Because, as someone said, “cats live by the principle that it never hurts to ask for what you want.”
Category Archives: Humor
Would that it were so simple . . .
Courtesy, of course, of icanhascheezburger.com.
Beethoven, meet Beaker
Thanks to Bill for posting this:
When you have to laugh to keep from crying
be grateful Dave Barry still has his column. His “Year in Review” column from this past Sunday is a classic; of course, with so much material to work with, it ought to be. For a taste, here’s the first part of his entry for January,
which begins, as it does every four years, with presidential contenders swarming into Iowa and expressing sincerely feigned interest in corn. The Iowa caucuses produce two surprises:
- On the Republican side, the winner is Mike Huckabee, folksy former governor of Arkansas, or possibly Oklahoma, who vows to remain in the race until he gets a commentator gig with Fox. His win deals a severe blow to Mitt Romney and his bid to become the first president of the android persuasion. Not competing in Iowa are Rudy Giuliani, whose strategy is to stay out of the race until he is mathematically eliminated, and John McCain, who entered the caucus date incorrectly into his 1996 Palm Pilot.
- On the Democratic side, the surprise winner is Barack Obama, who is running for president on a long and impressive record of running for president. A mesmerizing speaker, Obama electrifies voters with his exciting new ideas for change, although people have trouble remembering exactly what these ideas are because they are so darned mesmerized. Some people become so excited that they actually pass out. These are members of the press corps.
Obama’s victory comes at the expense of former front-runner Hillary Clinton, who fails to ignite voter passion despite a rip-snorter of a stump speech in which she recites, without notes, all 17 points of her plan to streamline tuition-loan applications.
The best ’80s sitcom that never was
Neil Gaiman recently posted the news:
Like all of you, I believed that all episodes of the mid-80s Jonathan Coulton sitcom MONKEY SHINES (in which I guest-starred as the irascible drunken writer next door) had been wiped and lost for good. A great loss to the world of entertainment, and to fans of Paul and Storm (who actually got their start on the show, and not, as most trivia articles claim, as the pair of bloodsucking dentists in that X-Files episode).People talk about Bosom Buddies, Cheers, The Golden Girls and then the ones who were there say “. . . and Monkey Shines,” and the room falls silent, pondering the magnitude of the loss.So I was amazed when I heard that the title sequence had been rediscovered.
Here’s the story from Paul and Storm:
Jonathan Coulton’s short-lived sitcom “Monkey Shines” had an extremely brief run on ABC in 1985; it was cancelled during the first commercial break of the first episode, and was ordered destroyed by then-ABC President Grant Tinker. The show slowly developed a cult following through the years, however but although numerous rumors of bootleg recordings of the show circulated, they all proved to be hoaxes or, in several cases, episodes from season 3 of “Felicity”.In early 2008, in a sub-basement of the Yale University anthropological studies department, researchers unearthed a Betacam master video recording of the pilot episode opening credits. (Unfortunately, the remainder of the episode was apparently recorded over with footage of the Yale Whiffenpoofs “1991 Holiday Jamboree Sing-a-bration”) To date, this remains the only authenticated footage from “Monkey Shines”.
Without further ado, the title sequence from the infamously obscure sitcom Monkey Shines:
For those of you wondering what’s going on here, this is the original explanation:
“Monkey Shines” is Jonathan Coulton‘s entry to the Round 1 Challenge of the song writing competition, Masters of Song Fu.The Round 1 Challenge was announced on May 20, 2008. The challenge was:
You must do a song in the style of a classic television show. Not only that, but this song is the theme for a fictional television show about yourself (or your band). By “classic television show” theme song, we mean the type of themes found in shows from the 1960’s – 1980’s (ie Gilligan’s Island, Cheers, The Fall Guy, Diff’rent Strokes, Welcome Back Kotter, Greatest American Hero, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, The Facts Of Life, Green Acres, Gimme A Break, The Monkees, etc.). Your theme song must include both lyrics and music. It must run no shorter than 30 seconds, and no longer than one (1) minute.
Jonathan included the pitch for his “show” in announcing the song on his blog:
I am a stuffy, middle aged bachelor with an enormous inheritance. The monkey is a charming but unpredictable rake, who is also a master thief. In the pilot episode he is arrested while trying to steal my collection of jewels. He charms the judge, who much to my dismay orders that as a condition of his probation, the monkey must become my butler. Hilarity ensues as we try to live together, each of us coming to learn and appreciate the other’s perspective on life.
On alcoholism and not laughing at the vulnerable
This monologue by Craig Ferguson has of course been around for quite a while, since he delivered it in February of last year; but I keep going back to it, and finding people who need to hear it and haven’t, so I decided to post it. (I’m aware of the irony in doing so, given that the video I posted yesterday is after all a beer ad; but though that ad was used to sell beer, it wasn’t about the beer, and I posted it for other reasons.) I will note that there is a little profanity in this monologue; but there’s also a great deal of wisdom in it.
Along with that, here’s an interview he did with Eye to Eye about his decision not to go after Britney Spears:
Next time . . .
. . . you might want to consider that “No Parking” really means “No Parking,” even if you do drive a BMW . . .
Work ethic
For your amusement . . .
Something to brighten up your Monday morning
Just because.