248 Comments
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fuflans's avatar

holee shite i haven't seen the john barton tapes since i was a wee shakespeare lass. we watched them with hushed reverence on every VCR in every Chicago actor's 90's apartment after every storefront production of 12th night (sometimes Titus) while we mercilessly mocked barbara gaines.

(there might be one or two of you out there who know what i just referenced...)

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GenlyAi's avatar

Oh yes.

When Barbara Gaines, Shakespeare LOSES.

An immutable truth of life. So glad that talentless bitch is gone from CST finally!

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fuflans's avatar

it used to be chicago theatre truism that as a director barbara gaines was a great fundraiser...

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GenlyAi's avatar

I wasn't living in Chicago then but my eventual husband was, and his comments were hilarious, if appalling....

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tegrat's avatar

I actually learned Esperanto, even passed the test for proficiency (not too hard to do). Needless to say, I don't use it much. Thank Crom I also know Spanish.

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jltympanum's avatar

I saw Patrick Stewart on Broadway in Waiting for Godot. You could see that he was having fun with his role.

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Nancy Naive's avatar

Varney could’ve pulled it off.

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A. Simpson's avatar

Another take on "To be or not to be."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROJP6AGwgEA

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Suzie Greenburg's avatar

Holy crap Pennacchia this is a TREASURE TROVE!!! Thank you!

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Vienna Woods's avatar

Not gonna scroll down to see if anyone else posted his BEST Shakespearean performance.

https://youtu.be/73tjF0bzAi4?si=dP6sAx-NToGjMgv1

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Lot⁴⁹'s avatar

Re learning Esperanto, here's some advice to the Youngs from an Old: do your foreign language learning as soon as you can. It only gets harder as you get older.

Also too: the movie "Free Enterprise" has William Shatner in it, playing himself. It's pretty funny.

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Lance Thrustwell's avatar

I am too lazy to see if anyone has called Shatner doing Shakespeare "Shatspear." I will just assume I am the original jokester, as always. I will now go preen.

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Hank Napkin's avatar

Recommended listening: "Fear of Pop, Vol. 1" by Ben Folds.

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OrdinaryJoe's avatar

"Better three hours too soon than a minute too late. " (Merry Wives of Windsor)

Uh. Talk like the Bard day is April 23, so you may be a little early but thanks for the reminder.

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Bagels of Doom's avatar

Shatner's Hamlet? Why not Shamlet?

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Nancy Naive's avatar

Shatlet?

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The Blessed Reverend's avatar

"I don't 'try' anything - I just DO IT!"

Tura Satana in "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!"

N.B. no comma, three (3) exclamation marks

https://youtu.be/iHLk5T9bh0U?si=jpMF6uC_Wba1iH5W

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Trux Mint In Box's avatar

I kept expecting the Esperanto credits to start saying, “Also wik” and “also, also wik”

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Cincinnatus's avatar

Oh noes, Bill Maher doesn't care what I think:

“Kid Rock was here a couple of weeks ago, and he said, ‘I want you to meet Trump,’” Bill Maher told Schulz during the “Club Random” episode, which will be released Sunday, per Mediaite. “He said, ‘I’m gonna take you to the White House.’ So now we’re gonna do that.” On “Club Random,” Maher preemptively lashed out at criticism over the meeting.

“There will be lots of people on the left who will be like, ‘How dare you talk to this man,’” he said, per Mediaite. “It’s like, ‘fuck you, I’m not playing this game that you mean girls play.’ ‘Oh, you know what? You can’t sit at my lunch table, because I’m just not talking to you.’” “Not talking to you?” Maher continued, according to The Daily Beast. “You lost the election. Who the fuck do you think you have to talk to? It’s one thing if you win it, it’s another thing if you lose it.” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bill-maher-meeting-trump_n_67debd1ae4b0ea299d083ae6

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Bagels of Doom's avatar

Maher, as usual, isn't considering the vast number of people who don't give two shits about who he's talking to.

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Lot⁴⁹'s avatar

I do wish the Max algorithm would quit imagining that I must like Maher because I watch John Oliver.

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Notorious J.I.M.'s avatar

I hadn't even seen mention of him in a few weeks.

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Bagels of Doom's avatar

He always tries to insert himself into the conversation like Invanka at the G20, doesn't he?

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Notorious J.I.M.'s avatar

"Look at me, I'm still relevant."

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Bagels of Doom's avatar

insert old man yells at clouds dot jpeg

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Trux Mint In Box's avatar

Who does he actually think he’s talking to? Some randos on Twitter that he keeps think are the entire left??

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Bagels of Doom's avatar

Gee, it's almost like Maher had an overinflated ego...

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Dialectic.Detective's avatar

Voices in my head

These are, the voices in my head

Voices in my head

These are, the voices in my head

The voices in my head

- Voices in My Head, Denis Leary

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Whale Chowder's avatar

"Dignity is for winners."

Fuck you, Billy-boy.

Edit: auto-"correct"

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The Blessed Reverend's avatar

How dare you talk to that man

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"M"'s avatar

He's trying to de-legitimize social shunning and shame as tools when they are VERY MUCH TOOLS to eradicate fascism

The difference he fails to illuminate -- apparently hoping for everyone's ignorance -- is that in his Mean Grls scenario the people saying "you can't sit here" are punching DOWN.

The people telling him to his face that "consorting with fascists are bad" are actually punching up.

What people are REALLY asking him to not do is "Please do not consort with the Mean Girls. Please do not go and suck up to the Heathers."

Even though amazingly, physically, these particular Mean Boys are MUCH more violent and fascistic and want to steal your stuff (and your parents and grands' Social Security money THAT THEY PAID INTO THE SYSTEM) right out in the open.

Those are the kinds of dynamics Bill-O hopes you will neither notice nor recognize.

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Bagels of Doom's avatar

Maher has been playing respectability politics for twenty years and counting. He's one of the more insidious tools out there.

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Biff52 Lost Canadian's avatar

So. Edgy.

Fuck that guy.

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pmsrw3's avatar

In 1968 Decca released an album of Shatner doing Shakespeare, and also a couple of other writers, along with some music. It was called "The Transformed Man," and my high-school English teacher played Shatner's rendition of "To Be or not To Be" in class. I subsequently bought the album. I now find that in 2000, it was voted number 3 in the All-Time Worst Albums Ever Made.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transformed_Man

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