If you laugh, the whole bit is ruined. (Unless you’re Harvey Korman and Tim Conway on the old Burnett show, and the whole bit was you laughing.) You can’t ever break up, no matter what goofy shit the wacky guy is up to, or all the air goes out of the comedy. And you never get a laugh, either. Your gig is standing there, looking dignified, and setting up the idiot.  A lot of your dialogue was “Really?” and “Oh, stop that,” and “You don’t say.” It’s as sublimatory an ego-situation you can find in the show business industry.

In the old days, the straight man got 60% of the take, and he earned it. Costello without Abbot was just a sweaty fat guy, and we all know what kind of bullshit Jerry got up to once he left Dean. Margaret Dumont was not availed of the 60% deal, but imagine Groucho without her. A good straight man is hard to find.

And Mean Gene was one of the best.

The guy in the eyepatch was Ray Sawyer, and he’s dead, too. You will not be shocked to learn that he died in Florida. If–at any time in your life–you dress like that, then you’ll probably die in Florida. He lost the eye working as a logger. It was the past, and so sometimes people went from being loggers to being Rock Stars. The band is Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show, who are semi-remembered today for their semi-hit Cover Of The Rolling Stone, in which they semi-seriously begged to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. (They did, but as cartoons.)

This is not that semi-hit, but it was filmed on Shel Silverstein’s houseboat. Award-winning children’s poet Shel Silverstein wrote the band’s lyrics, and he had a houseboat, so that’s gonna naturally turn into a houseboat jam real quick.

Also: Shel Silverstein’s Houseboat is a great name for a band.

Also also: Watch the video. Try to count the hippies. Every 30 seconds, the camera pans and reveals another longhair playing an acoustic guitar.

Also also also: read this, the most brilliant exegesis of a rockyroll performance I’ve ever read. Trust me. Read it.

Fuckers could play. The Captain died today; Tenille was at his side; he will be buried with his hat, and also Tenille.

And Bob Einstein, too.

Everybody dies, from wrestling announcers to monocular singers to captains to daredevils. Eventually or sooner, everybody dies.