A CLAPPER CAPER

[defrog]

That clip of Jack Webb and Harry Morgan giving Barack Obama a lecture (which was funny, if poorly applied to Obama’s administration policies to date), got me to thinking about this gem from the Golden Age of late night television.

"Shut it Down! Shut it Down Forever!" (Watch on YouTube)

FUN FACT: I used to have the audio of this on cassette tape, which is why I remember it.

PRODUCTION NOTE: Johnny Carson was who we watched after the 10 o’clock news every night, children. This was back when Leno and Letterman were still doing standup and Conan was in high school.

Just the facts,

This is dF

Comments

[nebris.livejournal.com]

Jack Webb was one of the coolest mother fuckers ever. He was a pretty good writer, too. His account of the Black Dalia murder is one of the best and where I discovered that Elisabeth Short was born in Salem, Mass. which gives the story a whole new spin.

~M~

[def-fr0g-42.livejournal.com]

I used to watch Dragnet all the time. Some of it looks cornball now when it started getting into sociopolitical territory, but Webb was a master of tight, snappy dialogue and concise storytelling. To say nothing of deadpan delivery.