Every so often, I like to remind my friends who live in my state about the California State Controller's Unclaimed Property Program. Somehow — and I can't explain how or why — the state winds up holding onto money and occasionally property that should go to its residents. The part I can't explain is that some of this is in their possession despite the fact that it has valid addresses attached to it.

But if you live in California, they may have money for you — and before we go any farther, I should issue three caveats…four counting the fact that I said "may." Second Caveat: If they do, it may be thirteen cents…or less. Third Caveat: You may have to jump through impenetrable hoops to claim it. And the Fourth Caveat is that it just plain may not be worth the effort because you have to supply evidence and documentation and God-knows-what-else. A scene like this is not likely to occur…

So don't complain to me if this just results in frustration. I know folks who've collected large sums and others who've encountered the aforementioned impenetrable hoops. If you've been sufficiently caveated, go look yourself up in the California State Controller's Unclaimed Property Program Database.

And if you do go look yourself up, look up your friends and family members, especially any deceased ones to whom you have a connection that might make you eligible to claim what they have/had coming. Also, remember that the address attached to any name may be an old address, an agent's address, an old mail drop, etc. I once got some money that was connected to my former lawyer's former office address. Happy Scrounging!

Speaking of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS as I was: Another fund-raising event they stage is called "Broadway Dream Roles" and its premise is pretty simple. Broadway performers perform scenes from shows and roles in which they wish they could be cast. Here from last April's gala is Lesli Margherita, who most recently (I believe) played Tessie Tura, one of the burlesque stars in the "You've Gotta Get a Gimmick" number in the Audra MacDonald Gypsy.

Here's the role she longs to play and she'll tell you why…

I'm sure I've quoted a certain Jackie Mason joke here before but it keeps popping into my mind. During the later years of the Nixon Presidency, when the Watergate crimes were being revealed and Nixon was committing more in an inept attempt to cover up the previous ones, Mason said the following. He said, "These days, every morning when I wake up, I run out into my living room to see if my furniture is still there!"

For some time now, I think of that every morning when I log into selected websites for the latest news to see what Donald Trump has done to us now. There's always something and it never makes things more stable and peaceful.

Here's the latest from Fred Kaplan on what's going on with Venezuela. And here's the most ominous paragraph in the article…

The United States has had a pretty successful record of overthrowing foreign leaders but a pretty lousy one of imposing order, or accomplishing whatever outcomes it has desired, in the aftermath. (Some obvious cases in point: Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Guatemala, and — going back several decades but one with enormous implications later on and ever since -— Iran.)

Is this going to be another one of those times when the U.S. wins The War but loses The Peace? There will be those who won't care as long as we get some oil out of it.

Jon Stewart was not only back last night, he was back with one of the most important and courageous shows I've ever seen on television. You probably watched it but just in case you didn't…

I'm not sure if Jon Stewart is doing a new Daily Show tonight but if he's not, here's a segment that aired three weeks ago saying what he would be saying if he were on tonight — which he may be…

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS raises money all year in the Broadway community for utterly good causes. One of the best things they do each year is a luminous show done in early December for two performances featuring — and largely attended-by — the current Broadway talent pool. It features spoofs and parodies and a lot of "inside" Broadway humor.

This annual event used to be called "The Gypsy of the Year" but now it's "The Red Bucket Follies" and what you'll see below is the opening number from the show mounted this past December 8 and 9 at the New Amsterdam Theater on days when Disney's Aladdin didn't need the stage. Here's how the festivities began…

We've featured a number of videos on this site with performances by Azi Schwartz, a cantor at the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City.  Last June, he hosted a concert at that shul — an hour and a half of Jewish performers singing Broadway songs written by Jewish composers.  If you've got the time, you might enjoy this.  You'll certainly recognize most of the tunes…

Politifact has been fact-checking Trump and his aides about Venezuela, the capture of Nicolás Maduro and all those boat strikes. It doesn't seem as if we're getting the real story on any of this.

The Associated Press covers some of the same ground. And Reuters tackles the someone's-gotta-ask-it question of whether what's going on is legal. It may not matter but it would be nice to know.

Well…

I watched the Chevy Chase documentary on CNN and part of me wishes I hadn't.  It was probably a good teaching tool if you need to convince someone that too much in the way of drugs, liquor and success can make you do things you'll have to live down if/when you make it to being clean, sober and no longer in as much demand.  Most of these docs on comedians are built on the question, "Why was this person funny?"  I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not attempted to answer, "Why was this person such an asshole at times?"

And the secondary question for me was and still is "Why did he allow this to be made?"  Because it kind of set in stone that the first question was one that had to be asked.  I felt sorry for the guy at times during it, not so sorry at other points.  But then I'm not one of those folks who believe that drugs and drink are any sort of excuse for bad behavior.

Some of the current-day interviews with Chase were painful, watching him try to defend the indefensible.  Years ago, there was a Comedy Central Friar's Roast of him (not-very-good video linked here) that he sat through with a "Why the f*** did I say yes to this?" look on his face.  This was a more severe version of that.   It's nice to see that he has folks who love him both personally and also at events like a screening of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  But over all, I wasn't sure what to make of Chevy Chase and there were moments in the documentary when he didn't seem to know either.

You may be wondering exactly what Donald Trump thinks he's accomplishing with the seizing of power and regime changing (maybe) in Venezuela. I mean, apart from driving all that nasty news about the Epstein Files and Jack Smith's testimony off the front pages. As always for this kind of thing, I turn to the inestimable Fred Kaplan for the real story.

Hey, how do they make Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup? I know some people think it barely qualifies as food but I've downed a lot of it in my day and often, it or the Chunky variety is the perfect thing I need in me at that particular moment.  Yes, there are restaurants that make much better soup.  Yes, there are people who do, also.

Hell, back when I was occasionally trying to cook things from relative scratch in my kitchen, I made a chicken soup that was probably better.  But that involved time and planning and having all the necessary ingredients on hand.  I couldn't decide at 11:50 AM that I wanted chicken noodle soup and be eating mine — or having some deli deliver anything better — by Noon.

Campbell's product that doesn't pretend to be anything more than it is and if you're going to get your soup out of a can, it's about as good as you can do. At least, that's what I think.  And I was kinda fascinated to see how they make it…

I received several questions about this video to which I linked.  It's the one from a San Diego TV station that has a history covering the San Diego Comic Con — these days, known as Comic-Con International.  Someone who identifies as "Just Call Me Dennis" sent three questions which I shall now attempt to answer here.  First, Just Call Me Dennis asked…

You've been to that con every year. What year or period of years was your favorite?

Probably the first few because everything was new and everyone was just so gosh-darned happy that the event existed at all. Also, when it was smaller, you knew a pretty hefty percentage of all the people there, whereas today I know maybe 1%, 2% tops.

But I've pretty much enjoyed every one of those conventions. There was a period when I was — as impossible as this may seem — bored with the con after a day or two. I didn't want to sit behind a table and I had nothing to sell and  I had no "connections" to be made or nurtured for my career.  So I sometimes just ran out of Things To Do. Finally, once I'd intensified my participation in the programming — i.e., hosting or appearing on panels — that problem went away.

What is there that you enjoyed at early cons that is no longer there and you miss it?

Well, seeing certain people, of course.  And it wasn't just those certain people.  I loved meeting and talking with folks who created the comic books or cartoons of my youth. Almost all of them are gone and they ain't coming back. Still, I have reached the age where I am no longer shocked or upset when people who were once in my life are no longer in this world. Ideally, I'd like everyone to live forever but I'm not surprised when they don't.

In the video, Ray Bradbury said that there was about to be a comic book based on his stories. Did that ever happen?"

Ah, here's one that triggers an anecdote. I'll try to make this as brief as possible but will doubtlessly fail. Bradbury's work has occasionally been adapted into comic book form, most notably by EC Comics back in the fifties.  In the video, he was telling that newsperson about a specific project that was then pending and I happened to have been involved in it.

Basically, an acquaintance of mine had the idea that there should be something called The Ray Bradbury Comic Book. That was what he wanted to call it. If it had happened, I think it would probably have been called something more like Ray Bradbury's Amazing Tales but that's not why it all fell through. This fellow had an "in" to Bradbury so he approached the man and said something like "May I shop the idea around to publishers?"

Ray was open to the idea but no terms were discussed. Those would have to be hammered out with Ray's agent or lawyer or someone if/when this acquaintance of mine found a legitimate publisher…which he did. He went to Western Publishing Company (aka Gold Key Comics) — a firm for which I was then writing and told them I had sent him. I hadn't but, hey, that's what friends are for, right?

As things turned out, they were interested. Western at the time was publishing some decent-selling comics full of "ghost stories." That's what they called them even though many of the stories did not involve ghosts. We're talking about Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery, Twilight Zone and Mystery Comics Digest, and they'd recently added a book called Grimm's Ghost Stories. There seemed to be room for more such titles.

Those comics were produced out of Western's New York office. The Bradbury book would have been produced out of the Los Angeles office, which was the office for which I was then writing.  The chief editor there, Chase Craig, said something like, "Hey, if Bradbury's okay with it, let's have Mark be the writer-adapter." That was okay with me of course but it amazingly turned out to be okay with Ray as well and I'm not sure why. True, he knew me and we'd spent time together…but I don't think he'd ever read anything I'd written. Anyway, that's how I got involved.

There were a couple of meetings and a couple of phone calls and then it all went kablooey.

One thing I've learned in this business (and in others in which I've labored) is that something can be "99% set" on Monday and by late Tuesday, the project's as dead as dead can be. You might guess in this case that it was because they couldn't make a deal with Mr. Bradbury but no. He and his agents/lawyers/whatever were fine with the terms Western's business folks proposed.

I was fine with what I'd be paid. The artists — we had Dan Spiegle and Doug Wildey lined up — were fine with what they'd be paid.

So what was the snag? It was that acquaintance who'd instigated this whole thing. He was not fine with what he'd be paid.  Having no clue as to how much a book like this could reasonably be expected to gross, he tossed out an outrageous cash demand and vowed he would never back off that figure.  If sheer stubbornness counts for anything in this world — and it shouldn't — he stuck to his asking price.  He killed the whole deal but he stuck to his asking price.

And it wasn't just that.  Marvel Comics had recently begun putting "Stan Lee Presents" on every story and he demanded his name appear in the same manner.  He also wanted veto power over anything he didn't like even if I, Western's editors and even Ray Bradbury approved it.

He intended to veto there being paid advertising in his comic book.  I wasn't present when this happened but reportedly one of the editors at Western told him, "If we don't have ads in it, we'll have to charge way more for the book."  To which he — also reportedly — replied, "Well, I'll veto a higher price tag on my comic book."

Yes, by now he was referring to it as "his" comic book.  They made him a final — and I thought, perfectly reasonable — "take it or leave it" offer.  To which he smugly told the business guy at Western, "I'll leave it.  When you're ready to meet my terms, you know where to find me."  Then he sent a letter threatening to sue the company out of existence if they tried to proceed with any Ray Bradbury book without him.

And that, then and forever for all eternity, was the end of that.  A year or three later when they hadn't come to him and begged to make the deal on his terms, he was still proud of how he'd handled the whole matter.  He actually said with a grin, "I didn't let them cheat me!"

Thereafter, whenever I saw Ray, he'd say, with a sad note, "That's what happens when you try to do business with amateurs." I have a lot of stories about getting involved with amateurs and Ray Bradbury, I'm sure, had a lot more.  Maybe we should have adapted them into a comic book.  The story of how that Ray Bradbury Comic Book didn't happen would have been more unbelievable than anything in The Martian Chronicles.

We mentioned this before but here are some more details…

A hometown hero who helped create many of the world's best-known superheroes is being honored where he grew up on the Lower East Side.  The New York City Council has approved co-naming a Lower East Side block for comic book artist Jack Kirby, adding a sort of exclamation point to the life and work of the co-creator of a huge stable of superheroes.

The legislation, which goes into effect 30 days after the vote and does not require mayoral approval, will co-name Essex Street between Delancey and Rivington Streets on the Lower East Side, where Kirby was born, as Jack Kirby Way.

The photo above is of a temporary sign that was erected there recently (and hours later, removed) as part of a Marvel promotion. The new sign, which is the result of several Kirby fans' efforts — especially Roy Schwartz's — will be erected soon.  It will not have the "Yancy St." part on it.

I may see if there's any way I can plan a New York trip, if not for the dedication ceremony, then soon after just to see it.  In his life, Jack received a lot of honors but this one would have meant more to him than any other. Oh — and if you're wondering exactly where this is…

The red marker is where I believe the sign will go.  And the little orange icon with the knife and fork is Katz's Delicatessen.  So after we pay our respects to the sign, let's hike over to Katz's and try to eat our respective body weights in pastrami.  Or maybe Jack's favorite deli food, which was potato latkes.

More of the best stuff on The Daily Show in the year just ended…