In the introduction to his close friend's "Best of" DVD, Jack Lemmon says, "Ernie Kovacs was the funniest, wildest, zaniest man I ever knew. Ernie thought so, too, and so did millions of happy people. Ernie was all over television on one network or another from 1950 until he died in 1962. He had an unpredictable and illogical view of the world. He played with the medium of television in a way no one ever had before. And he created a batch of cockeyed characters that have become classics. So, slow down your internal clock; it was a more leisurely time, you know. Here's Ernie Kovacs."
posted on Jul 15, 2008 - View this thread

The original Emo. Wikipedia states that much of Emo Philips' standup comedy "stems from the use of paraprosdokians and garden path sentences." And, while there are plenty of quotes to support this, it doesn't quite do justice to the man who wrote the best God joke ever--it's in the way he delivers these lines. Experience true Emo here, through these links which I like to call, "Audio and Video Clips from Emo Philips' Website."
posted on Jun 29, 2008 - View this thread

About twenty years ago, HBO aired The Mondo Beyondo Show, a sort-of send-up of avant-garde performance shows like Alive From Off Center and Night Flight. Hosted by Bette Midler (as the character Mondo Beyondo), it showcased artists that covered the broad spectrum between performance art, dance, and absurdist comedy. Strap on your Eighties Goggles; here's the meat of the show: Bill Irwin | La La La Human Steps | The Kipper Kids | Yes/No People | Paul Zaloom | David Cale | and the Divine Miss M as Eudora P. Quickly
posted on May 29, 2008 - View this thread

Garry McDonald, aka Norman Gunston, aka the "little aussie bleeder," may be well known out Australia way. For most Americans, however, Norman G remains far, far down under the radar. But he's the forefather of the UK's Ali G; he's Canadian Nardwuar thee Human Serviette's nerdier dad; he's America's Lazlo Toth (US) with a combover and a microphone; he's Jiminy Glick's Jack Sprat. Perhaps you saw Norman long ago in a segment on USA Network's Night Flight variety show. [bonus: many many youtubes of Night Flight segments, courtesy of this awesome website.] But I bet you didn't know he released a KIckaSS single (among others), jammed with Frank Zappa, and was at the right place and time to upstage a piece of Australian History. Not bad for someone whom Keith Moon dumped his drink on and called a "great pooftah."
posted on May 4, 2008 - View this thread

This man kept me awake at night as a child, As I stared, bleary-eyed, at my flip-card style analog alarm clock, willingly watching the hours go by, thinking, "How am I going to be able to wake up for school tomorrow?" And laughing, laughing. I place the blame for my night-owl-ness squarely in his lap.
posted on Oct 18, 2007 - View this thread