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“Singer” Mindy McCready rehab bound!

July 23rd, 2008 by Scott Marks

It took her long enough, but meshuggina warbler Mindy McCready is finally about to enter Celebrity College. According to People Magazine, the Nashville nitz checked into an emergency room on July 16 and has been admitted to an extended-care rehab facility.

“Mindy McCready did receive emergency care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center,” the star’s rep told People. “Other issues made it prudent for her to seek longer-term and broader-based treatment.”

Mindy’s people also asked that everyone just leave their client alone. Who is kicking down her mansion door? The only way she keeps her name in the spotlight is by continually embarrassing herself.

Since January, Mindy received an early release from jail, which was quickly followed by revelations that the Country Queen began a relationship with pitcher Roger Clemens when she was 15-years-old (even her mom confirmed it), last month she again violated her parole and now a mid-summer trip to rehab! I wonder what her Halloween costume will be.

Am I the only one saddened to hear of Mindy’s expensive vacation to a Quittersville spa? Take away the addictive behavior and borderline personality quirks and all that’s left is another noisome country and western singer. What good is that? Party on, McCready!

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Dig A Hole: Mr. George Carlin

June 23rd, 2008 by Scott Marks

$h[+! The last thing that I wanted to do tonight was bid farewell to the paladin of stand-up.

George Carlin, one of the most influential stand-up comic of this or any other generation, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday. He was 71.

George Denis Patrick Carlin was born in New York City on May 12, 1937. He was educated mostly in Catholic schools and he attended (but was expelled from) Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, the same alma mater as Regis Philbin and (Timpani!) Martin Scorsese!

A stint as a radar technician in the Air Force brought him to Bossier City, Louisiana. Labeled an “unproductive airman” by his superiors, Carlin was discharged on July 29, 1957. He began working as a disc jockey on KJOE, a radio station based in the nearby city of Shreveport.

Late in 1959, Carlin partnered with Jack Burns as a short-lived comedy team. When the act broke up in 1962, Burns signed on with Chicago’s Second City while Carlin pursued a solo career in (and ultimately redefining) stand-up comedy.

His first television appearance was on The Mike Douglas Show in 1965. Soon Carlin began guesting on television variety shows, and I saw them all. He broke into television as a writer and performer on The Kraft Summer Music Hall (1966). The summer replacement series reunited George with Jack Burns who was making a name for himself as half of the comedy team Burns and (Avery) Schreiber.

This was around the time when I began channeling the art of “actor spotting.” I have forgotten the faces of countless former students that I spent weeks in a classroom with, but if you appeared in a 3 Stooges short and later pop up in the background of a Blondie comedy, I’ll spot you! It gives off an odd, triumphant feeling of personal satisfaction and after watching the Music Hall, I was delighted to see Carling pop up in a cameo on That Girl. Ditto for his brief appearance as a carhop in With Six You Get Eggroll.

After his many appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, I broke down and bought a couple of his albums. I wore out the grooves, and learned so much about comedic timing, after countless playings of Al Sleet, the “hippie-dippie weatherman” on Wonderful WINO.

In the late 1960s, Carlin did a complete career overhaul. Gone was the slick-backed hair and clean shaven face. Carlin changed from a Newhart-esque monologist to America’s supreme hippie satirist. His often imitated observational approach to humor remains unrivaled. And unlike Sienfeld, his humor was about something:

“If someone loves you and they leave and don’t come back, it was never meant to be. If someone loves you and they leave and come back, set them on fire.”

“When evolution is outlawed, only outlaws will evolve.”

“The very existence of flamethrowers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves, ‘You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I’m just not close enough to get the job done.’”

Creased pants and Arrow collars rapidly gave way to faded jeans and tie-dyed t-shirts. (His then unconventional attire cost him several TV bookings.) On July 21, 1972, Carlin made history after uttering the “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” at Milwaukee’s Summerfest. He was arrested for violating obscenity laws. The case, which Carlin referred to as “The Milwaukee Seven,” was dismissed after the judge cited some arcane clause written on a dated piece of paper concerning our constitutional rights to free speech.

Long before Howard Stern, Carlin was the first to wage war against the FCC. In 1973, some schmuck dropped a dime on Carlin after his son heard the same “filthy words” routine played on a New York radio station. it resulted in a 1978 Supreme Court ruling that upheld the government’s authority to sanction stations for broadcasting offensive language.

The controversy certainly didn’t hurt his career. On the contrary - It transformed him into a legend! He was the first-ever host of Saturday Night Live”(1975) on October 11, 1975, and coincidentally, the first-ever host of “Fridays” (1980), an ABC rip-off of SNL. In 1976, while at the top of his game, Carlin took a five year vacation from stand-up. He began his popular and very funny HBO specials in 1977, but for all intent and purpose disappeared from live performance venues. It was later revealed that the mysterious absence was due to a series of heart attacks he suffered during his layoff.

I have to admit that it’s right about here that I lost track of George Carlin. His HBO specials were a bonus for this late night Cablevision dispatcher, but with the exception of a few movie roles, I am embarrassed to say that I know little of his post 1985 output.

At the movies, it was pretty much uphill after Eggroll. After a twenty year absence from the big screen (give or take a Car Wash), Carlin returned to claim a modest late period crop of cinematic oddities.

He was wasted (in every way) in Outrageous Fortune and very funny in both Bill and Ted pictures. Streisand gave him work on Prince of Tides while towards the end Kevin Smith cast him in three movies. His last major appearance was as the voice of Filmore in Pixar’s Cars.

In December 2004, Carlin announced that he would be voluntarily entering a drug rehabilitation facility to receive treatment for his dependency on alcohol and painkillers. On Christmas Day 2005, after celebrating one year of sobriety, he experienced significant shortage of breath and other heart-related symptoms. During an eight-day stay at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Beverly Hills, he was treated for a lung infection and narrowed arteries.

Four days ago, it was announced that the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC would honor Carlin with its 2008 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Considering how brutally honest Carlin was, in his own way, he helped to humanize the hippies for middle America. How fitting that George Carlin be the recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. If Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the great American novel, surely George Carlin was the great American stand-up.

THE SEVEN WORDS YOU CAN NEVER SAY ON TELEVISION

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Filed Under Obituaries

Sean Young checks into rehab after giving the performance of her career at the DGA Awards

January 29th, 2008 by Scott Marks

20070429101759sean_young_on_the_red_carpet_at_the_60th_annual_academy_awards.jpg

The Associated Press reports that in light of her flipping out during Julian Schnabel’s speech at last Sunday’s DGA Awards, Sean Young has checked into rehab.

“Sean Young voluntarily admitted herself yesterday to a rehabilitation center for treatment related to alcoholism,” a statement from Insignia PR said Tuesday. “It is understood that Young has struggled against the disease for many years.”

The Directors Guild issued the following statement: “The DGA wishes to respect Ms. Young’s privacy at this difficult time and declines further comment.”

Joel and Ethan Coen might have picked up the top prize for “No Country for Old Men,” but the real winners were those in attendance that got to witness the meltdown.

For more exacting details concerning the 48-year-old actresses’ drunken outburst, click here.


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