War for laughs
Armed conflict on an international scale, always hilarious . . .
My father (centennial of that great man’s birth last week) taught me at age 8 to trust the Marx Brothers’ for trenchant social commentary. Here’s Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo in Duck Soup.
On the night of my 17th birthday I sat in a theater, alone, watching the incomparable Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb . . .
Thanks to Peter Sellers, Peter Bull (still Russian ambassador? looks kinda like the current guy, right?), Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern and Peter George for a great one-sided phone call. No confidence there will be such diplomatic efforts.
Dr. Strangelove was on a double bill with The War Game, directed by Peter Watkins. Nothing funny about it.
Musical Interlude: “War” from the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, globetrotting sons of the late Chicago music visionary Celan Phil Cohran. Seems to be calling for peace.
One last laugh? The Tramp as der Fuhrer.
Ha. Ha ha ha. Ha.
To update this all: SNL.
Encore: the ever pertinent Tom Lehrer.
howardmandel.com
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