Good Clean Fun

2007-05-21 - 11:12 a.m.

Everyone have a good weekend? Everyone make it home from their proms? Good.

Well, we did a Saturday-night gig. One of the regular couples at the bar can really only make it on Saturday, so they in effect hired us to play on a Saturday night - they paid our regular wages and kept the place open to the public. It was a pretty good night, too...the place filled up a bit, and we did some good rocking.

Of course, that means I didn't get to sleep until late.

Sunday night, I headed over to Bob's and did some rehearsing for the next episode of Off The Wall. This time, the guest star is an old friend of the band. Frank used to play drums for us many many years ago. He was supposed to be there with us at the rehearsal, but for some reason he didn't make it. He was going to give Bob a list of questions for the "interview" segment (we're partially scripted, as in "we'll ask this and go with it"). Since he didn't, Bob and I put some stuff together. We got some funny stuff for this one. Some of it has to do with me trying to speak some Filipino and botching it royally. Don't worry - it's clean.

It's gonna be good.

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Speaking of "clean" comedy...

(Sit back and relax - this is one of those old-folks-rambling thingies.)

Once upon a time, long long ago, there was a thing called "radio" (this was back before there was television, iPods, and - gasp - before telephones had pushbuttons). There used to be shows on radio - detective shows, comedy shows, mystery shows. One of the most popular radio shows featured a fellow named Jack Benny. Benny's show was a comedy, and it was one of the very best. He had wonderful cast members and wonderful writers - matter of fact, he was one of the first radio comedians to admit he had writers. Benny was also really good at playing the straight man. As a comedian and the star of the show, you'd think Jack would get the funniest lines. Not so - usually his fellow actors would get the funny lines, and laughs would come from Benny's reaction.

Here's a great example. Dennis Day played the "kid" in the act. Dennis was portrayed as the innocent, clean-cut singer...and his naivety would drive Jack crazy. In one episode, Jack is cleaning house and throwing away a bunch of stuff he no longer needed. Dennis enters, and the conversation went something like this:

DENNIS: I remember when my mother took a house inventory...she made my father get rid of a lot of things.

JACK: She did?

DENNIS: Yeah...she even made him get rid of the moose head in the shower.

JACK: Your...[audience laughter]...you father had a moose head in the shower?

DENNIS: Yeah.

JACK: I know I'm going to regret this...[more audience laughter]...why did your father have a moose head in the shower?

DENNIS: The other end would look silly.

[audience roars]

JACK: Well, I DID ask him...

Now, picture one of today's comedians starring in a show with their name on it. How easily would they give up the funniest lines to another actor? Probably not too easily.

One of his cast members was a fellow by the name of Mel Blanc. Mel was quite literally the "Man Of A Thousand Voices" - most of you probably know him as the "voice" for this fine fellow. Mel had a running bit as a Mexican bandleader. The part was played absolutely straight - no racial jokes or any of that - and it was hilarious.

Mark Evanier found video of Jack and Mel and posted it to his site. So here's Jack and Mel.

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Oh, and today's title comes from The Monkees.

Just so you know.

===

Today I take Brin to the airport for her flight back to SF. If we're lucky, we can grab some lunch beforehand.

Whoops - shower's free.

Be seeing you.

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