The Daily Dose/November 23, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience.
Leading Off is on hiatus.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow fields a phone call at the hotel he’s never fielded before.
It was a bit after midnight and yours truly is farting around in the back office and the phone rings and this guy’s on the other end and – sounding as natural as if he’d called for a rate quote – asked if we had dental floss, either for sale or as a complimentary amenity…He’d been running around town for a half-hour or so looking for some and I still have some zero clue if he was a guest or merely some loser looking for a midnight dental floss fix.
Damn, I didn’t know whether to applaud this commitment to clean teeth or scorn him for scurrying around town so late looking for some because, as he found out, everything’s closed in town, except for the convenience store across town and it’s not reasonable to think they carry dental floss…As it was, we don’t have it, either at the sundry stand or as an amenity, and he thanked me and hung up.
The Regular Guys: It’s Chapter 1 in Gaylon’s hilarious novel about Lenny and Larry, two comedians going nowhere on their own who team up to become the biggest act in show business. The first few chapters are free before we start charging you, the same trick the drug dealers use.
Lenny looked in his rearview mirror, saw the police car’s blue, yellow and red lights flashing and, despite Biblical prohibition against doing so, uttered the first and last names of the human form of the Christian triumvirate in a manner inconsistent with praise.
“What the hell’s going on here? I wasn’t going a hair over 90!”
Columns, books, shopping lists, click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.
On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1733 – A slave insurrection begins in St John in the Dutch West Indies – now the US Virgin Islands – when 150 African slaves revolt against the owners of the island’s plantations. The uprising began with a revolt at a plantation and the takeover of a fort at Coral Bay. The insurrection would not be put down until the following August, with help from French and Swiss soldiers from Martinique, over 300 miles away.
In 1982 – The Minnesota North Stars and the New York Islanders tie the NHL record most combined goals in a tie game in an 8-8 tie. Steve Payne and Neil Broten each have hat tricks for the North Stars, while Bryan Trottier has two goals, one of seven Islanders to score in the game. Each team scored three goals in the first period, two goals in the second period and three in the third period, the final goal coming with 4 minutes and 28 seconds left in the game. It was the third of nine 8-8 ties in NHL history.
In 1985 – Starship – once Jefferson Starship and before that Jefferson Airplane – is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the second and final consecutive week with We Built This City. The song also went to #1 in Canada, Australia and South Africa and peaked at #12 in Great Britain. It was the twelfth of 17 Top 40 hits for the group, their fifth of eight Top 10 hits and the first of three #1 songs. Despite its commercial success, the song – written in part by Bernie Taupin and Peter Wolfe, formerly the lead singer of the J. Geils Band – routinely pops up on lists of the worst songs of the era.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
When the archer misses the center of the target, he turns round and seeks for the cause of his failure in himself.
Will Durant
The Story of Civilization, Vol. I: Our Oriental Heritage
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
Four presidents of the United States have been assassinated: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield. William McKinley and John F Kennedy.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
What was Starship’s first Top 40 hit? – Answer next time!
