If Obama is really going to be a "unifier"
 

this is no way to get started:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmi...residents.html

Why take a jab at Nancy Reagan of all people? Half of the electorate is already suspicious of him, and right out of the gate he takes a pot shot at a former First Lady that a lot of them admire. Silly and unnecessary.

Live by the ouija board, die by the ouija board.

I guess.

He may want to try channeling some dead comedians for better material.

If I could hack anyone's stuff, this would be my ultimate dead comedian seance:

1. Andy Kaufman
2. Lenny Bruce
3. Rodney Dangerfield

I'd mostly be interested in talking to Andy, truthfully. I think overall, Rodney would get the most laughs, though.

You gotta put Carlin on the list, asusming he has been restored to his prime.

I was going to mention a younger George Carlin, and there needs to be a seat for Richard Pryor at the table; cover your ears, children.

Richard Pryor and John Belushi as well. As for the more recent guys, Chris Farley has to be on the list, but I guess it wouldn't be wise to have the POTUS falling on and destroying coffee tables.

Good call. It was a small seance, so I had to make some cuts.

Carlin always made me laugh.

1. Andy Kaufman: for me, this guy is the king. not only because he was funny, but he was the first guy to really give the finger to fame. One perfect example is his concert at ASU...the students kept begging him to do Latka and he finally get pissed, busts out The Great Gatsby, and proceeds to read the book in its entirely. That was it. that was his show. To me, that is very punk and very hilarious. A real genius because he was doing comedy for himself, whether anyone else got the joke was irrelevant.

2. Lenny: first political/counter culture guy....wasnt afraid to talk about drugs, corruption, getting arrested. It was a refreshing turn of events from the tired old syrupy Rat Pack song and dance routines that were saturating the comedy circuit of the time. Lenny shocked people, but was honest. He made it cool to laugh a bit about our sacred cows....politics, religion, marriage.

3. Rodney: the master of the one-liner, the witty comeback, the pun.

"one time someone stole our car. i asked my dumb wife whether she saw who did it. She said, no but I did get the license plate number."

"during sex, my girlfriend likes to to talk to me. she often calls me from the hotel."

I love Belushi. In fact, I am currently reading a book about him, very good stuff.

I left him off, and guys like Farley, because my seance was for the stand-ups. the guys that flew without a net.

Belushi was more of a situational comic...a character actor. we dont get a lot of stand up from guys like him, Chevy, Farley, etc.

I also wanted to include Steve Martin, as he definitely cut his teeth in standup. He deserves to come to the seance. Im sorry for leaving him off....EXCUUUUUUUUSSSSSSE ME!

But Steve is not dead, so what's the trick in communnicating with him? Well, I guess his stand up career is dead, so maybe that counts.

The oterh day the local PBS station had a review of the Smothers Brothers comedy hour on and they showed a bunch of old clips. I had forgotten that Steve Martin was a weriter forht eshow nad was sometimes on camera. He had dark hair then, but was still funny.

Plus, if you have a categiry for guitar playing comics, I don't thik you are ever going to find a better guitar player than Mason Williams, who was the lead writer for that show (and a very talented musician, btw; he is the guy that wrote and perfromed Classical Gas).