Mark Evanier's Blog, page 16

Today's Video Link

So far, we haven't seen any official statement from David Letterman about the termination of The Late Show for alleged "financial reasons." I think though that we can all guess what he will say if and when he does say something. It also wouldn't surprise me to see him say it with a surprise cameo on that program soon. I'll bet they've invited him.

Or maybe Dave's statement is this just-released video of times on his Late Show when he ridiculed the folks at the network. He slammed NBC a lot when he was there too, and that probably was one of the lesser reasons — nowhere near as significant as others — that he did not get The Tonight Show after Mr. Carson decamped.

An exec with NBC years ago told me he thought that when Dave insulted his employers there, he was right about two-thirds of the time and dead wrong the other third. But he also said that calling his bosses pinheads and incompetents was one of the reasons — again, nowhere as significant as others — that Dave was as popular as he was. Most people hate their bosses and they love it when someone insults his (on national television, no less) and gets away with it…

Today's Audio Link

Hey, do you love the Marx Brothers? Of course you do. How could anyone not love the Marx Brothers? Well, here's a recent radio show that spent ninety minutes talking about Groucho, Harpo, Chico and even at times, Zeppo. Heck, there's even info in there about Gummo, courtesy of his grandson, who's among the guests. Several other members of the Marx family are interviewed along with some of my pals including Steve Stoliar and Frank Ferrante. If the little player I've embedded below doesn't work, try this link.

Today's Video Link

In case you didn't see Stephen Colbert last night…

He may be going down but he's going down swinging. It oughta be an amazing ten months — if they keep him on the air that long. Wonder what would happen if his ratings went way, way up because of so many people rallying to his cause. Would it still be a "financial decision" to take him off the air? Would it be a "financial decision" to take him off the air if someone among the new — or even the old owners if the merger somehow doesn't go through — just got pissed at what he was saying on his show?

In this video, watch for Anderson Cooper, Andy Cohen, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Adam Sandler, Christopher McDonald and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog — all of whom, I'm guessing, dropped by The Ed Sullivan Theater briefly in the last day or so to tape quick, supportive cameos, probably all when Colbert's audience was not present. The show probably grabbed staff members or someone to surround the cameo guest stars for audience shots. I have a feeling Colbert and his crew are going to do a lot more things like this…

My Jack LaLanne Story

Two or three people lately have written to ask me to tell my Jack LaLanne story — the one about my brief (one punch) round of fisticuffs with the man who deserves most of the credit for inventing exercise programs on TV. I don't know why these folks, if they wanted to read it again, couldn't type "Jack LaLanne" into the search engine of this blog but it's been a while so here is that story…

This took place at the Musso-Frank Grill, a venerable restaurant up on Hollywood Boulevard that was founded in 1919…when Jack LaLanne was five years old, let's note. One evening, I was dining there with my friend Carolyn Kelly and our pals Marv Wolfman and Paul Dini. We were in one booth, Jack LaLanne and some folks were in the booth next to us and we shared a common waiter.

We were perusing our menus and I think it was Paul who asked the waiter what Mr. LaLanne was having. The waiter replied, "The sanddabs. Mr. LaLanne always comes in on Thursday evenings and has the sanddabs. He just loves our sanddabs."

We were still perusing about two minutes later when Mr. LaLanne and his party got up to leave. Jack would have been around 86 but you could tell he was in good shape. He had on one of those body suits with short sleeves, and then you can't tell where the shirt ends and the pants begin. I think this was the first time I ever realized how short he was…about 5'6", I'd guess.

He paused to slip the waiter a tip, handshake-style, then he turned to us, still sitting there with our menus up. He announced, "Whatever you order, you'll love it. Everything here is great!"

I was sitting on the end, right next to him. Just to make trouble, I said, "Yeah, the waiter told us we should try anything except the sanddabs. The Board of Health just made them stop selling them due to some sort of pollution."

Jack LaLanne did a "take" that would have been considered overacting on The Benny Hill Show. A look of horror struck him…and I think he would have run for the men's room and induced vomiting if he hadn't seen us all laughing and realized he'd been had. And what did he do in response?

He hit me.

I have witnesses. Jack LaLanne swung and punched me right in the shoulder, laughing as he did. It didn't really hurt, although it probably hurt a little more than it would have from any other man his age. I can't say for sure. Apart from this one time, I've never been struck by an 86-year-old bodybuilder.

Anyway, that's the story and the point of it, I guess, is that I'm a smartass and Jack LaLanne was a good sport. I only regret that I didn't get to tell him how much I respected his work and all that he did to make fitness fashionable. But then he probably would have figured I was just complimenting him so he wouldn't keep hitting me.

Today's Video Link

In 1983, Johnny Carson did a two-hour special on NBC to celebrate his 21st year as host of The Tonight Show.  To promote the special, he sat for an interview with Bryan Gumbel that was serialized across several days of The Today Show…

More 2 Do at CCI

Those of you who were shocked that I was appearing on and/or hosting seventeen panels at Comic-Con can be further shocked. I'm now appearing on and/or hosting nineteen. I have joined this one…

Saturday, July 26 – 10 AM to 11 AM in Room 4
THE MANY HANDS OF BILL FINGER
Before Gotham had shadows, writer Bill Finger cast them. Comics scholar Dr. Alex Grand (Understanding Superhero Comic Books) moderates a lively conversation with Athena Finger (Bill's granddaughter and advocate), historian Bill Field (Field of Comics), playwright/filmmaker Lenny Schwartz (Bill Finger: Rise of the Bat) and Mark Evanier (administrator of the Bill Finger Award). Together they trace Finger's unseen influence across comics, television, and film and show why crediting Batman's co-creator still matters to today's storytellers and fans.

And I've also agreed to appear on another one but I'm going to wait and let its panel moderator announce my participation. Yes, I am well aware of how stupid this is of me.

This Weekend

That's Dr. Z — "Z" as in "Zaius" — the talk show host no one dares cancel. If you're going to be in San Diego this Saturday night, as I expect some of you will be, you can catch Dr. Zaius doing his brilliant, improvised, different-every-time show at The American Comedy Company over on Sixth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter. There are two shows — one at 7:30 PM and one at 9:30 PM — and you can get tickets at this link.

While you're over on that site, you might notice that on Thursday and Friday evenings, the American Comedy Company is featuring three of the best stand-up comedians working today — Natasha Leggero, Moshe Kasher and Dana Gould. There are rumors that Dana Gould has something to do with Dr. Z and I may ask him about this connection when he appears on my Cartoon Voices I panel at Comic-Con, which takes place Saturday afternoon at 1 PM in Room 6BCF. And then again, I may not. Wouldn't want to get on the bad side of Dr. Z.

More Colbert Discussion

My pal Paul Harris, with whom I have spent many an hour discussing late night television, has some thoughts about what Stephen Colbert will do upon completing the next ten months of The Late Show.  Mr. Colbert may be asking himself that very question at this very minute.

One thing of which I'm fairly certain is that the answer is, within reason, "Whatever he wants to do."  He may not be able to do it at a broadcast network like CBS but he will not want for opportunities.  He's widely respected, he has a huge following and he won't have his options limited because people will say his last show failed.  I could certainly imagine him migrating to HBO (or some network that wants to be HBO) and doing some show that might not fit the template of what he's done the last decade.

A few online folks have floated the idea that he may want to get into politics, perhaps running next year to take Lindsey Graham's seat in the U.S. Senate representing South Carolina. What an amazing battle that could be…but I'm not going to even imagine it's possible until such time as Colbert indicates any interest whatsoever in that line of work.

My guess would be he's in no hurry to decide on his next line o' work and may be waiting to see what happens with The Daily Show and Jon Stewart. There seems to be some concern that whatever factors led CBS to get out of late night programming could force some changes there…and elsewhere. Colbert's decision about where to go and what to do will probably have a lot to do with recognizing that the next niche he'll carve out for himself could be in a very different television industry…and maybe not a niche.

Donald Trump and the political turmoil in this country only have so much to do with those changes. The way The Internet has become such a part of our lives and how we're entertained and/or informed and/or make our purchasing decisions has smashed to pieces all the old business models of television. It's now a world of podcasts and YouTubers and Tik-Tok and streaming-on-demand and even if tomorrow you got an hour show on CBS, NBC or ABC each week, that might still be only part of the deal. Your success would rely a lot on clicks and online exposure and how your show appealed to those whose lives are irrevocably intertwined with their cell phones and home computers.

Colbert understands this. His whole time on The Late Show, he's had one foot in that world, almost like treating that audience as his primary market and the people who have TV sets that are only TV sets to them as secondary. He also has good management, that audience that will follow him just about anywhere and plenty of time to decide where he wants to go and what he wants to be. I'm quite fascinated to see what he decides. Quite fascinated.

Recommended Reading

Here's a pretty good article about the Stephen Colbert matter by Jason Zinoman. One aspect of all this that intrigues me is the suggestion, hinted at in this article and stated outright in others I've read, that the decline in audience for late night shows is because they've gotten too political.

I'm curious — and there may never be a real answer to this — how many viewers flock to Colbert's show and others because of the politics and how many are driven away. We can all understand how someone who thinks Donald Trump is Jesus Christ with too much bronzer might not want to watch monologues that bash him and studio audiences cheering the bashing. Okay…but I know some folks who hate Trump but don't want to be reminded of him just before bedtime.

I'll admit there have been times lately when I've watched Colbert and thought, "Is there anything else in the world you guys have a joke about?" There's probably no way to ever know how many viewers come and go because of this but I'd at least like to know what Mr. Colbert's educated guesses are about it.

Today's Bonus Video Link

Earlier today, I posted this video by longtime Las Vegas video blogger Steven Campbell about why prices are up there, business is down and you can have a very expensive, terrible time in what used to be a wonderful place to be a tourist. If you want to know more about the deterioration of the city, here's a video by another longtime video blogger, Jason Orth. He covers a lot of things that Steven didn't bring up…