Mark Evanier's Blog, page 92

Today's Video Link

Okay, I'm back…with another real great video link. One of the all-time great stand-up comedians, in my opinion, is Robert Klein. In fact, back when I was hanging around the Comedy Store and the Improv and places like that, you could see a lot of new comics trying to be George Carlin or Richard Pryor but it seemed to me, most of 'em wanted to be Klein. The early Jay Leno sure did.

And Klein inspired other comics in another way: In 1975, he did the first-ever HBO stand-up special. That was back when no one thought those new "cable channels" would never be anything more than an interesting, short-lived alternative to CBS, NBC and ABC. This is that special and while Klein's later ones were even better, this is a pretty solid hour of comedy. Back then, the ultimate goal of most of the new comedians was to get their own situation comedy. Some years later, it was to have a deal to do specials like this…

Today's Video Link

I'm not really back yet but I wanted to put this video link up because they may take it down, begin charging for it or insert commercials any day.

In 1996 at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills, there was an event taped for TV called Caesar's Writers. Sid Caesar was there and so were a bevy of men (all men) who'd written for his TV shows and all gone on to great success. Along with The Great Caesar, the dais was Mel Tolkin, Carl Reiner, Aaron Ruben, Larry Gelbart, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Danny Simon, Sheldon Keller and Gary Belkin, and it was hosted by a pal of mine, Bob Claster. I've featured this before here but it's either been a truncated version or it was taken down.

This is a good quality version of this one-time gathering of some incredible comedy writers and of course, not counting my friend Bob, only Mel Brooks is still with is. I felt privileged to be there. (I was in the second or third row seated next to my "date" for the evening, Howard Morris.)

If you've never seen this, grab this opportunity to watch it before they take it down or begin charging for it. Come to think of it, I may leave it up if they insert advertising or begin charging to view it. It's really good…

Sorry…

Mushroom Soup Tuesday

It's another one of those days, folks. Nothing bad…just a lot of things that have to get done.

Today's Video Link

When I joined the Magic Castle in 1980, one of the treats was to sit and talk — actually, sit and listen — to Dai Vernon, one of the greatest magicians of all time and a great teller of stories. "The Professor," as some called him, invented a lot of tricks that are carried on by others and one of them is a card trick called "Triumph." Here, Daniel Roy takes us through ten levels of this trick — and at the end, he explains why it might be the greatest card trick of all time…

Mushroom Soup Monday

I have so many things to do today that I'd better put up the soup can to caution followers of this blog that there may not be much here for a while. But I shall return. I always return.

Comic-Con News

Badges for Comic-Con International 2025 reportedly sold out yesterday morning in under two hours. It took a little longer than it has in some past years but that's almost certainly a function of the software and computer delays, not a diminished demand.

Naturally, a lot of folks who didn't get what they wanted are complaining but that's what happens when you have an event that is that popular. There are a zillion-and-a-half fan conventions out there but I don't know of a single one that sells out that quickly…and without even announcing a single guest or event.

I have nothing to suggest for those who were disappointed except that in early December, it will be possible — and a lot easier — to get badges for WonderCon Anaheim, which takes place March 28-30 at the Anaheim Convention Center. It's run by the same folks who run its big brother in San Diego and while it's smaller, there's still more than enough there to see, do and purchase.

A lot of folks who go to Comic-Con in San Diego only see about a tenth of the exhibit hall. Well, the WonderCon exhibit hall is a lot bigger than a tenth of the San Diego exhibit hall and there are plenty of programs and cosplayers and the parking is just as bad. I expect to be at both of these conventions next year and probably no others.

Today's Video Link

When we speak on this blog of "Old Vegas," we're talking about a lot of things but the entertainment of the day was a biggie. Here from 1987 is a half-hour of a special celebrating entertainers from "Old Vegas," none of whom are still around to perform in "New Vegas"…

From the E-Mail Bag…

I've received several messages about the Saturday Night movie. Here's one from Graeme Burk…

Long time reader, probably first time commenter…Your opinion of Saturday Night pretty much tracks with mine. While I don't have any TV industry experience, I went through a real deep dive about the history of early SNL 20 years ago or so and read everything about it… and I have probably (mostly by accident) seen the first episode of Saturday Night Live 7 or 8 times. I was really skeptical about seeing the film and its depiction of the first SNL broadcast.

But while I completely agree with everyone that the correlation to what actually happened on October 11, 1974 is less than 15%, I loved it. It's brilliantly shot and realized and absolutely captures the chaos and overall feel of "being there" in the early years that was described through books like Live From New York. The performances are brilliant and totally capture all the principals (every line Tommy Dewey says as Michael O'Donoghue is gold). By the end credits (which are done like the original opening titles of SNL with the old version of the theme) I was cheering — even though nothing in that climax happened at all in real life. Saturday Night might well be my favourite film of 2024 and I certainly wasn't expecting that going in.

Yeah, it won me over too. And I found myself wondering if somewhere, in some ethereal plane, Michael O'Donoghue isn't watching and realizing that he'd badly underestimated people like George Carlin and Jim Henson back then. Or that Milton Berle isn't wondering, "Don't the people of 2024 know anything about me other than that I had a big dick and liked to show it off?"

Some of the historical distortions were a bit too distorted for me — like Franken and Davis trying to insert a new, never-rehearsed or blocked (or I think, even written) sketch into a seriously-overlong live show twenty minutes before air. Or Lorne deciding minutes before air to give Weekend Update to Chevy Chase. Or Lorne hiring Alan Zweibel and using one of his jokes at the last minute. Or Lorne waiting as long as he did in the film to decide which segments to drop. Or — well, you can list those things just as well as I can.

But I liked the way it all came together, semi-fictional though it may have been, in the end. And I liked that the movie didn't hit us over the head telling us about the seismic shift that occurred in show business as a result of that program. The film presumed we knew all that. I would have liked to have seen more of the ladies and less of Lorne's wife trying to decide what her last name was…and I suspect the real Lorne Michaels was a lot more in command that night than the film depicted.

Still, it's the best movie I've seen this year…which is not much of a compliment, I know. Because I think it's the only movie I've seen this year.

Live From Amazon Prime…

I just, like half an hour ago, took out time from work to watch the Saturday Night movie on Amazon Prime. I didn't like it at first. I have a problem with movies where actors impersonate recognizable people. As I watched the movie in which Renée Zellweger played Judy Garland, I sat there noting all the moments when she did and didn't act or sound like Judy Garland. Saturday Night is filled with dead-on impressions that could not possibly be deader-on…but in a way, that made me more aware of the few that weren't.

I also, I guess, know too much about how TV shows are made and the history of Saturday Night Live. For the first half of the movie, I sat here thinking, "That couldn't happen on a network TV show…that didn't happen on SNL until the third season…that wouldn't have been written fifteen minutes before air time…"

But then about halfway through, something clicked in for me: This was a fantasy, not a documentary. I started accepting the film on its own terms and enjoying it a lot. One of these days when I can do so without paying Amazon Prime another twenty bucks, I intend to watch the movie again with the proper mindset from the beginning. I'll stop thinking, "They couldn't have been deciding that or that or that an hour before a live broadcast" and I'll enjoy it a lot more then. I think.