Richard Roeper Blog

For entertainment reasons, if nothing else, you gotta be rooting for Scott Lee Cohen to gather the 25,000 signatures he’ll need by June 21 to gain a spot on the ballot in the race for governor of Illinois.

Cohen, disgraced into withdrawing as a lieutenant governor candidate, recently announced his intentions to run for governor at a “rally” attended by a crowd that was more like a gathering than a crowd. Perhaps he looked at the track records of recent Illinois governors and figured the bar was lower than it is for lieutenant guv.

After soliciting resumes for a running mate as if he were looking for someone to handle the night shift at a White Castle, Cohen says Baxter Swilley will be his lieutenant governor candidate.

Baxter Swilley! Fantastic name. Tell me that doesn’t sound like a character from one of those old screwball comedies where everyone swills martinis and talks in fast, clipped tones. “Dexter, when are you going to get over the fact that I was once engaged to Baxter Swilley? He doesn’t mean anything to me now, darling!”

I’m not saying Scott Lee Cohen deserves to be the next governor of Illinois, but at the very least he deserves his own reality show on cable access in Chicago.

You know you’d watch.

Hazing Arizona

Like millions of other American citizens who abhor the idea of racial profiling, I believe Arizona’s immigration law is a wrongheaded and simpleminded non-solution to an admittedly serious problem.

But you’ve got to raise an eyebrow at some of the more overwrought and ridiculous reactions to the new law as well.

Protesters with picket signs outside Wrigley Field when the Arizona Diamondbacks were in town? Calls for the White Sox to move their spring training facility out of Arizona? A movement to get the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star game moved from Phoenix? Good intentions, wrong targets.

Not to mention the Twitterers, Facebookers and bloggers who called for a boycott of Arizona Iced Tea — which is brewed in New York. In the immortal words of Otter from Delta House, “I think this situation absolutely requires a futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part.” It’d be difficult to come up with something more futile and stupid than boycotting a New York-brewed iced tea because it has the name “Arizona” on the can.

Now comes word Highland Park’s girls basketball team isn’t going to a tournament in Arizona because the trip “would not be aligned with our beliefs and values,” according to a District 113 official quoted in a Tribune story.

Seems unfair to plunge the girls into the middle of this controversy after they’d spent months raising funds for the trip. It’s a slippery slope when school officials start injecting their political beliefs into extracurricular activities such as this. I wouldn’t go so far as to call I “stupid and futile,” but it seems misguided and unfair.

Meanwhile, I will be deleting the 1969 Mark Lindsay single “Arizona” from my iPod and throwing out my copy of the Coen brothers’ “Raising Arizona.”

It’s the least I can do. The very least.

Straight talk about gay actors

When I read Newsweek writer Ramin Setoodeh’s essay in which he asked why we accept straight actors in gay roles much more readily than gay actors in straight roles, I thought, uh-oh. It would have been an upset if Setoodeh hadn’t come under fire for his comments.

Actress Kristin Chenoweth and blogger Perez Hilton ripped into Setoodeh, and “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy called for a boycott of Newsweek until Setoodeh apologizes. (Again with the boycotts.)

In a follow-up piece, Setoodeh — who is openly gay — told of receiving nasty e-mails, anonymous phone calls and “a creepy letter” sent to his home. Nothing like combatting perceived bigotry with personal attacks and hatred.

Thing is, Setoodeh’s main point was valid — that audiences will buy the likes of Jake Gyllenhaall, Sean Penn, Robin Williams, et al., playing gay, but “if an actor the stature of George Clooney came out of the closet today, would we still accept him as a heterosexual leading man?”

Odds are at least one or two of the world’s most macho, hetero-appearing leading men are closeted gays. (We know that was the case with Rock Hudson, among others.) But any action star or romantic hero entertaining the notion of coming out would be met with a wall of opposition from agents, managers, handlers, etc., that would tell him he’s committing career suicide.

Can a gay man have a career as a romantic lead? Sure. As long as we don’t know the truth about him.

Richard Roeper will be signing copies of his book Bet the House at the Hammond Horseshoe at 9 tonight and at the Barnes and Noble at 1441 W. Webster Place at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Should we really be surprised Larry King is getting divorced again?

Did King have affair with wife\’s sister?

After all, King has been married eight times, to seven women. He seems to be a lot better at GETTING married than staying married. I believe his first marriage was to Bette Davis, ba dum bum.

Radar Online and the National Enquirer are reporting that King carried on with Shannon Engemann, 46, the younger sister of seventh wife, Shawn Southwick, 50. King lavished Engemann with more than $1 million in cash and gifts, including a $160,000 car, according to Radar, but Engemann says these stories are “ludicrous” and that King has been “like a father” to her.

Shannon Engemann

Wow. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: a woman in America has better odds of becoming Larry King’s wife than she has of winning the lottery. That’s not a joke, that’s a mathematical fact.

Of course, much of what we’re reading could turn out to be rumor and speculation—-but it is a fact that King and Southwick are splitting, and while we’re making the jokes (and I’m including myself among those chuckling about Larry’s crazy track record), the sad part is their two young children will be affected by this. And yeah, maybe Larry looks a lot more like their grandpa than their Daddy, but he is their father. The humor in all this is no doubt lost on them. (Not that anyone is making fun of the boys. And at least they’ll be provided for financially, right?)

As for the charms of Larry King: most of us see the hunched-over guy in the suspenders, barking his questions to newsmakers and starlets alike, and we find it hard to fathom. Sure he’s rich and famous, but especially by the time you get to wives five, six, seven, you’d think they’d hesitate before making it legal.

Larry is the undisputed King of multiple marriages. He’s been wed more times than Letterman, Leno, Kimmel, Conan and Fallon put together.

Gooped up on DayQuil and caffeine, having just arrived from Los Angeles, while standing outside a soundstage in Albuquerque, a couple of days away from going to Las Vegas, I was on the phone with my agent in Chicago when I got an email from Howard Stern’s producer in New York. For a quick second, I thought my head might actually explode. Well, not actually, but you know what I mean.

This was last week. While I was “on vacation.” (From my job as a columnist for the Sun-Times, that is.)

My travels began with a flight from O’Hare to Los Angeles for the Oscars and an appearance on “The Tonight Show” last Monday. After blogging and Twittering and “column-ing” about the Academy Awards on Sunday night, on Monday afternoon I headed over to the NBC studios in Burbank for a taping of “The Tonight Show.” A buddy of mine from Chicago happened to be in L.A. on business, and he was able to join me backstage and hang out as I went over the segment with producer Steve Ridgeway and chatted about movies with Jay. We were also able to enjoy a Stella Artois, thanks to the courtesy cart. Love the backstage courtesy cart.

I’ve been on “The Tonight Show”  more than 20 times over the last decade—-all thanks to my partnership with Roger Ebert. Roger and Gene were frequent guests on the Tonight Show, starting with the Johnny Carson days and continuing through the Leno era. They were also great favorites of David Letterman. On Letterman’s show, the first guest always departs before the second guest comes on. Once Julia Roberts asked Dave, “If the first guest doesn’t stick around, what are the two chairs for?”

“Siskel and Ebert,” replied Letterman.

After I was named as Roger’s permanent co-host and we had been on the air for about a year or so, the call came to do the “Tonight Show.” With Roger as the buffer, the appearances were always fun and exciting. We’d go out there and kick around the movies of the day, and the eight-minute segment would go by in a blur.

When Roger was sidelined, Jay Leno was the first guest co-host on “Ebert & Roeper.” After I did a guest shot on “Tonight,” we went across the lot to a makeshift balcony set and taped a full review show. Jay did this purely out of respect to Roger and the show.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve been a solo guest on “Tonight” a handful of times. It’s never going to be the same without Roger there, but I’m grateful for the opportunity to talk movies with Jay and to promote this site and other projects, including my latest book. When I’m backstage, I always think about Roger and his wife Chaz, and all the great times we had before and after our “Tonight Show” appearances. (I’ll never forget a post-Tonight dinner with Roger and Michael Moore. At one point during a discussion of politics, Moore said to Roger, “And I thought I was a liberal!”)

Last Monday, the first guest was Simon Cowell, who sported an alarming display of man-cleavage and welcomed his fiance.

Simon Cowell on the Tonight Show

Then it was my turn. I think the segment went pretty well; got a lot of nice feedback. I never watch these appearances, because once they’re over, they’re over, and the idea of Tivo’ing myself or actually watching it in ‘real time’—-I don’t know. As it is I’m writing an extended blog entry about me-me-me, right? I don’t need to watch myself on television. But here’s the link anyway

RR on the Tonight Show

When we cut to a commercial break, Simon was very complimentary about my segment and also asked questions about the book and whether I had thought of turning it into a reality series. (The answer would be yes.) He talked about how much he loved Chicago and wished me success with the book. He was nothing like the guy who reduces contestants to puddles of despair on “American Idol.”

On Tuesday I was off to Albuquerque to tape a month’s worth of  segments for the Reelz Channel, including a piece with Casey Messer, host of “Movies & Music.”

Which brings us to that moment outside a soundstage in Albuquerque…

As I was locking in the deal to become Roe Conn’s co-host on WLS (890-AM), I was hearing from Howard Stern’s producer, Gary Dell’Abate, asking if I could join Howard in-studio in early April. With the blessing of the WLS brass, I confirmed the Stern appearance (as well as a number of other radio, TV and in-person promotional opportunities for the book). My official start date for the radio gig is April 12, which gives me time to honor my commitments to promote Bet the House and take care of some other business before we launch the show.

Phil Rosenthal column re: WLS gig

Robert Feder column re: WLS

Sun-Times story on WLS gig

As I leaving Albuquerque, I was doing interviews about the radio show and the book, powering off the iPhone just before I boarded a plane to Las Vegas, where I planned to play in the Wynn Classic, catch a Sox/Cubs exhibition game, share some good times and maybe even get some sleep.

It all worked out, and then some. I ended up finishing sixth in a tournament at the Wynn Classic, and I won’t punish you with details of the two-day experience other than to say I was the only non-pro at the final table, I ran very well and played pretty solid poker—and if my KK hadn’t gotten cracked by AQ, who knows, maybe I would have the whole thing. (I certainly would have been the chip leader.) It was still pretty exciting to mix it up with guys who have career winnings in excess of $1 million and to hang tough.

Now I’m back in Chicago, looking at a crazy-busy March and early April, followed by a new adventure that I’m really excited about. If you live in the Chicago area, I hope you’ll tune every day from 2-6 p.m. (Well, if you tune in every day from 2-6 p.m. I will come to your home and hug you. I’d be thrilled if you tuned in from time to time.) If you’re outside the listening arena, you can catch the show on podcast.

I’m still going to be writing the column, doing this blog, reviewing movies, appearing on Reelz Channel and writing books. Given the economy and the ever-dwindling number of opportunities for film critics, opinion journalists, radio hosts, et al., I feel insanely fortunate these days. If you look at the Comments sections under those stories about the WLS gig, you’ll see that a few people have worked themselves into a lather of hatred and envy over this latest news. That’s OK. Have at it. I always look at this way—-would you rather be the guy who has the jobs, or the guy who’s lurking anonymously on media message boards, spewing bile about someone else instead of working on his own career situation and obvious personal issues?

All I can do is work my ass off. Always have, always will.

Cheers!

RR

From Robert Feder’s blog today:

Richard Roeper, the Sun-Times columnist and multimedia movie critic whose reviews appear on richardroeper.com, Starz, YouTube, hulu.com and elsewhere, turns up withJay Leno on NBC’s new “Tonight Show” Monday to recap the Academy Awards. (Roeper’s Best Picture Oscar prediction: “The Hurt Locker.”) He’ll also talk about his new book, Bet the House: How I Gambled over a Grand a Day for 30 Days on Sports, Poker, and Games of Chance, published by Chicago Review Press.

Roeper hosts \”Starz Inside\”

Fascinating stuff!

May 28, 2009                                                                                               

LENO – 33,000 JOKES AND COUNTING

CONAN FEATURES FEWER JOKES, DIFFERENT TARGETS

New Study Tallies Late Nite TV Political Humor Since 1992

Jay Leno has told over 33,000 jokes about public figures since taking over the “Tonight Show” in 1992, over four times as many as his successor Conan O’Brien, according to a Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) study that tallies jokes by late night TV comedians.  The study also finds that Leno’s favorite target was Bill Clinton, while Conan aimed the most barbs at George W. Bush. According to CMPA President Dr. Robert Lichter, “Conan will make the “Tonight Show” monologues less political but more liberal.”

 These joke totals are the latest from the CMPA “JokeWatch” project, which has tallied jokes in the opening monologues of late night TV talk show hosts since 1988, as well as “Comedy Central” shows beginning in 2003. This report covers the period from May 25, 1992, when Jay Leno became the sole host of the “Tonight Show,” through December 31, 2008. The Center for Media and Public Affairs is a nonpartisan media research organization affiliated with George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

Major Findings:

Jay Leno – Jay Leno told 33,331 jokes about public figures from his debut as permanent host of the “Tonight Show” in 1992 through 2008, over four times as many as his new replacement Conan O’Brien. Leno’s favorite target during that time was Bill Clinton, whom he zinged 4,468 times, nearly 50% more often than number two target George W. Bush (2,999 jokes).

Several other Clinton administration figures were among the most prominent joke targets for Leno. Clinton’s Vice-President Al Gore placed third with 953 jokes and Hillary Clinton placed fourth with 873. Two other figures from the “Clinton scandals” made the Top 20 list: #8 Monica Lewinski (450 jokes) and #20 Paula Jones (163 jokes). Incoming President Barack Obama placed 18^th with 183 jokes. The most prominent non-political targets were O.J. Simpson at #5 (737 jokes) and Michael Jackson at #7 (488 jokes).

Conan O’Brien – Conan told only 7,057 jokes about public figures from 1992 during the same time period. His #1 target was George W. Bush, who edged out Bill Clinton by 963 to 955 jokes. 1996 GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole edged out Hillary Clinton for third place by 203 to 201 jokes.

Conan paid relatively less attention than Leno to the Clinton scandals and more to GOP figures. Monica Lewinsky placed #17 (41 jokes) on his list, and Paula Jones didn’t make the top 20 list. By contrast, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appears on Conan’s top 10 list (at #8 with 138 jokes) but didn’t make Jay Leno’s top 20, despite announcing his candidacy for governor on the “Tonight Show” in 2003. However, President-elect Obama placed 13^th with 57 jokes. Conan’s non-political targets reversed Leno’s order: Michael Jackson finished 7^th with 140 jokes but O.J. dropped to 10^th with 83.

Leno’s Top 20 – 1. Bill Clinton (4,468 jokes); 2.George W. Bush (2,999); 3. Al Gore (953); 4. Hillary Clinton (873); 5. O.J. Simpson (737); 6. Dick Cheney (578); 7. Michael Jackson (488); 8. Monica Lewinsky (450); 9. Bob Dole (444); 10. John McCain (346); 11. John Kerry (341); 12. George H.W. Bush (294); 13. Ross Perot (276); 14. Dan Quayle (251); 15. Martha Stewart (198); 16. Gary Condit (196); 17. Newt Gingrich (195); 18. Barack Obama (183); 19. Saddam Hussein (182); 20. Paula Jones (163)

Conan’s Top 20 – 1. George W. Bush (963 jokes); 2. Bill Clinton (955); 3. Bob Dole (203); 4. Hillary Clinton (201); 5. Al Gore (188); 6. John McCain (147); 7. Michael Jackson (140); 8. Arnold Schwarzenegger (138); 9. Dick Cheney (105); 10. O.J. Simpson (83); 11. Martha Stewart (80); 12. Sarah Palin (67); 13. Barack Obama (57); 14. Saddam Hussein (54); 15. John Kerry (52); 16. Dan Quayle (50); 17. Monica Lewinsky (41); 18. Newt Gingrich (39); 19. Janet Reno (35); 20. Paris Hilton (34)