|
When Mike Nichols got the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award, I’ve previously posted the hilarious speech that his longtime partner at the start of his career Elaine May gave. (If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend watching it here.) At the same event, his longtime close friend Norah Ephron (who wrote and directed such films as You’ve Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle and Julie & Julia) gave a speech that is almost equally a joy, though far more brutal – and as with May’s, some of the fun is watching Nichols’ reaction of laughter – he’s one of the great laughers -- and utter embarrassment.)
0 Comments
Jon Stewart moved his usual Monday hosting of The Daily Show to Tuesday so that he could cover the presidential debate live. The first part was clearly written ahead of time, since it's about the election in general, not the debate. When they got into the debate, I found it a bit forced, trying to find things to joke about Kamala Harris in order to be fair. I was thinking, "Wait, you guys actually saw the debate, right??" But then, it finally because clear that they let the reality of the debate to sink in. And what deserved to get ridiculed...got ridiculed. Wonderfully. Hosts Phil Rosenthal and David Wild take some time in the middle of this Presidential Election year to to look, in their way, at politics. They write of sharing some stories “about their own political educations and their experiences working with assorted American Presidents and other politicians. One big highlight: Phil goes deep on his amazing experience directing a comedy film called ‘The Final Days’ starring President Bill Clinton for the 2000 White House Correspondents' Dinner.” One other thing, though -- Surprising news. By accident, I discovered that the entire episode is on video! I don’t know if they’ve done this for all the shows, or if it’s something new, since there are only three “Naked Lunch” videos posted. It seems a mixed bag, but we'll find out over time. That said, I'll offer both here today as an option, since some people prefer listening to a podcast where people just talk, while other like seeing the conversation. So, here's the audio version. If you prefer to video version, I'll offer that directly below. And this is the video edition. By the way, it includes about two minutes of the “Final Days’ video mentioned above. However, the full video runs six minutes, which I've embedded right underneath this. And now, you can see that ‘The Final Days’ video here -- For the past year, I’ve been planning on posting this today, but thought about not doing so out of respect for the news. But it’s the episode’s 75th anniversary, and it’s too warm and gentle and endearing – and therefore, perhaps hopefully, all the more reason not to let the occasion pass. So, to honor what around the world is the first day of school, this episode of Kukla, Fran and Ollie has the Kuklapolitans heading back to class. As it happens, in her early life Fran Allison was a teacher, which get the Kukla and Ollie think about what it would be like having her as their teacher. And so, they and the other Kuklapolitans play “first day at school,” albeit with a log of singing. And as I said, making it all the more notable is that the episode originally aired on September 6, 1949 – 75 years ago today. I think it’s a good time to go “Out and About” with Jiminy Glick again. This is a bit different from the others, since it’s not on his own show, but when he guest-hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live, the week that Martin Short was guest host, but had the night off. His guest here is Bill Hader. Also, since I previously noted that my preference with Jiminy Glick interviews is that they’re at their best when the subject doesn’t laugh throughout, it’s worth explaining why I think this is okay as Hader can’t keep himself from laughing almost the whole time. Most subjects rarely break character, which as I said, is what I prefer. (Whether other people like it when the subject breaks is another matter entirely.) BUT...there are always exceptions in life, if there's a good reason for them. And not only was Jiminy Glick on explosive fire here, and I challenge anyone to not break up at it -- not only when asked a question totally out of the blue like about SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels, but also then coming back with such an odd, unexpected response -- but Hader isn't merely breaking character with a laugh, but is clearly in such heaven doubling over dying with laughter throughout, unable to control himself, that that by itself turns out to be on its own level of joy. Whether it's a great "Jiminy Glick interview" is one thing. It’s not. That it's absolutely hilarious is something else. In 1993, Bonnie Hunt created, wrote and starred in the sitcom, The Building. She also served as executive producer with David Letterman. When she recently did a Naked Lunch interview for the podcast with Phil Rosenthal and David Wild, she told a story about how she asked Letterman to act in one of the episodes – he agreed, but with one caveat, he didn’t want to be seen. So, the show had to figure out how to make that work. They came up with an idea where Bonnie’s character, a good girl who had a somewhat high profile in town, had to go to a video porn store to pick up her brother’s wallet -- when a robber breaks in…played by Letterman in a ski mask. (All the funnier, still smoking his cigar.) And eventually the police and TV news show up. And…well, rather than explain more, here’s the sequence – |
Elisberg Industries gets a commission if you click here before shopping on Amazon.
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
Archives
June 2024
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed