Thank you for calling out Bill Maher and his nonsense. Over the years he has gone from modestly funny to an old man screaming at a cloud, ranting constantly about “wokeness” being the thing that will destroy our culture, while mostly giving the people who are actively trying to destroy democracy a pass. Sure, some of those in the “woke” crowd can be obnoxious, but a few random whiners on Twitter are not the same as Ron DeSantis, a legitimate fascist who has no problem with using his power to harm others. The two are not comparable, and I’m through both-sidesing this B.S.
Apparently, Bill has no problem both-sidesing it, because it’s good for ratings. Maher is a smug, insufferable horse’s ass and a terrible interviewer; the only part of his show that is even remotely watchable anymore is his overtime segment where the guests do most of the talking. And Maher is supposedly a liberal. With friends like this, what the hell do we need the Republicans for?
Always love reading your stuff.
Wes R. Benash
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Bill Maher can’t decide whether he’s a Clinton-era liberal (that despicable kind of Democrat that effectively lost the working class to the GOP, the “coastal elite”) or on the Joe Rogan-bandwagon.
Maher speaks with such pompous assurance that to your point he’s a uniquely dangerous pundit for mostly boomer-aged “moderate liberal” types, you know, the ones who thought Nancy Pelosi was a master legislator?
He also gets big stars on his podcast, and it’s truly remarkable how he’s so detached yet persistent in his everyday strong opinions. I don’t give a sh*t about being “politically incorrect.” I care about having pundits of influence on the left that actually care about meaningful policies, instead of battling the never-ending culture war and indulging in their own celebrity.
Dylan Muhlberg
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As for Bill, he’s a dipsh*t. Even on air he can’t help but be smug and self-congratulatory. What a pompous douche. Back in the 90’s I was at a private gathering at Arianna Huffington’s house which had a quite the guest bathroom, with stalls. I stood next to him at one of the sinks washing up and asked him a forgotten question pertinent to a politico event. He didn’t look at me or make a sound, as if he was alone, and then headed to the door. That says it all.
John Brodey
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When I lived in NYC, when the elevator opened, Bill Maher was on it. I told him how much I admired him and had recently enjoyed his appearance on some cooking show. He basically told me to F*ck Off and don’t bother him.
Bill Berger
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I appreciate your candor re: the covid years, which are of course still raging. They ‘were’ traumatic for my family and we were ultra careful throughout. That doesn’t always work, we found out. It was some frightening sh*t, especially early on when nobody knew what they were dealing with and half the country was in denial. It cost em, too! Motherf*ckers died along with their conspiracy theories and “Jesus Saves”cards. I don’t miss em. I don’t care. Idiots roasting in hell with Ronald Reagan.
Maher comes across as a self entitled knowitall asshole. Maybe he always did. I haven’t always thought that. Something changed. Maybe me. Jesus. He gets so high while doing his podcast that his guests don’t get to talk. I only listened to a few minutes of one, tho, and he wouldn’t shut up and it was annoying so, whateverthef*ck……I’m not necessarily qualified to critique.
Bill Nelson
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Gave up watching Bill Maher a few years ago. His ego doesn’t let anyone else get a word in – they’re merely his chorus. Compare him to Howard Stern, whose ego is even bigger, yet in all his recent interviews, I’ve learned something from his guests, even when I’m not a fan. I was riveted to everything Gene Simmons had to say last week and who isn’t sick of hearing from him?! Gene kept trying to open the topic of Wokism but Stern didn’t bite. Instead we hear Gene admit what a dick he was all those years – the irony of Gene becoming woke about Gene was amazing.
wolfereeno
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Nothing a liberal hates more than a leftist who is willing to challenge parts of leftist ideology. He made a point and it appears you missed it – which is that left-leaning and mainstream media outlets are not just hesitant but almost refuse to acknowledge any science or findings that stray from the leftist orthodoxy – and I say this a Biden voter and someone who hasn’t voted for a republican for a statewide or national office since the 90’s. His point is 100% valid – why haven’t news organizations publicized the study? Or the ones showing that there is a very real argument that the isolation of children during the pandemic was as bad for their health as the risk presented by covid? Look, I think most gov’t entities and public health bureaucracies did their best with what they knew and had at their disposal at the time. Science isn’t perfect. But the only way to improve responses and outcomes next time something like this happens is to take a very critical look and analysis at what worked, what didn’t and what lays somewhere in between.
Craig Davis
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On the money about Bill Maher and his Covid baloney. Yes, natural immunity is as effective as vaccine. And natural immunity is so easy, just accept whatever number of millions need to die so we can have it! And Russell Brand! What a rude, stupid jerk he was on Maher’s show. He even (inadvertently) made Bill admit there was a need for vaccine, and BTW, Affordable Health Care, but Russell’s main concern was keeping everyone but him from talking.
Lynyrd Skynyrd have always been a favourite with me.
After The John and Tony Smith business broke up they were the very first band I promoted in January 1976.
One of the best and most memorable was when they played the Rainbow in Finsbury Park.
It was their first show in London and the audience went ballistic with joy.
When they finally finished Free Bird followed by Sweet Home Alabama it was the audience who were exhausted from cheering.
The band were on a real high so Bill Curbishley and I decided to take them out to dinner and chose a favourite Greek Restaurant.
At first the band were a bit sheepish until they saw the manager bring a stack of plates to the next table for the guests to smash to great music and bottles of Retsina which was the Greek custom.
When the manager of the restaurant then came to our table the bands eyes nearly popped out.
They had clearly never seen the spectacle before and proceeded to smash every single plate in the restaurant and drank nearly the total cellar of Retsina’s.
It was one of those nights that I will never forget…. Nor will my Bank Manager !!!!
Without doubt one of the most exciting bands ever on stage
Harvey Goldsmith.
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My favorite Skynyrd story. Fey and I put together a stadium show co bill of Skynyrd and Marshall Tucker at Mile High Stadium in the mid 70’s. The bands did not get a long and fought over who would close. We came up with idea of one band closing the afternoon part then a break then the other band closed the evening part. Other bands on the show were Atlanta Rhythm Section, Foreigner, Heart and Outlaws among others. The radio spot had to be total equal billing. Skynyrd was bigger then so we made them bigger in the spots (promoters could get away with a lot of stuff then). One of Tucker’s friends living in Boulder heard the spot and called their manager. The manager called really upset and I said not true and I would fly the next morning with the radio spots to play him in person. Had my spot guy stay up all night making new spots and I flew to Spartanburg to play him the phony spots which he was fine with of course after he heard them. Crazy times in early rock and roll.
Chuck Morris – Chairman Emeritus
AEG PRESENTS
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In the mid-70s I was on the staff of UK music weekly Sounds and assigned to do a story on Lynyrd Skynyrd.
I joined them in Glasgow at the Albany Hotel (the only place musicians stayed). We were the only people sitting in the dining lounge. At the end of the room was a low stage and a keyboard and mics. After awhile a guy and girl combo climbed on to the stage and started to play in a very Carpenters style. Not brilliant, not terrible, an ordinary hotel band.
As soon as they started Ronnie Van Zandt and Gary Rossington paid attention and listened to them and at the end of each song applauded. Then the record company lady made a disparaging comment about the playing. Instantly Ronnie spun on her and with real anger said, “They’re musicians. They’re working. You show them respect.”
It was a really eye opening comment and one I have tried to follow to this day.
All the best,
John Ingham
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I was the tour accountant for Southern rock artists Molly Hatchet in the 80s. We had the honor of opening or sharing bills for many of the bands idols and heroes including Lynyrd Skynyrd , Rossington Collins Band , Allman Brothers Band, Outlaws , Charlie Daniels Band , 38 Special as well as other many others. I spent much time in their home base of Jacksonville , Florida . What I learned is that their creed was to not only play hard and live hard but also work hard .
These musicians were the sons of the returning veterans of World War II and brought with them a work ethic that included always giving everything you had and your band mates and crew were your brothers . Quitting or not going on and giving the best show you could to the people who bought tickets was never an option . They lived by a code . It’s hard to see it now but when you look back at the career Gary Rossington had and how he sustained , always came back and succeeded over all these years it’s easy to see how and why . RIP Gary.
Stephen Mr Magoo Grossman
San Antonio TX
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My two Lynyrd Skynyrd stories:
I moved to Atlanta in 1971 and lived in the heart of the infamous Peachtree Strip during its peak years. There was a club down the street called Funochios where a band called Lynyrd Skynyrd played nightly.
So the band Focus comes to town to perform at the Omni. The arena fills up, and at showtime, the house lights are still on – and there’s NO equipment on the stage. An announcer finally comes on and says that Focus’ truck broke down in Tennessee and that they wouldn’t be making it to the show. However, they said everyone will receive a refund and can also stay and watch the opening act for free! The opening act was that band that could be seen 5 nights a week at that club on Peachtree – Lynyrd Skynyrd. Everyone groaned and left. Nobody stayed.
My other encounter with Lynyrd Skynyrd was way cooler. I didn’t have a car at the time, and like many others in those days, I hitchhiked everywhere. I had my guitar with me, case in hand, and was hitchhiking home on Peachtree when this van full of longhairs picked me up. I got in the side door and sat on the floor in the back. Up front was the band – Lynyrd Skynyrd! They said they picked me up because they wanted to see my guitar (my 335), which I took out of the case and passed it up front and which they played.
I still have that guitar.
RIP Gary Rossington.
Mark Towns
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Years ago, I wrote and directed a sketch starring the fellas from Skynyrd for a show called “The Soup”. Gary was out of his comfort zone, but he settled in and had a blast (and was hilarious to boot). Here’s the clip if anyone’s interested in seeing a different side of him. May he rest in peace.
Lee Farber
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Re: Gary Rossington: I grew up in 1970’s Florida – Skynyrd was to us what Bruce Springsteen is to New Jersey!
Vince Welsh
President
Teacher Education Institute, Inc.
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Pronounced ‘Leh-‘Nerd ’Skin-’Nerd was the first record I ever bought (at Strawberries Records). Pretty sure it was my older sisters Prom song in ’73. I was hooked – the Allmans were the cool guys and LS were the bad ass version. And they were LOUD. I saw them open for The Who at the Boston Garden and left after their set. How could anything beat that? Saw the original band five times. When Street Survivors was released on a Tuesday, I hitchhiked home from college in Vermont to buy it. Two days later it was all over. I continued to follow the survivors and like the RC Band and while they were really good, it was not the same. A good friend took me to see Bad Company and LS in New Hampshire a few years ago (I really like Paul Rogers and had never seen him live – he still belts it out). They were good and we left early. Not the same.
You were spot on re losing our heroes at a very uncomfortable pace. At least I still have my original vinyl.
Thanks again for another stellar history trip.
Mike Colbourn
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Thanks for all your amazing work, Bob. I’ve enjoyed it through the years. Decades ago, not long before the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash, I went on the road with the band to write about them for, of all publications, ‘TEEN Magazine.
Besides being a brilliant musician, Gary Rossington was a super-cool guy who invited me in and kept an eye on me. I was grateful to him, am so sad to learn of his passing. The guy had a beautiful heart and soul.
A few months ago I performed an account of my time with Gary, Ronnie, and the rest of the band and thought I’d share it with you.
Kind regards,
Marina Muhlfriedel
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Being from Alabama, I like to tell people that Sweet Home Alabama is the unofficial national anthem. You can be practically anywhere in the world, and not even be from Alabama, but when it comes on in a bar you’ll sing along.
Peter Gilbert
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I worked with Lynrd skynyrd when I was pr director at mca – they were rowdy but great to deal with – respectful and professional with me – I am sad – carol Ross
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My first concert was Firefall, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Doobie Brothers at the Nassau Coliseum, before the plane crash. Even though the Doobies were headlining, you couldn’t walk 50 feet in my school at the time without hearing Freebird.
Everyone was there to see Skynyrd, and they delivered. I was lucky to have such a great first concert. After Skynyrd, the Doobies were a bit of a let-down, and we left in the middle of their set, along with half the crowd.
In retrospect, it seems a little weird that a bunch of middle-class suburban kids on Long Island loved Southern rock so much, but Skynyrd rocked their asses off, which is all that matters when you’re in high school. We also loved (and saw live) Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels, The Outlaws, and of course The Allman Brothers. We loved all kinds of rock, from Aerosmith to Zep, but Southern rock was a big part of it. What a great time to grow up.
Best,
Perry Resnick
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Recall gong to see Rossington Collins band in Binghamton in summer between my freshman and sophomore year at Syracuse Uni. Had a girlfriend at Uni that lived there. Told me she was pregnant when I got there after drive from my parents house in Long Island.. . Won’t forget that trip! Thank God she decided to exercise her Roe v Wade rights or I would have a 42 year old kid now, probably be a grandfather too. But no way I could have dealt with being a dad at 19!
Brian Barry Esq.
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Hey Bob, The time I saw Skynyrd playing the Santa Monica Civic during the early or mid 70’s was maybe my most favorite concert ever. I told my friend I went with before hand about the 3 lead guitar players with one being better than the other. They did not disappoint. I can still visualize myself there taking it all in.
Please note, Before the Santa Monica Civic show I saw Skynyrd’s last few songs as I walked into the forum on a rainy Thanksgiving night. They were the opening act for The Who. I said to myself, these guys are good! That was the beginning of my love affair with them. I still remember the night hearing the News of the plane crash and the feeling of being crushed.
Besides their records still being available there are also various videos on YouTube available. They were one Bad Band!
Tracy Weber
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In 20 years, just about all of them will be dead. Jagger, Elton John, McCartney, Tina Turner, Lionel Richie, you name it. So many of the rock stars and musicians that burst onto the scene in the 60s and early 70s, we’re all about the same age give or take. The list is going to be staggering.
That said, Lynyrd Skynyrd was the first concert I ever went to. December 31, 1976 in Oakland.
Journey opened up… When journey was a hard rock band with incredible musical sensibilities. Before that whiny Pop singer guy joined them.
Anyway, the Skynyrd crowd was hard-core. Rowdy, ready to party, and the band was exciting on stage. Not in a Rolling Stones k I’mmd of way but the anticipation of free Bird and the songs flat out rocked.
As I got older I learned to appreciate them not so much as a southern rock band but it has a rhythm and blues band, very much like the Rolling Stones
If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?
We will until we can remember no more
Jimmy Becker
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Probably because the manager of the reformed Lynyrd Skynyrd, Charlie Brusco, was from Pittsburgh, we became a hotspot here for the late 1980s rebirth of the live band. Charile is what we call a Yinzer. You can take a Yinzer of out of Pittsburgh but you can’t take the Pittsburgh out of the Yinzer. Charlie knew “The Burg” and he figured it was a good launch point.
We sold out shows at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena that I managed and then when I went to run Star Lake Amphitheater outside of town, we did many sellouts there, capped by the LYVE FROM STEEL TOWN double record in 1997. We also helped Charlie with secondary market shows in rust towns like Wheeling and Johnstown.
Maybe it was because we were so close to West Virginia (you could practically walk to Weirton from the amphitheater). Maybe it was because WDVE was so powerful if it got behind something, it would sell well (witness Steve Miller sellouts when he wasn’t doing any of that kind of business anywhere). The guys who ran WDVE were smart; Pittsburgh was an aging market and better to accent classic rock bands than to be too reliant on new music. Maybe it was the revisionist pre-woke things where shows like THE DUKES OF HAZZARD and movies like SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT romanticized the old South and Skynyrd with the gigantic Rebel flag unfurling as they hit the stage fed off of that. Maybe it was because the music was so good and we left ‘what if-ing’ in terms of what they had left to share with us.
If I might a personal note, my 15-year-old son at the time, Josh, idolized the band. Couldn’t get enough. One weekday night in Wheeling, he begged to go the show. His mom said no. School night. We made a deal. Homework would be done in catering. Josh was too wound up. Gary Rossington and Johnny Van Zandt got wind. Gary came to Josh’s table. “Josh, your dad won’t let us go on ‘til you finish that homework…what kind of damn math is that anyway?” Josh got it done and the band played on.
Tom Rooney
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I had the pleasure of working with Skynyrd four times, producing three TV concerts and a live King Biscuit CD – which is a story in and of itself. While to me Gary had a bad boy exterior, I found him to be a gentle and kind soul when I worked with him. He was a true gentleman to me.
As a side gig, I am the co-owner of a bar in Long Island where I book the mostly classic rock bands on the weekends. Whenever a band rips into a Skynyrd song, the place lights up. No one dares touch Freebird, but they light up the house with Alabama, Gimme, That Smell, Simple Man. Their music still sounds fresh, I think it will always be vital to our music landscape.
Barry Ehrmann
Enliven Entertainment
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Gary Rossington was a real Rock Star giant when I first started playing guitar at 13. His cool hair, cool jackets, and smoldering slow-hand Les Paul bends full of swagger taught me to play guitar. I dropped the record player needle 10,000+ times learning those early Lynyrd Skynyrd records. Even my first amp, that I bought while working at a car wash at 14, was a Peavey Mace with a 412 cab, just like the amps on the cover photo of One More From The Road.
During high school my denim blue notebook had Lynyrd Skynyrd scrawled in ink pen across the front as I cried walking to school the day of their plane crash. Never saw the original band but was able to see the Rossington Collins Band melt the stage in Mobile AL. From 16, 17, 18 years of age I’m playing my Les Paul Custom plugged into my Peavey Mace turned up loud rockin’ Skynyrd tunes in the FL panhandle. Every night the endless clubs and biker bars were filled with patrons roaring with applause (plus endless shots sent to the stage!) hearing Sweet Home Alabama, Simple Man, Gimme Three Steps, Call Me The Breeze, Needle and The Spoon, and Free Bird.
Those late 70’s musical moments and songs carried me to my future touring with Ronnie Montrose, Buddy Miles, Double Trouble, Colin Hay + others. Gary Rossington gave me so much and now his musical influence lives on forever in my heart and soul. And so tonight, in his honor, I touch my fingertips to the strings and like always there’s a sparkling flash as Gary Rossington’s souful swagger jets across the universe. I can feel it, I can hear it, and I want to Turn It Up!
Greg Vorobiov
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Good on ya Bob
Skynyrd was the stuff
My friend Chris Rugulo has been their stage tech for decades.
Can we get a shout out to a true rock and roll war dog?
Chris Rugulo is one of the best and a beautiful kind heart at that!
And yes Bob you are el correcto, The band was the epitome of justall of us in the 70s trying to make it.
Robert Xeno
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I was there. For history. I was at the launch party for Al’s Sounds of the South label, at Richard’s in Atlanta, where Mose Jones opened with a gritty set, followed by Elijah (not memorable), and then…Skynyrd, whom none of us had ever heard or heard of. One by one, song by song, table by table, everyone stopped eating, stopped, drinking, stopped talking and by the end of their set everyone was standing on their chairs or even tables, watching something we all knew was special. We all knew.
I saw them many more times, got to know them a bit, and, miraculously, was hired to be their indie PR for the “Gimme Back My Bullets” and “One More From The Road” albums and tours. “Bullets” wasn’t their best work, following Ed King’s and Al Kooper’s departure, but it has aged surprisingly well. That live album, recorded at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, is a tour de force, showing a band really coming into it’s own and featuring new third guitarist Steve Gaines (who I’d known previously when he was with Mitch Ryder’s Detroit, having replaced Steve Hunter). His sister Cassie was one of the Skynyrd backing singers, the Honkettes, and she and I both lobbied to get Steve an audition with the band. I’m sure Cassie’s lobbying was taken far more seriously than mine. But Steve fit in incredibly well instantaneously, despite not being from Jacksonville.
This was not a “southern rock band.” They were a real rock band, with influences from far and wide, including especially the guitar-driven British blues-rock bands. They were exactly what you saw – no artifice. I have so many great memories of time spent with them. Ronnie asked me once why I didn’t drink with them, and I replied “someone has to be sober enough to write it all down after the fighting stops.” I got them a Kirshner Rock Awards award for helping preserve that legendary Fox Theatre, and Leon Wilkeson sang his acceptance remarks. Watching those three guitars soar and their interplay was magical.
I was driving into Chicago after seeing Talking Heads at the B.Ginnings club out in the suburbs late one night when I heard the plane crash news on the radio and nearly drove off the road. I spent the night helping field press inquiries and getting no sleep, postponing my meeting the following day over at Mercury Records. Not just Ronnie, but Steve AND Cassie, and road manager Dean Kilpatrick.
I went to their one real reunion tour after the crash, at Universal Amphitheatre, where they ended with an instrumental version of “Free Bird.” And it was really haunting. I didn’t even go backstage to see them, it was just too much to handle, really.
Second drummer Artimus Pyle, who was there for all the glory days and walked away from the plane crash, is still with us, on his own and long-exiled from the band; I was really happy to visit with him on a classic rock cruise several years ago.
I saw the “If I Leave Her Tomorrow” documentary the night it premiered on Showtime, and, wow, it’s really good. No talking heads of any managers, agents, etc. Just the voices of the band and Ronnie’s widow Judy, and featuring Gary throughout, taking us all on a tour of their Jacksonville roots. If you haven’t seen it, you really should.
Gary’s heart problems were ongoing and well-documented these past few years, and so I made a special trip to Las Vegas a few years ago to see them and to see him before an iHeart Radio Festival show there, and our visit was short, but, to me, so meaningful.
I really felt attached to that band and those guys. A little part of me died with Gary last night when I heard the news.
I’ve worked with other artists who’ve died – Billy Murcia, the original NY Dolls drummer, when I was working with them before they signed to Mercury. Sandy West, the Runaways’ drummer, long after the band had broken up. And John Lennon. That night was brutal too, so completely shockingly unexpected.
We knew Gary was living on borrowed time, with his weakening heart.. They all had been, the survivors of that plane crash, and one by one, we’ve lost them all (except Artimus); yes, others survived including tour manager Ron Eckerman and sister Honkette Leslie Hawkins (who I had a major crush on). But the finality hearing the news yesterday hit hard. How could it not?
The “Curb Your Enthusiasm” takeoff is genius. Even down to the staring contest between Judas and the Roman soldier.
The original “History of the World,” you know, “Pt. 1,” was uneven. It’s hard to do comedy, it’s hard to be consistent. Mel Brooks’s best work was “The Producers,” and “Blazing Saddles.” But it looked like he was losing his touch, but “Part II” Shows he has not.
The Jews in the shtetl doing a musical, even down to the “Fiddler on the Roof” parody…
And the Romanov stuff, where the daughter is an influencer.
They don’t make this kind of comedy anymore. Somehow it faded out. You know, the offensive stuff you can get away with. Stuff where the conception is key. You know, left field stuff, stuff so out there, that you cannot help but laugh to the point where you cry.
Hitler on ice? With the Olympic commentators? I’m laughing just thinking about it.
Before “Part II” we watched this week’s John Oliver, where he did his best to nail DeSantis. Does any right-winger watch John Oliver? Furthermore, if I do say so myself, somehow John didn’t put the stake in DeSantis’s heart. We knew most of the material, at least I did, we were looking for the unknown delivered in such a delicious way that no one could vote for Ron.
But politics is scary. It’s like we’re living in the Russia of the 50s and 60s, you know, with mind control, where you didn’t learn anything, couldn’t learn anything, whole swaths of information were excised. Did you see that “Times” article about the right wing outlets which didn’t cover the Dominion suit, how Fox knew what they were saying was false? Probably not. Here it is:
“Conservative Media Pay Little Attention to Revelations About Fox News – Even in today’s highly partisan media world, experts said, the lack of coverage about the private comments of Fox’s top executives and hosts stands out.”: https://nyti.ms/3F4cIIp
Ah, you won’t read it, either you know all this or don’t want to. Ain’t that America.
And speaking of TV, did you watch Bill Maher on Friday night? First and foremost I’m sick of Bill and his Covid B.S. He said the other week that natural immunity is as good as the vaccine. Yes, the study said this, IF YOU HAD COVID! If you did not, it’s open season. I hate that people are so narrow-minded that they are limited by their own experience. I don’t think Bill knows anybody who died. I know plenty. I can’t get over Lisa’s father passing, he was the rock of their family. This was before the vaccine. Hey, take all the risk you want. You think you’re immune, you’re not. I know too many people who don’t know someone who died. And their narrow view would have you believe that Covid was nothing. As for whether it came from a lab or not, WHO CARES! I mean we’d like to know, but what does that change? Covid was a big deal, I’m still recovering mentally, from the years locked down. That ain’t gonna change no matter where it came from, even if Fred Flintstone cooked it up between strings at the bowling alley.
But even worse was Russell Brand. An uninformed nincompoop who hogged all the time on “Real Time” so no one else could speak truth. He was busy making a tzimmes because he’s promoting a new movie. God, even when you blow the whistle on Bill he refuses to acknowledge it. I got e-mail from people who’ve run into Chris Rock and he was nice. Can’t imagine Bill giving people the time of day. Whenever you see him around town he’s still wearing a damn suit. And Bill, we know you had a hair transplant too, who else would wear that combed-back hairstyle. I’m trashing you because too many people get your news from you, it should at least be fair and balanced, and I’m not talking about Fox.
Which is why “Part II” is so great. It takes you away from today’s world where you feel powerless, observe insanity and don’t know what to do. You see “History of the World, Pt. II” is insane, even down to the vomiting on the boat on the way to Omaha Beach, an homage to the farting scene in “Blazing Saddles.”
No, every joke doesn’t work, but this nonagenarian takes more risks and hits more bullseyes than all those comedians on TikTok, trying to blow themselves up.
Mel Brooks coming back is like Paul McCartney cutting a new “Band on the Run,” or Bob Dylan cutting a new “Blood on the Tracks.” Completely surprising, completely unfathomable.
I don’t want to overhype you. Then again, I can’t. Like I said, this show works mostly because it’s so stupid, the conceptions are so whacked. You’ll laugh in a way you haven’t for decades…
First we had to finish “Shrinking,” well at least everything but the last episode, had to wait until 3/4 to watch that, and then…
I trust George.
I was familiar with the show. But the buzz was mixed. And I passed.
So revisiting the data, I saw that it had a 100% critics rating on RottenTomatoes and a 62% audience score. That’s my kind of show.
You can’t trust the public when it comes to TV. Like the aforementioned “Shrinking”… Harrison Ford is good playing against type, and the young ‘uns are good, very good, but Jason Segel… Does he ever get really mad? You think you like him, you think he’s a good actor, but then he’s compromised. As for Christa Miller… I’m a big fan, but I didn’t even recognize her. This is just plain sad. She’s had so much plastic surgery that she doesn’t even resemble who she used to be. And the lips… I know, I know, I can’t attack women’s looks. But I point you to this recent article in the “Los Angeles Times”:
“‘This is me, this is my face’: Actress Mimi Rogers on aging naturally, without cosmetic surgery”: https://lat.ms/3kSdtNY
And Christa’s husband is two-dimensional and “Shrinking” is a traditional sitcom, just a smidge better. It’s no “Hacks,” it’s certainly no “Love Life,” which you probably still haven’t seen, because it was buried by HBO Max and there’s no buzz, but I assure you, it’s great.
Now “Shrinking” has 81/85 on RottenTomatoes, which kind of undercuts my point, but it’s not 100%!
You see the public can’t handle foreign, can’t handle challenging, if it’s not obvious, they’re out. And call me an elitist and…I’ll own it. As for all you doofuses who e-mail me that you love foreign flicks and… Do you think when I write this stuff I mentally poll each and every one of my subscribers? Not everything is about YOU!
So…
“Kleo” is a black comedy. Its most obvious analogue is the “Deutschland” series. Real life events re the fall of the Berlin Wall, but with a leavening of comedy.
“Kleo” too is a post-Wall story. But the weird thing is the main actress, Jella Haase, wasn’t even born when the Wall came down. And that’s weird, because it seems like yesterday to me.
So, Kleo is a Stasi assassin. But she is thrown into jail and she’s there for a couple of years until the Wall falls, and then she looks for the person who is responsible for her incarceration. I know, I know, I’ve revealed some plot points, but the above is in each and every review. But really, it’s not the specific plot points you watch for, even though they twist and turn and are fascinating, but Jella Haase herself.
Whew!
She’s not Hollywood beautiful, not that she’s not attractive. But she’s intense. She’s got a brain. And a sense of humor, you can’t take your eyes off her. What does she feel, what is she going to do next, she sacrificed it all for the cause and..?
Well, now I’m gonna contradict myself, actually you do watch for the plot points. That’s what makes the whole show hold together. And you’re not exactly sure who is a good guy or gal, or who is not. And bumbling Sven Petzold… You come to like him too. You know, the company man who the company doesn’t like. Who can’t get ahead, because sometimes he’s wrong, and when he’s right, no one believes him!
But there’s the tone. Sometimes deadly serious and other times funny.
“Kleo” is not a hard watch. But you do have to pay attention. You cannot multitask while watching it.
But unlike dreck like “Shrinking,” you will be drawn in, you will feel you’re part of the world.
