In case you missed Jon Stewart on Larry King the other night, Crooks & Liars has video and a partial transcript (but you really need to see or hear it, because a lot of the way Jon Stewart talks is lost in the literal written tranlsation.) Larry King made several feeble attempts to create controversy, and Jon Stewart kicked him square in the nuts each time. Witness this exchange:

KING: You don’t want Medicare to fail?

STEWART: Are you insane?

KING: No.

STEWART: You’re literally asking me if I would prefer
— yes, Larry, what I’m saying to you as a comedian I want old people
to suffer, old and poor people to suffer. That is — that is — what we
want is — what seems absurd to me is the length that Washington just
seems out of touch with the desires of Americans to be spoken to as
though they are adults.

Nice try, Larry; too bad Jon didn’t go for it. Maybe you can team up with Nancy Grace for a two hour Aruba Special to get back on familiar, more comfortable ground.

That question was just one of several "gotcha" attempts which failed
spectacularly when Jon refused to take the bait, and instead turned the
ludicrous question back on Larry King, who of course had no response other than this painful frozen half-smile that was equal parts fear and lothing. When Larry King wasn’t completely controlling the tone and content of the show, you could feel how uncomfortable he was. Jon Stewart was so funny, and so quick-witted, and so smart and so insightful, if Larry King wasn’t trying so hard to create controversy where there was none, you’d almost feel bad that he wasn’t able to keep up.

While channel surfing, I just discovered that my episode of CSI, Compulsion, is about to start on the West Coast.

So if you’d like to see me and my sweater, put on your local CBS station, and enjoy!

Afterthought: I’m having a really shitty day, which included an absolutely terrible audition (my fault, not theirs), and accidentally discovering that this is on has brightened my spirits just a little bit. I’m real proud of the work I did on CSI, and it’s nice to remember how good it felt to earn the part, work on the show, and watch the episode when it first aired.

"Finders keepers!"

On SNL this weekend, there was a short from The Lonely Island called Young Chuck Norris. It was remarkably funny, and it was also remarkably similar to my former Star Trek co-worker Dennis Madalone’s video called America We Stand As One. In fact, it’s a little too similar. When I was done laughing, I wondered, "Did they just rip Dennis off?"

Maybe I was just touchy, and still reeling from those Apple commercials that were, uh, "inspired" by The Postal Service and sent shockwaves of indifference across the Internets  . . .  until a friend of mine pointed out the following creepy similarities between YCN and AWSAO (Don’t be afraid of needless acronyms. Acronymns are your friend, man. AAYF):

- bluejeans
- patriotic shirt
- completely rockin' attitude
- brown jacket
- spending time with children for no reason
- rock climbing
- long flaxen hair on his head
- long flaxen hair as his mantra
- awesome knee bandana
- beach-side action
- american flag scarf

That’s an awful lot of similarities. It’s almost too many to be coincidental. Now, there’s a very fine line between parody and stealing, and as a sketch comedy writer I walk it myself. When I do a parody sketch, I always make sure the audience knows what the source material is, but it’s (hopefully) funny because of the original writing. I thought that Young Chuck Norris was funny because of all the images and themes, and those images and themes are straight out of Dennis’ video. Is it a parody, silently giving a nod to America We Stand As One? Or is it a moderately funny idea taken to the heights of hilarity with the addition of some long flaxen hair, an awesome knee bandana, and a completely rockin’ attitude?

It certainly wouldn’t be the first time someone’s done a parody of
Dennis’ well-meaning but unintentionally hilarious song and video, and I want to believe that The Lonely Island is doing a level seven parody, instead of a level two rip off job, because they are producing some of the funniest stuff that’s been on SNL in years, (without The Lonely Island, we’d never know that Mr. Pibb + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious, for example, and I think our lives would all be a little less awesome) and they’re an incredibly talented group of writers and performers who have embraced Creative Commons, and didn’t get discouraged when those luddites at Fox didn’t understand how awesome it was in Awesometown. In fact, I bet those Philistines at Fox have never had Mr. Pibb or Red Vines. Jerks.

But if they were, uh, "inspired" by Dennis’ totally rockin’ attitude and patriotic shirt, I think they should give him some credit. Because I heard that Dennis owns some Chuck Norris pajamas, sleeps with a night light, and has a roundhouse kick that is second only to a Chuck Norris Roundhouse kick, but comes with an awesome knee bandana and a completely rockin’ attitude.

Can someone explain to me why Fox cancelled  Arrested Development, but gave The War at Home the  timeslot between The Simpsons and Family Guy?

Why does Fox hate the funny so much?