Louis C.K. critically analyzes Clifford the Big Red Dog. Hilarity ensues if you’ve ever had to read multiple Clifford stories with your youngster. Not safe for work, little ones, or fans of big red dogs.
Here is Crispin Glover’s infamous interview with David Letterman on “Late Night With David Letterman.” Despite Glover’s bizarre behavior here, he later admitted he was trying to do a tribute to some of the brilliantly demented appearances Andy Kaufman had on Letterman’s from the early 1980s. The only problem with Glover’s tribute was that Letterman wasn’t in on it. And Letterman was clearly disturbed by what went down, as evidenced in Letterman’s commentary after Glover “left” the show. This may seem relatively tame these days, but back in the day, this appearance, along with Glover’s performance in the brilliant film “River’s Edge” and a demented Spin Magazine profile from around the same time, created a mini-cult amongst my friends for Glover for many, many years.
Comedian Dave Chappelle’s hilarious dissection of the classic children’s TV program “Sesame Street.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yr6VbT8QcU
I realize this is not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, much of this is fairly laughable and campy. But … I have a soft spot in my heart for this film, mainly because it was the first R-rated movie I ever saw.
Let’s take the wayback machine to the summer of 1979 … “The Amityville Horror” was the most popular film of the latter months of that summer and my brother and I wanted to see it. The only problem? It was rated R. My mom was fairly vigilant about shielding us from inappropriate content. But one of her friends told her that the film wasn’t that bad and that she couldn’t understand why it was rated R. So with this “endorsement,” my Mom took my brother and me to see this at the Circle 6 in Norfolk, VA.
My impressions at the time? I enjoyed the film, but kind of wondered what all the fuss was about. I didn’t find the majority of it scary at all. However, I enjoyed a lot of hip cachet with my peers for seeing an R-rated film, so of course, I indulged … if not embellished … all the sordid things I witnessed. Allright, cut me some slack, I was 9.
Anyway, the thing that freaked me out the most wasn’t the haunted house shenanigans (i.e. blood in the toilet, flies attacking the priest, the voices saying “Get out!”), but the opening, the true-life event that allegedly made the house haunted. This was when the son of the previous house owners massacred the entire family in cold blood. That’s the part that I couldn’t comprehend and that’s the part that actually gave me nightmares. I remember asking my mom would someone would kill their entire family and the response was that the boy was “insane.” That didn’t rest well with me then … and still doesn’t rest well with me now, even though it’s probably true. Tellingly, it was the part of that “Amityville Horror” story that actually happened that frightened me the most. The haunted house crap … that even at the age of 9, I shrugged my shoulders at … has since been discredited by many people. I have no idea if what the Lutzes experienced was true or not. But the opening events which are not in dispute terrified me the most.
After giving high praise to the Beatles’ original, here’s the lost, molar-rattling, rude, and punk-as-hell Beastie Boys cover that was supposed to be included on their legendary Rick Rubin-produced 1986 masterpiece “Licensed to Ill,” but was left off for legal reasons. Rumor has it that Michael Jackson, by then the copyright owner, put the kabosh on it. He felt fine licensing the Beatles’ most political song “Revolution” to Nike but … well … that’s another story. All I can say is … thank God for YouTube.
Recorded during the same 1965 session as “Yesterday,” “I’m Down” is in my opinion, the Beatles’ best flat-out rocker and the best B-side of all-time. Yes, “Revolution” and “Helter Skelter” may sound “heavier,” but “I’m Down” is much more ferocious in terms of speed and attitude. McCartney tries to out “Little Richard” Little Richard here and he comes really damn close to achieving his goal. A phenomenal tune that again … shockingly … was merely the B-side to “Help” and wasn’t included on a proper album until the late 1970s, when it appeared on their “Rock n’ Roll Music” compilation.
OK … who out there remembers Michael Winslow? For those who don’t remember, he was the guy that became notorious in the 1980s for making funny noises with his mouth in countless comedy films, most famously the “Police Academy” series and a couple of “Cheech and Chong” films.
In case you wondered, Winslow is still around … and still doing some amazing things with his voice. Here’s Winslow doing a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” for a Norwegian talk show called “Senkveld med Thomas og Harald.” Everything here, but the acoustic guitar is courtesy of Winslow’s mouth. Prepare to have your mind blown … seriously! Why someone hasn’t released this a single is beyond comprehension.
This is a legendary, nearly 3-hour interview with film director John Landis from the Kevin Pollak Chat Show that is one of the best and most candid interviews I’ve ever seen with a director. Landis directed some of the funniest movies ever made (“Kentucky Fried Movie,” “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” “The Blues Brothers,” “An American Werewolf in London,” “Trading Places,” “Coming to America”), some terrific documentaries (“Slasher” and “Mr. Warmth”), and arguably, the most famous music video of all time (“Michael Jackson’s Thriller”). Landis has so many great, oftentimes extremely funny, tales of a career that spans almost 50 years … one that started when he was a teenager. It’s a career that includes directing the likes of Michael Jackson, Eddie Murphy, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Don Rickles, and many others too numerous to mention. I don’t know if everything he’s sharing is the truth, but even if 20% of what he says is true, he’s lived a more exciting life than pretty much anyone reading this right now. The man is a great storyteller and this interview seems way shorter than it actually is. If you’re a comedy or film nerd, you must watch this.
For your consideration … here’s 20 minutes of Bob & Doug MacKenzie clips recorded for various “SCTV” episodes during the early 1980s. The origin for the MacKenzie brothers came from the Canadian government who insisted that “SCTV” broadcast two minutes of exclusively Canadian “content.” SCTV producer/writer/performer Dave Thomas was flabbergasted at such a demand, so he decided to give them the worst stereotype of Canada he could possibly think of. Thomas and fellow SCTV cast member / writer Rick Moranis gave them two dumb drunk Canadians who talked about nonsense for two minutes. Thomas said that all of their clips were made up on the spot and because they were recorded at the end of the day when everyone went home … they took full advantage of this time to … well … to unwind … meaning that beer they were enjoying was real. I think that’s called method acting, eh.
The irony, of course, was that this throwaway bit, done with as little preparation as possible, wound up becoming “SCTV”‘s most popular recurring segment, leading to a Top 10 album in the US and a feature-length film for MGM in 1983 called “Strange Brew.” I’m sure any similarity with the creation of the MacKenzie Brothers and Spike Lee’s “Bamboozled” is purely coincidental.
If you’re at all interested in the MacKenzie Brothers, “Strange Brew” or SCTV in general, you’re encouraged to check out the mammoth 4-hour podcast from the Projection Booth about all of these things. The podcast is hosted by Mike White, Skizz Cyzyk, and actor Craig Bierko (“The Long Kiss Goodnight,” “Cinderella Man”) and features interviews with Thomas, screenwriter Steve De Jarnatt, actress Lynne Griffin (“Pam”), and author Jeff Robbins. It’s a beauty, eh.
http://projection-booth.blogspot.com/2014/09/episode-182-strange-brew.html
You wanted the best, you got the best! It’s KISS! At the height of their powers in 1977! With all four original members! Performing live in Japan! .. (exclamation points officially ending here) … This was recorded for HBO and I remember seeing this very concert during the summer of 1979 when me and my brother went to visit my Dad in Northern Virginia. Two of my Dad’s female neighbors in their early 20s invited us all over to watch the concert on their TV since they had HBO. I can’t imagine my Dad’s neighbors were particularly interested in KISS … or my brother and me, for that matter … but I’m not going to complain that they used my interest in KISS to get to know my Dad better. It was doubly cool because I was now able to see my favorite band at the time life, I also got to check out this thing called HBO that I had seen advertised on TV, but wouldn’t be available in my neighborhood for two more years. As always, Paul Stanley doesn’t disappoint with his stage raps here.
Dave's Strange World 