Posted 1:14 PM by Gene

I must confess I'm feeling mightily blue after reading this highly-celebratory press release about a blogger who's graduated to the staff of Jimmy Kimmel's new show on the Disney Network. (That he blogged for the Disney Sports Cable Channel didn't hurt. Hooray for synergy. That the article contained a word that must be banned from use by news hacks -- HIP -- didn't help. . .my mood.) Nonetheless, even as I congratulate him with the back of my hand, I must ask him:

Have you ever heard of Paul W. Keyes?

Keyes was the producer and head writer of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, one of those immense successes that escapes posterity. He was also a friend of Richard Nixon's. At Keyes's instigation Tricky Dick appeared before the camera to utter one of the show's utterly forgotten catch phrases -- "Sock it to ME?!?" -- his famous jowls humorlessly sagging, his famous rumbling baritone suitably flatulent. Thanks to Keyes (and no small thanks to George Wallace either for splitting the Democratic vote), the Trickster won the '68 election over Hubert Humphrey by several hundred thousand votes; thanks to Keyes (and Wallace), we got one of the worst presidents ever, at one of the worst times ever. The guy probably never stopped hugging himself -- until Nixon produced Liddy and Hunt's Break-In. And this was one of the most renowned and prosperous comedy writers in TV. Have you ever heard of Paul W. Keyes?

As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for; you might get it.

P. S. That catch phrase was introduced by the immensely cute Judy Carne, an ex of Burt Reynolds's. She quit TV to become a junkie. She survived. Every time she said "Sock it to me!" she was drenched with a bucket of water. She was even drenched in public. By rights Tricky should have been beaned with a ton of bricks. Being a friend of the producer had its advantages.

P. P. S. Legend has it that Keyes invited Humphrey and Wallace on the show (in part due to the notorious Fairness Doctrine); being TV fuddy-duddies, they declined. Knowing Nixon I suspect he hadn't the slightest inclination to let Keyes do so but had him invent his little tale so as not to look too suspicious. "Moon the People and Cover Your Arse" was Richard Nixon's motto.

P. P. P. S. Note the URL on the Jimmy Kimmel site. Is this a production of Disney News?