"This should give you a dim view of human potential..."

Having just recently watched a documentary about Werner Herzog and marveled at (and joked about) his particular way of speaking, I had to laugh quite a bit at this parody:

'Neil Young' covering Fresh Prince

This is funny/brilliant enough that I might actually start watching the guy's show...

Wow

Celebrity Death Pool 2009

The new year is underway, and while I'm still burning the midnight oil on the Best Of 2008, I thought I'd remind everybody of the 2009 Celebrity Death Pool.

The prize is the same again this time around: One free year of Immortality, from the diety of your choice.

Get your picks in here. Deadline is January 7. Last year saw some fierce competition, and you don't want to be left out.

We're looking for about 10 guesses per person, but don't worry about going a few over if you're really feeling a psychic connection with the Grim Reaper.

DOWNLOAD:
Warren Zevon - I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (live in VPRO Studio, 1976-12-08)
Uncle Tupelo - Dead Flowers (live Rolling Stones Cover)
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (live)
Will Sheff (Okkervil River) - The President's Dead (live 2006-08-06)
Robyn Hitchcock - My Wife and My Dead Wife (live, 2005-03-28)

Celebrity Death Pool 2009!

Ladies and gentlemen, come one and come all, step right up and join the Celebrity Death Pool 2009!

We had a new winner in the 2008 contest, finally ending the deathly streak put forth by Mr. Tim Finnagain, who was the defending champion for three years running. Now Charlie has to defend his honor and his creepy prescience.

The prize for 2009 will be the same as it was for our 2008 winner: One free year of Immortality, from the diety of your choice.

Put your picks in the comments - we're looking for about 10 guesses per person, but don't worry about going a few over if you're really feeling a psychic connection with the Grim Reaper.

Get your picks in by Jan. 7 and good luck!

Celebrity Death Pool 2008 winner

It was a tight contest all the way, but there's a new champion in the Celebrity Death Pool for 2008!

Charlie, from San Francisco, has dethroned our three-time defending champion, Mr. Tim Finnagain, who was shut out this year after starting to really creep me out with his prescient picks over the last several years.

Charlie correctly predicted the demise of Gordon Hinkley and Studs Terkel. Congratulations also to our three runners-up, who each predicted one celebrity death. So, R.I.P. as well to Sir Edmund Hillary, Evan Mecham and Estelle Getty.

There were plenty of notable deaths in 2008, but the remaining Death Pool participants were all shut out, including yours truly.

Ruby Vroom: The Musical

This didn't even remotely pass the smell test. It was just too ludicrous and I'd already been reminded of April Fool's Day by the Gmail Custom Time joke. But what an inspired ruse! The creativity is stunning and all the pieces tie together so nicely.

I can't say much else for an introduction and it's a joke best taken whole, so without further ado, here's the email that popped into my inbox this morning from Mike Doughty's HQ:

This summer, Mike Doughty makes his Broadway debut with Ruby Vroom: The Musical, a stage adaptation of the first Soul Coughing album, with book by Tim Rice and choreography by Twyla Tharp.

Ruby Vroom: The Musical tells the story of Ruby (Scarlett Johansson), a transgendered youth growing up in 1970s Chicago. After a botched, self-administered sex change operation, Ruby enters a series of ill-fated love affairs, all set to the musical backdrop of her caustic avant-punk trio, The 5% Nation. Convinced that one of her lovers is Satan, she travels from Chicago to Kansas, Detroit and eventually Los Angeles, where she is sidetracked by drugs, mad kidnapping plots and the tawdry allure of the Hollywood lifestyle. And just when she is about to succumb to bitterness, an older woman, Janine (Patti LuPone), enters her life and changes everything.

Press previews for Ruby Vroom: The Musical will begin in late June at the St. James Theater on West 44th St., with a public opening in mid-July. Says Mike, currently on tour with his band, "I am immensely excited about the opportunity to work with the fabulous Ms. LuPone. She is the bucket of shoes in my foyer."

For ticket information, see http://rubyvroomtickets.com/

HQ

That would be the strangest musical of all time, by far, no doubt. I'm sure it would net Scarlett a Tony, though.

??? I can almost see the resemblance...

"I'm going to scream if you tell me how to organize my queue one more time."

This blog has been a little low on the funny for a while, so I thought I'd share this short, starring the masterful Arnie Niekamp from Chicago.
The best exchange:
"I don't think that's what I need right now."
"Well, it kind of is."

Celebrity Death Pool 2008!

Ladies and gentlemen, it brings me great pleasure to announce that the Celebrity Death Pool is being hosted here for the first time in 2008.

We've got a three-time winner on our hands in Mr. Tim Finnagain, who is really starting to creep me out. He won the 2007 contest by correctly predicting the demise of Lady Bird Johnson and Brooke Astor. That follows his 2006 win for Shelley Winters, John Kenneth Galbraith and his 2005 win for the Pope and Arthur Miller (what do you 'spose those two are talking about in the afterlife?). And Finnagain was only one year off on Boris Yeltsin.

So let's see if anyone can dethrone our resident psychic.

New to the contest this year is a prize for our winner: One free year of Immortality, from the diety of your choice.

Put your picks in the comments - we're looking for about 10 guesses per person, but don't worry about going a few over if you're really feeling a psychic connection with the Grim Reaper.

Get your picks in by Jan. 7 and good luck!

UPDATE: Alright, because of some slackers out there, we're gonna extend the deadline on this here contest until JANUARY 13.

Gluttontastic

I invented a new food today: the bratadilla. Take a bratwurst, but instead of placing it inside a bun, wrap it up in a quesadilla.
It's the type of fantastic that can only exist in the presence of a deep and lazy gluttony.

The Unwelcome Guest

I can't let Mr. Chair have all the fun.