Paris Hilton is a spiffy dresser

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Paris Hilton’s husband is some tech investor dude who is friends with all the founders, so it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to assume that this is a Paris Hilton Sex Robot that they’ve had built to replace her, since a near inanimate object is basically all you need to trick people into thinking it’s Paris.

Sample:


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Gallery here.

When Things Were Rotten

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1975’s “When Things Were Rotten” is a mashup of Mel Brooks’ screwball comedy with the classic tropes of Robin Hood on television, with mad schemes, colorful characters, and more than a hint of camp! The series was cut short after only 13 episodes after dwindling ratings – despite the critical praise, it was shifted around the schedules and never found a solid following.

That description is too kind. The first episode was kinda-sorta OK as juvenile humor goes (below), and the theme song was hilarious (further below), but the concept was too limiting to sustain a long run. They ran out of material and kept repeating gags that were lame to begin with.



The theme song:

Once upon a time, when things were rotten
Not just food but also kings were rotten
Soon the band of Merry Men begotten
They wore outfits made of plain-grade cotton
Helping victims was their business
Boy oh boy, was business good
Good for Robin Hood!

They laughed, they loved
They fought, they drank
They jumped a lot of fences!
They robbed the rich
Gave to the poor
Except what they kept for expenses!

So, when other legends are forgotten
We’ll remember back when things were rotten
Yay for robbin’ Robin Hood!

R.I.P. Kinky Friedman

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Performer, activist, provocateur, humorist, politician, author … my fellow Longhorn was unique – and immensely talented.

Leading Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys (named in mocking homage to the western swing band Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys), he impressed audiences but was ignored by record labels.

His songs, always politically incorrect, sometimes ostensibly silly, and occasionally obscene, drove home his points with caustic satire.

Examples:

  • Ride ‘Em, Jewboy
  • Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed

I was almost twenty years behind Kinky at UT, so I never knew him. In fact, I never saw him perform live, but two of his devotees and acolytes, “Bowley and Wilson,” were my absolute go-to pick for an evening’s entertainment when out-of-town visitors wanted the full Austin experience. My wife and I probably went to their club at least two dozen times. It was the closest one could get to Kinky without actually seeing the real thing.

R.I.P. Martin Mull, host of Fernwood 2Night, and America’s smart-ass

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Fernwood 2Night was a true cultural treasure. If you don’t remember it, it was a parody of a late-night talk show, blazing a trail for The Larry Sanders Show, with the twist that the show was local rather than national. Mull was the smarmy, lusty host who thought he was too good to be working with mid-American yokels. Fred Willard, as the local version of Ed McMahon, had already perfected his clueless shtick. Frank De Vol was the leader of an awful band. The great Dabney Coleman played the mayor of Fernwood. The writers of the show did an amazing job at coming up with new material, considering that it was on five nights a week (they could only sustain that for a few months). The show was almost perfect. I was totally hooked on it.

The show also parodied the usual assortment of variety show guests. My favorite was Tony Roletti, the inept, insincere lounge singer.