The Game of Potsy, and How Potsie Weber Got His Nickname

Once upon a time, during a episode of the 1970s detective series Kojak (affiliate links used in this post), we heard Telly Salavas, playing Lt. Theo Kojak, respond to another officer's urging to hurry up by saying something along the lines of, "What do you think I'm doing here, playing Potsy?"

And our mind immediately went to another 1970s television series, Happy Days, and the character played by Anson Williams. That character's name was Potsie Weber.

Did I just stumble across the genesis of Potsie Weber's nickname? Was he called "Potsie" because of a game named Potsy?

The answer, it turns out, is no. Which you might have guessed by the different spellings of Potsy and Potsie. But asking that question, and then seeking out the answer, did cause us to learn what the game Potsy is, and to learn why Potsie Weber was called "Potsie." So, thanks Kojak!

The Game Named Potsy

So what is the Potsy game? Basically, it's hopscotch. Just about every kid in America and many other places around the world has played hopscotch at some point. Potsy is what the game is called in New York City.

It is common for the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to paint hopscotch grids onto park grounds. And that agency's website even includes an explainer on Potsy that states "Potsy is just New Yorker-speak for hopscotch."

The name of the game derives from the name of the object that is tossed into the squares of the hopscotch grid. That object, whatever its form might take, is known as the potsy. From the NYC Parks & Rec website:

"Potsy refers to the object used in the game. Traditionally, potsy is made from three safety pins clipped together, but one can always substitute a rock or a penny or a Parks pager. Now, for those of you that don’t know how to play Potsy, here are the ground rules: Toss potsy into the first box; jump with one foot at a time into every other numbered box until you get to the end (don’t touch the lines); when you get to the end, turn around and come back; on your way back, pick up potsy; throw potsy into the next box and start again."

And the Real Reason Potsie Weber Was Called 'Potsie'

Now let's turn to the Happy Days character of Potsie Weber. And let's be frank: Potsie is a dumb nickname. In the early episodes of Happy Days, it was clear that some of the other characters used "Potsie" more as an insult than as an affectionate nickname — Potsie had just a bit of a loser aura about the character in the early days of Happy Days.

But it was in one of those early season episodes that Potsie once explained how he got his nickname. In the sixth episode of Season 1, another character asked Weber how he got his nickname. And Weber replied:

"They call me Potsie because when I was a young boy I used to like to make things with clay, and one day my mother called me Potsie."

Well, OK then. Young Warren Weber liked to play with clay, and, presumably, was having some fun one day trying to make a clay pot. His mother teasingly called him "Potsie," and that became his nickname for all time.

It would have been better if Potsie had been named after Potsy, wouldn't it?

Remembering the James Garner-Mariette Hartley Polaroid Commercials

It was while watching an episode of The Rockford Files that we were reminded of the old television commercials for Polaroid. That's because this particular episode — Episode 1 of Season 6 — guest starred Mariette Hartley.

I assume the Rockford Files poobahs, including star James Garner, were hoping for a ratings boost. Because at that time (1979), Garner and Hartley were the stars of an ongoing TV advertising campaign by the Polaroid (affiliate links used in this post) camera company that was, quite possibly, more popular than The Rockford Files was.

It's funny (or is that weird?) to think that there are many people alive today who don't know Garner, Hartley or Polaroid. But in the late 1970s/early 1980s, when the commercials were running, they were extremely well-liked and very widely known and admired.

While Garner was, and had been for a while, a big star, and Hartley had acted on TV and in movies for a long time, one could argue that it was the Polaroid commercials that gave Hartley her widest recognition. The easygoing chemistry between the two commercial stars was so endearing and seemed so authentic that many television viewers became convinced they were married in real life. (They weren't.)

And so, as Season 6 of The Rockford Files began in 1979, it is easy to think that the show's creators and runners were hoping for a ratings boost by casting Hartley as the Episode 1 guest star. We don't know if the show actually got a boost, but it might surprise you to learn how badly the show needed a boost.

The Rockford Files, it turns out, was never a highly popular show during its initial run on television. It did manage to finish 12th overall in Season 1 (1974-75), a very good start. But it declined rapidly, falling to No. 32 at the end of its second season. It never made the Top 40 again, and by its final season was in the bottom third of the Nielson ratings.

The Polaroid that exists today is not the same company that James Garner and Mariette Harley were pitching for in those camera commercials. The original Polaroid company dates to 1937 and became famous as the makers of instant cameras using instant film. Snap a photo, out pops the film, wait a short time and the image appears before your eyes. Polaroids were very cool in the 1960s and 1970s, and the company stayed strong into the 1990s.

But the original Polaroid Corporation went bankrupt in 2001. A new company was formed and acquired the name, and it went bankrupt in 2008. Then another company acquired the name, and in 2017 the brand and its instant cameras were re-launched.

James Garner and Mariette Hartley were first paired for Polaroid commercials in 1977, and their spots were an immediate hit with viewers, which means they were a hit for the company. The pair continued doing the spots into the mid-1980s.

Here is James Garner many years later speaking briefly about the ads:

Garner and Hartley made a lot of Polaroid commercials, and you can find many more of them on Youtube. If you want to see what products today's Polaroid company makes, check 'em out on Amazon.com.

Why John Grisham Got Woody Harrelson Fired from a Movie

The movie A Time to Kill, an adaptation of prolific author John Grisham's first novel, was released in 1996, and it was the movie that made Matthew McConaughey into a star. But McConaughey wasn't the actor the director of the movie wanted. The director, Joel Schumacher, wanted Woody Harrelson to star. The only problem: Grisham refused to let Harrelson take on the role.

Grisham is one of the most successful novelists of his era. His second book, The Firm, had already been turned into a huge motion picture starring Tom Cruise. Off that success, Hollywood came calling for the movie rights to his first novel, A Time to Kill, which he wrote in 1989 and whose main character was based on himself.

Grisham was reluctant to sell the rights to that novel, but when the bidding reached a reported $6 million and the right for him to approve of all casting decisions, Grisham finally agreed.

Director Schumacher settled on Woody Harrelson as his choice to play the lead in the movie. But Grisham invoked his cast approval rights and nixed Harrelson. Why? What did Grisham have against Harrelson?

Harrelson had previously starred in the Oliver Stone movie Natural Born Killers, a hyper-violent story about two murderers on the run. Ironically, one of Natural Born Killer's themes was how the media fascination with murder and mayhem gave attention to bad people who then influenced others to do bad things — and then bad people cited the movie for inspiring them to do bad things in real life.

Grisham hated the violence of Natural Born Killers and even, when it was released, called for a boycott. He and Oliver Stone wrote dueling newspaper opinion pieces arguing their positions around the movie. Grisham had nothing against Woody Harrelson personally or professionally. He just didn't want anyone association with Stone's movie to be playing a role that was based on Grisham himself.

Grisham also had a very personal reason for hating Natural Born Killers. Shortly after that movie came out, one of Grisham's acquaintances was murdered. The two killers cited Natural Born Killers in their statement about why they had done the murder.

Matthew McConaughey himself talked about it in an interview years later, saying, "They were looking at Woody but Woody had come out in Natural Born Killers. Oliver Stone and John Grisham got in an editorial fight because there was a copycat murder in Mississippi of someone that garnered some news. I heard John Grisham was going, 'Oh, no way that guy, Woody, who played Mickey, is going to play me.' That moves him out."

Harrelson badly wanted the part, and wanted to speak to Grisham to make an argument for himself, but Grisham avoided him. Harrelson later said:

"I called his house. I said, 'Let's talk about it.' I wanted him to understand what was going on. They said he wasn't home."

So the movie A Time to Kill came out in 1996 with McConaughey as the star. And the role turned him into a matinee idol, so Grisham's casting kibosh of Harrelson worked out in the end for the movie.

And, of course, McConaughey, Harrelson and Grisham all went on to make lots and lots of money over their very successful careers. So don't cry for Woody. But that is why Grisham once said no way to Woody Harrelson in A Time to Kill.

Stream or buy 'A Time to Kill' movie

(Affiliate links are used in this post.)

Watch Orson Welles Explain Cold Reading, the Trick Used by 'Psychics'

Orson Welles was not only an amateur magician, he was a man who appreciated fakery of all kinds. One of his final films was F Is for Fake, about art forgery. During his late career, he appeared on or narrated multiple television specials about magic or alleged supernatural phenomena.

So it's no surprised he'd have an interest in psychics. Or, I should say, "psychics." Psychics claim to read minds or speak to the dead, but what they are really doing is reading their client. It's a technique called "cold reading." The only question is whether any given psychic believes his or her own BS or not.

In 1970, long before cold reading became, as it is today, a well-understood technique for "fortune telling" trickery, Orson Welles appeared on The David Frost Show and explained how he, Welles, came to understand cold reading. Not only understand it, but practice it.

That Time Paul Shaffer Went Swimming With Martin Luther King Jr.

You sometimes find poignant stories about major historical figures in unexpected places. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I'm reminded of a passage from Paul Shaffer's highly entertaining memoir, We'll Be Here For the Rest of Our Lives: A Swingin' Showbiz Saga.

When Paul was a young boy, his Canadian parents enjoyed taking the family to warmer climes on vacation. One year, they ended up in The Bahamas, at the Royal Victoria Hotel in Nassau. Shaffer speaks of arriving, of his father taking him to a jazz club "on the wrong side of the tracks," and relates this story:

The next day Dad spotted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by the pool. The great leader was in matching shirt-and-bathing-suit cabana attire. My father approached him and said, "My family and I greatly admire you and would be honored if we could take your picture."

"With pleasure," said Dr. King.

Dad snapped the photo. We all shook hands and went to the lounge chairs. A few minutes later Dr. King entered the pool from the deep end while I entered from the shallow.

Just like that, the dozen or so vacationers, white people all, who were in the pool suddenly got out, as if the water had been contaminated. Dr. King and I stayed in and swam for the next 20 minutes or so.

When I got out, my father took me aside and said, "We're changing hotels. I'm not staying anywhere the guests display this kind of racist behavior."

... When I told this story to my son, Will, who was nine at the time and studying the civil rights movement in school, he was puzzled and said, "Dad, how could Dr. King stay at that hotel when there were segregation laws?"

"Those laws were in the United States, son," I said. "That's why to vacation comfortably, he had to leave his own country."

(Where the ellipsis appears above: Before the modern conclusion of the MLK story, Shaffer told about his family running into Harry Belafonte and daugher Shari the following day, and taking a photo with Belafonte. Decades later Shaffer was musical director at a charity concert, and Belafonte was appearing. Shaffer told Belafonte about meeting him as a child. Belafonte replied, "Impossible, I've never been to Nassua, you must be thinking of Sidney Poitier." Then admitted, a few seconds later, he was pulling Shaffer's leg.)

'A Word to the Wives': Historical Document of 1950s Gender Roles ... That Helped Launch Darren McGavin, Norman Lloyd Careers

The IMDB plot summary for the 1955 advertising short called A Word to the Wives is succinct, and accurate: "The story of two women and how they trick a husband into renovating a kitchen."

But it doesn't do this 13-minute mini-film justice. A Word to the Wives features one of the earlier acting jobs in the career of Darren McGavin (who plays the put-upon husband). It was directed by Norman Lloyd. And the star (and doing the voice-over narration) is Marsha Hunt, who was acting in movies and television from the 1930s into the 2000s.

That's quite a bit of talent for what was a promotional movie sponsored by the American Gas Association, the National Association of Home Builders, and The Woman's Home Companion. The Internet Archive summary of the movie states that the "American Gas Association offered prints of this film for sale to gas utilities to help them coax builders to incorporate kitchens into their new homes."

It's a comical short that shows two wives - one who just got a brand new house with an all-gas kitchen, the other who badly wants the same - hatch a plot to convince the new-kitchen-craver's husband to take care of his woman, too, with an all-gas kitchen.

That's the other part of A Word to the Wives that makes it worth watching all these years later: It's a look back (an astounding look back, probably, for people younger than a certain age) at the gender roles and gender attitudes prevalent in the United States in the 1950s. (The film was released in 1955.)

It's not a work of art or anything. But A Word to the Wives is an interesting historical document of the era, and in the careers of (in particular) McGavin and Lloyd.

Is This the Best Steve Martin Talk Show Appearance Ever?

Steve Martin has been on the American (and world) entertainment scene for a long time now - nearly 50 (!) years. His on-screen career dates to the late 1960s, but he became very famous in the early to mid-1970s. And he's done a lot of talk shows over the years. And Martin typically kills in the talk show setting.

I can recall several iconic Martin appearances on talk shows. There was his Johnny Carson-requested performance of The Great Flydini (his only performance of that act on camera) for one of Carson's final Tonight Shows. There was the Late Night with David Letterman appearance in which Martin showed up with a doctor and begged out of talking to Letterman, feeling sick. Dave offers Steve the chance to lay down and rest in Dave's office, but during periodic check-ins throughout the show we see Martin first planning and then hosting a giant, raucous part in Dave's office.

There are dozens more than come to mind. Of course, humor is a very personal thing, and your mileage may vary. But for my money, Steve Martin's funniest-ever talk show appearance happened in 1980 on Letterman's short-lived morning show. Having worked very hard the night before (so the bit went), Martin is wheeled out in bed. He's asleep, yet clutching a six pack of beer. There is a small, portable TV at the foot of the bed.

Here is Part 1 of the appearance (forgive the very low quality, but clips of Letterman's morning show are difficult to come by):

The phony commercial, from a TV special Martin is plugging, is hilarious: It's for "Honeymoon Butter," which is, literally, made with love.

If anything, the laughs get bigger (for me, anyway) in Part 2, once Martin, still clad in pajamas, leaves the bed for the chair next to Letterman:

It's easy to see why Letterman became such a late-night legend, why Steve Martin was always one of his favorite guests ... but also why Letterman's morning show was canceled after just a few months. Imagine the people watching daytime TV in 1980 — accustomed to only seeing game shows, soap operas and talk shows like Phil Donahue and Gary Collins — stumbling on this.

Meet the Chimp Act the Rolling Stones Had to Follow at Some of their Earliest American Concerts

There's a terrific article in the San Antonio Express-News edition of Jan. 7, 2014, written by Hector Saldana, about one of the Rolling Stones' earliest concert appearances in America. Alas, the article is hidden behind a pay wall.

But the gist of it is this: At their San Antonio appearance on June 6, 1964, the Rolling Stones were heckled, booed, hissed, pelted with various objects — and those weren't even the biggest indignities.

What was? They had to follow a trained chimpanzee act onto the stage.

The Stones were in San Antonio in June 1964 to play a series of 20-minute sets at something called the Teen Fair of Texas. They were on a bill that included country music's George Jones and a chimp act that was actually very well-known at the time called the Marquis Chimps.

The Marquis Chimps appeared as guests on early television variety shows, performed in commercials and movies. And, obviously, they did live performances on stage. They also co-starred (with, among others, Jack Weston) in a sitcom called The Hathaways that ran on ABC from late 1961 through Spring 1962.

And they were regulars on the Jack Benny Show; he continued performing with them for years, even doing a TV special in 1963 called Jack Benny and the Marquis Chimps. This is who the Rolling Stones followed on stage in one of their very first American gigs:

Saldana's article quotes Stones bassist Bill Wyman's memoir about the Stones' 1964 San Antonio sets: "Everyone got a poor reception from a mixed crowd of cowboys and kids. We had to go on after some performing monkeys. What the hell were we doing there? People didn't know whether to take us serious or as a joke."

Saldana brings up something odd, though: In Keith Richards' book, he mis-remembers the act they followed as circus seals; then-Stones-manager Andrew Oldham also told Saldana that they followed trained seals. Great examples of how easily malleable memories are.

More of the Marquis Chimps: Here they are in a 1950s-era commercial for Red Rose Tea:

Their June 1964 appearances in San Antonio weren't the only trying gigs for the Stones on their short swing through the United States. They were openly mocked in at least one television appearance by the show's very famous host.

Here's a great look at the Rolling Stones as they appeared in 1964, from an episode of the Dean Martin Show, filmed at the Hollywood Palace. At the end of the song, a clearly unimpressed and disinterested Martin says, "Aren't they great?" and rolls his eyes, which draws a laugh from the crowd:

David Letterman Hosts 1977 Game Show Pilot, 'The Riddlers' — Show Awful, Dave Hilarious

A good game show can be a lot of fun. And good game show hosts tend to be earnest about the proceedings yet cheerful and able to come up with a quip when needed; they charm (or at least attempt to) the guests; they have a good repartee with any celebrity guests. That's the model. When it's poorly done, it can be difficult to watch.

But what if there was a game show host who was wickedly funny and clearly didn't respect the proceedings at hand? A game show host who wasn't afraid to mock the celebrity guests, and whose sense of humor ran toward the absurd and arch? A host who was self-mocking while also mocking the situation in which he found himself?

Well, then you'd have David Letterman hosting a show called The Riddlers. The Riddlers was a game show pilot taped in 1977. That was before Letterman's first Tonight Show appearance, before his membership in the cast of the ill-fated Mary variety hour (watch Dave sing and dance!), both of which happened in 1978. In 1977, Letterman was doing stand-up in Los Angeles, and looking for television gigs anywhere he could find them. In 1978 and 1979 — after his successful first Tonight Show — Letterman could be seen guesting on multiple game shows.

But in 1977, Letterman was pretty much a nobody. But his agents got him in the door as host of The Riddlers. For a guy who needed a job, Letterman appears, in the pilot, completely unafraid to make fun of what is going on. His wit is rapier sharp, and he unsheaths it early and often.

The setup of the show is that a panel of five celebrities played against a panel of five "regular" folks. The folks got to keep their winnings; any winnings by the celebrities were given to home viewers. Early on, Letterman reads off the list of lucky home viewers who'll get the celebrities' money. Naming a woman from his hometown of Indianapolis, Letterman quips, "I used to look in her windows."

The game started with the host, Letterman, reading a riddle to the first person on a panel. If that person solved the riddle, he or she then turned to panelist No. 2 and read another riddle. If the second riddle was solved, the second panelist read another riddle to the third panelist, and so on. Solve nine riddles in a row, and your side win the game.

The celebrity panel goes first in the pilot, and the five celebrities are Jo Anne Worley, Robert Urich, Joyce Builifant, Michael McKean and Debralee Scott. That's a pretty good game show guest list in 1977! But confusion quickly reigns, and which point Letterman says, "Boy, this really makes you want to run out and buy the home game, doesn't it?"

The celebs manage to answer the first four questions, then McKean reads a riddle to Scott, who has no idea. "This answers the question," Dave says, "of whether or not the celebrities are tested before coming on the show." Ouch!

At one point later in the episode, a light bulb blows out with a loud pop. "Sniper fire," Dave suggests.

Here is the full pilot episode of The Riddlers (in this video posted to YouTube, the pilot is introduced by Elvira, which fits right in with Letterman's arch and absurdist comic sensibilities):

In 1991, panelist Michael McKean appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and they briefly discussed The Riddlers. Letterman recalls that they were supposed to tape two episodes that day, but following the first taping a producer told the cast that they had all they needed. Never a good sign!

McKean praises Letterman's hosting effort by saying, "You were the first game show host I had ever seen who knew that it was crap!" Well, Letterman replies, "It was a gig." Here are McKean and Dave talking about The Riddlers:

Imagine if The Riddlers had been greenlit, hit the airwaves, became a smash hit. Game-show host Dave. Probably would have been awesome! But American comedy might never have benefited from his huge influence on late-night talk.

David Letterman (and Michael Keaton) Sings and Dances on Mary Tyler Moore Variety Show

Have you ever seen David Letterman sing and dance? Sing or dance? Of course not! Dave is not a song-and-dance man. You can probably imagine Letterman preferring tarring-and-feathering to singing-and-dancing.

But there was a time, long ago, on a very short-lived variety show starring Mary Tyler Moore, when Letterman did sing and dance. He — along with Michael Keaton and Swoosie Kurtz, among others — was a cast member on Mary, a 1978 variety show starring Mary Tyler Moore. Hell of a cast. Awful show. The show only lasted three episodes.

One of the writers on Mary — one who, like Letterman, had a sense of humor that had nothing in common with the show that employed her — was Merrill Markoe. Markoe and Letterman were dating at the time, and Markoe later served as head writer on Letterman's own short-lived show, the morning-aired David Letterman Show in 1980. Two years later, Markoe began as head writer on Light Night with David Letterman, and played a huge role the success of Late Night. She created Stupid Pet Tricks and discovered Calvert DeForest (a k a Larry "Bud" Melman), among many other contributions.

Markoe recently guested on the podcast How Was Your Week and spoke about Mary:

"The guys in the cast were Letterman and Michael Keaton ... dancing and singing "Macho Man." And they (the senior staff of Mary) didn't understand it was a gay anthem. I remember saying to them, you know that this is a gay anthem, right? "Macho Man"? And they're like, nah, it's not.

"... also they dressed them up so they were wearing the clothing of the movie Deliverance.

"... What they were was both (Letterman and Keaton) seriously uncomfortable. At the time I was dating him (Letterman) and all the other writers on the writing staff came running down to go, oh you have to come look at the monitor. And I couldn't look, I just ... it was too uncomfortable."

Unfortunately, the "Macho Man" clip is not online. But I can offer you a nice (is that the right word?) consolation prize. Here are David Letterman and Michael Keaton singing and dancing as Mary Tyler Moore performs the Wings hit, "With a Little Luck":

Keaton at least looks like he's trying. Dave? He looks humiliated, sick to his stomach, like he'd rather be anywhere than there, doing that. He looks exactly what you'd expect David Letterman to look like in that situation.

Here's a 6-minute clip that includes the Mary show opening (with plenty of views of Letterman), a few scenes of Mary introducing segments, plus the "audition tapes" of Keaton and Letterman (not their real auditions - it was a bit for the show). Keaton's bit is not funny at all. Dave's, however, actually resembles the Letterman we would come to know much better within a few years — his comic sensibility is there, his delivery, his expressions. Makes me wonder if Letterman (or Markoe) got to write his the lines for the segment. Letterman appears at the 5:20 mark:

Has there ever been a show with this much collective talent on screen — television legend Mary Tyler Moore, a guy who later became a legend in Letterman, very talented actor Keaton, very talented singer and actor Swoosie Kurtz, and we haven't even mentioned the solid Dick Shawn — that was so bad?

Classic Letterman: Infamous Crispin Glover Appearance Even Weirder than You Remember

The appearance of actor Crispin Glover on Late Night with David Letterman in 1987 is one of the most famous (or infamous) "interviews" in the history of TV talk shows. Glover, a strange guy to begin with, was clearly high (right?), and ultimately frightened Dave to the point that Letterman got up and walked away. When they came back from commercial, Glover was gone.

I remember watching this in real time. Mind-blown. But in those pre-Twitter, pre-blogging, pre-social media days, you had to wait until the next day to actually talk about it with other people.

Watching it again now, it's even weirder than I remember:

Classic Letterman: 'They Took My Show Away' After-School Special

Here's a classic David Letterman clip from the original Late Night. It's an "after-school special" starring Letterman as a man who's afraid his son isn't watching enough television. The title of the bit is "They Took My Show Away." Touching, very touching. And pertinent to the recent news of Letterman's pending retirement.

"I don't think I'll ever watch TV again!" the red-haired boy, Jimmy, says, after his favorite show is canceled. Letterman replies: "Jimmy, don't ever say that. Not even as a joke."

This aired in 1983:

Johnny Carson's Final Appearance on Television

David Letterman's retirement is in the news. And while I haven't watched much of Letterman (or other late night TV) in about 20 years, Letterman's retirement leaves me sad because his show was such a huge part of my teen years. Like many others who've spoken out in the wake of the news - Judd Apatow, Jimmy Kimmel, Jim Gaffigan, Seth Meyers, many others - my sense of humor was profoundly influenced by Dave. Those guys all became rich and famous as a result of Dave's inspiration. I just became a smartass.

So I'll be posting some of my favorite Letterman clips on Nifty Niblets in the days and weeks and months to come. But let's start by sharing a clip of the man who was one of Letterman's heroes: Johnny Carson. Carson did a surprise walk-on to The Late Show with David Letterman when Dave was doing a week of shows in California.

It happened on May 13, 1994, and it was the last time Carson ever appeared on television:

A nice companion piece to the above is the heartfelt tribute by Letterman to Carson on the first Late Show that aired following Carson's death in 2005. It begins with Letterman telling jokes written for him by Carson in the opening monologue:

Why Does 'Looney Tunes' Love Manu Ginobili?

Imagine you're a mutimillionaire lounging around your house with your kids one morning, watching cartoons, when you think you hear one of the cartoon characters mention the name of a friend of yours. Wait, did that cartoon just say what you think it said? It was over so quick, you're not quite sure.

But San Antonio Spurs basketball player Tim Duncan called his teammate, Manu Ginobili, and told him that a character on The Looney Tunes Show had mentioned Manu.

Then it happened again. "It was funny the first time," Ginobili told the San Antonio Express-News. "The second time, I was like, OK, something is going on."

What was going on? Here, watch one of the references (it happens near the end):

Of course, in the clip above, it's Speedy Gonzales who Yosemite Sam tags as "Manu Ginobili." Manu is from Argentina, a native Spanish-speaker.

Spurs fans might compare Manu more to the Tasmanian Devil, however. Ginobili's anything-goes game of ridiculous passes through opponents' legs, crazy steps to the basket, how-did-he-see-that bullet passes, behind-the-back drives to the hoop and amazing last-second shots make him one of the best-loved athletes — heck, people — in San Antonio history. And makes him a player opposing fans view as a pest.

Here's an example of some of Ginobili's magic:

There's a whole YouTube clip dedicated to Ginobili's passes between opponents' legs. And there are many YouTube clips whose titles start with the words, "Manu Ginobili crazy ..." (pass, dribble, shot, whatever).

But back to Looney Tunes. Here's Bugs Bunny's wife Lola, making sure Bugs knows how much she loves Manu by carrying his basketball card in her purse:

And here's how the new Looney Tunes closed its show one day:

So what's the deal? It turns out that the head writer of The Looney Tunes Show is Hugh Davidson. And Davidson is from ... San Antonio. His favorite player is Manu, so he throws in a Manu reference here and there.

"It's madness watching him play," Davidson told the Express-News. "I think he's the most entertaining player to ever put on a uniform. His brain is not like anyone else's."

No, Manu's brain is not like anyone else's. Maybe that's why another "loony tunes" - Charles Barkley - loves Manu, too. Barkley's in the happen of simply screaming out "Ginobili!" whenever the mood strikes him:

Quiznos Bankruptcy Reminds of Some of TV's Weirdest Commercial

Quiznos has filed for bankrupty brings back memories. Not memories of eating at Quiznos — I've never been a big fan — but of some of the weirdest commercials in TV history.

Remember them? The Quiznos "hamster commercials"? They featured one or two of what most people believed were hamsters (but were actually referred to by the ads' makers as "spongemonkeys"), but with giant googly eyes and with a humanish mouth replacing their own mouths. One "hamster" strummed a guitar while the other sang mostly absurdist lyrics in a grating, awful, high-pitched voice. It was one of those so-bad-you-can't-turn-away efforts at advertising.

And they worked! Those strange ads generated a lot of publicity for Quiznos, which was riding high at the time with plans to challenge sub sandwich leader Subway. Those plans later crashed and burned, as we now know. But the commercials live on.

When 17-Year-Old Neil deGrasse Tyson was Chauffeured by Carl Sagan

As you may have heard, Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and celebrity scientist, is hosting a re-boot of Carl Sagan's classic Cosmos series. The original aired on PBS in 1980; the re-boot begins airing Sunday (March 9) on Fox.

It's appropriate that Tyson is the man hosting the new Cosmos; in many ways, he's the current scientist closest to the spirit of Sagan. Tyson, like Sagan did, has a tremendous gift for making science sound both wondrous yet accessible, awe-inspiring yet unintimidating.

Like Sagan was in his era, Tyson is the go-to guy of this era for entertainment programs (not to mention news and science programs) seeking someone who can explain in an engaging way difficult concepts of astrophysics and astronomy.

There's a story that Tyson has told many times, but it's a good story and it's worth repeating with the new Cosmos about to launch. When Tyson was 17 years old and applying to colleges, he was accepted to Cornell, where Sagan was a professor. Sagan made the effort to personally reach out to Tyson, invite him to visit Cornell, and then acted as tour guide and chauffeur for the young, future scientist.

Listen as Tyson tells the story, and explains how Sagan's kindnesses that long-ago weekend inspired Tyson's own behavior toward the next generation:

(Unfortunately for Cornell, Sagan's kindnesses did not result in Tyson attending their university - he ultimately went to Harvard.)

Watch Celebrities in Weird Foreign TV Commercials

Once upon a time it was possible for Hollywood (and other) celebrities to refuse to do TV commercials for the American market due to their "principles," while at the same time taking beaucoup money to do commercians for Japanese TV. Why not? Before this internet thing came along, it was very, very difficult for anyone outside Japan to see those ads.

But now, through the magic of YouTube, those weird celebrity commercials done for overseas markets are pretty easy to find. Why, right here, right below, is a compilation of some of them!

In the following video you'll see the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis, a very weird Nicolas Cage (redundant?), Hugh Laurie, Uma Thurman, Arnold Schwartzenegger, Leonardo DiCaprio and more doing some selling and shilling.

Humphrey Bogart Bloopers (He Did Not Like Making Mistakes!)

In a conversation with a movie buff friend recently, my friend mentioned that he once owned a 35mm film of nothing but Humphrey Bogart bloopers. Well, you know what they say: If it's on tape, it's on YouTube. And sure enough, I found some examples. Here's a roughly 4-minute reel of Humphrey Bogart bloopers, which shows Bogie's reaction to blowing his lines was sometimes laughter but more often a sharp "goddamn!":

Where do these come from? From 1936 through 1947, blooper reels were compiled by "The Warner Club." That was an organization comprised of Warner Brothers studio cast and crew members. The club met annually for a dinner, and the blooper reels were shown during those dinners. The blooper reels were known as "Warner Bros Breakdowns" or "Warner Bros Blow-ups," and eventually made their way out into the public (these would be the 35mm films that my friend once owned).

You can find the full Warner Club clips on archive.org.

As for the Bogart blow-ups and breakdowns clip above, YouTube user afrenchindublin took all the Bogie* bloopers from the Warner Club clips of 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942 and 1944 and edited them into their own video.

(*Is it "Bogie" or "Bogey"? Varies from publication to publication, person to person. But Bogart himself spelled it "Bogie."

Jim Gaffigan Is Not Surprised By This Hot Pockets Recall

Nestle USA has announced a voluntary recall of "of HOT POCKETS® brand Philly Steak and Cheese in three different pack sizes and HOT POCKETS® brand Croissant Crust Philly Steak and Cheese, in the two pack box," the company announced on Feb. 18, 2014.

OK, in your best Jim Gaffigan inner monologue vogue, altogether now: "Hoooooooooot Pockets!"

The Hot Pockets recall is not due to any problem within Nestle, but rather with a supplier of meats. Nestle's recall is due to an abundance of caution; the manufacturer doesn't believe any of the supplier's bad meat got into the recalled Hot Pockets, which is why the recall is voluntary. But why take chances? Which is why there is a recall notice at all.

Comedian Jim Gaffigan's Hot Pockets routine, which appeared on his Beyond the Palecomedy record and TV special, has become one of the best-known comedy bits in America. Suffice it to say Gaffigan is not a fan of Hot Pockets. Here's the bit:

Here is an appearance on Letterman that predates the Beyond the Pale recording; it contains many of the same jokes about Hot Pockets but also some differences, and the delivery is a bit different:

How much you want to bet that Gaffigan eats Hot Pockets all the time?

The Other Guests When the Beatles First Appeared on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' (Including Davy Jones!)

For those who saw the Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, their performance, and the experience of watching it, is indelible. But even Beatles fans born decades later know the impact and import of that show.

February 9, 2014, is the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' Ed Sullivan Show debut. The band performed five songs that night - "All My Loving," "Till There Was You" and "She Loves You" at the beginning of the show, and "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" at the end. In-between, Sullivan brought out his usual quirky assortment of guests.

Do you know who any of the other guests were that night, Feb. 9, 1964? We do, and we'll show you who they were.

Coincidentally, one of the most famous non-Beatles on the Sullivan show that night was a future member of the Monkees, the Beatles-inspired group (who became much, much better than their made-for-TV origins, by the way - a very underrated group). That would be Davy Jones. But Jones wasn't the headliner in the act in which he appeared.

Georgia Brown (with Davy Jones, et.al.)

Broadway star Georgia Brown performed the song "As Long as He Needs Me" from the musical Oliver! And in the role of The Artful Dodger, dueting with Brown, was young Davy Jones:

For Jones, the night was an eye-opening, life-changing experience. "The kids went banzai, you know, they loved it," Jones later said of the Beatles' appearance, "and I saw the reaction and I thought, 'I want a piece of this action.'

"That particular night changed my whole way of thinking around. If I hadn't of been on The Ed Sullivan Show that night and wanted that reaction as much as I did, then I wouldn't have taken part in the Monkees. ... If there hadn't of been a Beatles, there would never have been a Monkees."

Tessie O'Shea

Welsh singer (and banjo player) Tessie O'Shea was also a Broadway performer, and later an Emmy winner. A portly woman, in this clip she does a song called "Two-Ton Tessie":

"They played tennis on her double chin." Who knows, maybe this song inspired Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls." (OK, we do know, and it didn't.)

Fred Kaps

Fred Kaps was a magician from the Netherlands, and he was a very good magician, one of the best of his era and still very highly regarded today. According to Wikipedia, Kaps is "the only magician to become FISM Grand Prix world champion three times" (FISM being the acronym for the International Federation of Magic Societies).

This is part of Kaps' performance on the Sullivan show of Feb. 9, 1964 (Sullivan has to settle the crowd down before bringing Kaps out). His card trick is hurt by the poor quality of the video, alas. He also did a second trick, not included in this video, called "the Long Pour Salt trick."

If you're a fan of traditional magic, check out YouTube for better clips of Kaps in action.

Wells & the Four Fays

Wells & the Four Fays was part vaudeville, part acrobatics, all strange. One of the troupe members was the mother of choreographer and "Mickey" one-hit wonder Toni Basil (Hey Mickey, you're so fine, you're fine you blow my mind! Hey Mickey!). Here they are on Sullivan:

Frank Gorshin

Among the non-Beatles on the Feb. 9, 1964 Ed Sullivan Show, the best-known at the time was impressionist and comedian Frank Gorshin. Gorshin was a nightclub regular, a Las Vegas regular, a favorite (and sometime opening act) of the Rat Pack. We know him best today, however, as The Riddler on TV's Batman.

This performance by Gorshin is from an episode of The Dean Martin Show, with Gorshin imagining other actors in the roles of Batman and Robin:

There's a better Gorshin performance, from the 1975 Sammy Davis Jr. series Sammy and Company, on YouTube here (non-embeddable, alas.)

McCall & Brill

And finally, there was McCall & Brill, the husband-and-wife comedy team of Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall. They went on to appear on a lot of game shows in the 1970s, such as The Gong Show and Tattletales, as well as plenty of TV guest acting roles. This is part of their performance from that night:

We once saw a from one of those 20/20 or Dateline type shows (although what, exactly, it was from I'm not sure) about McCall & Brill. It included scenes from the McCall & Brill performance during the Sullivan show, which both members of the comedy team describe as a disaster. Brill said that when they got back to their dressing room after bombing, they wondered, "How are we ever going to face the world again? This was the worst thing that ever happened to us."

Yes, it was tough being one of the other acts on The Ed Sullivan Show that aired Feb. 9, 1964.