Had Peter Schweizer’s new book, “Throw Them All Out,” hit stores a decade ago it would be easy for the press to ignore it.

Now, thanks to the Internet, pugnacious bloggers and a high-profile expose on “60 Minutes,” the book’s revelations that members of Congress are making a mint from insider trading can’t be hidden. Even Jay Leno is aware of the book’s most contentious material.

Leno referenced the book’s charges this week during one of his “Tonight Show” monologues:

“You ever notice these guys only spend their money when it’s a sure thing?”

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I first met Jay Leno back in the early 80’s. I had gotten my first television gig as a reporter on WJBK in Detroit working for the local version of PM Magazine.  At that time Jay was the hottest comic on the booming comedy club circuit and he was coming to the Comedy Castle. I called his publicist and asked if Jay would be interested in doing an interview with me. He graciously consented and we did a few funny bits and a short interview. My cameraman went nuts with the taping that night, I needed thirty seconds of Jay on stage and he taped almost the entire set. Jay was a little miffed but he never held it against me. A few years later we met again in Hollywood and he invited me over to “the house.” I got to go to Jay’s a few times and got a personal tour of the cars and bikes he was keeping there. Through the years whenever we ran into one another, usually at the Comedy Magic Club in Hermosa Beach when we were working together, he was always quick with a comment to let you know he remembered the last time you had talked.

The recent war of time slots and words between Jay Leno and NBC brings two thoughts to mind. First is that Jay should adopt the old hook of Rodney Dangerfield because he isn’t getting any respect. Second it reminds me of one of the most brilliant and simplest things ever written about show business. One of my favorite books about show business is “Adventures in the Screen Trade” by the great screenwriter William Goldman. Perhaps the most significant insight he gives about show business and especially those who try to run things is that, “Nobody knows anything.”

This has never been a more perfect example of this than in the recent actions by the geniuses running NBC Television. Starting about two years ago the top brass at the peacock network made a decision that the smug hipness of Conan O’Brien was more important than the steady high ratings and common man touch of Jay Leno. Jay’s real sin was that he was getting older. His shock of black Elvis-like hair had gone salt and pepper and then gray. He wasn’t the young hip motorcycle guy with a beef, he was a late middle aged guy who told great jokes and had great numbers. Not good enough! (more…)

The star of Smokey and the Bandit was, of course, Burt Reynolds, a man of great passions, great flaws, and ultimately great loyalty to the people and place he came from. “I love the South,” he emphatically states to this very day. His is a career that — sometimes for worse but more often for better — stands as a testament to that simple heartfelt sentiment.

The man who would become one of the most popular movie stars of the last quarter century was born in 1936, the son of a small-town police chief in Florida. He grew up handsome and tough, randy and reckless — by fourteen, he had lost his virginity to a much older woman, and soon after knocked up the prom queen (his attempts to cajole her into marriage were rebuffed by the girl’s society-maven mother, who forced her daughter to abort the baby). Such antics were an early harbinger of both the charismatic charm and voracious, self-destructive appetites that would define (and sometimes decimate) his later career (a typical joke — Q: Why didn’t Burt Reynolds ever take Loni Anderson out to dinner? A: He made it a rule never to date married women.) (more…)

Picture it.  After passing through the Pearly Gates, Ed McMahon spots his long time friend and TV partner.  With a wide grin and outstretched arms, he greets him. “Heeere’s Johnny!” The affable, genial, self-described “Second Banana” to Johnny Carson on the “Tonight Show,” has passed away at age 86.

In a November 2007 radio interview I did on The Andrea Shea King Show with McMahon to talk about his then newly published book “When Television Was Young, Live, Spontaneous and in Living Black and White,” we talked about his life, and what it was like to share the NBC “Tonight Show” set with The King of Late Night.

McMahon was dealing with a bout of layrngitis, but it didn’t stop him from opening the interview with the famous words that announced to American viewers it was time for their eagerly anticipated nightly entertainment — “Heeere’s Johnny!” (more…)

In the 80’s my quest was to see the Letterman show live.  I LOVED his sense of humor. Memorable segments were “the guy under the stairs,” Larry “Bud” Melman, “Fun with Rupert,” and Biff Henderson’s “Map Across America.” I also got a kick out of Dave’s mom going to and reporting on the Olympics as well as her “name that pie” bit on Thanksgivings. My ultimate fav was Dave’s wacky antics with Mujibar & Sirajul.  It was all comic originality; fresh, silly, and sometimes mindless, but really entertaining and funny.

Disappointingly, by the time I finally did see the show in 2004, the bits I loved ceased to exist and most likely had been banished to the “Late Show” archives.  Rather than attending my first show with eagerness, it was just a cheap way to kill an evening during a business trip.  Since I didn’t have a ticket, I knew I’d need to charm my way in.

A friend had told me that to get in the front row they have “audience scouts” outside the theatre looking for people who are attractive, friendly, expressive, and bubbly.  Being an actress I knew how to play that part, so I glammed up and put on my best New York artsy chic and set out to the Ed Sullivan Theatre.  The “audience scouts,” who looked all of about 14-years-old, were out in front waiting for their subjects to approach.  Oh, to be that young making so little money but holding so much power!  Knowing what I must do, I got my “bubble on” and with just the right amount of star stuck enthusiasm I approached one of the 14-year-old keepers of the audience paperwork! (more…)

Everyone knows the old axiom about comedy.  There’s always a grain of truth in that which an audience finds funny.  Done well, comedy can make you squirm with its raw honesty.  It has the power to inform our perspectives about politics and news just as any good journalist.  Comedy helps provide insight into human flaws just as any good psychologist.   Often self-deprecating and socially awkward, comedians themselves will deny their impact.  Most comedians and writers prefer to think of themselves as lovable class clowns – laughing on the outside, crying on the inside.  Just as former NBA star Charles Barkley once famously proclaimed he was no role model, many in the funny business will dismiss their impact in the hearts and minds of their audience.

Modesty, however, cannot dismiss a growing body of evidence that suggests comedians possess greater power than ever before when shaping the national debate.   Notably in the last decade, television comedy has amassed an influence in politics to such and extent; nary a high profile politician can ignore its impact and resist the pull to participate.   Numerous studies have been conducted through the years analyzing the staggering impact of comedy in the opinions and perceptions of its audience.  The power is particularly significant with the country’s attention-short youth.  (more…)