Saturday, December 1, 2007

The Dick Cavett Show with guests Evel Knievel and Dizzy Gillespie (1972)

Evel Knievel 1938-2007.



Also go to this podcast and scroll to the 13:30 mark to hear the 1974 LP Evel Knievel, featuring songs about Evel Knievel and poetry written and recited by the man(!).

Friday, November 30, 2007

Allen & Rossi Live on Vinyl! (1963-64)



Listen to the two LPs pictured here, in their entirety, both recorded live at the legendary Sands Hotel, by clicking here.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Mel Tolkin 1913-2007

Tolkin's writing career spanned the gamut of American television. Watch Tolkin talk about that career in detail over here.

Shelley Berman at Home

Go here and watch some footage of Shelley Berman at home, from an upcoming documentary named Compass.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Charlie Rose with guest Mort Sahl (1994)




You need to skip to the final twenty minutes of this episode of Charlie Rose to watch an interview with Mort Sahl. Sahl sadly endorses Alexander Haig and Henry Kissenger(!) in this segment. Overall, it really isn't that great of an interview, but Sahl footage on the internet is very limited.

The Spirit is Willing (1967) - Footage Offline - 2/28/08





Shock gimmick master William Castle made a handful of horror-comedies in the nineteen sixties including a remake of The Old Dark House starring Tom Poston and this film starring Sid Caesar. Great character actors appear like John Astin, Jesse White, Harvey Lembeck, Nestor Paiva and Doodles Weaver. Not only did the star of The Addams Family, Astin, appear, but Vic Mizzy, best known for composing the theme song to that sitcom, did the soundtrack of this film.

The Last of the Secret Agents? (1966)






Marty Allen is alive and well, still performing stand-up, primarily on the cruise ship circuit, making a decent, if not rather anonymous, living. At the height of his fame as part of the comedy team of Allen & Rossi and their string of comedy LPs and appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show (including the episode that had The Beatles play the program for the first time) the boys made this awful film. That's Nancy Sinatra singing the title theme.

The Dick Cavett Show (1969)

An opening from an early version of The Dick Cavett Show - not sure if it's from his 1968-69 daytime show or the first of his primetime shows.

Perry Comes to London (1971)

Don't think I could ever picture Como hanging with Rufus Thomas.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

The Mike Douglas Show with guests Andy Kaufman, Robert Goulet and Carol Channing (1977)


This picture depicts a magazine article called Nervous Laughter. A good desciption of this fine selection.


Watch in the clip below and realize that the whole set starts spinning with ridiculous speed and the whole panel keeps a straight face as it happens. The motorized 1970s talk show set - I'm surprised Conan has never got around to doing a take-off gag based on the idea.