I was catching some old Politically Incorrect episodes on Youtube the other day and couldn’t believe it when Elmore popped up. I got excited, but then I knew he wasn’t gonna talk much. He’s too low-key for that format. But at least at one point, Jay Thomas was like, “What do you think, Elmore? You’re the smartest one here,” and Bill Maher readily agreed with that assessment.

The clip starts after Elmore’s introduction, which I would’ve liked to see. I know it’s only like 5-10 seconds and a couple sentences of introduction, but you can sometimes tell just from that if Bill has any real interest in the guest and if he is actually familiar with their work. I’m curious because I’m such a fan of both, and I’d like to think Bill is an Elmore Leonard fan. If he has good taste. Or to put it another way, if he’s enlightened on the subject of top-quality novels. Towards the end of the episode, Bill does give Elmore a quick second plug, saying something like, “because I like you.”

Gregg, do you know if Bill had any more words of praise for Elmore, on or off-camera? Also, was it his only appearance on the show, and did he enjoy it even though he stayed relatively quiet?

Also on the panel, a virgin and a playboy playmate (whom Elmore got to sit next to) who applauds the virgin, but says you gotta try it before you buy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmCst_V6l9E (part 1 of 2)

P.S. If somebody like George Carlin had been on the panel, he would’ve backed up Elmore’s assertion that nothing much changes according to which party holds the power. Though in retrospect of the past 8 years, it actually might have made a difference this time.

Good post, missed that episode when it aired originally.

This is one area where I disagree wildly with the man. His ‘What’s changed?’ question suggests there’s no difference in which party’s in the White House…which, of course, is absurd.

On the other hand, his comments were made a few years ago, and I understand the man this time around was an Obama fan.

LACrimAtty - 09 January 2009 07:55 PM

This is one area where I disagree wildly with the man. His ‘What’s changed?’ question suggests there’s no difference in which party’s in the White House…which, of course, is absurd.

On the other hand, his comments were made a few years ago, and I understand the man this time around was an Obama fan.

“bill_1through4:P.S. If somebody like George Carlin had been on the panel, he would’ve backed up Elmore’s assertion that nothing much changes according to which party holds the power. Though in retrospect of the past 8 years, it actually might have made a difference this time.”

Really, guys, do we have to do this. There is little to no change according to who is in office except how much money goes to whose districts.

Bush did a fairly good job, good as could be expected. His only problem was avoiding partisanship and letting the money flow. Do we really want to go over why the economy’s in the shitter (uh, Bush brought up the Fannie/Freddie problem in 05, McCain in 06, and both met fierce opposition.

And if you admire Bill Mahar and his crass, blustering observations, well, enjoy. There’s funny, and then there’s just stupid. I mean, even you were smart enough to not claim Mahar had good taste, bill_1thorugh4, or to assume it, ‘cause it’s so obvious he doesn’t. Even his porn work was awful.

And if Mr. L voted and contributed to one or the other, I don’t care, long’s he keeps it to himself and doesn’t say anything idiotic like Gere did the other, call Bush an alien. Seriously.

And did you catch Slick Willy’s nostalgic remark about the carpet in the oval office? You can’t make that shit up.

Liberty is dead, anyway, don’t know why I bother, other than I can, I guess.

klickink.wordpress.com

LACrimAtty - 09 January 2009 07:55 PM

This is one area where I disagree wildly with the man. His ‘What’s changed?’ question suggests there’s no difference in which party’s in the White House…which, of course, is absurd.

On the other hand, his comments were made a few years ago, and I understand the man this time around was an Obama fan.

One of the things I really like about EL novels is the way every character is reacting to the situation they’re in at the moment and working that out. There’s no “big picture,” of America (that line about EL being the national novelist is great, by the way) in the books, but one emerges over all the books of the characters constantly trying to change their situations - this is a particularly American idea, I think, the always trying to “better” yourself (you could have a long discussion if that’s a good thing or not, but that’s not the point here). And the characters struggle against themselves as much as the situations they’re in.

So, no matter who’s in the White House (or governor’s mansion, or mayor’s chair, or whatever), the individual, day-to-day stuff the characters are involved in doesn’t change that much. The big picture stuff; civil rights, feminism, education, all that, those things have changed America (and the rest of the world) a lot, but the individual struggles - especially of these kinds of characters - haven’t really changed that much.

The stuff the characters go through in the westerns right up to the most recent books have so much in common, I can see how he could make the claim that, “nothing’s changed,” even though he was exaggeratting a little for effect.