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Looks like the weather was clear in these spectacular photos published in the UK Daily Mail. Of course, breakdowns are expected, even before the start line, which some entrants never make it past. The picture below looks tragic – until you learn that the car is a “steamer” and does this type of thing when starting up.
What would I not have given to be there today? Best wishes – and all hopes for moderate weather – for those able to attend or participate. I’ll never forget the kindness and open-hearted welcome I received from those who unexpectedly adopted me on my visit to the 2001 event.
When new material stops appearing on a website, we assume that the author has lost interest, access, or possibly both. Not the case here. I’ve been swept up with, and ocassionally overcome by, health problems. As they start to fade, maybe some color will start to drain into “Isn’t Life Terrible” once again. I hope so and my thanks to those of you who kept coming back looking for the spark. P.S. I don’t want comments closed here, but have been baffled by WordPress spam, so they are. Anybody know a fix? Don  Here’s the audio from a 70’s appearance on David Letterman’s Late Night NBC series. Letterman mentions their recent Carnegie Hall appearances. I was at one of those shows and remember being stunned by the applause that greeted obscure character names. “With me is Dr. Daryl Dexter,” Ray would say, and the audience would burst into wild applause… knowing full well that Dr. Daryl Dexter was “The Komodo Dragon Expert.”  Aug 12, 1992. Jay Leno is involved in a dispute with another late night talk show host. The more things change… An interview with Bernard Asbell, author of The Book of You, a compendium of curious and marginally interesting statistics. Following Mr. Asbell (who also wrote What They Know About You, which sounds like the exact same book) is an hour of open phones where nearly all callers sound like they’re part of the crowd waiting outside the studio for Jerry Langford. I swear, one call after another, it is the night from radio talk show hell, and you can hear Tom struggle to make either sense or entertainment out of it. Tom’s day didn’t start well, apparently. Something’s wrong, and it’s not just that Tom’s show was to be dropped by WABC-AM in New York. Tom is flustered. Tom gets the year wrong at one moment… and gets his own toll-free call-in number wrong shortly after that. He blames his busy day (“my mind is a bowl of guava jelly”) but does not elaborate as to what might have happened. We once again hear – albeit briefly – about the charms of Snapple Lemonade and Wheat Thins. The breakfast of champions, folks. Just discovered a nice appreciation of Tom that I hadn’t seen before. Recommended if you’re a fan. 
Unemployed? Tom feels your pain. Conspiracy theorist? Somebody tell Ross Perot. Otherwise, Tom seems uncharacteristically crabby with callers. Maybe looking forward to his vacation. You might also cue up your copy of Harry Nilsson’s “Nobody Cares About The Railroads Anymore.” Friday, 16 November 1990. First, an quick interview with Michael Josephson, from The Institute for the Advancement of Ethics, who talks about Charles Keating and the “Keating 5″ savings and loan scandal. Then some phone calls, including one from Tom’s NYC co-worker and weatherman extraordinaire Dr. Frank Field… and one from “Harmonica Man.”  Then, an interview with the daughter of the only comedian who appears in the Bogart classic Casablanca. That would be Joan Benny, daughter of Jack Benny. Some radio clips from The Jack Benny Show are played, and as usual (sorry) the entire interview is not quite there. What? You say you didn’t know that Jack Benny appears in Casablanca? Well – and this is breaking news – his daughter thinks he does. The debate rages on at this very moment.  If you’re a TV person, you know Lois Nettleton as the woman who responds to a shift in the earth’s orbit by perspiring heavily in “The Midnight Sun,” a Twilight Zone episode from 1961.
If you’re an old radio time radio person, you know Lois Nettleton as the third wife of Jean Shepherd. Or maybe from one of her roles on CBS Mystery Theater. Or Maybe from her endless list of TV guest shots. She was a charmer. Wish more of the interview was here; it’s joined in progress. Included in the Lois Nettleton segment, at no extra charge – a Folgers commercial that channels Bruce Springsteen to sell coffee.
Included in the Nightside Hour – an incredible, thoroughly disgusting anti-drug commercial narrated from the coffin by “Debbie,” a dead teenager. Moral: don’t buy coke from anyone named Junior. The Nightside Hour is a memorable one, because it marks the debut of a joke/prank, told/pulled by a listener, “Steve in Philadelphia,” which went on to become a running gag Tom Snyder used over and over ever after. It has to do with what a tuna hears.
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For the record: We don't believe life is terrible. We believe that isntlifeterrible is a memorable website domain name. |
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