Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Too Raunchy For You? Well, Excu-U-Se Me!

Compiled By Staff Writer Rick Bo

President Clinton, on his dearly departed parent, Virginia Kelley: “God knows what (Connie Chung) could have gotten my mother to say.”

What’s funny these days? Not much, according to veteran comedian Steve Martin.

“I tend to agree with Bill Cosby, although it’s a really unpopular position: It’s just too filthy,” Martin told American Way magazine.

“It happened once before, when vaudeville got so filthy and it closed it down. People just didn’t go anymore.”

Martin lays much of the blame on Richard Pryor wanna-bes.

“Richard Pryor was a poet, a brilliant comedian who used language effectively,” he said. “So someone of lesser talent comes along and says, ‘Oh, I’ll be hip and use the same language.’

“Forget it. It was Pryor’s brilliance that made it work. But for a long time, there was the feeling that to be cool, you had to be filthy.”

Which would be enough to give anyone an upset stomach

Rod Stewart turns 50 today.

The real question: Which one has the worst taste in names?

Forget Newt Gingrich’s mom. Kramer’s mother was the winner last Thursday night, preliminary Nielsen ratings show, with the “Seinfeld” episode where she revealed her son’s first name (Cosmo), beating out “Eye to Eye with Connie Chung” by a margin of more than 2-to-1.

Guess that keen, analytical mind must run in the family

Kathleen “Kit” Gingrich calls Chung “two-faced” for revealing what she said Newt calls Hillary Rodham Clinton, but she still doesn’t quite get it. On “American Journal,” Gingrich asked: “What’s the fuss all about? Because I said she is a bitch?”

Like they say, it isn’t over until the celebrity stiff is stuffed

Humor columnist Dave Barry, who recently wrote that “opera can kill you,” was a success Sunday in his role as a corpse in the Eugene (Ore.) Opera’s production of Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi.” After a long aria, Barry - lying with mouth open, arms half-raised and fingers curled, wearing a muslin bedshirt, nightcap and white socks - was stuffed head first under the bed.

The bride’s reply sounded something like, ‘Oh, you so crazy!’

Risque comedian Martin Lawrence wed former beauty queen Patricia Southall at a Virginia hotel Saturday night. Smiling throughout the ceremony, Lawrence mouthed, “You look so damn good” as Southall walked down the aisle.

Funny, he has to wash his hair that night again this year, too

After declining an invitation to host last year’s Academy Awards show following five straight appearances, comedian Billy Crystal says he can’t do it this year, either. “He’s on overload,” Crystal’s publicist explained.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Rick Bonino