happy birthday bill murray - 59 years old today!

happy birthday bill murray - born 59 years ago today on september 21, 1950. in my opinion, bill murray is one of the great comedic actors of his generation.

a quick list of his accomplishments, just to sample a few from each decade, includes "saturday night live" (those infamous "not ready for prime-time players") in the 70s; "caddyshack" and "ghostbusters" in the 80s; "what about bob?," "groundhog day," and "rushmore" in the 90s; and, in the new millennium, "the royal tennebaums" and "lost in translation!"

my favorite bill murray movie, hands down - and probably one of my favorite comedies of all time, is "what about bob?" here is a short clip:

"it's always sunny in philadelphia" season four premiere

i confess, the utterly non-politically correct, borderline psychotic, and edgy misanthropic, "it's always sunny in philadelphia," is my favorite sit-com. as far as i can tell, it's the only sit-com that sports an age-verification barrier to visit the shows official blog, "paddy's pub!" last night season four kicked off with back-to-back warped episodes: “mac and dennis: manhunters” and “the gang solves the gas crisis.”

after the macabre season opener which featured pseudo-cannibalism, a trip to the morgue to (almost) eat human flesh (said trip undertaken w/a hot plate and six-pack of beer in tow), and the episode titled "man-hunt," the second half hour installment was decidedly more socially acceptable. at least that's what most people would consider the gang's efforts to solve the "gas crisis." nuff, said...

okay, bottom-line, if you're suffering from political-correctness (however mild) or have a dainty constitution, stay very (and i mean VERY) far away from this series. it has the serious potential to rattle your psyche (cage) and send you into fits of (uncontrollable) rage.

on the other hand, if you're jaded - and decidedly thick-skinned - this is must see t.v. (or cable, actually)!

finally, for those of you on the fence, here are five very cool reasons - to either watch or not watch (yikes, that's such positively hamlet-like approach to the silly question)!

cheech & chong "light up america" tour: reunited after 25 years!

wow - or should i say "hey man" - cheech & chong are back together again! after an acrimonious split way back in 1985, the comic duo have finally reconciled and announced tour plans - which will bring them to the new york area in october!

looking fit and dapper at the press conference (hardly betraying their ages of 62 and 70, respectively), they looked no worse for the wear - if one believes they partied all those years apart. tommy chong did do time for selling bongs - of all things! but he did continue with standup comedy, find time to write a few books, and play "leo" on "that 70's show." cheech marin took a more mainstream path with movies and ongoing t.v. roles on "nash bridges" and "judging amy."

but together, their comedy work - including albums and movies - was incredibly successful. they won a grammy for best comedy album in 1973 for "los cochinos" and their first movie, "up in smoke" in 1978 was took in over $100 million at the box office! as a teenager, my friends and i went to see late shows of that, and their subsequent ones at the brighton beach theatre.

but the 70's are back in full swing again it seems. just last week mtv announced it would remake, for cable, "the rocky horror picture show." and as teenagers we took the brighton line into the city to catch midnight shows of that movie at the eighth street playhouse! i can just see the plans for the musical version already percolating out there!

in the meantime, i'm hoping to score tickets to this reunion tour. not sure if any of my friends or family will want to be seen with me for that one - ha!

update: check out tommy chong's appearance at the bryant park book reading.