On this day in 1949, the great comedic actor John Belushi was born. He was a very subtle performer, even if his characters were not necessarily. He’s probably best known for his character of Bluto in Animal House. There is also his work on Saturday Night Live. Good luck finding that on the internet. The first season was 40 years ago. It is cliched, but still true, to note that society has sped up. A performer or writer can make a fortune in a single day. Yet our copyright system gets slower and slower. Belushi’s SNL material won’t be in the public domain in my lifetime, even though it should have been at least 20 years ago.

It’s not surprising that Belushi died so young. He was out of control, like most people would have been at his age with his fame. It is sad that people focus so much on his death, however. As if that’s what defines his life. I read Bob Woodward’s pathetic biography, Wired. Belushi’s life should not be viewed through the prism of his death. And all his work should now be in the public domain. Just saying.

Well, here’s a video clip:

Happy birthday John Belushi!

On this day in 1905, the amazing high wire artist Karl Wallenda was born. He is best known as the founder of the The Flying Wallendas. Whatever. I hate this kind of stuff. I admire it, but I do wish people wouldn’t do it. Isn’t there enough to worry about? People die just walking down the street, or getting out of bed, or because someone left a loaded gun in a sock. Life doesn’t need to be made more dangerous! Just the same, how can I not admire people who are so foreign to me?

Wallenda was born into the business. He began performing with his family at the age of six. The act appears to have always been pretty much the same: they create human pyramids on the tightrope. And they’ve only made the act more and more dangerous and ridiculous over the years. You can see a video of them doing a seven person pyramid. It’s amazing stuff, but I want to scream, “Wouldn’t it just be easier to open up a nice hot dog stand?!”

Probably the only reason I’m writing about Karl Wallenda today is because of his death. At the age of 73, he performed on a wire stretched between two ten story buildings in Puerto Rico. There were high winds as is often the case when these stunts are performed. And he lost his balance and fell. You can watch on YouTube if you want, but I’m not going to provide a link because it is extremely upsetting. Instead, watch him four years earlier, doing a head stand on a wire — also with high winds and rain:

Happy birthday Karl Wallenda!

On this day in 1904, the great actor Cary Grant was born. I’ve never been too clear on what a “man crush” is, but I must have one on Grant. Or more accurately, I want to be Cary Grant. Not the actual person, of course. I want to be suave and witty like the Cary Grant character. Because I’m kind of the opposite. Oh, it’s true, my “stand in the corner and flinch easily” act can, at times, be seen as charming. And I have been known to say witty things at times. But mostly, I’m just insecure and banal. I’m not even special in wanting to be Cary Grant. As the great man himself said, “Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.”

What is there to say about Cary Grant? His given name was Archie Leach. In fact, I named a drink after him. But I’m really not that interested in his life. It’s the usual: terrible childhood, crazy mother, got into acting, traveled to the United States, became a star. It was either that or be Rosemary Clooney’s cousin, get cast on ER, become a star. Oh, I’m just kidding George, but he does seem to me the only modern Cary Grant type star.

For forty years, Grant starred in some of the best movies that Hollywood made. Here is video that puts together his ten highest rated films on IMDb. I very much disagree with the ordering and even the inclusion of these films. For example, Gunga Din is not on the list yet somehow Charade is? That’s not to say that I don’t like Charade, but it is hardly great. And North by Northwest is number one? Whatever. This is all fun though.

Happy birthday Cary Grant!

On this day in 1949, the great comedian Andy Kaufman was born. Oh, how I miss him! I’m all for people like Jon Stewart or Louis CK or even Dylan Moran — all very funny men. But Kaufman was a genius — the first truly postmodern comedian. Last year, I compared him to Albert Brooks. And indeed, there really is a lot about Brooks that is postmodern — for example, his ventriloquist act. Kaufman was the the whole thing. He was that rarest of things in stand-up comedy: an artist.

Sadly, most people didn’t get his act while he was alive. I think they just thought that he was silly and cute — especially as the foreign man character. But people never really got Tony Clifton or the Hollywood elitist wrestling villain. I don’t know if Kaufman just didn’t care or was simply too much of an artist to tip his hand. But it still seems strange to me that everyone would know that professional wrestling was “fake” and yet think that he was really having a feud with Jerry Lawler. It was all straight out of Roland Barthes’s essay, The World of Wrestling.

Check out this clip. It is from the documentary, I’m from Hollywood. It shows one of Kaufman’s taunting videos — unfortunately, intercut with reactions of people. What’s so brilliant about it is that it is simultaneously offensive and hilarious. And it isn’t clear exactly what level the comedy is on. It can be seen as lampooning what northerners and westerners think of the south. Just the same, it can be seen as lampooning what southerners think northerners and westerners think of them. It’s brilliant:

Given the extremely varied nature of his work, his Carnegie Hall performance stands as the ultimate tribute to him, because it shows how he was able to pull it all together. This is not the greatest copy of it, but it is still worth watching:

Happy birthday Andy Kaufman!