Recent Comments

1. 18 days ago on Peanuts Begins

   To me, this is the first indication that Snoopy is really Charlie Brown’s dog. Or that Charlie Brown is Snoopy’s person.

2. 19 days ago on Peanuts Begins

   One of my favorite Schroeder strips was when he was playing a complicated piece with a large number of sharps and flats, and someone asked him how he could do that with a toy piano whose black keys were merely painted on; his reply was “I practice a lot.”

3. 21 days ago on Peanuts Begins

   I was going to say “because they were out of bacon?”

   “Everywhere there’s lots of piggies“Living piggie lives“You can see them out for dinner“With their piggie wives“Clutching forks and knives“To eat their bacon”—George Harrison, “Piggies”

4. 22 days ago on Pearls Before Swine

   Some of his puns are so bad, I wish that were true. This was one.

5. 22 days ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   Hobbes thinks so, as he usually comes up with rules so much more quickly than Calvin can.

6. 24 days ago on Luann

   Again, Rula Lenska fits the description. No one knew who she was when she did her VO5 commercials, but she was in “People”, was a guest on the “Tonight Show”, and found a brief movie career before it was over. She became a meme, thanks to Johnny Carson: “Who the Hell is Rula Lenska?”. She became famous for being famous.

   But yes, too many are speaking of someone who was famous long before their work in TV commercials, or who just paid bills that way in the early days BEFORE hitting fame elsewhere, right? Looking for someone who was previously obscure, but became noted precisely for their work in a commercial (or series of commercials)?

   Rula Lenska is still the exception that proves the rule. Some people get noticed while doing commercials, and THEN get a big break from there, but Lenska is the only person in my recall who actually leapt from near-complete obscurity to international fame by doing a series of commercials. Alberto VO5 made her their spokesperson, and she very naturally played it as if she were already famous. As a result, she became famous.

   Some of her ads are on YouTube.

7. 27 days ago on Luann

   When she did the commercials (Alberto VO-5; I DID have to look that up), no one knew her (she was a British actress in a few movies and TV, but was unknown in the U.S.), and she introduced herself as if we all knew her. To be truthful, she was an attractive woman with a posh English accent, and the ads were a considerable success.

   Johnny Carson’s jokes made her even more of a celebrity, and she actually appeared on his show during that time. Steve Allen did a special called “The Big Show” in 1980, where he did a drag parody of her, calling himself “Rula Shiksa”, when his producer played a trick on him, and brought the REAL Rula Lenska out, who shouted to a surprised Allen, “I’m Rula Lenska, and you’re NOT!”, parodying Chevy Chase’s line from SNL, and pushed him into a pool.

   Forty years on, she has faded from the spotlight, though at 76, she continues to occasionally appear on Brit TV and stage.

8. 27 days ago on Luann

   Rula Lenska. She did a series of “spokesperson” ads, which began with “I’m Rula Lenska”, as if everyone should know who she was. Johnny Carson eventually started with a line in his monologue that “This is the show that asks the burning question: ‘Who the Hell is Rula Lenska?’”. She later appeared on the show, and was photgraphed in “People” Magazine wearing a t-shirt with that same question. Jane Curtin portrayed her in a SNL skit. If that’s not getting famous from a shampoo commercial, then nothing is.

   And I did this all from memory. No Google necessary.

9. about 1 month ago on Luann

   But when they are YOUR kids, you deal with it. When they are guests in your home and are just being demanding, they quickly morph from “kids” into “brats”.

10. about 1 month ago on Ink Pen

    Actually, Ralston IS kidding him. I think that Hamhock’s entire shtick is that he is absolutely NOT cute, and no amount of lipstick one puts on him will improve it. His lack of cuteness, along with his utter lack of social grace are what make him funny.

    On the Cute scale, Pig in “Pearls Before Swine” gets a 9.5; Hamhock gets a 2, only slightly higher than Bixby.