TVSquad

Uber-humorist John Hodgman has a wit that hasn't been seen since the likes of Robert Benchley. His uncanny ability to turn his know-it-all prowess and droll delivery into brilliant comedy deserves scientific study.

I'm not saying he needs a complete autopsy. Maybe just a little exploratory brain surgery that doesn't do any permanent damage to the neurons and synapses that allow him to conjure long lists of hobo names and an incredibly detailed history of the American lobster. Trust me, there is a hilarious global warming cure in that noggin somewhere.

So after watching his brilliant and funny performance at the White House Radio and Television Correspondence Dinner (Speaking of which, didn't we just have one? How many of these damn dinners do they need? Are television reporters experiencing a major shortage of grilled chicken?), a lingering but obvious thought occurred. Why does this man not have his own television show?

With the writers strike pulling a black cloud over our collective television set, have you been feeling super-sad? Do you feel lost, without a sense of direction, now that your favorite show has run out of new episodes? Do empty pints of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia and fresh receipts from the video game store litter your home, serving as a constant reminder that you love TV, you breathe TV, and you need TV to fill your life? I certainly hope not, because that would be kind of pathetic.

What's weird is that before the invention of television, there was this thing called "books". People used their eyes, just as they use them for watching television, to "read" these books. Books are hard to come by these days, but if you visit the library, they might have one or two, hidden in the back room. Please note you may have to slip an Alexander Hamilton or wear a low-cut shirt to gain access to the book room. Anyway, books are a great way to escape reality (TV). If you manage to track a few down, why don't you pick up a book or two while the writers strike is in effect? If the idea of straying so far away from television terrifies you, here are some books that aren't too far off point, so you can join in nice and easy.

The "Get a Mac" ads, featuring the PC and Mac personified, are doing very well in the States. The American ads, as most of you know, star John Hodgman as the nerdy PC and Justin Long as the hip Mac. It looks like Apple is continuing to try and recreate the success in various other countries, including Japan, which I posted about a few months ago. The latest in this line of commercials hails from the UK, where the PC and Mac are played by Robert Webb and David Mitchell, stars of the British comedy Peep Show. You can watch the ads here.

When it comes to the American commercials, I always like the PC better because I'm a Hodgman fan, not because I dislike Long or the Mac. However, in a few of the UK commercials, the Mac actually sounds kind of mean. I feel like if I were to try and check my e-mail on the Mac and accidentally type my password incorrectly, he'd laugh at me for several minutes and then make a snarky remark about my hair.

[Thanks, Tom!]

The past few weeks haven't been so great for dictators. Saddam Hussein was executed, and Fidel Castro got an artificial anus. I don't think Jon needed to tell any jokes about it. The audience seemed to enjoy the set-up alone quite a bit. C'mon! It's an artificial anus!

"Mess O' Potomac": Good news... John Bolton is out. Bad news... he's making money with moustache rides. Even more bad news... Donald Rumsfeld has wormed his way back in the news. An old memo has surfaced and it's not fun and it's full of quotation marks. Senior Foreign Policy Analyst John Oliver elaborated on the use of quotes and air-quotes. The sun analogy was beautiful, haha.

I was out until the wee hours of the morning, committing various acts of mischief, so I didn't get to watch this episode during its first run. I'm not sure if it was because I was somewhat sleepy and exhausted from running around all night, but I felt that this episode continued to make this week the strongest week in a long time. I've been laughing out loud more, Jon seems to be getting gaining intensity (I can't really think of any other way to put it) and the segments have been really spot-on. Perhaps they're all riding on an Emmy high. Let's hope it continues!

This was a special topic-specific episode, entitled "Race: The Afrospanicindioasianization Of America" (and yes, Jon did stumble over the name). "Evolution Schmevolution", their last topic-specific series, was somewhat disappointing, so I wasn't expecting much from this episode. And I'm glad I didn't. I guess some of the correspondents wanted to take a vacation or something because there weren't any of them on live (just Jon and Resident Expert John Hodgman).