from Bruce
Anecdotes
Money
• Jack Benny often gave the biggest laughs to other members of the cast — he wanted laughter, and he wasn’t particular who got it. (This is a characteristic of Mary Tyler Moore on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.) Other comedians wanted to be the ones who got the laughs. Once, a leading comedian read a script for his radio program, then angrily complained to his writers that the script made him the highest-paid straight man in show business. Writer Goodman Ace replied, “Jack Benny makes three times the money you do.”
• Comedians have various reasons for going on tour, including needing the money to buy a house. For example, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders decided to go on one final tour as French and Saunders because Ms. French had seen a house in Cornwall that she wanted to buy, but she knew that she didn’t have the money to buy it. Sometimes, the house is not for the comedian’s personal use. Peter Kay went on a “Mum Wants a Bungalow” tour to raise money to buy his mother a house.
• Jack Benny’s comic persona was that of a man who is very tight with money — but in real life he was very generous. One night, he did a radio show in which his persona gave a large tip because he had forgotten his glasses. Following the show, Mr. Benny got into a taxicab, and when he paid his fare, he gave his usual large tip. The cabby, who had listened to the radio show, looked at the tip, then said, “You sure do need your glasses!”
• Fred Allen lived frugally, although he gave away great sums of money to the poor and needy. When he decided to go to Hollywood, he wired an agent to find him and his wife a couple of rooms in an inexpensive hotel. The agent wired back, suggesting that he stay in a 12-room house. Mr. Allen responded with yet another telegram: “Don’t be alarmed. You don’t have to let on you know us.”
• Opera singer Frances Alda once made a fishing bet with Charlie Chaplin. First he bet her a dollar that she wouldn’t catch any fish, then he said he would give her a dollar for every fish she did catch. After two hours of fishing, she had caught 83 fish, so he called off the bet and paid her $83. Ms. Alda knew she would win the bet — she hadn’t told Mr. Chaplin that the flounder were running.
• Comedian Jackie Gleason was a big spender, even if he had to borrow money to spend. He once borrowed $500 from friend and bartender Toots Shor, then ordered a limousine to drive him and Frank Sinatra fewer than 100 feet to a nightclub where one-armed trumpet player Wingy Malone was playing. Jackie kept giving Wingy $100 bills to play “That’s a Plenty.”
• Comedian Lewis Black had a chance to perform at Villanova University, provided that he did not mock the Catholic Church. He replied that if Villanova would pay him $10,000, he would believe that the pope was infallible and anything else that Villanova wanted him to believe. Unfortunately, Villanova turned down his proposal.
Mothers
• Comedian Adam Sandler had a good relationship with his mother as he was growing up. In the first grade, he would sometimes ask the teacher to excuse him, but instead of going to the restroom, he would go home. His mother never criticized him; she would simply make him a sandwich, and then walk him back to school. When Adam was eight years old, he entered and won a Punt, Pass, and Kick football tournament. However, because he wanted his mother to be proud of him, he waited for over 20 years to tell her how he won — he was the only competitor in his age group. Later, after he became a class clown and started getting poor grades, his mother yelled at him, “Why don’t you ever try?” Adam recorded her, and then played the recording back to her. He says, “She laughed for half an hour.”
***
© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
The Coolest People in Comedy — Free Downloads
The Coolest People in Comedy — Apple
The Coolest People in Comedy — Barnes and Noble
The Coolest People in Comedy — Kobo
The Coolest People in Comedy — Smashwords
The Coolest People in Comedy — Can Be Read Online Here at No Cost: Smashwords Online Reader
NEW BLOG - davidbrucebooks: EDUCATE YOURSELF
Presenting
Michael Egan
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "Pop Song"
Album: ROCK AND ROLL SONG
Artist: The Breed
Artist Location: Hobart, Australia
Record Company: Aldora Britain Records
Record Company Location: Rothley, UK
Info:
“The Breed are a band that knows exactly what their brand is and sticks to it. They play a unique blend of 60s punk, merseybeat, mod, 60s American Garage, power-pop and original material in the same vein. The current lineup of The Breed features Wayne Crisp (Guitar), Dan Graver (Bass), and Kenny White (Drums).
“Aldora Britain Records is an e-zine and record label that promotes the music and work of authentic independent or underground artists from all around the world. Originally established in 2013, they revamped themselves in 2018 with a brand-new approach. Their first weekly compilation, aptly titled THE SECOND COMING, was released in late 2019. They now also release original singles, EPs and charity projects.”
Price: £0.50 for 14-track album by various artists (Aldora Britain Records)
Or: The Breed’s album POP SONG also includes “Broken Toys,” which I have previously recommended (both song and album). This 14-track album costs $10 (AUS).
Genre: Pop. Rock.
Links:
ROCK AND ROLL SONG
POP SONG
The Breed (Australia) on Bandcamp
The Breed (Australia) on YouTube
The Breed (Australia) Official Site
Aldora Britain Records on Bandcamp
Aldora Britain Records on YouTube
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
davidbrucebooks: EDUCATE YOURSELF - Free PDFs
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Stephen Suggests
Mike Tyson
New Venture
Michael Egan
Reader Contribution
a little something
Hi Marty,
Here's a little something I saw on Facebook today. Barbara
Barbara
Thanks, Barb!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Quiet day at the laundromat-of-the-darned.
'Servant of the People'
Netflix
Netflix announced Wednesday that the popular political satire TV series, “Servant of the People,” starring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has returned to its streaming platform.
"You asked and it’s back!" the company tweeted on Wednesday. “Servant of the People is once again available on Netflix in The US. The 2015 satirical comedy series stars Volodymyr Zelenskyy playing a teacher who unexpectedly becomes President after a video of him complaining about corruption suddenly goes viral.”
Videos of Zelenskyy’s days in the entertainment industry went viral last month as people around the world continue to praise him for leading the country amid Russia’s invasion.
Before he was elected president, Zelenskyy had a prolific career as an entertainer, starring in several Ukrainian films and TV series, including “Servant of the People,” which ended in 2019 — the year Zelenskyy launched and won his presidential campaign.
Netflix
Ratings
’60 Minutes’
CBS’ “60 Minutes,” with reports on Ukraine, voting rights, Pete Buttigieg and “Ted Lasso,” was the week’s most-watched live television show — making it three weeks in a row for the old guys.
Fox News Channel was the most popular cable network, averaging 2.79 million viewers in prime time. ESPN had 1.4 million, MSNBC had 1.19 million, CNN had 1.12 million and HGTV had 1.1 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” led the evening news ratings race, averaging 8.4 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.3 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.2 million.
For the week of March 7-13, the 20 most popular shows, their networks and viewerships:
1. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8 million.
2. “FBI,” CBS, 7.75 million.
3. “NCIS,” CBS, 7.46 million.
4. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 7.14 million.
5. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 7.05 million.
6. “The Equalizer,” CBS, 6.95 million.
7. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 6.79 million.
8. “American Idol,” ABC, 6.64 million.
9. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 6.38 million.
10. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 6.14 million.
11. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 5.97 million.
12. “FBI: International,” CBS, 5.96 million.
13. “Bob Hearts Abishola,” CBS, 5.74 million.
14. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 5.58 million.
15. “NCIS: Hawai’i,” CBS, 5.4 million.
16. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 5.34 million.
17. “911: Lone Star,” Fox, 5.16 million.
18. “United States of Al,” CBS, 5.14 million.
19. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 5.05 million.
20. “Magnum P.I.,” CBS, 5.01 million.
’60 Minutes’
$125 Million
Chris Cuomo
Chris Cuomo wants an arbitrator to award him $125 million for his firing from CNN, alleging his bosses knew full well how he advised his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and suggested they did the same themselves.
His filing seeking arbitration on Wednesday exposed more ugliness at the network, where Cuomo, CNN chief Jeff Zucker and his top deputy, Allison Gollust, have all been ousted in the past three months.
Zucker fired Cuomo, host of the network’s most popular prime time show, in December after a New York Attorney General’s report publicly revealed new details about how he helped his brother strategize to fight sexual harassment allegations.
“It should be obvious by now that Chris Cuomo did not lie to CNN about helping his brother,” said his lawyer, Bryan Freedman. “In fact, as the limited information released from Warner Media’s investigation makes clear, CNN’s highest-level executives not only knew about Chris’ involvement in helping his brother but also actively assisted the governor, both through Chris and directly themselves.”
In his filing Wednesday, Chris Cuomo said CNN leadership demanded the interviews even though he and his brother had expressed reservations about them.
Chris Cuomo
If
Oz
Mehmet Oz (R-Snakeoil), warding off criticism from a key rival in Pennsylvania’s heated Republican primary race for U.S. Senate, said Wednesday that he will renounce his dual citizenship in Turkey if he is elected, as the expensive campaign took on a harder and more personal edge.
Oz — the celebrity heart surgeon best known as daytime TV’s host of “The Dr. Oz Show” — made the statement hours after disputing a media report that claimed he said he planned to forego security clearances in the Senate to maintain his dual citizenship.
Until Wednesday, Oz said he’d keep his dual citizenship so he has legal power in Turkey to make health care decisions for his Alzheimer’s-stricken mother.
He now says it’s become a campaign distraction and, if he wins, he will renounce Turkish citizenship before being sworn in to the Senate.
Oz was born in the United States to Turkish parents and, if elected, would be the first U.S. senator who is Muslim.
Oz
Thinning at a 'Frightening Rate'
Arctic Ice
New satellite data has revealed the Arctic is melting at a "frightening rate" due to the excess heat caused by human greenhouse gas emissions.
End-of-season Arctic multiyear sea ice – the ice that persists over several years – was roughly 50 centimeters (1.6 feet) thinner in 2021 than it was in 2019, the figures show, a drop of around 16 percent in just three years. It's being replaced by less permanent seasonal sea ice that melts completely every summer.
Over the past 18 years, Arctic Ocean winter sea ice has lost one-third of its volume – a staggering figure that may have been underestimated in the past, says the research. It's the first study to use years of satellite data to estimate both ice thickness and the depth of snow on top.
What makes the study important is the way it combines the LiDAR technology of ICESat-2, which was launched three years ago, and the radar technology of CryoSat-2. While LiDAR uses laser pulses and radar uses radio waves, they're both detecting objects (in this case snow and ice) based on the reflections being bounced back at them.
Arctic Ice
Ancient Sarcophagus Found
Notre Dame
Archaeologists have found an ancient lead sarcophagus and fragments of a rood screen under Notre Dame cathedral.
The find was unearthed during excavation works inside the church in Paris, which suffered a devastating fire in 2019.
Archaeologists said the lead sarcophagus probably belonged to a high dignitary and said it could date back to the 14th century, which – if confirmed – would make it a spectacular find.
The excavation also revealed a pit immediately below the cathedral floor, which was likely to have been made around 1230, when Notre Dame, one of the oldest examples of French Gothic, was under construction.
Notre Dame, which dates back to the 12th century, commissioned the excavation works inside the cathedral as a precautionary measure before installing scaffolding needed to restore a 100-metre high wooden roof ridge.
Notre Dame
New Zealand
Giant Potato
A New Zealand couple who believed they had dug up the world’s largest potato in the garden of their small farm near Hamilton have had their dreams turned to mash after Guinness wrote to say that scientific testing had found it wasn’t, in fact, a potato after all.
Colin Craig-Brown, who first hit the tuber with a hoe last August when gardening with his wife Donna, said it sure looked and tasted like a potato. Mind you, he added, he’s never tasted a gourd tuber.
After months of submitting photos and paperwork, the couple got the bad news from Guinness in an email last week.
“Dear Colin,” the email begins, going on to say “sadly the specimen is not a potato and is in fact the tuber of a type of gourd. For this reason we do unfortunately have to disqualify the application.”
The couple had named their find Doug, which they took to spelling Dug, after the way it was unearthed. The tuber became something of a local celebrity, after the couple began posting photos of it on Facebook with a hat on and even built a cart to tow it around.
Giant Potato
Runs Backward In Time
"Anti-Universe"
A wild new theory suggests there may be another "anti-universe," running backward in time prior to the Big Bang.
The idea assumes that the early universe was small, hot and dense — and so uniform that time looks symmetric going backward and forward.
If true, the new theory means that dark matter isn't so mysterious; it's just a new flavor of a ghostly particle called a neutrino that can only exist in this kind of universe. And the theory implies there would be no need for a period of "inflation" that rapidly expanded the size of the young cosmos soon after the Big Bang.
Physicists have identified a set of fundamental symmetries in nature. The three most important symmetries are: charge (if you flip the charges of all the particles involved in an interaction to their opposite charge, you'll get the same interaction); parity (if you look at the mirror image of an interaction, you get the same result); and time (if you run an interaction backward in time, it looks the same).
Physical interactions obey most of these symmetries most of the time, which means that there are sometimes violations. But physicists have never observed a violation of a combination of all three symmetries at the same time. If you take every single interaction observed in nature and flip the charges, take the mirror image, and run it backward in time, those interactions behave exactly the same.
"Anti-Universe"
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
