Watch: Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: Is the World Funny?

You Tube ^ | 7/7/67

[Eleutheria5]

Per Groucho, No.

[Eleutheria5]

In this exchange lies the secret of the mass affection for the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Donaldus Maximus.

[TBP]

Groucho was one of the funniest men of the century. I am a major Marx Brothers fan. Groucho andn Chairman Bill should be fun.

[Eleutheria5]

His brothers were pretty funny, too. But nobody can hold a candle to Charley Chaplin, except maybe Laurel and Hardy at their best.

[TBP]

I would tend to disagree. The Marx Brothers were the best.

[moovova]

If I tossed in Jackie Gleason & Art Carney, I’d have to continue with so many more...so I’d better not mention anybody at all.

[Eleutheria5]

Modern Times was the greatest movie ever made imho, and his other feature-lengths were amazing, too.

On the other hand, the Marx Brothers so smoothly complemented each other that the four of them were greater than the sum of each one’s respective roles. My favorite line from Chico: “You no-a-fool-me. There aint-a no Sanity Clause.” Harpo: Answering the phone with a set of horns that imitated speech. But Groucho was all-encompassing. Everything he said was the funniest thing he ever said.

[proust]

Groucho’s films were incredibly funny, but he did become a bit of a bore at the end of his life.

[BBB333]

“...But nobody can hold a candle to Charley Chaplin...”

Bill Clinton was a close second with his rapes, don’t forget CC hated America.

Funny, ha-ha and funny weird.

I’ll take Laurel and Hardy and day.

[Kommodor]

Ping for later viewing ...

Perhaps it will answer the age old question - viaduct?

[Impy]

I like this vid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYymnxoQnf8

He puts Nancy in his place.

[Eleutheria5]

His autobiography makes no mention of that, though I just read his climb upward from the workhouses to fame and fortune never got to the part about the paternity suit and his subsequent loss of residency. It’s possible he became estranged from America after that. His movies stopped being so funny then, too. M. Verdeaux and King in America were definitely not his best, although the movie previews in the latter were hilarious, as was the bolshevik kid who wouldn’t let him get a word in edgewise.

[Eleutheria5]

They were calling conservatives Nazis and telling them to shut up even back then.

[rlmorel]

Thank you for posting this...I just missed Groucho Marx-he was coming down, as I was coming up, and I was not ready for William F. Buckley Jr.

I have come to appreciate William F. Buckley Jr. later in my life, which is a source of enjoyment. I love the way his eyes occasionally glint with mischevious humor as he make a verbal rapier thrust...:)

And I did not know Groucho Marx was a conservative...I loved his little remark about Politics being the Garden of Eden of Incompetents...:)

But that is fine. I liked an era where you didn't have to know boxers vs briefs, or...even what the political preference of an actor or a singer was. I am glad we didn't have to know.

[rlmorel]

I thought this one which had a greater portion of the interview Vidal vs Buckley - Crypto-Nazi Debate (Best Quality) was better to watch, as you saw all that led up to this.

Gore Vidal, what a scumbag...heheh..."go back to your pornography..."

Love it!

In light of what we see today, it is impossible to view that encounter, at that time, with the likes of Hayden, Gore Vidal, and Norman Mailer being mentioned, and not see the seeds of what we have today being firmly planted back then.

Scum, all.

[rlmorel]

"...They were calling conservatives Nazis and telling them to shut up even back then..."

If you read Whittaker Chambers in Witness, you can see it goes back even further. The seeds for what we have today were gathered in the FDR administrations and through the Truman administrations, planted by the radicals in the Sixties, nurtured through the Seventies and Eighties, coming to full growth with the election of Bill Clinton, and full maturity with the election of Barack Obama.

[Rennes Templar]

Check out this Buckley interview with Woody Allen. Funny!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNErWi_lTig

[TBP]

“I have a good mind to join a club and beat you over the head with it.”

[rlmorel]

Thanks...I very much enjoyed that!

GIRL: Mr. Buckley, do you think miniskirts are in good taste?

BUCKLEY: On you, I think they are!

Honestly, I got completely bugged out on Woody Allen in the Eighties...I had to remind myself that I once thought he was funny!

[Rennes Templar]

He was your typical Hollywood liberal Jewish comedian. Funny at times...

[musicman]

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