Tag: comedy

Big Mo Pod Show: “Across the Blues Universe”

I heard the Big Mo Blues Show last night and the Big Mo Pod Show today. The podcast song selection was part of the Lunch with Chuck portion of the show, which I don’t know a whole lot about. The Lunch with Chuck thing I’ve heard Big Mo talk about and I think it involves a real guy named Chuck who talks music with Big Mo sometimes, although I’ve not heard an actual live Lunch with Chuck program during the blues show. And it might be another Big Mo running joke.

Big Mo Pod Show 079 – “Across The Blues Universe”

The other thing I want to mention is that I heard Big Mo talk last night just before the Lunch with Chuck thing about something like a “fish psychic”. I think it’s a new comedy bit like MayRee’s Hand-Battered Catfish and Shorty’s Adult Diapers. I can’t remember the whole fish psychic bit, but I’m pretty sure he’ll do it again, maybe even next Friday. I think it’s another faux advertisement, and it might be about some kind of fish psychic who can help you catch lunker bass and the like.

Anyway, I learned something from the pod show today. I’d never heard of something called “race records” which is one term Lightnin Hopkins song “Mojo Hand” led to. Race records were 78-rpm phonograph records marketed to black people back in the days of the victrola, between the years of the 1920s to the 1940s, well before my time.

The other term new to me is the title of Hopkins’ song, “Mojo Hand.” The podcast discussion mentioned that mojo hand referred to African American voodoo charms, one of which happened to be a lucky charm, possibly a dried monkey’s paw. The song is actually about using voodoo to keep a lover from being unfaithful. The song means more now that I know that.

Another thing I learned today was that the song “Feel So Bad” (recorded in 1966) by Little Milton has a lyric in it, “feel like a ball game on a rainy day” that was repeated by boxer Muhammad Ali when he found out he had to wait 6 weeks before the Rumble in the Jungle match in 1974. That was because Foreman had to heal up first because he suffered a laceration above his right eye during a sparring match.

What I also didn’t know was that the Rumble in the Jungle had political overtones. There is an article entitled “Remembering the Rumble in the Jungle” subtitled “The 1974 Rumble in the Jungle was freighted with symbolism regarding American racial politics and the pan-African struggle in the context of the Cold War.”

One more thing I learned from the podcast is related to the song “Wine O’Clock” by Shemekia Copeland. He called this song a women’s support tune and, unlike my disagreement about this issue in last week’s podcast, I tend to agree with this song being about women supporting each other or at least understanding their burdens in a society marked by gender role disparity.

What helped me reach this understanding is an article entitled “What makes up wine o’clock…” published in 2022.

Wright CJC, Miller M, Kuntsche E, Kuntsche S. ‘What makes up wine o’clock? Understanding social practices involved in alcohol use among women aged 40-65 years in Australia. Int J Drug Policy. 2022 Mar;101:103560. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103560. Epub 2021 Dec 29. PMID: 34973490.

The abstract reminds me of the discomfort with the idea of women (or anyone regardless of gender) using alcohol to cope with socially designated roles.

“Think I’ll have another glass; the world can kiss my ass; tick tock, it’s Wine O’Clock.”

I sometimes learn a lot more than I expect from the Big Mo Pod Show.

The Red Green Show “Twinning” Episode A Model of Cooperation

I just read Dr. H. Steven Moffic’s post on Psychiatric Times, “The Space Station as a Model for Intercultural Cooperation.”  I also read the blog of another psychiatric I consider a colleague and friend, Dr. George Dawson, MD, and it’s sort of in the oppositive vein, being about the recent snafu of some Republican Minnesota legislators deciding to submit a bill to the legislature mansplaining Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) to the Democrats why TDS needs to become a law. It’s going over like a lead space station.

Incidentally, one legislature activity tracking website (Bill Track 50) has an Artificial Intelligence (AI) summary of the bill which says in part, “…the bill appears to be satirical or politically motivated…”

And the Minnesota Senate Minority Leader, Mark T. Johnson, said the bill was “a little bit tongue in cheek,” and possibly unintentionally joked that “Senate Republicans have always supported mental health funding…” while also calling attention to problems that the two political parties have cooperating with each other (story source WCCO News Minnesota, “Minnesota bill to define “Trump derangement syndrome” as mental illness provokes backlash” by Eric Henderson, Caroline Cummings; accessed March 18, 2025). Obviously these two pieces present opposites when it comes to collaboration.

The other issue pertinent to my post today has been the recent tariff and trade war going on between Canada and America, which is all about competition rather than cooperation.

Therefore, I did a web search for any Red Green Show episodes that demonstrated cooperation as a theme. In fact, the usual AI guidance (which I never ask for) pointed out that The Red Green Show didn’t present episodes about cooperation per se, but satirized the topic. For once, I had to agree with AI for the most part.

On the other hand, I did find a Red Green Show episode called “Twinning” that actually seemed to involve collaboration between Canada and Iowa, if you can imagine that nowadays. Back in the year 2000, The Red Green Show sponsored a survey of all 50 states in America, offering an opportunity for persons from an American city to twin with persons from Canada, I think it was Ontario. This meant that Americans would visit Canada and Canadians would visit America. I may not have the exact details right, but the idea of cross-cultural collaboration and getting to know each other was the main idea.

The whole state of Iowa endorsed the twinning offer with The Red Green Show, which of course, represented Canada. At the time, the Iowa Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network was supporting the Red Green Show.

 I never knew about that when it happened in 2000, probably because I was pretty busy working as a consultation-liaison psychiatrist here in Iowa City, Iowa. Anyway, the “Twinning” episode was one of the funniest I’ve seen. You know, identical twins are not exactly identical in every way.

If You Want Peace and Quiet from Government…

I’ll bet a lot of people are like me and would like more peace and quiet from government. There’s a crisis every day. There’s even some Minnesota Republicans who want to get a bill through the state legislature defining Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) as a new mental illness, applicable only to Democrats. Given the intensely adversarial atmosphere among most politicians, this has made things even more noisy amongst lawmakers.

Because of this highly charged atmosphere which seems to get worse by the hour, I thought it might be instructive to suggest everyone eat some fruit and watch the Red Green Show episode “Good Government.”

Things are much quieter where Red Green lives. Although Jerome, the elected representative of the district, has supposedly been working hard for his constituents for 9 years, it turns out that, in fact, he has been dead for the last 8 years. Things must be pretty quiet in government there because nobody seems to have noticed.

How Red Green and his henchman, I mean co-conspirator, I mean his fellow constituent, address this problem does not involve high drama, although the question of legality does arise—which is hardly a problem provided you ignore the law.

I guess that’s pretty much what happens in real life.

Svengoolie Hosts the Film “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein”

Last night I watched “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (released in 1948) for the first (and probably the last) time on Svengoolie. I thought I’d be able to watch it while wearing my new Svengoolie Holiday Sweater that Sena ordered for me, but it arrived too late in the evening for me to make the trip down the street to the mailbox pod. There are not enough street lights down there and who knows, the Wolfman could have jumped me. I got the sweater today and it looks great.

Sena watched a few minutes of the movie and gave up on it. I stuck it out all the way to the end in which you hear the voice of Vincent Price but don’t see him lighting up a smoke because he’s reprising the role of the Invisible Man.

Now for some comments about the movie, for which you can find information on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and many other websites. I’ll admit, Costello playing the part of the hysterical Wilbur got too slap sticky for me. On the other hand, the bits between him and the Wolfman (played by Lon Chaney Jr, who also reprised the role of Larry Talbot) were pretty comical.

Frankly, what I really got a kick out of was Svengoolie’s recurring doodling riddle game, “Too Drawn Out” in which he rapidly sketches a few cartoons which, when you put them together in your mind translates to the name of a character in the film or a cornball joke about it.

Some people missed the Sven Squad in this show and in last week’s show. The Sven Squad includes Gwengoolie, Nostalgiaferatoo, and IMP (Ignatius, Malvolio, Prankenstein). Importantly (or not) I found out from a web search that the film is actually rerun annually (according to Svengoolie’s summary from the 2021 airing of the movie) because it’s the most requested film by fans. Since the Sven Squad was just put together last year, new scenes were not taped for this movie and the one last week, presumably also a rerun by the same assumption.

As an aside, my Svengoolie sweater has all the members of the Sven Squad on it, and it even includes Kerwyn.

At first, I mistakenly got the idea that Lon Chaney, Jr played Larry Talbot but refused to play the Wolfman because it involved slapstick humor. And somehow, I misread the Svengoolie summary about Glenn Strange playing “the Monster”—which of course meant the Frankenstein monster, not the Wolfman.

But I’m not the only one who’s ever thought that because other fans (I got this from the web) mentioned that Chaney didn’t like how the Wolfman was portrayed in clownish stunts in the film. I thought his sober portrayal of Larry Talbot contrasted sharply with Abbott and Costello’s constant screwball acting. Svengoolie pointed out a goof (which I missed) in the film where Dracula (played by Bela Lugosi) has his reflection clearly showing in a mirror. Nobody’s perfect. And that includes me trying to make up a drawing riddle:

Hey it’s supposed to be Svengoolie!

The Amaryllis Trio and Other News

The Amaryllis Trio in the living room are growing pretty fast, comparing them to a couple of weeks ago.

Other upcoming holiday news is that Sena ordered a Svengoolie holiday sweater for me. I’m not sure it qualifies as an ugly sweater. I hope it fits.

That reminds me that the upcoming Svengoolie film this Saturday is “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.” That’s another kind of trio. They also meet other monsters, including the Wolf Man and Dracula.

This movie, released in 1948, has also been shown on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). You don’t need to try to puzzle that one out. Go to the TCM web site and read what they say about the film. Hint: it’s definitely not satire.

We’ve never seen this one. Sena thought Abbott and Costello were a lot like the 3 Stooges, but I spoke up in support of the pair of comedians. The 3 Stooges were slapstick guys, but I often think of the Who’s on First routine by Abbott and Costello.

Thoughts on X-Files Episode “Sunshine Days”

I saw the X-Files episode “Sunshine Days” again last night. It’s the second time I’ve seen it. It’s about a guy who calls himself Oliver who has telekinetic power and who yearns for a father-son relationship with a paranormal researcher (Dr. Reitz) who studied him when he was a kid named Anthony.  

The set of an old 1970s TV show “The Brady Bunch” was used. It was something Oliver created using the power of his mind. As a child, he used to insist that he and Dr. Reitz watch the show regularly. In his mind, it was the perfect family he always wanted but never had.

Anyway, Oliver (Anthony) endangers his life when he uses his telekinetic powers as an adult. He can’t control them and nearly dies from using them. He ends up near death in the hospital after showing the FBI agents including Scully and Doggett (who replaced Mulder) his miraculous ability. The agents and Dr. Reitz are ecstatic because they think it will change the world and humanity.

But after they realize the life-threatening nature of Oliver’s powers, they all agree, including Dr. Reitz, that Oliver should never use them again. Dr. Reitz even tells Oliver (who now wants to be called Anthony) firmly that he can’t use his power, to which Oliver replies that he can’t be alone. Then, Dr. Reitz tells Oliver that he’ll never have to be alone because he’ll always be with him.

A lot of fans hated it because it was the penultimate episode before the final show of the 9th and final season of the X-Files. It was one of the many Monster-of-the-Week (MOTW) shows that had nothing to do with the extraterrestrial mythology.

I liked the MOTW episodes better the ET/conspiracy shows, and Sunshine Days is one of my favorites. However, I never watched The Brady Bunch and the whole perfectly happy and well-adjusted family idea was ridiculously implausible in my opinion.

I doubt there is such a thing as a perfect family. Mine certainly was not and look how well I turned out. Even in nature, there are examples of savagery that can make you doubt the ultimate wisdom of whoever or whatever is in charge of evolution.

For example, birds can be exquisitely cruel. Cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of completely different species of birds, where the cowbird chicks bully their weaker nestlings. And surely just about everyone has seen the pitiless pecking of the larger of the two shoebill chicks in which the parents calmly watch as the smaller chick gets stepped on, pushed out of the next and essentially murdered by the bigger chick. This is because the parents know there is not enough water for both.

Even the song “A Boy Named Sue” is based on the natural law of survival of the fittest, which has nothing to do with kindness. Incidentally, that song came out in 1969, the same year that The Brady Bunch show began.

On the other hand, the reconciliation of Anthony with Dr. Rietz always fills me with joy.