An absence of posts from me this week as I have had to travel out of town, plus Lucire’s deadline was moved forward as two staff are taking leave next week. I came on to Good Morning after having eight hours’ sleep—that’s eight hours over the last two days—dealing with a topic I have no knowledge of: mothers-in-law. It didn’t help that I didn’t know the topic till Thursday night, when I flew back to Wellington.
   I suppose Barry Soper compensated as the chap has been married twice, and Sarah Bradley (the hostess of the show) said I could always use ex-girlfriends’ mothers. I imagine I could. In this day and age, when marriage means less and de facto relationships are, in the eyes of the law, elevated, mothers-in-law may require no connection through marriage.
   Still, there were two reasons preventing me from being more lively. First, I didn’t feel right discussing ex-girlfriends and their mothers. Those relationships no longer exist, and I don’t have any real yarns from them anyway. Secondly, I just didn’t have good material. There wasn’t anything on Qantas Radio’s comedy channel that I could pinch.
   I made the odd comment inspired by Alfred Hawthorne Hill (a.k.a. Benny) and acknowledged him as the source, plus a reference to Monster in Law, being the first person to call Jane Fonda ‘Hanoi Jane’ on live television here for some years. It was for humorous effect, rather than reflect any political view, but I am not sure if Brendon, our host, got the reference. I called Paul ‘the great white hunter’ (he hunts as a hobby, and was venturing north that night), and referred to Vice-President Cheney, stealing a gag from the US president. Bush jokes go down well here, though hunting jokes less so (we recently had a trial about an accidental shooting where the victim was killed).
   Mind you, there were plus sides to yesterday’s segment. There was no power back in the studio for reasons unknown, so we filmed outside. Then it began raining. We were given umbrellas, though with all the great stories from Barry and Paul, there was no opportunity for me to break out into a Gene Kelly routine, or to pretend I was Patrick Macnee. Again, this was done off-camera when I referred to Sarah as ‘Mrs Peel’.
   So, not an episode particularly worth watching this week if you were inclined to go to the site. I won’t be keeping my recording of it. It’s not trademark Jack Yan, and I should know about trade marks. Doesn’t go with my personal brand.
   Back in the green room, and the temporary make-up room given there was no power there, either, Carolyn Taylor and her nine-year-old clone Angela Steele from Top of the Class (I kept calling it Head of the Class before I realized Howard Hesseman was not involved) hung out with us (or we with them). The show was named by one reviewer as the ghastliest on our screens, which may mean that the concept will find its way to America just as variants of Popstars and Dancing with the Stars have. However, Miss Steele is a delight and a real celeb (as opposed to being someone famous for nothing) in the making. She seems a well balanced and polite child, which gives me some hope about the shape of the country in 2030. With a voice like hers, you wonder if she will be the next Olivia Newton-John.
   A few musos clarified for me that the lounge artist I liked on Groove FM was named Richard Cheese, and I felt better informed. Some prototype apples were there, codenamed T22, though we were not allowed to try them. It was remarked that the T22s needed a brand name, which is the tenuous way I can link this post back to what this blog is about. I could not think of any: most apple names seem a bit daft, anyway, at least the ones that weren’t were borrowed by Apple Computer years ago. Posted by Jack Yan, 05:19  permalink

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