Friends being funny. Funny, funny friends. [Can you tell I’ve been reading a lot of children’s’ books lately?]
First up, Paula Poundstone has just released her first ever CD, available here. What? Her first CD? Yes. My sense is that she was waiting to make sure that it wasn’t some kind of fly-by-night technology. She was understandably cautious after her disastrous 1984 stand-up release, available exclusively on View-Master disks.
Also, my friend Victor Varnado’s movie, “The Awkward Kings of Comedy,” is coming soon to a method-of-seeing near you, and the trailer is now online. Yes, finally a film featuring the comedy stylings of Victor and several other black nerd comedians. Oh, they’re very “street,” but it’s a street populated by muppets. They’re the kind of guys who spent the 70’s annoying everybody by riding the subways carrying around those giant calculators, noisily figuring stuff out while you were trying to read your newspaper in peace. Something something something “deft jam” (note - build a bridge to hilarious “deft jam” joke before publishing this entry…).
Watch this space (or, yes, that website) for more on the movie as it develops.





31 comments
lurker dave
December 15, 2008 at 6:54 pm
1I’m sorry to hijack this thread, but am I the only one disturbed that Dubya had to duck twice before the shoe-flinger was tackled or that someone ran to the side of the President?
The response time worries me…
Oh and really, who bases their attack on the character “Random Tasks” from the Austin Powers movies? That is just sad.
Jerry, The King of Comedy!!!
December 15, 2008 at 7:28 pm
2Here’s what we’ve been waiting for - 2008 in review!
http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2008/12/16/tomo/
Roger
December 16, 2008 at 4:48 am
3So what?!!! So what al qaeda was not in Iraq before we invaded? So what?!!! Does it give you chills to know this guy had his hand on the nukular button for 8 years? That he still has his hand there? Jeezus! Are we down to single digit approval ratings yet? That would be the perfect way for Bush to exit.
The Dread Polack
December 16, 2008 at 8:47 am
4Victor “Pokey” Varnado! I used to see him here in Minneapolis at Comedy Sportz. I will definitely have to czech this out!
Aunt Sam
December 16, 2008 at 3:56 pm
5Aargh! Only half my InterTubes are working today. Anybody else having problems?
becca (and brian)
December 16, 2008 at 4:49 pm
6Lurker Dave-
That’s the same thought/reaction I keep having. Maybe I’ve watched too many hollywood movies with the secret service but someone I would think that the protection/reaction would be faster than that. I mean, he basically had time to reload, as it were…
sharon hussein
December 16, 2008 at 6:03 pm
7Everyone was frisked and wanded before they were allowed into the press conference, as I read it. al-Zaidi just did what American journalists should have done years ago. This is no reflection on the Secret Service at all, but on Bush’s universal unpopularity.
madbard
December 16, 2008 at 6:28 pm
8i too was surprised when during WWDTM 12/13 that Paula had never released a comedy album. not that i would think to look for one.
Ed E. Tor
December 16, 2008 at 6:48 pm
9Shouldn’t the apostrophe go before the s in people’s?
Zee Man
December 16, 2008 at 7:22 pm
10I don’t suppose this will surprise anyone here, but Dick Cheney admitted in a television interview today to approving a war crime (waterboarding). Keith Olbermann pointed out on Countdown tonight that the U.S. brought to trial, convicted and hanged the Japanese soldiers who waterboarded our soldiers during WWII. I wonder if Cheney or Bush will be brought to trial or even be shamed into apologizing. I know how I’d bet on either of those ever happening.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cheney16-2008dec1 6,0,5456856.story?track=rss
Dirk's Diary
December 17, 2008 at 11:10 am
1112-17-08
Dear Diary,
I called Cheney today to beg off of the baby Harbor Seal clubbing expedition he had planned for all of the Cabinet over the Christmas holiday. He shot back “Yeah, you’re all a bunch of shameless pussies!!”, among other blistering expletives. When he’d calmed down a bit, I mentioned that I had seen his interview with ABC News where he admitted to approving torture for the captive enemy combatants. I suggested that he must be feeling better after getting all of that off his chest. He sounded mystified. “What do you mean?”……
………..
………..
“OK! Well, I’ve got to go. Nice talking with you, Dick. Hi to Lynn”
……….. “Get what off my chest?”
Dirk
Zee Man
December 17, 2008 at 7:11 pm
12Working in the nation’s capital, as I have for several decades, I have heard variations on this story in the past. Countdown ran it last night in connection to the Blagojevich scandal. I repeat it here.
Simon Cameron (1799-1889) had a well earn reputation for corruption even before he came to DC. For some unknown reason, Abraham Lincoln wanted to nominate Cameron for the position of Secretary of War in his Cabinet. Mr. Lincoln had concerns about Cameron’s honesty, so he asked an acquaintance, Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, his opinion of the man. Stevens remarked, “Mr. President, I do not believe he would steal a red hot stove”. Mr. Lincoln mentioned this to Cameron the next day and Cameron was livid. He demanded a retraction from Congressman Steven. When Stevens heard of this, he replied “Well, I could be wrong.” Who said American political humor began with Mark Twain?
gregory
December 18, 2008 at 6:19 am
13That’s some shiner on Dana Perino’s right eye from the shoe-flinging incident, where she was clobbered with a microphone. But Dana’s a real pro. She was back up on her feet and lying with consummate grace in no time at all.
Jake
December 18, 2008 at 5:18 pm
14A wave of Progressive hand-wringing seems to be breaking over the internets. Obama has chosen Rick Warren to give the Invocation at the Inauguration. What’s the big problem here? Rev. Warren will be mouthing a few harmless and gentle cliches about God and country. It’s just reassuring religious pap and symbolism for the small of mind and superstitious. For good or ill, sanctimonious true believers are Real Americans, too. At least in theory.
Roger
December 18, 2008 at 6:55 pm
15Well, Jake, there is that whole homophobia agenda Rev Warren has been pushing hard on. (An unfortunate choice of words, perhaps.) What has me concerned is that Obama may decide to go the way of a special commission to look into the Bush/Cheney war crimes. A commission will take forever to come to any sort of compromised and watered-down conclusion. Meanwhile, the 8 year statute of limitations on these crimes keeps ticking away. Obama needs to take the lead on this issue to make sure that justice is done and so the rest of the world doesn’t look at all Americans as enablers to torture.
Concetta
December 19, 2008 at 4:40 pm
16This weekend the planet should be blessed with another miracle of love, as Bristol Palin is due to deliver her first(?) born child. Her future husband, Levi Johnston, will be by her side (assuming New England Patriots’ game is on yet). Her future mother-in-law, Sherry, hopes to be there for the blessed event, but may have a little difficulty getting to the hospital since she was arrested on six felony drug charges in Wasilla yesterday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE4BI5VO20081219
I’m glad Obama won the presidency, but it also would have been fun to watch this family of clowns living their lives out bivouacked in the White House.
Dale
December 19, 2008 at 6:10 pm
17How could anyone get through an Alaska winter without narcotics?
Aunt Sam
December 19, 2008 at 6:37 pm
18Boy, Adam, I bet Bill wishes y’all weren’t on hiatus with THAT story breaking. Imagine the possibilities.
lurker Donnie
December 19, 2008 at 6:43 pm
19I suppose that Juan Williams assumed that leaving NPR for a television career would be a step up. And then he has the bad luck to wind up on Fox. Karma, right?
So, anyways, Alberto Gonzales is grilled tonight by the packing of grizzled news hounds that is Juan Williams. Or is Juan a pitcher on the Fox softball team? “I’m afraid I can’t recall” which it is.
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/cspanjunkie/alberto-gonzales-first -interview-leaving
Zee Man
December 20, 2008 at 2:08 pm
20You know, it’s comforting to see Obama nominating such a high number of top tier scientists to head Federal agencies that actually deal with, oh, I don’t know, science and stuff. Much better than the last eight years where these agencies were normally run by Druids or Zorasterians or nepotists with fly weight/thumb-sucking/Biblical takes on how the universe works.
Jake
December 20, 2008 at 2:35 pm
21Let’s see, you get subpoenaed to testify in a trial looking into the controversial 2004 election results in Ohio, Karl Rove threatens you so you’ll clam up about his part in gaming the election, you write a letter to Attorney General Robert Mucasey seeking protection from Rove, and what do you think happens. Did you guess die in a single engine plane crash? You did? Damn, you’re good!
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/threatened-rove-dead-small-plan e-cras
Hot Tub Tommy
December 20, 2008 at 7:52 pm
22OK! I admit it! These shyster lawyers are sucking the life blood out of me! Lemuel, you always had a knack for milking the herd. All is forgiven, son. Come on back & help your Uncle Tommy dig his way out of this rat-bastard hole he’s fallen into. You and me, Lem - let’s set ‘em up and run the table a couple of times, what do you say? Just like the old days! Skimming off the top and living large! Call me! …………. (Please.)
Rev. Billy
December 20, 2008 at 9:17 pm
23The higher the hair, the closer to Heaven! Amen! Brothers and sisters! Amen! It’s not too late to stop shopping!
http://www.revbilly.com/
It's Pat!
December 20, 2008 at 10:17 pm
24Here in Minne-snow-ta, we just get naked and run around in the snow.
Geraldo
December 21, 2008 at 6:37 am
25Yes! Yes! I see a Peabody for my next documentary - a searing expose’ about the coming Alaskan drug riots - “Methless in Wasilla”. Who knows, maybe even an Oscar! Dare I dream?
Geraldo
December 21, 2008 at 6:39 am
26Oh, and Pat - any photos?
Chadwyke
December 21, 2008 at 7:32 am
27Felbernauts, it’s not too late to get your flu shot. The flu has hit several areas of the country and Tamiflu does won’t seem to work very well against the type of flu that currently is leading that tsunami of microbes that’s beginning to crest.
http://www.physorg.com/news148968276.html
Good luck to everyone this flu season!
Chadwyke
December 21, 2008 at 10:51 am
28Oops. ….Tamiflu does not seem to work very well….. But then neither does my brain at times. Like at 7:32 am PST.
hedera
December 21, 2008 at 7:49 pm
29Sorry, Geraldo, it wasn’t meth - OxyContin. I found it in a follow-up story. Nothing like as spectacular as meth.
Thanks for the warning, Chadwyke, I got my flu shot in October.
cooper
December 22, 2008 at 4:13 am
30Ditto, Chadwyke, I got mine when I voted for Obama. “Vote & vacs” they were calling it. Great idea, it’s just that no one else was taking advantage of the opportunity, so it may not happen again.
David
December 22, 2008 at 8:43 pm
31I’m thinking television - an updated version of The Partridge Family. Show would open with Sarah Palin shooting a partridge. Then the laugh-a-minute of unplanned pregnancies, drug busts on the Palin family bus, maybe a bottle rocket attack on Putin from a coastal campground when he pokes his head up. So many lost possibilities when McCain/Palin went down in flames.
That is a legitimate question, Dale.