Alva Review-Courier -

Marione and I usually work late enough that on a good night we get home about 10 p.m. That is perfect to watch one of the TV newscasts out of Oklahoma City. Then, we'd sit back and enjoy the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Jay was funny. He always had the best monolog. When his show was a re-run, I'd endure the mainly negative David Letterman.

Well, now that Jay and David have moved on, it's rarely fun to watch any of the late-night shows. They have all taken up a mission to see how mean and negative they can be to President Trump and most other national-level politicians.

I can best tolerate Jimmy Fallon because he is least mean, but the critics are egging him on to be meaner because the meanest of them all, Stephen Colbert, has overtaken Fallon in the ratings race. I usually go to bed right after these programs. Do these guys think I'm going to sleep better hitting the hay on an excruciatingly negative cloud?

Fallon's opening is boring and makes me groan. He comes out and has to say “welcome” 13 times, and then he repeats six times how lucky the audience is to be at THE Tonight Show.

Once he finishes the obligatory bashing of President Trump, he has some pretty funny skits. Some of the games that Fallon plays with his audience or with his top-drawer guests are really funny.

Richard Miller sent me a link that will remind you of how funny late-night television used to be. It is entitled “Send in the Clowns,” with a soundtrack of Frank Sinatra's song by that name. A slideshow occurs with this clip that features many of the great comedians during my 60-year TV history (I was about 15 when our family got a TV.)

How many of these do you recall?

• Milton Berle

• Lucille Ball

• Donald O'Connor

• Jackie Gleason

• Jack Benny

• Groucho Marx

• Dom Deluise

• Red Skelton

• Jerry Lewis

• Bert Lahr

• Danny Kaye

• Art Carney

• Phyllis Diller

• Marty Feldman

• Jonathan Winters

• Sid Caesar

• Imogene Coca

• Martha Raye

• Carol Burnett

• Ruth Buzzi

• Arte Johnson

• Phil Silvers

• Mickey Rooney

• Ernie Kovacs

• Flip Wilson

• Abbott & Costello

• Jimmy Durante

• Olson & Johnson

• George Burns & Gracie Allen

• Ed Wynn and Jimmy Durante

• Charlie Chaplin

The narrator of this five-minute movie asks, “Where are the clowns? They aren't around anymore!

“Neither is their spirit: their beautiful, shy-like zaniness. They flourished, of course, in the old variety shows. They're all gone. The product of a different time and a different generation.

“Is it too difficult to clown about minority rights, free love, political corruption, which seem to be the themes for modern comedy?

“Personally, if I had the choice, I'd go for the clowns, wouldn't you?”

The web address of the song and slide show is https://tinyurl.com/mp9gcbg.