Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
Blue Yeti ·
February 4, 2011 at 12:17am
This week we're lucky enough to have two guests we're confident have never appeared in the same sentence, much less the same show: Harry Shearer and Victor Davis Hanson. Harry talks about The Big Uneasy, his documentary on the flooding of New Orleans, his war with NPR, and of course his long and storied career in show business. Then, the great Victor Davis Hanson talks to Peter Robinson about the unfolding events in the Middle East and answers questions from Ricochet members. All that, and Super Bowl picks too.
We're America's most important source of links:
- The phrase "in July" that James and Harry banter about, is a reference to a legendary recording of filmmaker Orson Welles arguing with a sound engineer as they create the voice over to a commercial for frozen peas. Welles has a problem with the wording of the copy and, well, just listen for yourself. The clip is so well known that it has it's own Wikipedia page. Update: Meta-tastically, James blogs about this moment here.
- As a child actor, Harry was a member of the cast of The Jack Benny Show for eight years. We couldn't find any clips of him on the show, but here's a recent clip of Harry discussing the experience with David Letterman (at the 1:40 mark).
- You may not be familiar with the name Frank Nelson, but you know his voice.
- On Leave It To Beaver, Eddie Haskell was Wally Cleaver's obsequious friend (played in the series by Ken Osmond) who was always seen sucking up to Mrs. Cleaver. In the same interview with Letterman linked above, you can see Harry playing Eddie in the pilot, shot in 1957 (4:17 mark).
- Harry's documentary The Big Uneasy, will be shown in various cities around the country this spring. Check your local listings. Here's the trailer.
- You really want to see the clip of Dan Rather obsessing about his trench coat, don't you? Luckily, you're in the hands of professionals. We found it.
- Al Jazeera is consistently providing the best coverage from Cairo. Their live feed is here.
- Far more disturbing than images of the violence in the Middle East is this clip from last night's Piers Morgan show titled "Probing Barbara Walters' Love Life."
- Peter Maas's piece in the The New Yorker "The Toppling," is a fascinating account of how the media inflated a minor moment in the Iraq War into an iconic image.
- Got some time to spare? NPR's Ombudsman blog has plenty of reading material for you.
- The Bohemian Grove is a 2,700 acre campground belonging to a private San Francisco-based men's art club known as the Bohemian Club. In mid-July each year, Bohemian Grove hosts a two-week encampment of some of the most powerful men in the world. The membership list has included every Republican U.S. president since 1923 (as well as some Democrats), many cabinet officials, directors and CEOs of large corporations including major financial institutions. Major military contractors, oil companies, banks (including the Federal Reserve), utilities (including nuclear power) and national media (broadcast and print) have high-ranking officials as club members or guests That said, in the Watergate tapes, Richard Nixon famously described it as "the most faggy goddamn thing you could ever imagine, that San Francisco crowd that goes in there; it's just terrible! I mean I won't shake hands with anybody from San Francisco."
- Le Show, Harry's weekly satirical take on the news, may be podcast here. Joe Frank's show is here.
- If you've never seen the seminal fake documentary Spinal Tap, you need to get out more. The zucchini scene featuring Harry's character Derek Smalls, pre-sages a TSA pat down by 25 years.
- The web is bursting with Simpsons clips. You're on you're own.
- Ernest Angley's website is here. He does kind of remind us of Reverend Lovejoy.
- If you're not familiar with Victor Davis Hanson, take a moment and read his bio. Now you know why we have him on whenever possible.
- Ricochet Member Daniel Frank gets the coveted Ricochet Podcast Mention of The Week for his post Liberty vs. Democracy. Rob's "Them v. Them" post is here.
- The City Journal piece Rob mentions is titled “Nobody Gets Married Any More, Mister” and can be read here.
- Geeks only: we had to look up the phrase "Yancy Street Gang" but given who said it, we were not surprised to learn it is a fictional street gang featured in The Fantastic Four comic book series. Evidently, they persistently terrorize The Thing. We can relate.
- We read James Lileks' indispensable blog The Bleat every day and listen to his podcast The Diner every week. You should too. That's an order.
Music from this week's episode:
- Let Yourself Go by James Brown
- Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight by Spinal Tap
The direct link to this week's episode. But please be a rock star and subscribe. Don't use iTunes? Visit our Feedburner page for a number of other subscription options.
The Ricochet Podcast is sponsored by Encounter Books. Our featured title this week is Turning Right at Hollywood and Vine: The Perils of Coming Out Conservative in Tinseltown by Roger L. Simon. Available on February 8th at EncounterBooks.com and for Kindle at Amazon.com.
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Comments:
Jul '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
Yeti, you do such a fantastic job of recapping the podcast I almost feel like I don't need to listen to it.
Dec '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
Yes!! Been looking forward to this. Something interesting to listen to while I tune up a beater of a chainsaw.
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
Excellent recap as ever. If I could add one thing: Frank Nelson was briefly mentioned.
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
Ack - didn't see the reference in the list. Well, now you don't have to leave the page.
Jun '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
To say that Victor Davis Hanson's historical knowledge is deep is like saying the Marianas Trench is deep.
Sep '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
Yeh, I wish my link thingy worked...
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
My favorite Jack Benny story here.
Sep '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
There's something about the way you said that that just seems, well, off a bit.
Sep '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
I was very pleased to hear that Rob will be clarifying the Long Doctrine.
Jul '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
I'll certainly second Kenneth's remark about Blue Yeti's work. I read the commentary and cruise the links, then the Podcast flows just so smoothly for Me. Really enjoyable.
I have one question though: Is it B.C.? or B.C.E? I heard Lileks use B.C.E. and it made Me shudder. I've read Hanson and He uses B.C.
Aug '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
So Blue ? What is the reference to the Bohemian Grove? Something to do with Shearer's movie "Teddy Bear Picnic" ? I have seen that, but may be the only person in flyover country that has .
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
I honestly don't know. But I'll see if I can find out.
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
Jimmy C,
"I have one question though: Is it B.C.? or B.C.E? I heard Lileks use B.C.E. and it made me shudder. I've read Hanson and he uses B.C."
I shuddered on that one as well; I'm glad to hear someone else comment on it. If you can't say BC and AD on a conservative Website, where can you say them?
(Sadly, less and less these days.)
Sep '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
I think Lilek's is still shaken up from the "Canary Yellow Muscle Shirt" incident.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
That's Before Carter and After Dutch, right?
Oh, and who can forget that great Raquel Welch flick One Million Years, BCE?
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
Blue Yeti
I honestly don't know. But I'll see if I can find out. · Feb 3 at 6:39pm
I hesitate to admit I understood the Bohemian Grove reference due to an article on Cracked.com. And Cracked got their info from Wikipedia, so... yeah. Suffice to say it's some kind of secretive place where powerful muckety-mucks gather to do the sort of things I imagine aren't terribly uncommon in California!
(Yes, that's a lazy joke at the expense of the left coast crowd. It's fifteen degrees here - give me some leeway!)
Jul '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
Harry Shearer must be the most likable liberal on Earth.
Jul '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
As I was listening, I was thinking that Victor Davis Hanson is one of the nicest people I've ever met.
Then I realized Peter Robinson, Rob Long, George Savage, Diane Ellis, Claire Berlinski and Trace Urdan are also some of the very nicest people I've ever met.
We need a little surliness around this joint.
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
I was wearing the Canary Yellow Shirt of Shame when I said BCE. I have a green version, and it will probably make me say "Neander-tall" instead of "Neather-thal." Evil, evil vestments.
Jul '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #55: In July
That damn shirt....