Joyful insanity

Enjoy a few moments of chaos and mirth with mad emcee Chuck Barris and the one, the only, Eugene "Gene Gene the Dancing Machine" Patton on the classic 1970s variety debacle 'The Gong Show.'

Iron Mike as Citizen Cain

"I'm running for president and leading in the Republican polls. Why? Because the Tea Party loves crazy more than they hate blacks, and I'm crazier than a shithouse rat."

The American Dream

Exhibition Junction

In the wake of my hero zero Anthony Weiner unpacking his adjectives and showing why three really is a magic number, the Kimmel crew reaches out to the young 'uns via the magic of animation.

Half the fun of posting this was compiling the keywords. I ended up using much of George Carlin's expanded list of obscenities.

This is pretty much the worst video ever made

Gosh, I guess Napoleon Dynamite (from whose movie comes this post's title) won't be spending this summer with his uncle in Alaska hunting wolverines. He'll be on TV in a new animated series that features the original cast, a remarkable coup for the Fox network. Here's the trailer:


Hopefully the freakin' idiots and bodaggits at Fox won't ruin the characters. The show seems promising, but one of two things usually happens to new Fox comedies. As a YouTube commenter explains, "It'll either be cack, and will run for 4 seasons, or will be absolutely brilliant but will be cancelled after 6 episodes," sorta like what happened to Get a Life, Greg the Bunny, The Tick, The George Carlin Show and other short-lived Fox gems.

And just two days after the trailer was posted, the hilarious net nut known as Nice Peter released (coincidentally?) his latest Epic Rap Battle of History, featuring Napoleon Dynamite versus Napoleon Bonaparte. Enjoy...

Ron Paul II

I'm not talking about Rand or the pope. I give you RonPaul ReaganRyan, the shapeshifting Gipperbot who has come to complete the GOP's destiny! Ugh. (Note how little the hair changes.)

A most interesting Beatles medley

Behold the magic hands and mystical axe of 17-string storyteller Phil deGruy. The late, great Danny Gatton said of deGruy: "I have never been more impressed with anybody's playing, ever!" Rock virtuoso Steve Vai said deGruy's style "sounds like John Coltrane meets Mel Brooks at a party for Salvador Dalí."



Here's a Harry Shearer interview with deGruy on the 7 November 2010 edition of Le Show: Part 1, Part 2 and the songlet "Time Flies and Has No Landing Gear."

Huffington Grope

Arianna once put the squeeze on Jimmy Kimmel, and in the strangest way possible. Start the video at 0:53 to get right to the... er, bottom of this.

Op-odds and sods

So Frank Rich has departed the The New York Times for smaller pastures, leaving one wondering who is to replace him on the hallowed—and increasingly right-leaning—op-ed pages of the Grey Lady. Hm...

Chew on some death

"Me so horny... for justice." Chris Elliott is back on television

Bachmann-Ryan Overdrive

What some saw after Obama's SOTU speech...

9.5, 9.0, 10, 8.5, 10

Add "falling through ice" to the list of possible causes of dinosaur extinction.

Wish you weren't here

So those assheads at MTV apparently cancelled 'Warren the Ape,' the only reason to bother watching that godawful wreck of a once-worthy network. At least they were kind enough to send a GTFO card to cast member Josh "Cecil" Sussman.

RIP Edwin Newman

The gruff but lovable broadcaster, who relished life, language and levity, has passed away at the ripe old age of 91. I always enjoyed his bits on Saturday Night Live, but probably not as much as he enjoyed doing them. Here's the famously stone-faced newsman back in 1978 interviewing rock superstars KISS, in a report that is practically a blueprint for the classic mockumentary This Is Spınal Tap.

Ye Olde Starr Wars

A long time ago, i.e. before Kodachrome and talkies, in a galaxy far, far away...

Women aren't funny

So Jerry Lewis, Christopher Hitchens and other peculiar men have said. Here are 12 women that are funnier than Jerry Lewis ever was.