There was a Simpsons years ago in which Bart was watching Krusty the Klown as he hosted "Saturday Night Live" (which by the way for those of you in your 20s, used to be a comedy show). So Krusty is doing a horrific skit called "NYPD Shoe," and its lack of humor leads Bart to lament, "Man, I miss Joe Piscopo."
I was reminded of this when we loaded our new AMI "Video of the Week" today. It features the once-great Eddie Murphy doing Jessie Jackson. If you've never seen this skit, you should. It was simply amazing how talented Murphy once was - from his stand-up comedy to his James Brown to his singing abilities when Rick James is in the same studio. I have never laughed so much as when I saw Piscopo and Murphy play Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder respectively on SNL (and apparently Murphy caught grief for his portrayal).
It got me to thinking about how some entertainers have us in the cradle of their palms, like Piscopo did, and then they lose it. Hello trainwreck that was The Chevy Chase Show!
Of course, one of the more popular comedic hosts today is Jon Stewart, the erstwhile four-foot-three William & Mary graduate (highest suicide rate of any college in America) who hosts Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," one of the funnier shows on TV.
And we've noticed lately that Jon's been talking a lot of lip fur. Last night while hosting the Oscars he made a comment about it, and then recently he touched on the cookie duster in this interview with the Associated Press.
And while Jon's currently a very funny guy, with the Labia Sebucula (Latin for 'lip sweater") is a primary muse right now, let's hope he does not join Messrs. Chase, Murphy, Piscopo, and the other guys who forgot how to be funny and started making movies like "Norbit" or "Funny Farm."