from Bruce
Anecdotes
Names
• Mark Linn-Baker and Lewis Black used to perform comedy together at Yale University. More or less, they were performing so that they could get enough money to do their laundry. Therefore, they called their act The Laundry Hour.
• Don Adams played Maxwell Smart in the 1960s TV series Get Smart. His real name was Donald James Yarmy, but actors were called in alphabetical order at auditions. He got tired of being called last, so he changed his name.
Originals
• Whoopi Goldberg is a true original. While she was still in the process of being born, she put her thumb in her mouth, surprising the doctors and nurses. When she was a little girl, she asked her mother if she could be a princess. Her mother replied that an actress can be anything, and so Whoopi started acting. Her two cats were named Lou and Bud, after the comedians Lou Costello and Bud Abbot. And when she had her own talk show on TV, she invited white supremacist Thomas Metzger on. When he advocated the separation of the races, she asked him, “Where are you people going, ’cause I sure […] ain’t leaving.
• Latino comedian George Lopez lives in a very fine house; after all, he is a multi-millionaire. In fact, he lives in such a fine house that many people, including many Latinos, are surprised that a Latino lives there — and owns it. He once needed a new roof, and so 15 Mexicans started working on it. In the afternoon, Mr. Lopez returned to his house and noticed that no one was working on the roof. He went looking for the Mexicans, and he found them having a party in and around his pool. One of the Mexicans saw him and said, “Hey, vato [dude], jump in. The man’s not home.”
• Mel Brooks is the co-creator of the TV series Get Smart. One of his contributions to the series was the shoe phone worn by Control spy Maxwell Smart. The idea came to Mr. Brooks when every phone in his office started ringing, and as a joke he took off his shoe and started talking into it.
Plagiarism
• The 1957 B-movie Zero Hour provided inspiration for the disaster movie spoof Airplane!, which was created by Jerry and David Zucker and Jim Abrahams, aka ZAZ. The movie featured a traumatized veteran being forced to land an airplane after the pilots and crew and passengers are made ill by food poisoning. In fact, many of the plot elements and even dialogue for Airplane! are taken directly from Zero Hour. For example, the line “We have to find somebody who cannot only fly this plane but who also didn’t have fish for dinner” appears in both films. Paramount ended up buying the rights to Zero Hour so that it would not be accused of plagiarizing the film in Airplane!.
• Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner used to do a comedy routine in which Mr. Reiner interviewed Mr. Brooks, who played a 2,000-year-old man. However, they performed the routine only at private parties, not in public. Other comedians were impressed by the act. George Burns asked if the routine had been recorded on a comedy album yet. It hadn’t, so Mr. Burns told them, “If you don’t put it on an album, I’ll steal it. I’m serious.” They did, and it became famous.
• Many comedians plagiarize, especially early in their careers. Early in his career, Jackie Mason introduced a comedian named Phil Foster. As he did so, he used much of Mr. Foster’s own material. When Mr. Mason finished the introduction, Mr. Foster walked out on stage, said, “How do you do, ladies and gentlemen? You just heard my act, so good night.” He then walked off the stage and left the building.
Politics
• Zero Mostel took the Fifth Amendment when questioned by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, perhaps in part because saying that he was not a Communist would have opened him up to prying questions about friends of his who may have been Communists. Certainly Mr. Mostel was a leftist when it came to politics. He survived the blacklist, partly by working as a nightclub comic at prices far lower than he had been receiving, partly by selling paintings, and partly because his wife went back to work. Late in life, he starred in The Front, a film about the blacklist that also starred Woody Allen. However, Mr. Mostel never forgave those who cooperated with the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Whenever he met an informer on the street, he called out cheerfully (but sarcastically), “Hello, Looselips!
***
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Presenting
Michael Egan
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: “La Marseillaise” (French National Anthem)
Album: This is a one-sided single.
Artist: Julien Neel
Artist Location: France
Info
“Trudbol A Cappella (Julien Neel) is a one-man barbershop quartet!
“I sell audio learning tracks: http://julienneel.com/
“I publish a cappella videos every Thursday! I enjoy close harmonies acapella, singing all the parts from bass, to baritone, to tenor. I typically cover classic barbershop tunes, but also Beatles songs, video game and TV theme songs, choral music, etc., and I sing in English, French, German, Swedish and will try other languages along the way.
Price: $1 (USD) for track
Genre: A Cappella.
Links:
“La Marseillaise” (French National Anthem)
Julien Neel on Bandcamp
Julien Neel on YouTube
Other Links:
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
New Venture
Michael Egan
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Recommended
Zelensky’s portrait was hung with Rubik’s cubes
The record holder of Ukraine in collecting the Rubik's cube, Alexander Ivanchak from Dnipro, made a portrait of Vladimir Zelensky from cubes.
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Current Events
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National Book Critics Circle
‘The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois’
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers’ “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois,” her epic novel about racism, resilience and identity named for the influential Black scholar and activist, has received the fiction prize from the National Book Critics Circle.
The critics circle praised Jeffers for “weaving several centuries’ worth of ‘songs’ from the ancestors into her narrative of the coming of age and young adulthood of a brilliant Atlanta scholar.” Jeffers, a professor of English at the University of Oklahoma and author of five poetry collections, was among the winners announced Thursday during a ceremony held online because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the nonfiction category, the award was given to Clint Smith’s “How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America.” Rebecca Donner’s “All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler” won for biography, and Jeremy Atherton Lin’s “Gay Bar: Why We Went Out” was named the best autobiography. The poetry prize was given to Diane Seuss’ “frank: sonnets,” and the criticism award went to Melissa Febos’ “Girlhood.”
The inaugural Toni Morrison Achievement Award, established last year in honor of the late Nobel laureate and presented to “institutions that have made lasting and meaningful contributions to book culture,” was given to the Cave Canem Foundation. A self-defined “home for Black poetry” started in 1996 by Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady, the foundation has helped support such prize winning poets as Claudia Rankine and Tracy K. Smith.
Novelist Percival Everett, whose books include such meta-fiction as “Erasure” and “A History of the African-American People,” received the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, named for the critics circle’s first president. The Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, named for the late critic and co-founder of the NBCC, was given to New Yorker contributor Merve Emre.
‘The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois’
Barred From Performing at Grammys
Kanye
Kanye West has been barred from performing at the Grammy Awards due to his “concerning online behavior,” a rep for the artist confirms to Variety. Reps for the Recording Academy and CBS, which present the Grammys, did not immediately respond to Variety‘s requests for comment on the claim early Saturday.
West’s rep cited a report in the Blast posted late Friday claiming that the artist’s team received a phone call Friday night informing him he had been “unfortunately” removed from the lineup of performers for the show due to his “concerning online behavior.” While West, who is up for five 2022 Grammy Awards, was not among the first list of performers announced on Tuesday, he may have been a planned performer. A rep for West sent Variety a link to that story, saying only “This is confirmed”; the rep did not respond to requests for further information, although the Blast report states, “Our sources say Kanye’s team isn’t surprised by the decision.”
Nor should they be. While Academy reps did not respond to requests for comment, there are many reasons why a Kanye West performance on live network television would be a prohibitively risky proposition. Based on his social media posts and activity in the past few months alone, he might use the stage to continue his online harassment of Pete Davidson, his estranged wife Kim Kardashian’s new boyfriend; he could attempt to lobby public sentiment for custody of his children; he could make some statement in support of accused sex offender Marilyn Manson or unrepentant homophobe DaBaby, both of whom he has featured at his recent concerts or listening events; he could make more misguided statements about slavery or revive his stumping for former President Trump. Conversely, he could use the platform to do something that isn’t self-serving, self-referential or sheer trolling, like when he unexpectedly said “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people” during a televised Hurricane Katrina fundraiser in 2005.
Perhaps most of all, the report stated the decision was made partially because of concerns over possible interactions between West and Grammy host Trevor Noah; West used a slur against Noah in an Instagram post regarding comments the “Daily Show” host made regarding his split with Kardashian, resulting in a 24-hour ban from the platform. In response, Noah wrote, “I’ll be honest with you — what I see from the situation is a woman who wants to live her life without being harassed by an ex-boyfriend or an ex-husband or an ex-anything.”
Kanye
Finds A Way
'Lightyear'
Sometimes, love finds a way. One week after Pixar's LGBTQIA+ employees and their allies sent a strongly-worded letter to Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek objecting to his decision not to push back more forcefully against Florida's controversial "Don't Say Gay" bill, the studio's parent company has already reversed course about a same-sex storyline in the animated blockbuster Lightyear.
According to Variety, the upcoming Toy Story "sidequel" features a kiss between two female characters that was originally cut from the film. Now, that kiss has reportedly been restored after the employees' letter revealed that Disney had cut scenes featuring "overtly gay affection" from previous Pixar films.
Lightyear stars Chris Evans as Buzz Lightyear — the "real" version of the Space Ranger toy that Tim Allen voices in the Toy Story series. Orange Is the New Black sta Uzo Aduba voices one of Buzz's fellow Rangers, Hawthorne, who is depicted as having a "meaningful relationship" with another woman.
Variety's story suggests that Disney didn't object to the identity of Hawthorne's partner, but did overrule Pixar on including a kiss. After the employees' letter, though, the scene was added back to the film, which premieres in theaters on June 17.
'Lightyear'
Congressional Hearing Threatened
Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Baron Cohen says Bernie Sanders’ team threatened to open a congressional hearing over his “Who Is America?” interview.
The “Borat” creator opened up about his experience making the 2018 political satire series in an excerpt from Judd Apatow’s upcoming book “Sicker in the Head: More Conversations About Life and Comedy,” out March 29.
In “Who Is America?,” Cohen interviewed Sanders while disguised as fictional conspiracy theorist Billy Wayne. During the interview, he urged the Senator to stop complaining about the ultra-wealthy and move the rest of America “into the 1%.”
“It’s my first time as this character, so I’m not deep in character; the accent’s not quite there,” Cohen said (via Air Mail). “We sit down, and it’s chaotic. We know we’ve only got an hour with Bernie Sanders. He’s late. And he gets pissed off within five minutes, when he realized that he was with this idiot. He didn’t think it was part of a prank; he just thought, ‘This is not the show that you told me that we’re going to make.'”
Cohen continued, “So, with Bernie Sanders, he comes out of it, and his team … immediately call up CBS, who owns Showtime, and they go, ‘What the hell is this? We’re going to the press with this. Who was this?’ And the good thing was CBS didn’t know what it was. So, they asked Showtime. They go, ‘Do you know anything about this show?’ Showtime said, ‘Yeah, we’re making it; it’s legitimate.’ Sanders’ people said, ‘We don’t know. These could be terrorists, and if you don’t pull the interview we’re going to go to Congress and get a congressional hearing on this terrorist group that’s going around D.C.'”
Sacha Baron Cohen
Failed NDA Case
Legal Fees
Donald Trump The loser’s presidential campaign has been ordered to pay more than $300,000 in legal fees and expenses to a former employee who the campaign’s lawyers said had violated the terms of a nondisclosure agreement when she accused Trump the predator of forcibly kissing her in 2016.
The award, the culmination of an arbitration claim that was dismissed in November, represents the latest instance of Trump the conman’s failure to use a nondisclosure agreement successfully against an ex-worker.
The resolution of the claim, which Trump’s campaign filed in September 2019, came less than a year after he had lost similar efforts to enforce nondisclosure agreements against Jessica Denson, a former campaign worker, and Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former White House aide and a star on “The Apprentice.”
Victor Bianchini, a retired federal judge, cited both of those cases in his decision March 10 when he ruled in favor of Alva Johnson, a former campaign worker who in 2019 unsuccessfully sued Trump the grifter, claiming he kissed her on the mouth against her will during a campaign stop in August 2016.
Legal Fees
Fluffing The Fluffer
Hannity
Fox News host Sean Hannity (R-Lord HeeHaw) highlighted that Russian President Vladimir Putin was mimicking the former President Donald Trump during a pro-war rally in Moscow, per HuffPost.
"It looks like Vladimir Putin is channeling his inner Donald Trump grifter," Hannity said on his Friday radio show, according to HuffPost.
Putin took to the stage at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium on Friday to drum up support for the war in Ukraine.
In the crowd, thousands of supporters waved Russian flags and banners marked with the letter 'Z,' a symbol of the Russian invasion, MailOnline reported.
Later in the day, during his Fox News show, Hannity once again accused Putin of trying to imitate Trump the unindicted conspirator.
Hannity
Linked To Wildfire Smoke
Arctic Melting
The dense plumes of wildfire smoke seen in recent years are contributing to the warming of the Arctic, say scientists.
Their study says that particles of "brown carbon" in the smoke are drifting north and attracting heat to the polar region.
The authors believe the growing number of wildfires helps explain why the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the planet.
Over the past decade, smoke from raging wildfires in Australia, Portugal, Siberia and the US have changed the colour of the skies. The smoke has impacted human health, and the amount of carbon released by the burning has helped push emissions to record levels.
But now scientists say that all this burning has contributed to another serious issue - the loss of sea ice in the Arctic.
Arctic Melting
Mushers Rescued
Iditarod
Two back-of-the-pack mushers had to be rescued in separate incidents from the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Friday after winds from a severe ground storm caused deteriorating conditions, race officials said.
One of those rescued was a musher who had a dangerous encounter with a moose before the race started.
Both rescues happened Friday morning as mushers were making the final push for the finish line in Nome.
The nearly 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) Iditarod started March 6 near Willow and took mushers over the unforgiving Alaska wilderness. Brent Sass won the race Tuesday.
Nine mushers remain on the trail, all bunched up at the checkpoint in White Mountain, 77 miles (124 kilometers) from Nome.
Iditarod
Recently Discovered Tombs
Egypt
Egypt on Saturday displayed recently discovered, well-decorated ancient tombs at a Pharaonic necropolis just outside the capital Cairo.
The five tombs were unearthed earlier this month and date back to the Old Kingdom — a period spanning roughly from around 2700 BC to 2200 B.C., as well as to the First Intermediate Period, which lasted for over a century after the Old Kingdom collapsed, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said Egyptian archeologists started excavating the site in September. The tombs, he said, were for senior officials including regional rulers and palace supervisors in ancient Egypt.
The tombs were found near the Step Pyramid of Djoser, in the Saqqara Necropolis, 24 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Cairo.
Egypt
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