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…)
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…
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.
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.”
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
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.
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.
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.
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
A day after President Obama conducted his much publicized town hall meeting at Facebook, Tina Fey, the star of 30 Rock and the author of the new book Bossypants, headed to Google, just a few miles down the road.
Last May, Googlers had their riotous romp with Conan O’Brien. Now they get their 60 minutes with another comedian who came of age on NBC. The conversation led by Eric Schmidt teaches you the secrets of improv, how to take pictures like a model, the pros & cons of goofing on Sarah Palin, and why male and female comedy writers differ in fundamentally odd ways. Tina Fey is funny. But sometimes funnier is watching Schmidt trying to keep the conversation from going off the rails. Scroll to the 8:20 mark, and you’ll see what I mean.
Just an fyi: Tina Fey actually narrates the audiobook version of Bossypants, and you can snag it for free through this Audible.com deal. Details here.
Over at OhNoTheyDidn’t, you can find some alternative titles for some of the most famous books ever written — or, in ONDT’s own words, titles that are “more accurate and less pretentious” than the originals.
Before clicking over to the (slightly NFSW) whole collection, test your high/low cultural agility by trying to guess a few originals from their updates:
1. My Dad is Cooler Than Your Dad
2. Emotions Are For Poor People
3. Shakespeare Minus the Good Writing
4. Likable Rapists
5. White People Ruin Everything
If you got all five right, nay, if you got any right, we’re counting on you for the Cluelesssequel.
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.
We're hoping to rely on loyal readers, rather than erratic ads. Please click the Donate button and support Open Culture. You can use Paypal, Venmo, Patreon, even Crypto! We thank you!
Open Culture scours the web for the best educational media. We find the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & educational videos you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.
