. More to the point, as you will hear, the Goons took the concept of surreal to its utter extreme. Yet 60 years later, it remains a hoot.
What began as a comedy bit by Daily Show correspondent Hasan Minhaj for the 72nd annual Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association dinner last Wednesday, shifted at the end to something far different and more serious. That's when he took on members of Congress, many of who were in the audience, over gun laws.
I'm sure that elected officials in Congress don't like being lectured by anyone, especially by a comic at a generally light-hearted event. But to Minhaj's credit, he's quite polite when doing so. But pointed, as well. It's a rant that probably would have made the granddaddy of the show, Jon Stewart, proud. Glad to see the tradition is carrying on so well with the new "correspondents," though it was off-the-air. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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