infamous

Here is a selection of last night’s jokes from the late night television world.  I personally found Craig Ferguson’s to be my favorite.  Via AP :

“Do you remember John Kerry? Neither do I. He ran for president, and didn’t do that well. And now he is being criticized for telling a joke about John McCain wearing adult diapers. How dare you, sir! That is MY job. Knock it off, Kerry. I’ll tell the McCain diaper jokes, you stick to losing elections to the least popular president ever in the history of America.” - Craig Ferguson, CBS’ “Late Late Show.”

ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) “has conducted a huge voter registration effort, and not all the registrations are valid. Now I have a lot of problems with ACORN. First, they should have picked a more ominous name, like KAOS or SPECTRE, instead of squirrel food. Something really scary: They are the biggest nut-based threat to America since Mr. Peanut tried to assassinate the GOP elephant to impress the Morton’s Salt girl.” - Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.”

“People are saying that John McCain does not have a prayer. But I’m pretty sure the Lord is with him. Mostly because they used to be college roommates.” - Colbert.

“Obama’s taking a day or two off from campaigning to visit his sick grandmother in Hawaii. … Some people think that visiting his sick grandma might actually help him win more of the elderly vote. In fact, to try to counter that today, John McCain stopped by our nation’s capital to visit his grandmother, Susan B. Anthony. … Meanwhile, Sarah Palin had a good thought: She suggested that while Barack Obama is over in Hawaii, it might be a good idea for him to keep an eye on Japan.” - Jimmy Kimmel, ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

As the fans of the show know, “ER” is finishing off it’s 15th and final season on the network.  To help boost ratings, some of the upcoming episodes will be featuring former characters who have left the show over it’s numerous seasons.  So far the only name to leak out is Anthony Edwards who played Dr. Greene.  He left the show in 2002 when his character died after a season long battle with brain cancer.  As a long time off and on fan of the show, this was one of the best seasons in memory.  No other names have been released, but I would assume when they are seen milling about the set on shoot days, the press will be there to report it.

More can be found in the AP report released a couple of minutes ago.

The creators of the widely popular television series Lost announced that all the answers to the shows multitudinous questions would be coming in the next 34 episodes.  The next two seasons are likely to be quite popular.  With all the questions that they have laid out over the past four years, I don’t know if 34 hours is enough time to get all the answers.  I would venture to say that the DVD of the series will become quite popular as well, as those who got upset at the continued mysteries, now have confirmation that the show is not going to continue down the black hole of insanity that it has spiraled through over the past couple of years.

The AP reported the death of Estelle Getty today.  She was best known for her role on The Golden Girls as Sophia.  She died on Tuesday.

Is it odd that as a young man I actually watched the Golden Girls?  I don’t know what it was about that show that attracted me as a kid, but I actually found it to be quite funny.  I do not believe that a thirteen year old boy was the target audience, but they had me. The character of Sophia was my favorite, with Blanche as a close second.  It was not until recently that I learned, Estelle was the youngest of the group.  Although she played the not always lovable matriarch of the bunch, she was considerable younger than the rest of the actresses.  I guess that speaks to her great character work.

So long to another great performer this year.  Thanks for the laughs.

According to a report out by the AP this morning, Jay Leno will be performing his last Tonight Show hosting appearance on May 29th.  Conan O’Brien will be the new host of the show the following night June 1st.  There was a promise made to O’Brien more than four years ago that he was next in line for the position on the show, but who would have thought it would be so soon?

In a media stunt, Leno dressed as a bald reporter and asked questions about himself to his boss during a press briefing.  From the AP:

“Everyone’s entitled to change their mind. But I’d imagine that puts management in an impossible situation,” Silverman replied, gamely.

“Is it true you’ve offered Leno a fifth hour on the `Today’ show?” Leno said.

“That’s a great idea, actually,” Silverman said.

Nah, replied Leno, “It’s a crappy idea.”

Also in the report is a confirmation that Jimmy Falon, Saturday Night Live graduate, will be taking over O’Brien’s show.

UPDATE:  Also found in the NYT this morning.