My favorite late nighter

I caught Craig Ferguson on Bill Maher's Real Time on HBO on Friday night, and I was somewhat impressed that he's intelligent without being an idiot. Being an intelligent idiot myself, I feel I'm qualified to make that assessment.

Anyway, Maher usually has a comedian on in the chair next to him, and when it's DL Hughley I know we're going to get the same ol' same ol', and when it's Larry Miller you know you're going to get meandering and preachy palaver that makes you want to change the channel post haste! I like both of those comedian examples, but they are just plain no good in the panel format (which may be why DL's show didn't go for too long).

Craig, on the other hand, has that immigrant perspective, and he's lived life-- sometimes not for the best, but he doesn't pull too many punches from what I've seen, so he comes off to me as "real." Hearing him without the BLEEP of broadcast tv was also sort of cool, because he didn't go crazy, he just sounded like a normal Scottish guy having a laugh.

His Monday night show was one of a few he's done now and then where he blows off the monologue for something much more thoughtful, and once again he hand-delivers a decent message that still managed to make some people laugh even though it wasn't intentional (or didn't seem so). Personally, I think Jay Leno is the worst when it comes to this, and Conan isn't much better, and Letterman is right in there as well-- cheap, easy shots at the latest celebrity meltdown or divorce or whatever are throw-aways. If Craig really does "re-adjust" his aim, then I for one applaud him for taking a more intelligent-- and probably even funnier-- road.

Add to that his 15 years of sobriety as of Feb 18, and you've got a good guy. I'm watching.

This, that, the other thing

Howard Stern is engaged to Beth O as of some time Tuesday night. I was a far larger HS fan when he was on normal radio than I am now, so I haven't heard any of the transition from staunch anti- to pro-wedding Stern, but cheers to Beth for wearing him down.

Howard K Stern, on the other hand... what a spectrum of news for two guys with similar names. For several hours during the marathon Anna Nicole Smith coverage on your choice of cable news network, references were to "Howard Stern" only, with parenthetical corrections from anchors now and then as per the addition of the "K" to the name. Interesting times.

I have a 2006 Scion xB. So far, I'm not unhappy with the car, though I do miss my VW TDI Jetta... there is quite a bit to be said for 45-52mpg even when Diesel fuel prices in NoCal are above $3. In fact, some day when I drive to Phoenix I will be faced with having to STOP somewhere to gas up... something I am decidedly not used to. My last drive to Phoenix with the Jetta (a one-way trip, my sister now has the car) was 75mpg cruise controlled and non-stop. Whenever I heard every single comedian with a microphone asking why the astronut had a diaper while she was driving 900 miles, I thought to myself how that actually would be convenient (over-filling the Jetta and driving all-freeway, that range is actually possible).

It's been rainy and crappy in silly valley lately. Not horrible, and certainly better than the east coast, but it's not quite sunny days here just the same. Rain is good. I am not looking forward to the summer heat wave... if I'm still living here at that point.

And that's all I know. I must get my real blog up and running. If one person hits this blog and reads it, I'll re-double my efforts to get back into publishing my ramblings. Otherwise, maybe getting danhugo.com back online isn't worth the energy...

House and stuff

The series, House, is weird.

On the one hand, Hugh Laurie is an astounding actor. There isn't much argument against that, it's one of those universal truths.

On the other hand, it would be possible to have a spin-off series on Bravo about the families who get screwed over by his completely cavalier practice of medicine (call it "Top House" I guess), and another series on CourtTV that would follow the malpractice suits.

Can you imagine, if your toddler's arm was cut off thanks to an allergic reaction to ultraviolet light and that little diagnosis wasn't made before the bone saw started turning... the number of diagnoses that have been arrived upon through painful trial and error is simply amazing. I'd sue the guy just to be part of the masses.

I hate television. There is absolutely nothing on television worth watching. I've already dismissed Heroes and Studio 60 and 30 Rock and The Office and My Name is Earl and of course LOST was lost last season. It seems like TV is a huge magnet with spikes on it. It draws you in, but painfully so. I am disappointed.

I was actually trying to come up with some way to be able to watch tv more flexibly (via Sony's LocationFree TV, among other approaches), but it occurred to me that the time, energy, and most of all MONEY are not worth expenditure on such trivial pursuits. My brain is numb, and it's TV's fault.

Sarah Silverman is Hilarious

I love Sarah Silverman. If I had to pick 10 stand-up comics for a Favorites list, she would probably be on it. She's also just "off" enough to be interesting when she does the standard late night talk show gauntlet.

And that is why I would like to observe a moment of silence now for when her show on Comedy Central, The Sarah Silverman Program, is canceled. It appears that the first episode ran to completion, so I guess this should apply later tonight.