An evening pause: One of the silliest shows ever produced by television. These cameos however provide a nice survey of 1960s television and culture. How many do you know? And can you name the actor playing Santa?
Hat tip Max Hunt.
An evening pause: With high hopes for the new year.
Hat tip Edward Thelen, who I thank for trying to offer me videos from a source other than youtube. Unfortunately, by the time this appeared, it was gone at that source and I had to rely on youtube.
An evening pause: Fitting for the end of the year.
Stay with it. It isn’t exactly what you think, based on the start.
Hat tip Danae.
An evening pause: Somehow, this seems appropriate following the holiday season.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: In honor of tomorrow’s election day, I bring you Gil Fulbright.
And as Robert Heinlein wrote, “We laugh because it hurts.”
An evening pause: The title actually has nothing to do with the skit. Think bad television commercials.
Hat tip Phill Oltmann.
An evening pause: This pause is a bit more than a pause, since it is ten hours long. I don’t expect anyone to watch it all, as the first three minutes makes the point, quite hilariously, and well worth a few minutes of entertainment. As the filmmaker notes, “Fat cats are always funny…”
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
An evening pause: Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Back to youtube. I am making it a policy to look to see if any youtube video is also available on other sites, like real.video. Unfortunately, this video was not available elsewhere.
If you want to send me suggestions, keep this in mind. Youtube needs some competition.
An evening pause: Getting hit in the face with a pie had once been a running gag in many Hollywood comedies, beginning in the silent era but continued repeatedly in movies for decades. This scene, from the 1965 film The Great Race could be one of the last. It surely wins for the most pies ever thrown.
Hat tip Danae.
From the Babylon Bee:
A new study performed by a Harvard research team found a “strong correlation” between watching a soccer game and succumbing to a feeling of overwhelming boredom.
The study suggests that watching soccer is the root cause of much of the world’s boredom, and that people can live better, more exciting lives if they simply shut off the World Cup and do something else instead. Researchers stated that other activities like watching baseball, enjoying a hockey game, and staring at the inside of a Pringles can are all far better sources of entertainment than soccer.
As the World Cup is now beginning, it is essential of all humanity to read this. For the children!
A evening pause: Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who writes, “Before there was Shari Lewis; before there were the Muppets, there was Kukla, Fran, and Ollie. An American television staple from 1947 – 1957, Kukla, Fran, and Ollie demonstrated there would be as large an adult audience for puppetry as there was a child audience. Burr Tillstrom voiced all the puppets. Fran Allison was the host. In this video, they sing their theme song ‘Here We Are Again.'”
Do a quick search on youtube and you can find clips of them singing songs from things like The Mikado and doing satire on television advertising. As primitive as it might seem when compared to modern television, this was a children’s show with a whiff of sophistication.
An evening pause: Good comedy should leave you begging for more. This does that.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: At first glance you might think this an April Fool’s piece, but it really isn’t. To be a good April Fool’s joke, you have to be fooled for at least a little while, something this does not do. What this video does do however is illustrate in an hilarious way the empty fake nature of television news. This is what they do normally, which has as much reality as this video.
Hat tip Jeff Poplin.
The satire site the Babylon Bee has been hitting home runs all week with a series of posts poking fun at Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg in connection with his appearance this week at a Senate hearing.
From the last story:
Passing a set of tablets around the room, the tech billionaire asked every person present to read and accept the full 335,000-word, 6-point-font document before they could proceed. “If you would please just click the button signing all of your personal data over to me, yada yada yada, we can get this show on the road,” Zuckerberg said calmly before taking a sip of water. “It’s your basic, no-frills TOS. Nothing to worry about in there, I promise.”
The congressmen quickly skimmed the first of the 1,342 digital pages before clicking “accept” as per their customary approach to signing important legislation as part of their daily jobs, according to sources present.
We must remember that Facebook had previously tried to censor the Bee for publishing “fake news,” and the Bee has clearly not forgiven them for it.
An evening pause: For fans of Star Trek: the Next Generation, this will be especially funny. The filming isn’t great, but it is worth it to stick with it to the end.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: Performed live on the Frank Sinatra Show, November 13, 1951.
Hat tip John Conyers.
An evening pause: The intro is long, but stick with it, it will all be worthwhile.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Rose Marie, best known for her role on the Dick Van Dyke show in the 1960s, has passed away at 94.
Diane and I recently rewatched the entire Dick Van Dyke show, and they come off as fresh and as funny as when they were made more than a half century ago. If you want to see adult comedy at its best, not the modern obscene and shallow adolescent humor that dominates today’s culture, you must see this show.
An evening pause: How? You enter the room dressed as your dog’s favorite toy.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
An evening pause: “It costs money to die poor.”
For those who don’t know, Chuck Jones directed some of the best Bugs Bunny cartoons that Warner Brothers ever produced.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
