How can you satirize someone who does it himself every day? Today’s Trumpery is a letter to the New York Times attacking columnist Gail Collins, which malicious pencil pushers there have left unedited: “Her storytelling ability and word usage (coming from me, who has written many bestsellers), is not at a very high level.” Collins responds evenly, noting, “I once got an aggrieved message...

The classic comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are best remembered for their “Who’s on First” baseball routine. But they had other routines (most based on burlesque routines that they reworked) that were funnier. My favorite: the loafing routine. Not that this doesn’t just work due to the scripting but the the timing and onstage chemistry between the two. A short routine but...

Our Quote of the Day this time is a show biz quote of the day from Betty White — who my 89 year old mother meet years ago on a plane and adored– commenting on Charlie Sheen. Via the New York Daily News: “I cannot stand the people who get wonderful starts in show business, and who abuse it,” White told London’s Daily Mail. “Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen, for example, although...

The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart has done his definitive Glenn Beck parody…topping his previous ones. The subject this time: Beck’s and Fox’s announcement that Beck will “transition” his show off into other projects (translation: it has not worked out for him and Fox). Here via a Hulu embed is the full episode: h/T TV Squad

YES America DOES have talent. Watch a young girl with pizazz do “I Enjoy Being a Girl” from Flower Drum Song: The definitive version of this was done by Pat Suzuki in the original cast: And then Nancy Kwan did a great version of it in the 1961 box-office flop version of the musical:

Charlie Sheen may be “Winning! Duh!” now that he has fine tuned his stage show. But music producer Cameron Giddings and The Fanatics will be “Winning! Duh!” if a record company picks up this song “Charlie Sheen.” Watch it here before it’s at the top of the charts:

Charlie Sheen truly is “Winning! Duh” in Cleveland.

Some things are so far out, it’s hard to believe they’re true. Like when a broadcaster in one of the most open, liberal countries in the world bans episodes of a TV show like The Simpsons as a public safety measure. But according to an incredulous Patrick Etschmayer, Swiss Radio and Television [SRF] has done precisely that. For Switzerland’s News, Patrick Etschmayer writes in part: After...

And now a musical interlude: Walk This Way : Steven Tyler & Carrie Underwood : 2011 ACM Country Music Awards Live. Tyler shows that he is still one of rock’s greats:

If initial reactions to his stage show are any indication, Charlie Sheen needs to redo his t-shirt to say: “Losing! DUH!” Variety sometimes uses the term “Big B.O.” for “big box office.” The other meaning of “B.O.” involves a smell. And reactions to Sheen’s show strongly suggest that in this case “B.O.” doesn’t refer to “box office.” Initial...

I must apologize for accusing Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump and “[e]very purported Republican candidate for president” in my March 31 (not April 1) article of being birthers’ “winkers,” “demurers,” “coy players,” or “issue dodgers.” According to a Salon article yesterday, April 1, they were all “just kidding about all that stuff,” and “the entire thing was just...

In an April Fools’ Day surprise, Arianna Huffington, president and editor in chief of Huffington Post Media Group, announced today that her company will start paying non-staff contributors and bloggers for their content. In recent months, Arianna Huffington has faced pressure from freelance journalists who are frustrated with the Huffington Post’s unwillingness to pay for the majority of their content. In...

As you may know, The Times is now charging for unlimited access to NYTimes.com and NYTimes apps. Arianna Huffington has decided to follow suit. In an announcement just published, she starts: Today marks a significant transition for The Huffington Post Media Group, as we introduce digital subscriptions for employees of The New York Times. It’s an important step that we hope you will see as an investment...

Since the 2012 election season has already begun, we can anticipate nothing being accomplished with respect to any new major federal legislation. Instead, the status quo will continue as Congress is completely gridlocked and paralyzed. The only excitement will be how long the federal government stays closed, and after a few months of general inactivity, will anyone really notice or care. TMV writers and readers...

A song for all of us cat lovers (and even those who aren’t): The Mean Kitty Song. (I have a 16 1/2 year old lady cat and a 10 month old boy cat).

It’s so heartening when you see a talented child star make the leap into adulthood — doing it with class, hard and serious work at his craft and, in effect, honoring his child actor persona and his roles. Young British actor Daniel Radcliffe, aka “Harry Potter” is doing it on Broadway. The New York Post’s review: Daniel Radcliffe is so adorable in his Broadway musical debut,...

“What kind of fool do you think I am/to believe you really give a damn./You’re just looking out for number one./You wanna win, no way you’re gonna lose/between me and you, which one will you choose?/I know you’re looking out for number one./Just look behind the silver screen you’ve built around yourself./You’ll find you’re just the same as anybody else./And that’s...

Elizabeth Taylor has died at 79 without publishing her memoirs, but that would have been redundant. Everything about her, from the age of ten, is on film and in old magazines. We never met but, in 1958, she saved my best friend’s life. I had sent Bob Levin to interview her and her then-husband Mike Todd for Redbook. He was to see her on a Saturday morning, but the day before she was in bed with bronchitis...

Jozef Danglar, Slovakia This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

by Walter Brasch There has been a lot in the news this past week. Most important, if measured by getting most of the ink and air time, is the continuing soap opera, “Charlie and the CBS Factory.” The latest in a seemingly never-ending story is that after Charlie Sheen melted down, was fired, and spread himself to every known television talk show, declaring himself to be a winner and announcing a $100...

Bonnie Tyler sings “Sending Me Angels.” This is for everyone who hears it to enjoy and appreciate, but it goes out especially to a friend who I know reads TMV. She knows who she is.

The disdain for ordinary working stiffs shown by Republican politicians in general and the new crop of Republican governors in particular seems boundless. And, of course, is shortsighted, which is why union-busting Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin and Chris Christie in New Jersey will serve single terms and then get the boot. * * * * * I have a sense of deja vu all over again in reading that Maine Governor...

If Charlie Sheen’s camp is behind the reports that CBS wants him back on the smash comedy “Two and a Half Men” then he isn’t really “Winning. Duh.” because Warner Bros. sources are shooting that prospect down in no uncertain terms: There is “no chance” of Charlie Sheen coming back to “Two and a Half Men” — this according to sources connected...

Iconic multiple-Oscar-winning actress and mega-celebrity Elizabeth Taylor, once called “the most beautiful woman in the world” and an ongoing subject in tabloids due to her many marriages and late-in-life-illnesses, is dead at 79. But make no mistake about it: Taylor will also be remembered as a top-flight actress. She was pitchforked into the headlines in the mainstream and tabloid medias often...

To another season of “Two and a Half Men” or not to another season of “Two and a Half Men?” Actually that is NOT the question. Now it’s more like, will Charlie Sheen return to another season of “Two and a Half Men” or will he say “LOSING! DUH!” to CBS and say “WINNING! DUH!” as he signs a contract for a new show at Fox? A variety of reports are...