The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson: Frank Sinatra & Angie Dickinson (1977)

Source:Mr. Dnice- Chairman of the Board Frank Sinatra, guest-hosting and interviewing Hollywood Goddess Angie Dickinson.

Source:The New Democrat 

From Mr. Dnice 

"The Tonight Show Featuring Guest Host Frank Sinatra & Guest Angie Dickinson"  

Source:Dino Forever- Hollywood Goddess Angie Dickinson, on The Tonight Show With Frank Sinatra, in 1977. (Pun intended)

From Dino Forever 

"THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JOHNNY CARSON -- Pictured: (l-r) Actress Angie Dickinson, guest host Frank Sinatra on November 14, 1977 -- (Photo by: Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)" 

Source:Getty Images- Angie and Frank, on Johnny in 1977.

From Getty Images 

"Frank Sinatra guest hosting The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, November 14th, 1977"  

Source:Francis Albert Sinatra- Angie and Frank in 1977.

From Francis Albert Sinatra

Frank would’ve made an excellent talk show host with his sense of humor. His ability to sing obviously and all of the people he knew. Plus his intelligence and interests the ability to talk about multiple topics. 

This interview with Angie Dickinson I bet was fairly easy for him. Except for perhaps trying to focus and pay attention to the interview and not just stare at Angie the whole time. Who just happens to be one of the top goddess's in Hollywood history. 

I bet this interview was easy for Mr. Blue Eyes, because he and Angie knew each other pretty well. They worked together to do the 1960 film Ocean's Eleven. They were very friendly and had history together and gave them both an opportunity to talk about some of the better moments in both entertainer's career. And the time they spent together. I just wish I knew what show this was.   

Arturo Garcia: Bill Maher Slams Berkley Protesters: Who Said You Only Had to Hear What Didn’t Upset You?

Source:The Daily Journal

Finally someone who calls them self a Liberal other than myself, who of course is a real thing (self-high five for me) who calls people to the left of us the far-left. Because that is exactly what these Berkley Bill Maher protesters represent in America. The far-left and their political correctness movement of “if we don’t like what you have to say, we’ll shut you up, or sure as hell try to shut you up!” Again I’m being nice and they would probably use their free speech rights that apparently only believe they should have and put it stronger than that.

To Bill Maher’s point, what happened to the free speech movement at Berkley? The hell with the political correctness movement that perhaps has replaced the free speech movement at Berkley that is supposed to be some champion of liberalism. I want to know what happened to the free speech movement at Berkley of the 1960s and the Baby Boom Generation there. And as far as Ben Affleck, here’s another opportunity to have fun with his logic (if you have to call it that) when it comes to racism. Islam is of course not a race, but a religion Big Ben. If you don’t believe me, ask Reza Aslam.

Liberals believe in free speech and if you only support free speech that you support, please remove the liberal label from your chest voluntarily, or I might rip it off for you. Free speech is not just speech you agree with. It is also speech that you may not like and it might be speech that you not only not like, but is accurate and goes against whatever ideological argument that you are trying to make. Which is what are called inconvenient facts or the inconvenient truth. To paraphrase Al Gore.

Bill Maher understands these things and so do real Liberals who truly live up to liberal values with free speech being at the top. It is not called the First Amendment because speech won some lottery and the Founding Fathers the Founding Liberals knew exactly how important free speech was. Which is why they made it the First Amendment. And if you don’t believe in the First Amendment, even if you support all the other liberal values, you come up way too short to be a Liberal.

ESPN U: SEC Storied: The Life of Herschel Walker

Source:The New Democrat

Imagine being a defender in football and having to try to tackle a man whose 6’1 225 pounds of muscle, probably bench presses four hundred pounds, with track speed probably runs like a 4.3. Because that’s what the challenge was in trying to stop Herschel Walker. A running back no matter what level he ever played at he was always one play away from scoring no matter what part of the field he was on. Because he either broke a tackle from someone who would’ve tackled him if he’s a good tackler, or he would just hit a hole with raw speed. 

Try to chase Herschel down would be like trying to chase down a horse on foot. Now imagine if Herschel didn’t play in the United States Football League for three seasons and went straight to the NFL. Imagine if Herschel didn’t start his NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys when they were in decline in 1986. Imagine if Herschel was drafted in the 1983 NFL Draft by not only someone who wanted him, but could use him. And build their offense around him or at least make him their go to RB and they were a good team.

What I’m getting at is that unfortunately Herschel Walker’s career a lot of it is about imagination. Of what would’ve been or what could’ve happen because here is arguably the most talented running back of all-time. And a case could make that he’s the best running back of all-time. But Herschel will never be in the Hall of Fame. The USFL was not a good move on his part at least as it turns out. 

And when Herschel finally get’s to the NFL he’s playing for the Dallas Cowboys who were 7-9 in Herschel’s rookie season in 1986. And playing behind Tony Dorsett who was one of the best running backs in the NFL at that point. And by the time Herschel becomes the main RB in Dallas in 1988, the Cowboys are 3-13 the worst team in the NFL. And they weren’t very good in 1987 either and Herschel being the only solid weapon on offense that the Cowboys had with QB Danny White in his last season in the NFL. And opposing defenses knew this and Herschel take a whipping while he was in Dallas.

In 1989 Cowboys new head coach/general manager Jimmy Johnson trades his only Pro Bowler and great player on the Cowboys team to Minnesota. And plays for a Vikings team that was also in decline as well and struggling just to make the NFC Playoffs. And ends up getting traded to Philadelphia and playing for an Eagles team that wasn’t bad, but it was Randall Cunningham’s team. And Herschel was there to give the Eagles a threat in the running game.

But this Eagles offense wasn’t the offense for Herschel either. So Herschel Walker the greatest running back of all-time coming out of college in 1983 ends up being a journeyman player in pro football. Because he was never able to find that right team for him that was a good team, but also a team that would utilize all of Herschel’s talents and get the best out of him.

Herschel Walker the greatest college running back of all-time and the physical and mental abilities to be a great NFL running back. And be in the Hall of Fame and challenge Jim Brown as the greatest running back of all-time. This is the career that Herschel would’ve had, but that never happened because in the NFL he was never with a team that was headed in the right direction. Either an established winner or moving up to becoming one. And as a result became a journeyman player in the NFL.

Salon: Gabriel Arana: Bill Maher's Islam Silence: Why Canceling Bill Maher's Berkley Speech is a Mistake

Source:FreeState MD

I'm going to give you a prefect example of what right-wingers are talking about when they say what conservative writer Jonah Goldberg titled in his book back in I believe 2008, what he called Liberal Fascism. Even though the title Liberal Fascism is a bogus title. I mean you can't be both a Liberal and a fascist, you know it is one or the other. Just like you can't be both a Socialist and a corporatist. You can't be anti-corporate, which is what Socialists are and be a pro-corporate, which is what corporatists are.

Berkley University, which is what I call California University, has or a group of their left-wing ill-liberal students have decided that they not only do not agree with comedian, left-wing comedian, by the way Bill Maher's views on Islam, but that they do not want him speaking at their university. So the school has canceled the Maher speech there. Now here's a couple of reasons why that is a big mistake. One is practical because Berkley is a public university and part of the California State Government. So Maher's free speech rights to me at least as a non-lawyer are being violated.

But the other issue gets to a philosophical one. Banning someone or canceling on someone because you not only disagree with your views, but you are offended by them. "Don't allow that guy to speak because we disagree with him and he would be saying things that we don't want our people to hear". Fascism 101 and why right-wingers call some on the Left 'liberal fascists'. Even though again there's nothing liberal about fascism, because the main value of liberalism is free speech and the right for one to speak freely regardless of what others may think about what they have to say.

I mean you are so offended or believe what someone is saying is no wrong and just utter garbage (or something else), let the person speak and then show people how wrong they are. That is what liberal democracy and free speech are about. The right to be heard and to be able to make your case. Knowing that you are not the only person in that country with that right. And that may include people you make disagree with. Which is something that people who are on the far-left in America, people who I call leftist fascists who are addicted political correctness, do not understand.

Salon: Britney Cooper: ;We Must Abandon Bill Cosby: A Broken Trust With Women, Black America'

Source:Salon Magazine- Cliff Huxtable (played by Bill Cosby) on The Cosby Show.

Source:The New Democrat

"Since the resurgence of conversation about the rape allegations against Bill Cosby, I have been thinking about what it means to honestly hold men in our society accountable for the varied forms of violence they do to women. On the heels of comedian Hannibal Burress’ skewering of Cosby over the allegations of 13 women who accuse him of drugging and raping them, we learned that Stephen Collins, who played the lovable dad Rev. Camden  to seven children on the show "Seventh Heaven," allegedly molested and exposed himself to several young girls many years ago."

From Salon

"The Archive of American Television celebrates The Cosby Show's 25th anniversary with these excerpts from our interviews with Phylicia Rashad, Jay Sandrich, Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner and Larry Auerbach.
For more information please visit at Emmy TV Legends."

Source:Foundation Interviews- Claire Huxtable (played by Phylicia Rashad on The Cosby Show.

In 1984 when the Cosby Show came on the air on NBC, I was eight years old in September, 1984. Actually, I have more to say about this, but in the mid 1980s African-American families were stereotyped as poor, low-class, un-educated, single-parent with the mother trying to raise multiple kids on her own in some run down ghetto inner-city area. Dad completely out of the picture, perhaps in prison, or mom unaware of who the father of her kids are. The Cosby Show certainly not by itself, but they changed the way Americans looks at African-Americans and African-American families.

That alone makes the Cosby Show a success. Because even thirty-years ago not all African-American families were in that poor situation. Sure, a lot of them and more than the national average as still is the case today. But the Cosby Show did what few other shows and perhaps only the Jefferson's did in the 1970s which was to show successful African-Americans and their kids. And that they have made it in America and that the entire community is not poor, un-educated, low-class, not knowing who their father was or dad leaving them when they were young.

The Cosby Show was sort of a stereotypical American dream: Dad is a successful doctor, Mom is a successful lawyer. They live in a beautiful upper class neighborhood and house in New York City. They have great intelligent beautiful kids who are all doing well and are all successful. They were living the upper middle class dream and showing Americans another side of African-American life that probably far too many Americans perhaps of all races were not aware of.

And as funny as this show was and I don't know if there has ever been a funnier and better comedian on TV with their own sitcom than Bill Cosby, but as funny and as popular that show was, it had a very serious message. That African-Americans can make it in America and that Americans of all races can live, work, socialize with each other and not be bogged down by the fact that someone in the group or multiple people in the group has a different complexion or from a different race.

The Cosby Show was about a successful New York African-American family, but the show wasn't about race. It was about the lives of these people in this family and the show hardly focused on race at all and rarely if ever cracked racial or ethnic jokes on the show. Because that is not what the show was about, but it was about another side of the African-American story that hadn't been told up to that point. That not all African-Americans are poor and un-educated with criminal records etc. But that they are also successful and educated and doing very well in America.

Carol Burnett Show: Dinner & a Movie: Carol Burnett & Alan Alda Star

Source:CBS- Alan Alda & Carol Burnett.

Source:The New Democrat

Alan Alda playing Captain Cliche on The Carol Burnett Show. The man who probably watches too much TV and too many movies and unable to think for himself. Doesn't sound that unfamiliar to the faddists who follow every trend just to be cool or awesome. We especially see that with technology today where so many Americans feel the need and must have the latest technology, computer, smart phones etc. Because they won't want to be the only one that doesn't have the latest phone or whatever. And be the only one with Iphone 5 instead of 6 or whatever.

I called Alan Alda Captain Cliche in this scene, but Cookie Cutter would've worked to. Someone not able to think for them self especially when they are talking to people they like and want to like them. So what they do to compensate is use material that they've heard from other sources. There's cookie cutter humor that I'm not a fan of that we see today with so many sitcoms and movies using other people's material and lines because it worked and sound cool there, so they use that with their project as well.

But if you know the real Alan Alda as opposed to this dope he played in this sketch, which he did very well, not that it takes a lot of effort to play a dope, but you know that Alda is anything, but cookie cutter or cliche when it came to his own humor. And that he is very spontaneous and off the cuff, flip and real quick with his wit. As we saw with MASH where he had a big role in the material that was used and as we've seen throughout his carer and with his personal appearances.
Source:CBS

Mega Movie Moments: Inside the Actors Studio- Kevin Spacey's Impressions

Source: Mega Movie Moments- Actor Kevin Spacey, on Inside The Actors Studio, with James Lipton. 

Source:What About Larry

People have asked me what's my style of humor, my sense of humor and how I come up with lines and so-forth. I'm not saying I'm a professional comedian or anything (at least I haven't gotten paid for being funny, yet) . But I have been able to make people laugh hysterically, intentionally and unintentionally in the past. And I've told them simply my sense of humor is off the cuff, I say what's on my mind when I'm thinking it. Rather than "that sounds funny and use it two weeks later". To me humor has to be fast and relevant. Example of a bad joke. Cracking jokes about Priests at a football game, is probably not a smart play.

First of all you're likely to offend a lot of people there and not seem funny, but insulting. Which to me are two different things, but you're going to get strange looks (or end up wearing someone else's lunch) like making a Catholic joke at a football game when some half-naked moron runs on to the field during the game and people will look at you like "what does a drunk Priest in Church have to do with the guy who ran on the field". Your humor needs to be relevant and needs to make sense. And what I do is, I see myself as an analyst of life, we all are and I make judgements and comment on things that I see whatever is that interests me. If you watch the sitcom MASH or Seinfeld, that's exactly what they do. Here's the situation, what you think about it and they would look for the funny side of it.

Alan Alda who played Hawkeye Pierce, my favorite sitcom character of all time. If not in TV in general would be performing surgery and cracking jokes as he's doing it while saving the patients life. One, to relax the people he was working with in that stressful environment, but also to relax himself. "This is the situation and this is what's funny about it was their approach to comedy". To give you a personal example, I use to work in customer service, have about twelve years experience of that. And we were surrounded by people, customers mostly for whatever reason, they were nervous or whatever. But would go brain dead when they would approach you and ask the dumbest questions possible.

No joke, when I worked at a movie theater, we had to wear these loud maroon colored red polo shirts. With the name of the movie theater on them, with these corny name tags on them. I'm Joe or Sally or whatever, with your name on them obviously, (what was the first clue). We just got a lot of customers that were either, drunk, high or both or perhaps just had brain surgery, but their doctor actually removed their brain by accident.

Smart answers to dumb questions

Customers would constantly walk up to me and ask, do I work here. And seriously this is no joke, I would always reply with a smart ass answer and I never got in trouble for it. And I would say no, I stole this shirt or I'm a member of the theater fan club.

"Do you sell popcorn?" No we are the only movie theater in America that doesn't sell popcorn. We sell Chinese food instead, but sorry no chopsticks you have to eat with your hands.

Again true story, one day I'm in a ticket booth, selling tickets, naturally. (If you would guessed I was selling sporting equipment, you would be wrong). And someone asked, me where do you buy tickets, I told them three blocks down the street at the gas station, but if you want your oil changed or need gas, you have to buy it here.

Another person asked what size is the small popcorn. I said small we aren't trying to fool you with false advertising even though that would be very tempting because of the quality of our customers. "Well what does it look like"? It looks small. Again no joke someone asked how much are free refills, I told them five bucks, but we only take travelers checks. Again this is the situation in front of me and that's what I was thinking right at that moment.

That's the style of humor that you get from Kevin Spacey the actor/director/writer, but I would throw in comedian as well. The guy could've been a full-time professional comedian if he wanted to. Watch the movies Swimming with The Sharks and Hurley Burley, The Big Kahuna and you'll see what I mean. I would add Chris Walken and Tom Hanks to that list because their humor is so spontaneous, off the top of their heads, they don't need scripts or writers. They do that for themselves which is what all great comedians do and is a style of humor I've patterned mine behind.