Remembering Larry Gelbart, Groucho's Birthday, and Seinfeld Curbed

The lack of recent updates to Noah's Comedy Palace can be explained in several ways -- increased activity on the Nero Fiddled political blog (including our new video, "Corporations Are People Too"), freelance work, and songwriting (for a forthcoming political project to be announced eventually). Also, I've been working on a book about comedy, and much of the writing effort I'd normally direct toward this blog has been going into the book.

The Comedy Palace shall reopen soon with new articles about comedians we have not yet featured. But in the meantime, there are three comedy events I wanted to acknowledge here.

First, there was the death, a few weeks ago, of Larry Gelbart. One of the greatest comedy writers of all time, Gelbart emerged from the legendary Sid Caesar writers' room, alongside Neil Simon, Danny Simon, Mel Tolkin, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, et al. (When Gelbart first met Woody Allen, then sixteen years old, he was told, "I want you to meet the young Larry Gelbart." Gelbart snapped back, "The young Larry Gelbart is right here.") The highest peaks of his achievement -- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, M*A*S*H, Tootsie -- are as high as anyone's, and his name belongs in any account of American humor in the twentieth century.

Secondly, two days ago I celebrated Groucho Marx's 119th birthday by watching two performances of his signature entrance song, "Hello, I Must Be Going" -- first as performed in Animal Crackers in 1930 (when Groucho was forty), and then as performed on the Dick Cavett show in 1971 (when he was 81). I've probably said it before, but there's never been a greater comic artist, and there's probably never been any greater artist. David Steinberg said, "The most influential people who have ever lived are Jesus Christ, Alexander the Great, and Groucho Marx, and not necessarily in that order." Happy birthday, Dr. Hackenbush.

And finally, there's tonight's episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm -- the third episode of the new season, and the long-awaited beginning of the Seinfeld reunion story arc discussed previously at the Comedy Palace. Needless to say, the web is rife with clips, scoops, and rumors, destined to make your eyes glaze over as you defiantly shut your laptop and wait to just watch the goddamn thing. But this heartwarming behind-the-scenes featurette is a nice way to whet your appetite without plumbing the shallows of entertainment news.

There are more clips here and here.