Living in the Past can be Funny

Yesterday afternoon the local PBS station aired two episodes of the Jack Benny program from the 1960’s. They conflicted with the Chicago Cubs vs. the Florida Marlins, so I recorded them – thank God for Tivo.

I never was a big Jack Benny fan, but when I was a kid we watched what our Dad watched. This was back in the Stone Age when the parents actually controlled what was viewed by the family on television. If you didn’t like your parent’s programming selections you could listen to the radio or read a book.


With the exception of Lawrence Welk on Saturday Night my parents viewing selections were, in my opinion, very good.

I watched the recorded Jack Benny shows this afternoon. These were not Jack Benny as his best.

However, the first program featured the Kingston Trio, one of my favorite musical groups from the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. This show was originally televised in January 1965 and I hadn’t seen it. By this time “The Trio’s” career was waning as the “British Invasion” had begun 2 years before and was flourishing on the pop music scene. The original group leader Dave Guard had left the Trio and was replaced by John Stewart.

The Trio preformed one of my favorites “Tijuana Jail” and Benny built a skit around the lyrics of the song. Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck/Speedy Gonzalez) was in the skit and played a “politically incorrect” prisoner in the Tijuana Jail. This was one of the highlights of the show.

This reminded me of why I really enjoy old television programs from the 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s. Most of them were “Politically Incorrect” and stereotyped Nationalities, Races and Religious groups. But it was all done for the sake of humor. If you can’t laugh at people that are different from you then you have to laugh at yourself. And that’s not funny!


The Beach Bum

Is Paris Burning?

I just watched the Paris Hilton video response to Senator John McCain’s Ad that featured her and Britney Spears as celebrities. It was funny! Either she is smarter than I thought her to be or she hired some good writers. I believe it’s the later.

The video appears on the Comedy Website Funny or Die. This site will probably get more hits today than it has for the past month.

The last time I saw Paris, Hilton that is, in a video was on a bootleg copy of One Night in Paris. She wasn’t acting in that video; she was just doing what comes natural for a 19 year old blonde bimbo playgirl. I’ve seen better films of this nature.

In her latest video she thanks McCain for his endorsement calling him a “white haired dude”. She also shares her views on the energy crisis.

Perhaps Jon Stewart will get her to come on the Daily Show and have her discuss political views.

After the Presidential Election in November we may not be hearing much from Senator McCain. But we’ll always have Paris.

The Beach Bum

The Eye in the Sky

George Carlin has spoken his last dirty word, pointed his last finger and taken his last bow. I’ll miss him and his irreverent style of humor.


Carlin was born an Irish Catholic, but gave up on religious practices and beliefs at an early age. Much of his humor was aimed at the Church and organized religion. When he was asked about his religion, he would say “Catholic — which I was until I reached the age of reason.”

Some of his funniest material about religion is on his “You Are All Diseased” CD. It is definitely X rated and available on Amazon.com (a button on the right sidebar links to Amazon) for about $12.

That being said, it brings us to the topic of today’s Blog: Religion.

I am not religious nor am I an atheist. I tend to believe in creationism more than I do evolution. I do believe that there is a force much more powerful than us; Supreme Beings so to speak. But the idea of praying to these forces is beyond my comprehension.

I’ve always like these lines from one of my favorite movies; Forrest Gump. Lieutenant Dan asks Forrest “Have you found God yet, Gump?” and Forrest answers “I didn't know I was supposed to be looking for him.”

My son-in-law, Mike, has found God and it is because of a book that I gave to him about 3 weeks ago. The book is named Alcoholics Anonymous (AKA the Big Book). He was thinking about attending an AA meeting (he was half in the bag at the time) and I told him to read the book first.

I attended meetings for three years in the early 1990’s. I was still drinking, but I wouldn’t drink on days that I attended meetings. Within the AA organization these are called half measures. I also couldn’t handle the constant references to God. However, I did enjoy the spirituality aspect of some of the meetings that I attended.

Like me, Mike was never very religious, although he was brought up in the Catholic Church. He attended a few AA meetings but continued to drink. He told me that he was getting good feelings after attending the meetings. Ten days ago he started reading the Bible and praying (in a meditative state). He did not ask to win the Lotto or anything frivolous; he ask for guidance.

According to Mike, his prayers are being answered. He suggested that I do the same. I replied that it was a little too late in the game for me. He then said that he would pray for me.

This brings us back to George Carlin. Carlin once said that he prays to Joe Pesci (he is a guy that gets things done); he gets a 50% chance of having his prayers answered. The same as when he prayed to God. But he can actually see Joe Pesci as he “is not an INVISIBLE MAN...LIVING IN THE SKY...who watches every thing you do, every minute of every day.”

The Beach Bum