Tricks, treats, etc..

Sorry for the prolonged silence. Among other things that have kept me away, I've been setting up my new blog, The Third Banana, which debuts today (what a coincidence!). The Third Banana will be devoted to the lesser-known talents of the classic comedy world and I hope that, in time, it'll become to obscure comedy what Cartoon Brew is to animation (or what armadillos are to leprosy). And to help things along, I'm sharing the blog with two extremely talented individuals who are every bit, if not more, obsessed with these matters than I am, Nick Santa Maria and Geoff Collins. Be afraid. Be very afraid. I'm kicking things off with a list of my favorite horror comedies, a vintage Halloween-ish Joe E. Brown comic from the UK weekly Film Fun, a brand new/old Farnsworth and Katz audio clip, and a recipe for tripe and onions. Enjoy!

RIP Charles Rocket

Good lord. I'll always remember Charles Rocket best as the twitchy Grossberg from the brilliant 1987 Max Headroom series. He will be remembered by most, however, as the SNL castmember (Reagan impressions and Weekend Update anchor) who said "fuck" on live TV, prompting the firing of himself and most of the cast of that ill-fated 1980-81 incarnation of the show. It was well-known that he was very unhappy about the direction his career had taken (mostly sub-B movies and video game voices), but that alone can't account for his particularly brutal suicide.

Wow..

I'm stunned by this one. UNICEF, in collaboration with the Peyo family, has created an anti-war TV spot in Belgium that depicts the bombing of the Smurf village and concludes with an infant Smurf crying amidst the devastation and the tag "Don't let war affect the lives of children." As far as I'm concerned, it's a brilliant and daring move, and a depressing indictment of how inured people have become to true depictions of war and death to make efforts like this necessary. Kudos especially to the Peyo family for bravely agreeing to the use of the characters. Of course, I don't believe for a second that a similar campaign would or could ever make its way onto American airwaves. We prefer our precious illusions unshattered, thank you very much.