Hola, Sneakers. Welcome to Episode 467 of the best podcast without the letter Z!
This week: audiots; the Mandalorian Effect; all the right stuff; look into the abyss; aliens ex machina; water works; Snyder uncut; Heaven’s not so great; when the artists are united; sexy panther; feelings for drawings; muppetized vikings; the replacement host; game shows vs. talk shows; precocious child; stand ups; who is Pete Barbutti; joke spoiler; cat concerns; beloved pets; more stand ups; SNL who’s who; trick Trump; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; bad seeds; duplicates; creative sleep; waking ghost; and the last of our bands/comic strips merge game!
Thanks for listening.
Question of the week: Have you ever found a cartoon character attractive?
Sub-question of the week: Who was a stand up comic you liked as a kid?
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Thanks for the show guys! When you mentioned attractive cartoon characters, for me, Penelope Pitstop immediately came to mind. I really liked her boots. I also had a huge crush on Melody from Josie and the Pussycats because I loved the drums and I didn’t see many women besides Karen Carpenter playing them in the 70s.
Sadly, my favorite stand up comedian when I was a kid (and well into adulthood) was Bill Cosby. I loved the Fat Albert cartoon, and one day while rooting around in my dad’s records, I found two Bill Cosby albums and I recognized him from the show. I listened to them over and over until I was able to find the other albums that were shown on the back cover and inner sleeve. I listened to them over and over and was ecstatic when it was announced that he would be getting a TV show, which was required viewing for me. My love for him never wavered and I finally got to see him in the mid 2000s, and he was great. But you know how this ends, I just cannot listen to him anymore after what he did. And I will leave it at that.
To end on a happier note, I just wanted to thank you both for Totally Tintin. I had a subscription to Children’s Digest in the 70s, which ran the Tintin stories in a serialized form, which I didn’t know until later was how they were originally published. I adored those stories but I totally forgot about them until my 20s. I don’t know what reminded me of Tintin then but I was able to read all the stories, I had no idea how many of them existed. It was lovely to revisit them again with both of you and also discover more about Herge and what was going on in the world when these stories were originally published. I have heard Asterix mentioned a lot with Tintin, but I never heard of him until the 90s and haven’t read any yet. But, I have the first 3 books reserved at my library because I am covering the Atari 2600 Asterix game on my own podcast. I figured it was time to read them, but I may not have if you guys didn’t mention Asterix so much. So thank you both once again for all that you do, I’m glad you also did a terrific Beatles podcast so I was able to find you.
Hi Sneakers,
hope you and yours are all safe and well.
When you asked about attractive cartoon characters I immediately thought of the Cadbury’s Caramel bunny from the adverts. She certainly did it for young Scott. Sexy chocolate and chocolate sexiness all rolled into one package. Ay Caramba! Years later I found out it was Miriam Margolyes who voiced the advert. Now I’ve got nothing against her. She’s a fine actress and funny storyteller but…… the bunny wouldn’t have had quite the same affect on a whole generation of boys if it had looked like Miriam Margolyes. Here’s a link as I don’t think the bunny made it to your side of the Atlantic.
https://youtu.be/dvkexGUF79A
When I was growing up my favourite comic was Billy Connolly. It still is. I was born in Glasgow and Billy is an absolute legend there. Obviously I loved the jokes, stories and songs, but it was also really cool to hear someone who sounded like the people I knew. In those days it was rare to hear regional accents on telly. It was still very much the BBC ‘received pronunciation’ that was everywhere on screen. I remember learning jokes or songs from his records and telling them to my pals in school the next day. His ‘last supper’ routine was just about the funniest, most scandalous thing I’d ever heard. My Catholic relatives were outraged. They said it was blasphemous. I didn’t really know what blasphemous meant, but I knew if a story could provoke a reaction like that it had to be something special. It’s a fairly long routine but I spent ages learning it and performed it many a time in the playground for my classmates. To this day I can watch old videos of him and laugh so hard my face hurts.
By the way, I know it wasn’t one of your questions but definitely Morticia over Lily every time.
Thank you Ian and David. You’re both helping us all get through this godawful year.
Keep on sneakin’.
Before any commenting, I’m sending some positive thoughts and care for your cat Ian, is this Charlie? Every word you said was true about our connections with pets, I’ve always had them and I’ve lost my fair share as well. They are extensions of our life and considered family to us. David, I also had a dog I grew up with, a poodle named Alfie. We got him from my Aunt when I was two and he died when I was twenty, like your Scamp. He was smart and healthy for a good solid 18 years, a wonderful partner. When you mentioned pancreatitis, I had a Schnauzer that suffered with it as it’s common among their breed. We had a vet who was very close to home that saved her twice with life-saving treatments, so it goes without saying how important the family veterinarian is to pet owners. I can’t say enough great things about her and some of the other terrific vets I’ve had over the years too. I know you love your cat as much as I love mine Ian, so I pray for his good health and well being.
I’m seconding your opinion on how great Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 was, I had the good fortune of working on that film’s promotion while I was at Dr Pepper. Knowing what Alfred Molina looked like as Doctor Octopus and not being able to tell or show anyone about killed me, I knew all this almost a year before it was released. I really enjoyed the payoff of that film having to wait that long for it and I’ve always believed it was a great template for a one hero, one villain story. You’d think that after stacking the deck with three and four villians like Joel Schumacher did with Batman would have taught us something but I suppose it becomes a studio trap at some point. When I think of the best director who’s vision matches a Doctor Strange Steve Ditko comic, I immediately think of Raimi as the clear choice. They should let him spread his wings and do what he does best, I think the world of Doctor Strange will benefit from Raimi’s style greatly and at this point I have a great deal of trust they know what they’re doing. Fingers crossed.
More later.
A comic character I found attractive: I don’t know his name, but this one time at Guide camp? A girl brought a bunch of teen romance comics with her. I’d never seen them before…only superhero or Archie comics. There was one story where this shaggy-haired hippie guy rudely kisses a young woman at a wild party, but later it turns out he was just establishing his cover! He’s actually an undercover cop who saves the heroine from an evil drug-dealing boyfriend! It was pretty hot stuff for this tweenaged camper.
Stand-ups I liked as a kid: Bob Hope and Bob Newhart. I liked their deadpan delivery. A lot of the comedians I saw on talk shows at the time were loud-mouthed or wacky or both. When I was older, I enjoyed those young up-and-comers Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld and also Steven Wright and Rita Rudner whom Dave mentioned. I guess I prefer comedians with a laidback delivery and a high ratio of jokes per minute.
Hi Ian and Dave – on the subject of giving tablets to cats, I pride myself on being the resident expert in our house when it comes to this, my cats Leo and Gus will agree. My method is to hold the tablet between my thumb and forefinger, then gently push
the index finger of the same hand into the corner of the cats mouth, this will cause the mouth to open as a reflex, and that’s when you quickly drop the tablet inside and give a nice chin scratch to seal the deal.
Sexy cartoons? Definitely Jessica Rabbit, complete with Kathleen Turner’s sultry voice. I’d be as smitten as Marvin Acme taking in Jessica’s act at the Ink & Paint Club. A more obscure toon crush would be Colette Tatou, the chef from Ratatouille with the short brown hair and voiced by Janeane Garofalo! I remember wondering what she’d look like if she were real and she can cook…also sexy.
I watched Pete Barbutti as a kid as well, my Dad played the accordion so naturally he found his act amusing. When I was in Junior College near home, Pete Barbutti came through town on the college circuit so my Dad and I got to see him live back in the 80’s. He did all the same schtick we saw him do on The Tonight Show too with the piano, plunger and cigar. A few years later when I was attending my four year University, Elayne Boosler and Richard Belzer made appearances at different times and afterwards we were able to meet them and get autographs.
I think if I had to choose a stand-up comic I truly loved and laughed at the hardest it was Garry Shandling, something about his demeanor and timing struck me funny even when he was on TV or in film. I had Steve Martin, George Carlin and Eddie Murphy albums, but watching Shandling show up on anyone’s talk show was gold for me, we lost a brilliant soul when he passed. I still just troll YouTube and watch Shandling for an hour or so when it strikes me to.
Recently one night, my stepson tuned into Eddie Murphy’s live stand-up film “Delirious” from 1983. I remember hearing all this on the album as a kid but as I watched Murphy perform in this film for the first time in many years, I realized just how perfect he was at constructing an entire act from start to finish. He set up so many jokes that paid off well into the second part of the act as he just effortlessly told his family stories. Murphy made it look easy and fun to be onstage but as I thought more about this, more than I ever have before, I realized how much work Murphy had probably put into it. I’ve always thought Murphy was very gifted as he’s re-invented himself over the decades but this was early Murphy and it was already honed and near perfect comedy.
I just had a friend of mine move to British Columbia this past weekend, I’ll have to suggest Sneaky Dragon to him now that he’s up there. I think a little bit of Canadian entertainment and education might help as he and his family settle in, he’s already posted photos of Tim Horton’s coffee….
Attractive cartoon character? What a weird and disturbing idea! However, now you mention it…
I do seem to remember experiencing a sort of warm, fuzzy feeling when I was around six, triggered by the appearance of the young village girl at the end of the Jungle Book. If only she and Mowgli had chosen to live in the jungle together with Baloo, Bagheera and the gang, instead of heading off into … (shudder) … civilisation.
I grew up near Glasgow and Scott is absolutely right about the phenomenal impact Billy Connolly had on us young Scots in the early 1970s. Billy was our Elvis and the Last Supper was his Blue Suede Shoes, but with better jokes.
I don’t recall stand-up getting much exposure on British telly in those days. And when it did, it was usually some guy who looked like your dad, dressed like a wedding usher and had a lot to say about wives, mothers-in-law, foreigners and effeminacy in men. Thank goodness we now live in more enlightened times, when men like that have completely vanished and certainly don’t occupy any positions of power or influence.
One standout stand-up back then was the great Irish comedian Dave Allen – a terrific storyteller with a great ability to spot and ridicule hypocrisy in the powerful. His weekly BBC show, Dave Allen at Large, was a mix of stand-up and sketches that was relived and discussed in playgrounds around the country the day after every broadcast.
I also loved Victoria Wood – a phenomenal talent whether speaking into a mic, singing at the piano, or writing songs, shows, plays and films that combined hilarity and humanity in an utterly distinctive style. An incredible talent, and much missed.
Hey Gentlemen,
Thanks for another great show. I’d never heard of Pete Barbutti, but I loved hearing you guys say his name – especially Ian. To my Australian ears it sounded like you might have been saying:
Pepar-Pootie
Peeb Marbooty
Beebah Doody
Peeb Nar-duty
Peebah Nudie
Please say his name (or any of the interpretations above) as many times as possible in this week’s show.
Briefly on questions.
Not quite a cartoon character, but Janice from Dr Teeth and The Electric Mayhem on the Muppets made a strong impression. I never understood why Kermit was more interested in Miss Piggy, though who knows what the relationship dynamic was within The Electric Mayhem band?
First stand up I ever saw was a VHS of Richard Pryor doing his impression of a deer being spotted by a hunter. 10 year old me thought it was hilarious. Later I loved Billy Connelly. I recently heard him interviewed on the Adam Buxton podcast. He comes across as warm, genuine and intelligent. Well worth a listen.
Sending fast recovery vibes to Ian’s cat.
PS: Thanks for the Sneaky Dragon bumper sticker!!! It arrived safely in Australia. Please send on a bumper to stick it to.
That is all.
Late addition: I just saw a TV commercial for the new Call of Duty Video Game titled “COLD WAR”. Of course this game is set in the 1980’s and in case you haven’t already guessed, uses New Order’s “Blue Monday” as the music in the commercial.
Okay Dave…GO!