The Hot Blog

"Hey! You've got my vibrator!"

No offense, Dave, but the pacucity of responses here may give you a good idea of the demographic that is attracted to your site. Way younger than you, way younger than me.

Joe Leydon,
You may be right about the demographic thing, but it is nice to get a history lesson every now and then. Darn it, even Larry Gross' reminiscences feel old. I remember going to see 48 Hrs when I was living in Germany. Ever heard Eddie giggle 'auf deutsch"?

Sorry, click post too quickly.
I didn't know who on earth Eddie Murphy was... as far as I was concerned he was some really funny black guy who had his own way of doing things. Remember, SNL was not on the radar at all in Europe back then. Well, at the max, people would have HEARD about it because of The Blues Brothers, Bill Murray and Steve Martin. But ask anyone had they ever seen it...
Which brings me back to my main point. It's nice that Dave wrote that. Gives a little piece of hisory as to GIANTS some people never knew existed.

When i read pieces like this, i think of that old Martin Short sketch he dead on SNL with old Vaudeville performer going "GIVE ME A C.... A BOUNCY C"

We should always remember those who helped pave the road we now walk on.

I think the lack of comments is simply due to the nature of Joffe's job. We see the work of his clients, so we can appreciate their talents. But it's impossible for us to know just exactly what these behind-the-scenes guys do. I know there's such a thing as "the art of the deal," but the average person can't be expected to care about it in the same way they care about a favorite performer, director, writer, etc. The man's track record is impressive, and I have the utmost respect for what I assume he did to earn it. But that's just it -- I have to assume. Even an insider like Dave admits he didn't know much about Joffe. Still, they also serve who schmooze, wheel and deal! RIP

Please don't misunderstand: I am very glad David posted this. Every so often, though, something like this reminds me of the demographic disparity you face even in a niche medium like a blog. It's kinda-sorta like teaching at the college level: Every year, I have to drop a few pop-culture references and replace them with others, just so any comparisons I make -- "Valentino was the (FILL IN THE BLANK) of his time" -- will make any sense to my students, many of whom appear to think nothing that happened before they were born is in any way relevant to their lives.

Another end of an era.

Thing is, Joe, the people who commment on this blog are only a small sliver of the people reading this blog. You have no way of knowing that. But I am reminded of it every day... shocked by it sometime.

I think there is an over-60 contingent that is still web-averse. But there is also an over-60 group that is online as much as the kids. They use it differently - you should hear the conversations with some older people trying to sign up for a TypePad account - but they are there.

Really, the new gen barely knows who Woody Allen, Billy Crystal and Robin Williams are... and they were the lede in every story.

And Yancy... when I say I didn't really know Charlie, I mean I didn't go to his house for parties. As far as his career, I know it pretty well... a lot of it does represent my youth. I was watching Take The Money & Run at summer camp when I was 8. I remember that first Robin Williams special on HBO - which I wish was available on DVD somewhere - like the back of my hand. I remember the moves he made... walking out into the audience... the celebrities he made fun of in the room... and him slowing it all down with the elderly character with a crack in his speech pattern.

As for Billy and Marty, I was there at SNL in their year, remember the steps towards what became movie stardom, Larry David sitting in that office, frustrated and doing Tony Montana every day, Wired coming out and freaking out half the people on the show who were with John Belushi for that ride (and having a stunningly civil and indulgent - on his part - discussion with Tom Malone about the book and what it might not have gotten wrong... while Jim B was suffering greatly, tearing phones out of walls), Perfect Jamie Lee Curtis hanging around for Chris Guest, baby Marc Shaiman, genius/historian Hal Wilner, etc, etc, etc.

That all was more than 20 years ago now. My childhood. Back when Woody was still God, 42nd St was still fabulously disgusting, and and Jim Henson was alive.

As for 48 Hrs, I went to the 48 Hr marathon of screenings and watched it 3 or 4 times right off the bat. Eddie came back to SNL that next year for the Christmas show... I was working on Black Like Eddie in my small way... and he has 4 bodyguards at the private party after the show. Things move fast in this business. But they don't change all that much.

Larry Gordon was a deity to me when I got to L.A. I really wanted to be his next Joel Silver... and when I told him that, he said, with a laugh, that he could only do that once in a lifetime. (And Larry Gross opening up his diary to the MCN readership is a real act of generosity. There is a ton to be gleaned and he is fearless about exposing his own thoughts while on training wheels.)

And my first job lost in L.A.? On Eddie's greenlit TV show, "What's Alan Watching?," which got killed in the WGA strike.

I'm not that old, but I am 25 years in the business of show, in many capacities. And I have always been a student.

I just ran into the original version of The Hot Button that I wrote to pitch the Chicago Trib and Chicago Reader in 1993. Actually, I think this was a second piece that wasn't a bunch of qick hits - the original concept - but a piece on Box Office Gross vs Real Profits using "My Cousin Vinny" as an example. (It may have run, in some form, in the Trib, as a story.) Back then, I ran numbers based on Variety's annual issues with box office stats. There was no web.

Things have changed a lot in 15 years. But again, gicen a little time and perspective, people remain people and the same things tend to cycle around.

Well, actually, David, I do have ways of knowing all about that and more. I have a master's degree in mass communications studies, and teach media courses at UH's Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, remember? Trust me: I know all about the lurker phenom. I am sure some of my students have spent entire semesters as lurkers on your site after I've recommended it to them.

But never mind. Your mentioning Billy Crystal reminds me of something I posted on this blog three years ago, after the death of Peter Jennings:

I feel a chill up my spine right now, as I realize I am seeing the end of an era, a change not necessarily for the better. And, yeah, I realize that many people on this blog are young enough to wonder why old fogies like David and I (well, I'm older and fogier than David, I admit)are making such a big deal about this. But just wait. You too will live long enough to see the end of things you thought would last forever, would remain important forever. Just as my parents and grandparents did, just as your children and your grandchildren will.

Oddly enough, I'm reminded of something Billy Crystal once said in an interview. Something like: "When Jay Leno took over the Tonight Show from Johnny Carson, I felt like my generation had finally become the establishment in showbiz." Well, Leno has already announced his departure plans. Who will become the establishment when he moves on?

Conan O'Brien.

Speaking of the same generation as Conan O'Brien, it's a little startling that the man who will probably be elected our next President is roughly halfway in age between myself and my parents. That clock never stops ticking...

JeffMcM: Wait until the day arrives when you cast your vote for a Presidential candidate who is younger than you are. You will feel... strange.

And as I have posted elsewhere: This fall, the average freshman in college will be 18 -- that is, someone born in 1990. In other words, someone who has no living memory of a time when M*A*S*H aired in prime time -- and Law & Order didn't.

leydon -- getting old is just weird....not to mention hard to explain to those too young to have even given the subject any thought....
i have to do a few interviews at comic-con later this month and have written a big mental post-it reminding myself not to say i was buying comics when they were still a dime and 'the fantastic four' was just a gleam in stan lee's eye......

your 'presidential vote' comment was right on the money...

Scooterzz: Consider this: I am 55 years old, will be 56 next month. I turned 20 in 1972 – the year that Citizen Kane was 31 years old. Anyone who is 20 in any of my classes: For them, The Godfather is 36 years old. Hell, In the Heat of the Night is 41 years old for them. I damn well better remain au courant about popular culture if I want to reach them at all.

leydon -- since i've got a couple of years on you, i get where you're coming from.... my question would be: are you comfortable remaining 'au courant about popular culture' or is it a chore?...do you enjoy it or resent having to do it?
i've been lucky in that i've always been a tech early adaptor, pop culture junkie and have never looked my age...but, even with that, keeping up is sometimes work...
don't mean to pry...just curious....

Geez, Scoot: We’re on a blog, for pity’s sake. How can you be accused of prying? But seriously: No, it’s not a chore at all. I love being in a position, thank to my writing for Variety and my teaching, where it behooves me to always be aware of new developments, new talents, etc. Thanks to Variety, I was the among the first people to review the debut features by people like M. Night Shyamalan (Praying With Anger, Michael Kang (The Hotel), Alejandro Amenabar (Thesis, Lexi Alexander (Green Street Hooligans, and Paul Thomas Anderson (Hard Eight). I love being in a position where I can discover and support new, promising talent. (BTW: I hope all of you will look out for Humbolt County in September.) As for being aware of new developments: As my mentor once told me: You must know everything.

thanks for the response and good on ya for the 'humbolt county' plug....i interviewed mark cuban a few days ago at tca and he gave me a boxed-set of hdnet movies containing: flawless, humbolt county, surfwise, mister foe (jamie bell, yea!), quid pro quo and red......
'humbolt county' is pretty wonderful.....

i suppose it's impossible that brian cox could get an oscar nom for 'red' but he sure deserves one to my eyes.....

"As my mentor once told me: You must know everything."

i'm assuming your mentor wasn't william goldman....

My mentor was the late, great Tom Bell at Loyola University in New Orleans. If I can do nearly as much for any of my students as he did for me, I will be blessed. Seriously.

As for Humbolt Country:

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936569.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

Magnum P.I. was a sitcom?

Well, that explains a lot of what I have been missing over the years I guess.

You misquote.

Would you not say that Selleck was a good looking, but primarily comic actor in Magnum and that Hillerman was clearly in a comedy?

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