Tonight Show - Extreme Jack Black

Whatever surprise this bit might have had is ruined by the title of the youtube video. Well anyways...



For comparison:



If anyone asks your favorite Extreme or Beethoven song (and, honestly, at some point probably EVERYONE will be asked that question) I suggest you consider this lesser known track.

TV - Other Space

A foreign intelligence has invaded the ship and suddenly every crew member is experiencing their wildest dreams as very real hallucinations. Zalian Fletcher suddenly finds a tuna fish sandwich on the ground and begins to eat it. Later, crew members discuss this occurrence:

"So your #1 fantasy is to find a tuna fish sandwich on the ground?"
"It... doesn't have to be on the ground."

"Other Space" is a science-fiction comedy (more comedy than science fiction) whose first season is available on "Yahoo! Screen". Like the classic "Red Dwarf", each episode finds them encountering some outer space phenomenon with hilarious consequences.

I was first attracted to the show because the cast features none other than Joel Hodgson, of MST3K fame. But a second big surprise is that he's also joined in space by a robot pal played by Trace Beaulieu who played Crow, his space robot pal in that show as well. A third big surprise is that one of the female leads, Tina Shukshin, is played by Milana Vayntrub (of Let's Talk About Something More Interesting though more people will recognize her as "the AT&T girl"). Actually seeing these three people interacting in the same show makes me scared that the producers have actually tapped into my dreams somehow and are putting it on screen. What am I, the Lathe of Heaven? [Obscure PBS referencessss. No one ever gets them.] In the second season, watch them to be flying in the A-Team van and add a Philadelphia Eagles sub-plot.

I found "Other Space" to be pretty funny and would recommend giving it a watch. The show's creator is Paul Feig who was one of the minds behind "Freaks and Geeks". The sci-fi is well done and there's lots of solid comedy despite the somewhat cheap budget. The main strength of the show is the character acting - there are some great, offbeat deliveries and one suspects there's some improv going on. The pace/editing of the show is very quick, which I find troubling, but that may just mean that it rewards repeated viewings and would be great for quoting with friends.

MST3K Trivia Tidbits:

 - Joel's sporting long hair which is something that he did in the very, very early days of MST3K. His character, as well as some aspects of the show (and therefore the hair), were originally inspired by Bruce Dern's 60s hippie spaceman character in the movie "Silent Running".

- Trace Beaulieu's robot character is named "A.R.T." In the early days of MST3K they would read fan letters. One day, a child sent in a drawing of the show's characters with each of them neatly labeled. The picture of Crow was labeled as "Art" for reasons that no one of the show could understand. For the rest of the series, Crow would periodically be called Art as an inside joke.

Tonight Show - Bottom of the Charts

This is a great example of comedy that's so stupid that it's funny.



That's a deep cut, referencing the Crash Test Dummies. Who remembers the Crash Test Dummies? That, plus Pee Wee's timing is off.

Tonight Show - The Hawkeye Theme

This one's kind of borderline but I found it to be catchy and cute. Hawkeye is a little insecure about his lack of superpowers and decides to sing about it using the singing power of song...



The man bowls over 70!

The Official Space Jam Website: Still Existing

Would you like to flashback to the 90s? Do you remember what it was like to be on geocities? Would you like free screen savers and browser icons? Have you forgotten what it's like for a website to have frames?

Then head on down to the official Space Jam website which is inexplicably still a valid destination on the Information Superhighway. Simply point your browser device to:

http://www2.warnerbros.com/spacejam/movie/jam.htm

Where are the MIDIs?

And press enter and -- Zing!-- you're there! Check your connection before downbringing the trailer - it's 7.5 Megabytes, so be prepared to wait a while! Don't forget to call the toll-free number to buy the soundtrack on cassette. Order now and get a web-surfers-only special!

[Thanks to Red Letter Media for this tidbit]

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Tonight Show - Emotional Interview

Jimmy sits down with Robert Downey Jr. for an "emotional" interview.