Bookshelf Battle

Hey 3.5 readers.

John McLaughlin, host of the McLaughlin group, died this week at age 89, which surprises me greatly because I thought he was 89 like 30 years ago.

Is that relevant to this blog?  Well, this blog is more about pop culture than politics but to make it short and sweet, you wouldn’t have the many, many, perhaps too many talking head pundit shows that you have today without John McLaughlin.

He had a certain style about him.  Or should I say, “formula?”

The formula:

• Announce the issue and the number he has assigned to it.  Give the issue a snappy title.

• Address one of the panelists with a quirky nickname. (Journalist Fred Barnes became “Freddie the Beatle Barnes” for example.

• Shout “wrong!” then move on to the next panelist.

• After every panelist was done, he’d declare they were all wrong and explain how his take on the issue was the most accurate one.

Admittedly, he wasn’t that bad.  But when I was a kid, I was in love with Saturday Night Live.

I think every kid who is into humor falls in love with SNL at some point.

Back in those days it was Dana Carvey, Adam Sandler, Kevin Nealon, Mike Myers, Chris Rock, etc.

Anyway, I used to watch Dana Carvey do his masterful impressions of the first President Bush, H. Ross Perot, the Church Lady, etc.

And then I’d do my rendition of Dana’s impression.

One of the funniest impressions Dana did was of John McLaughlin.  I’d incorporate it around the house, telling various family members they were, “wrong!”

Was I a no-life having kid who was into things that kids should find boring?

Was it that this was pre-10 million channels plus streaming everything and I didn’t have cable and only had like 5 channels?

A little from column A. A little from Column B.

Anyway, here’s a clip from NBC of Dana doing his John McLaughlin impression.

Saddest part is that Chris Farley is dead (heart attack) and Phil Hartman is dead (shot by wife).

Sigh.