I thought today I might share some clips I've watched on YouTube recently that I enjoyed and think some of you may enjoy too. Let's do a handful of them and I'll give some comments for each.
First up.
This one is probably only relevant to guys around my age who grew up in America. When I was a kid, Letterman was the GOAT. His humor was absolutely perfect for Gen X: cynical, sarcastic, snarky. We all flocked to him, and in turn our attitudes were further shaped by that style of humor.
When he lost The Tonight Show to Leno, like most people I swore off Leno and disliked him forever. In the years since they’ve both retired, Letterman has mostly stayed the same. Leno, however, has almost completely dropped his performance persona and become much more open and honest about things, somewhat returning to the guy we all liked from before The Tonight Show mess.
Anyway, this is a great clip of Leno talking about what he really thinks about Letterman.
Next.
If you’re a Star Trek: TNG fan, you’ll enjoy this one. Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner have started an interview podcast. Between the two of them, they’ve been around Hollywood long enough to have a ridiculous number of contacts, so this could turn out to be a lot of fun.
They promise not to go into Trek too much, though they admit it will probably come up often enough. Here’s the opening video for the channel.
This is a funny one.
Atashin’chi is a family comedy anime, and this episode has English subtitles, so everyone can follow along.
A bit of context first. In Japan, nudity is generally much more casual than in the U.S. Parents often bathe with their kids until around age eight or nine, and even after that it’s not uncommon for parents to walk around the house naked after a bath.
A friend of mine once homestayed with a Japanese family and was shocked when, while he was eating dinner, the father casually walked into the room completely naked to ask his wife a question — treating his “homestay son” no differently than his actual son, and completely unconcerned about the nudity.
Attitudes may be shifting these days, but this is still very much within cultural memory. This episode plays directly off that aspect of Japanese life.
Hmm...It seems like this is one of those clips that doesn't like to be embedded on other websites. Go here to watch. You won't regret it.
Speaking of humor, here’s the always-dangerous Jimmy Carr doing what he does best.
Maybe that's good. Enjoy watching!
| David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Bluesky. |
