Trapped in a world he was not designed to cope with, Dave-El (the true Kryptonian name of alleged Earth creature David Long) writes about comics, Doctor Who, Star Trek, politics, the absurdity of the human condition and whatever other nonsense that befuddles his unbalanced mind.
This is.... I'M SO GLAD MY SUFFERING AMUSES YOU!
Take a look outside. Is the world a burning hellscape? Well, that could be the wildfires from Canada still covering the United States in an orange haze.
Sean Hannity told his viewers on Fox he walked from his apartment to the Fox studios in New York City and the smoky air didn't bother him none so get out of here with your face masks and stay at home shit, you liberal snowflakes. Can't handle a little smoke inhalation? What a bunch wusses!
Or it could be the civil war unleashed by Trump supporters who have threatened to do so if their fearless Führer were to be indicted by the Department of Justice.
Which the DOJ did just that over the whole mishandling of documents shitstorm Li'l Donnie created for himself. The indictment shows Trump's storage of government documents was haphazard (several boxes were kept in a bathroom) and has statements where Trump admitted to showing still classified very much top secret documents to people who did not have clearance.
Donald Trump was due to be in court yesterday, Tuesday, June 13th at 3:00 PM Eastern Time.
Several bodacious statements by Trump supporters (including elected Congress person types) have indicated an inclination to raise hell over this.
We could dismiss this as boastful bullshit and most likely it is.
But then there was a lot of boastful bullshit flying around the internet back in December 2020 and we know what the hell went down on Januay 6, 2021.
So the hellscape outside? It could be just the smoke of the Canadian wildfires.
Or not.
One whiny retort Trump supporters give to these legal actions being taken against Donald Trump regarding mishandling documents is why isn't President Joe Biden being charged too?
Well, fuck! Let's go down those points!
Scale
Both Biden and Mike Pence discovered about a dozen documents they each had in their possession they were not supposed to have.
Trump had hundreds, perhaps thousands, of government documents he was not supposed to have.
Response
When Biden and Pence discovered they had documents they were not supposed to have, they immediately and freely returned said documents to the DOJ.
Trump did not do that.
"If I did have any documents (not saying that I do!) they are mine and I can declassify them just by thinking about it."
He didn't have to turn them over and when told he did have to turn them over continued to obfuscate and delay until the fucking FBI had to get a god damn warrant and raid Mar-a-Lago.
Intent
The documents Biden and Pence appear to have been in their possession inadvertently, no real harm was done and both men cooperated with the DOJ.
Translation: sometimes shit happens.
Trump appears to have taken his cache of documents willfully and was mishandling those documents by leaving them in unprotected and inappropriate places not to mention waiving classified docs in front of people without security clearance.
Translation: sometimes people try to get away with shit.
Summary: the Biden (and Pence) document story is not the Trump document story.
Not that those facts matter to Trump or the Trump faithful. On an appearance on Saturday, Li'l Donnie was still whining that he is an innocent man and that his followers need to be prepared to take their country back.
Gee, I really hope that hellscape outside is just Canada.
Here is the You Tube video where Pod Save America discussed some of the deets of the indictment.
Before we get into this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase, I want to start of with a note that Andrea and I watched the Tony Award on Sunday. From the United Palace in New York City's Washington Heights, the show went on without a script in deference to the still ongoing Writer's Guild strike.
The show kicked off with an extraordinary dance sequence that took 2nd year Tony host Ariana DeBose and a crop of dancers from the dressing room at the Palace to the glorious art deco lobby and into the theater itself.
While the Tony Awards features shows we will not get to see or have even heard of, it's still a thrill to have even that much of look at the world of live theater from old Broadway.
Without a script, instead of awkward banter between presenters, the show filled out time with actual clips from the actual plays. Bad news for the Writer's Guild: the Tonys may have been better without a script.
Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee made history as the first out nonbinary actors to win Tonys. Which I'm sure would've upset any MAGA heads out there if they weren't dead already. If any were actually watching, by the time the first commercial break featured a Broadway type musical extolling the virtues of plant based meat, I'm sure all the MAGA heads had their skulls explode.
At the end of filming the final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the set for the Wolford Theatre was still standing for at least a little while. Before the set was decommissioned, Alex Borstein, aka Susie Myerson, put it to use for her own stand up comedy special.
To call “Corsets & Clown Suits" simply a stand up comedy special is perhaps selling this 81 minute show a bit short. Perhaps Borstein's own description of the show might provide a more accurate assessment: "a filthy TED talk with music.”
She adds, “You’re gonna learn some things that you may wish you could forget."
She's right. Alex Borstein ain't holding back.
With Barcelona natives Eric Mills and Salva Rey providing musical support, Alex Borstein launches an epic exploration of marriage, divorce, dating, aging and the shit women have to put up with.
She uses the word "pussy" a lot. I mean, A LOT.
I hope her parents on the front row are OK with that.
Open and vulnerable, Alex Bortstein dishes on her life through jokes, stories and song.
Here is a clip of one of the musical performances from the show.
It's a unexpected diversion from the comedic monologue but it is heartfelt musical performance the underscores the themes of what Alex has been talking about.
"Alex Borstein: Corsets & Clown Suits" is available in Amazon Prime.
Meanwhile, John Mulaney dropped a new comedy stand up special on Netflix which normally wouldn't be a big deal but our boy John has been through some changes of his own.
As John says, “The past couple years, I’ve done a lot of work on myself, and I’ve realized that I’ll be fine as long as I get constant attention."
If you're wondering if John will talk about his divorce, new relationship with actor Olivia Munn and their baby, well, not much. There's a cursory check in on some of these plot points but the main focus of "Baby J" is John Mulaney's cocaine fueled descent into self destruction.
The special opens without an introductory bit that leads into the comedian entering the stage. Instead, the special begins with a black screen and Mulaney in the middle of a monologue.
The opening routine is an amusing although unflattering tale of his childhood about how he prayed for a grandparent’s death so he could get sympathy at school.
Then it's time for the elephant in the room as Mulaney sings,
“We all went to rehab
and we all got divorced
and now our reputation is diff-rent!
No one knows what to think
All the kids like Bo Burnham more
because he’s currently less problematic!
Likability is a jail!”
John Mulaney's battles with drug addiction are not new. He's talked about this subject in previous specials and has been open about it in interviews.
But his recent fall from grace seems to have hit him especially hard. At one point, John proclaims, "You want to cancel John Mulaney? That don't scare me! I'm the guy who tried to KILL John Mulaney!"
He talks about the intervention that sent him back to rehab in 2020. John has notes, observing that some of the finest talents working in comedy were present (name checking Seth Meyers, Nick Kroll and Fred Armisen) but nobody said anything funny at his intervention.
He tells how he fretted that he would be recognized at rehab. Then he fretted even more when no one did.
The story John tells about buying a super expensive Rolex with his credit card for the express purpose of selling it for cash (at a loss, no less) to buy cocaine is at once hilarious (everything that could go wrong in this sequence of events went wrong) and also very darkly disturbing.
And John tells the audience, "As bad as that story makes me look, consider this: that's the story I'm willing to tell you."
There's also a bit where John pulls out the transcript of an interview he did with The Atlantic magazine a few days before the intervention and being sent to rehab. The reporter asking the questions is trying to make sense of this but the guy on the other side of the interview is unfocused and scattered except for finishing his bowl of Fruit Loops.
There's a lot about "Baby J" that feels comfortably familiar, the rat-a-tat delivery as he paces the stage like a impeccably dressed tiger at the zoo. But this is a John Mulaney with a darker edge, a grim tone underlining the laughs John can mine from his life. Or more accurately, the laughs he can mine from "the guy who tried to KILL John Mulaney!"
I had not planned to write about this last performance but I happen to catch Gilda Live on TCM this weekend which serves as a comedy special spotlight for Gilda Radner of Saturday Night Live.
The film revisits Radner's most popular SNL characters and sketches such as Roseanne Roseannadanna, Emily Litella, Candy Slice, Judy Miller, Lisa Loopner and Nadia Comăneci. But not having to share time with other SNL cast members, we get to really appreciate Radner's gifts for comedic timing. In this special, Radner effectively demonstrates why she was so incredibly funny and adorably sweet.
Just like Alex Borstein, Gilda Radner sends off the show with a song, a sentimental ode to young love.
And that is that for this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase.
Next week: The Librarians,Doom Patrol and Superman & Lois.
And still the come: Wheel of Fortune and a future without Pat Sajak.
And we've also got posts about the return of Outlander and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.
If the air outside the Fortress of Ineptitude seemed rancid with the stench of flop sweat, failure and bovine manure, it was because that primo bullshit purveyor himself, Donald Trump, was in Greensboro for the North Carolina Republican Party convention.
Mostly Donald Trump never says anything interesting. The man has the most limited verbal repertoire and can only say the same thing over and over.
All investigations are "witch hunts".
All investigators are "thugs".
All perceived enemies are "deranged".
All anticipated outcomes will "be worst than anyone has ever seen before".
Blah blah blah.
I hope for his birthday (Li'l Donnie turned 77), maybe someone would get him a thesaurus?
But while in Greensboro, Donald Trump made an observation that I have to admit was interesting.
It all started with this piece of hate mongering fuckery.
Trump declared that if re-elected as President, "I will
immediately sign a new executive order to take federal funding away from schools that bring critical race theory and transgender insanity to children."
Trump paused for applause and even he seemed to be taken aback by what happened next.
The applause began to grow and swell in intensity as those gathered there rose to their feet for an enthusiastic standing ovation.
Then Trump made this observation which I found interesting.
“It’s amazing how strongly people feel about that. You see I’m talking about cutting taxes, people go like that,” Trump said while mimicking a golf clap. “I talk about transgender, everyone goes crazy. Who would have thought? Five years ago, you didn’t know what the hell it was.”
I said it was interesting but not necessarily surprising. But Trump seemed genuinely bemused that his political movement is driven more by hatred than money.
Of course, hatred has been at heart of Trump's political movement since before he came down that escalator in 2015 to announce he was running for President.
Li'l Donnie is myopic and assumes everyone sees everything the same way he does. All the hate is just a path to all the money that can be made.
Does Trump underestimate this movement that hangs on his every word as to how much the hate drives them? A chance to fuck over a transgender person is a stronger motivator than a tax cut.
This past Friday, Andrea and I had dinner at Cracker Barrel.
As there are approximately 52 Fridays in a given year, it is a good bet Andrea and I are having dinner at Cracker Barrel on about 26 of them.
We have a rotation in what we order. Every other visit to Cracker Barrel, we get their Friday fish fry which is quite good. We get it with the steak fries and cole slaw.
On the Fridays we do not get the fish, Andrea will inevitably get the hamburger steak. I alternate between the hamburger steak and the chicken and dumplings.
All of this is to establish our bonafides as connoisseurs of Cracker Barrel: we go there a lot and we know what we like.
Getting back to the beginning of this post...
This past Friday, Andrea and I had dinner at Cracker Barrel.
It was a fish week.
We couldn't help but notice how empty the parking lot was. Normally there is way more traffic at this particular location on a Friday evening, a veritable hotbed of mid American senior citizen activity.
Gee, I speculated, I wonder if this has anything to do with the rainbow rocker?
Well, it might.
Wait, what rainbow rocker?
This rainbow rocker.
This rocking chair with the rainbow slats came with this statement from Cracker Barrel: “We are excited to celebrate Pride Month with our employees and guests. Everyone is always welcome at our table."
Cracker Barrel wasn't always so welcoming, banning LGBTQ people from working in its restaurants and firing employees it learned were gay. Those policies were reversed in 1991.
The company now has a diversity, equity and inclusion policy, scores an 80 on the Human Rights Campaign’s corporate equality index and made headlines in 2019 for refusing to allow an anti-gay pastor to hold an event in one of its restaurants.
Which just pisses off conservative snowflakes.
We take no pleasure in reporting that @CrackerBarrel has fallen.A once family friendly establishment has caved to the mob.
— Texas Family Project (@FamilyProjectTX)
June 8, 2023
The histrionics of "Cracker Barrel has fallen" led to some inspired wisecracks on Twitter. My favorites are these Tweets, done in the style of Ken Burns' Civil War documentary.
My dearest Cynthia,
I write to you today a broken man.
Despite our best efforts, the Cracker Barrel fell. We fought for its potpourri-scented gift shop, its tabletop puzzles. Our tears and sweat mixed with the cream gravy atop the chicken fried steaks.
— brooke foster, 2023 edition (@lonesometoast) June 9, 2023
My darlin' Beulah. We marched on Tallahassee today only to confirm the worst of the rumors. Cracker Barrel has fallen. Kiss my children-cousins for me and pray for my soul. I shall now drink from a rusty puddle and hope for death.
— Dennis Perkins Will Never Pay Apartheid Boy A Dime (@DennisPerkins5) June 9, 2023
Dearest Penelope,
Cracker Barrel has fallen. I never thought I would be writing these mournful words to you, but the moment we dreaded for so long has arrived. We regroup now to take our positions at Hobby Lobby. Kiss the children for me, and pray.
Yours in haste,
Elmer
— Julia S. (@booktweeting) June 9, 2023
My dearest Clotilda,
The news from the front is terrible. We happened upon a Cracker Barrel, where we had hoped to sup and rest up before the next battle at Wokesburg. To our shock, we found the place overrun by the gays. We retreated til the morning.
Ever yours,
Eaton Beaver
— Michael Feher (same @ on The Pliocene Pachyderm) (@SaxMike71) June 9, 2023
Well, I do declare! Cracker Barrel has fallen! What shall we do?
Well, it depends if it is fish week or not.
If it is not fish week, I'll have to choose between the hamburger steak or the chicken & dumplings. If it is fish week, well...
Since June is Pride Month, today's Cinema Sunday posts looks at a movie from 1976, a comedic farce that takes place in a gay men's bathhouse.
Directed by Richard Lester, The Ritz is based on the 1975 play of the same name by Terrence McNally.
Rita Moreno won a Tony Award for her performance as Googie Gomez in the Broadway production and reprises her role for the film version. Others from the 1975 original cast, such as Jack Weston, Jerry Stiller, and F. Murray Abraham are also on hand for the movie as well.
Somewhere in Manhattan....
Businessman Gaetano Proclo is looking to hide from his homicidal brother-in-law, mobster Carmine Vespucci. Looking for a super cheap out of the way hotel to hide in, the very straight Gaetano winds up at a gay bathhouse.
He doesn't know he's in a gay bathhouse but the clues do start to add up as various oddball characters express their interest in this newcomer to there little corner of paradise.
The oddest of them all perhaps is Googie Gomez, an entertainer of questionable talents who thinks she is ready for the bright lights of Broadway glory.
Googie thinks Gaetano is a big time Broadway producer.
Gaetano thinks Googie is a man in drag.
Anyway, Carmine tracks Gaetano to the bathhouse, still intent on murdering him. With a little help (sometimes inadvertent and other times on purpose) from his new found gay friends, Gaetano's life is saved and the plot behind why Carmine was out to kill him is exposed.
You know how in every stage musical, there's that one supporting character who is over the top and threatens to steal the show? Googie Gomez is that character and Rita Moreno carries out the theft of the show. Whatever Moreno gave for the stage show, she does not dial back her performance for her time on screen.
The "It's That Person Who Was In That Thing" Department
That's Jerry Stiller as Carmine Vespucci, as bold and brash and loud as George Costanza's dad on Seinfeld.
F. Murray Abraham as Chris would go on play Salieri in Amadeus.
There's a blink and you'll miss it cameo from John Ratzenberger, Cliff Clavin from Cheers and frequent Pixar voice actor.
I think that even making allowances for it was the 1970s and people didn't know any better, The Ritz isn't an especially good movie. Yes, some of the gay men in the bathhouse play into the worst stereotypes. And some of the humor seems forced.
But the fact that a mainstream film directed by a mainstream director with predominately gay characters even got made in 1976 marks The Ritz as a milestone for LGBTQ+ representation in cinema.
______________________________
Andrea and I saw Spider-Man - Across the Spider-Verse last weekend and the Cinema Sunday post about that will appear next week.
Celebrating Pride Month, this week's Songs For Saturday features LGBTQ+ musicians.
While Brandi Carlile has been performing for years, I didn't discover her until about half a year ago when she was a musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Here is a song she performed that night and is one my favorites Brandi Carlile songs, "The Story".
Up next is Rufus Wainright with Sting covering the Police classic "Wrapped Around Your Finger".
Next up is Tegan and Sara, a Canadian indie pop duo performing since 1998. The duo are identical twin sisters, Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin. Both musicians are songwriters and multi-instrumentalists as well as both being openly gay.
I found out about this due from their performance over the closing credits of the series finale of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Here are Tegan & Sara with "Girls Talk".
LGBTQ+ community is under attack by right wing hate mongering politicians and this alarming. We're talking about people with dreams and aspirations and talents that deserve to be respected and celebrated, no denigrated and sublimated.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and to always keep the music alive.
