Carol Burnett: Great American Humorist

Carol Burnett, who became famous for playing a variety of characters in sketch comedy routines on her namesake television show, was named the winner of the nation's top humor prize on Tuesday.

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts said Burnett will receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Oct. 20 in Washington. A gala performance featuring top names in comedy will be taped and broadcast nationally Oct. 30 on PBS.

The 80-year-old Burnett said she can't believe she is receiving the prize from the Kennedy Center. "It's almost impossible to be funnier than the people in Washington," she said in a statement. [more...]

Bourdain Continues to do Important Work in the World... His Own Way

They originally labeled him the 'bad boy chef,' but Anthony Bourdain, throughout his extraordinary exploration of the world and all its many cultures - not to mention his metamorphosis from chef to writer to world traveler, back to the realization that he himself made that he is truly a WRITER - has matured into a true ambassador of the Earth.  Many of his fans - me included - were suspicious of his new contract with CNN; however, we secretly understood that it was a natural evolution for him to continue his work in this world.  We didn't think he could be 'himself' bound by the limitations of prime time television.  We were wrong.

Tony is a fearless universal being - evidenced as he himself promised us all in his very first shows - from A Cook's Tour to No Reservations and The Layover - when he told us there was nothing he wouldn't try, that he'd go to the ends of the earth and that he had nothing to lose... from bungee jumping to skiing, swimming with sharks, almost dying of snail poisoning... visiting the ruins of Katrina and Haiti... his shows taught me more in one year - like a crash course in (to say the least) 'expanding one's horizons' while parked in front of a TV - than any class, book or college course I could ever have taken.  

His latest show, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown for CNN is Bourdain Deluxe - fatty, succulent, delicious, with a full side of fries, perfect Chinese pickles, dumplings, and a pho included!  It's panoramic, splendificous, tasty... "GOOD," as Tony, himself, admitted was the only thing left to say about the most delicious food he could find on the planet to eat and enjoy and describe as he devoured life at its fullest, to be filled beyond repair.

In my opinion his programs should be taught in every college classroom in the world! And it all started with a little memoir he wrote called Kitchen Confidential.


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