He looks like Bob Dylan. He sings like our birthday boy Bob Dylan. And yet he’s covering perhaps the cheesiest 80s sitcom theme song ever made — which makes it all the more hilarious…
Peter Sellers Performs The Beatles “A Hard Day’s Night” in Shakespearean Voice
Back in 1964, Peter Sellers (aka Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther films) made a cameo appearance on “The Music of Lennon and McCartney,” a television program produced at the height of Beatlemania. The schtick? To read the lyrics of A Hard Day’s Night in a way that comically recalls Laurence Olivier’s 1955 performance of the opening soliloquy from Richard III. It starts famously “Now is the winter of our discontent …” (See full text here.)
On a very related note, don’t miss:
Peter Sellers Reads The Beatles’ “She Loves You” in Four Voices
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George Carlin’s “Modern Man” Rap
Forty years after George Carlin first stopped by The Tonight Show (1966), he made one of his last appearances, delivering a rap/poem that’s classic Carlin, a hypnotic riff on modern life and society. The lyrics appear right below.
I’m a modern man,
A man for the millennium,
Digital and smoke free.
A diversified multicultural postmodern deconstructionist,
Politically anatomically and ecologically incorrect.
I’ve been uplinked and downloaded.
I’ve been inputted and outsourced.
I know the upside of downsizing.
I know the downside of upgrading.
I’m a high tech lowlife.
A cutting edge state-of-the-art bicoastal multitasker,
And I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond. (The rest after the jump…)
(more…)
The Book Trailer as Self-Parody: Stars Gary Shteyngart with James Franco Cameo
What can we say about Gary Shteyngart? The novelist appeared last year in The New Yorker’s 20 Under 40 Fiction Issue (which listed authors “who capture the inventiveness and the vitality of contemporary American fiction.”) He teaches writing at Columbia University and counts James Franco as one of his students. And he’s willing to hustle a little to sell a book. When his novel Super Sad True Love Story came out last summer (find NYTimes review here), the quirky Leningrad-born author (key to understanding what comes next) released a satirical, self-deprecating trailer to promote his book. Jeffrey Eugenides, Jay McInerney, Edmund White, Mary Gaitskill and Franco himself all get in on the joke … which gets better as it goes along.
Shteyngart’s book just came out in paperback last week. To mark the occasion, Fresh Air re-aired an interview with him (sans accent) last week. His book is also available as an audio download via Audible.com, and here’s how you can snag a free copy…
Related:
Reviewing Jonathan Franzen’s “Freedom” with Wit
1956 Home Movie: Laurel & Hardy Together for the Last Time
There is no exact date for this silent home movie shot at the Reseda, CA home of Stan Laurel’s daughter, Lois. But the year must have been 1956, because, during that year, Oliver Hardy, the other member of the great comic duo, lost more than 150 pounds, resulting in a complete change of his outward appearance. Hardy had a mild heart attack in 1954 and started looking after his health. But letters by Stan Laurel indicate that Oliver was also suffering from cancer. In September 1956 — probably not long after this movie was made — Oliver suffered a major stroke, which left him unable to speak and confined to bed for several months. Then, at the beginning of August 1957, he had two more strokes and slipped into a coma from which he never recovered. He died on August 7 that year.
Exactly one week after Oliver’s death, Stan gave a rare radio interview and recounted the moment when he and Oliver met for the first time. The full, one-hour interview can be enjoyed here. Stan died on 23 February 1965 after suffering a heart attack of his own. He was buried at Forest Park Memorial Park in Burbank. Footage from the funeral shows celebrities such as Dick Van Dyke, Buster Keaton and George Chandler in attendance. Stan’s friend Dick Van Dyke delivered this moving eulogy.
A Daily Dose of Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld has decided to go on tour, and as if to remind us that his stand-up life preceded his decade-plus dominance of network TV, he’s also archived the best bits from a comedy career that now spans over 25 years. (He first appeared on national television in 1977.) The new site/archive will feature just a few clips, making new ones available each day. It’s a smart move; the steady trickle of new jokes will no doubt keep fans hungry.
For a reminder of the days when it was Seinfeld himself who was hungry, here’s a set from 1981, his first appearance on HBO. He’s being presented by the pitch-perfect Smothers Brothers, who introduce the barely known comedian as “Jerry Steinfeld.”
via NYT
Sheerly Avni is a San Francisco-based arts and culture writer. Her work has appeared in Salon, LA Weekly, Mother Jones, and many other publications. You can follow her on twitter at @sheerly
Spy Magazine (1986–1998) Now Online
You want to know why Rupert Murdoch runs the world and you don’t? Here’s a hint: In 1990, Spy Magazine (now archived at Google Books) sent Murdoch and a slew of other wealthy celebrities checks for $1.11 as a prank. Murdoch cashed his right away — because even when he was just a lowly billionaire, the guy understood money.
And the editors at Spy (1986–98) understood celebrity culture, which is why they became arguably the most influential magazine of the late 20th century, or, in Dave Eggers’ words “cruel, brilliant, beautifully written and perfectly designed, and feared by all.” Combining an elegant house style, barbed satire, and a healthy dose of class-rage, Spy inspired a radical tonal shift in American journalism just in time for the arrival of a perfectly suited new platform: The Internet.
You can read more about the magazine’s legacy in Will Hines’ excellent article Diving into the Archives of Spy, The Funniest Magazine Ever, at the comedy blog Splitsider. Before accusing Hines of hyperbole, take a look at some of his finds:
Joe Queenan sends up the The Cult of Bob Dylan
The editors list Clinton’s First 100 Lies
Newt Gingrich, topless, on the cover
And that’s without even starting on the true classics from the 80’s. It’s all at Google Books. Enjoy.
via Splitsider
Related: The Onion: Fake News Site Launches Real Archive
Sheerly Avni is a San Francisco-based arts and culture writer. Her work has appeared in Salon, LA Weekly, Mother Jones, and many other publications. You can follow her on twitter at @sheerly.
“Jersey Shore” in the Style of Oscar Wilde
We giddily present “Jersey Shore” Gone Wilde, as performed by the cast of The Importance of Being Earnest, a production currently being staged by the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City.
Go ahead and catch this inspired mashup of Victorian comedy and MTV “reality” at Playbill Video in 5 parts … unless you have work to do this afternoon.
via @MaudNewton
Sheerly Avni is a San Francisco-based arts and culture writer. Her work has appeared in Salon, LA Weekly, Mother Jones, and many other publications. You can follow her on twitter at @sheerly
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