Cloris Leachman was the total package: she could act, sing, dance, make you laugh and cry all in the same show. If there were any doubts she had the hardware to prove it, winning both an Oscar as well as 7 Emmys.

Leachman’s career spanned eightdecades, from 1947 to 2021. She was the kind of performer that made everyone around her better, which is why legends like Mary Tyler Moore and MelBrooks sought her out. Like many people in my generation, I first remember her as Frau Blücher in Young Frankenstein. Later we would watch reruns of The Mary Tyler Moore Show or Rhoda and Leachman would make us laugh harder than anyone else on the show.

Valerie Harper; Mary Tyler Moore; Cloris Leachman

Leachman as Frau Blücher in Young Frankenstein

She worked steadily throughout the decades, and then had a career renaissance when…

On the off chance 2020 ended last night we here at Pop Culture Uncovered wanted to take a moment to remember some of the weirdest & wackiest crap that happened. If you’re not hungover go ahead and grab a drink and take one last walk down memory lane with us before we burn it all down.

January:

If this was Egypt in 2000 BC he might have a chance at winning this case.

February:

In his defense it DID get the nurses’ attention, so his plan was spot on.

March:

If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be moving to…[checks link]…Castelvetro, Italy

April:

“I’m sorry. I thought this was America!”

May:

I can’t blame him. What else is there to do in Utah?

June:

Honestly, World War III was kind of a letdown.

July:

He’s dead. D-E-D, DEAD.

August:

For when an “OCCUPIED” sign is just too damn difficult to operate.

Don’t know if Facebook told you or not but there’s an election wrapping up in the US today, and for a lot of us it is the most stressful and consequential election in our lifetimes. So take a moment, step away from Nate Silver’s panic sweats, and join me in an oasis of election-free dumbassery.

• Sounds to me like he got his money’s worth.

• THIS is where I want my tax dollars going from now on.

• Well, he’s no Hannibal Lecter.

• I know you’re partial to convenient stores, but dammit, H.I., the sun doesn’t rise and set on the corner grocery.

• No Stairway?!? Denied!

• If the bar is a rockin’…it’s probably trespassing.

• Nothing but respect for MY Queen.

• Still better than eating kale.

• Whoever had “murderous caterpillars” on their 2020 bingo card come on down and collect your winnings.

• HOW DID IT TAKE 3 TIMES FOR HIM TO BE FIRED?!?!?

Don’t know if Facebook told you or not but there’s an election wrapping up in the US today, and for a lot of us it is the most stressful and consequential election in our lifetimes. So take a moment, step away from Nate Silver’s panic sweats, and join me in an oasis of election-free dumbassery.

• Sounds to me like he got his money’s worth.

• THIS is where I want my tax dollars going from now on.

• Well, he’s no Hannibal Lecter.

• I know you’re partial to convenient stores, but dammit, H.I., the sun doesn’t rise and set on the corner grocery.

• No Stairway?!? Denied!

• If the bar is a rockin’…it’s probably trespassing.

• Nothing but respect for MY Queen.

• Still better than eating kale.

• Whoever had “murderous caterpillars” on their 2020 bingo card come on down and collect your winnings.

• HOW DID IT TAKE 3 TIMES FOR HIM TO BE FIRED?!?!?

hurm…

Let’s just get into the insanity, shall we?

• I always thought we should avoid eating the yellow AND the brown snow.

• No, I didn’t say “Greenpeace”.

• Stealthy shoguns steal sumo-sized safe.

• If you apply for the grant you are automatically disqualified from winning it.

• Sometimes “raise the roof” ain’t just about how dads “get down on the dance floor”.

• Surprise surf-n-turf.

• I for one have no plans to help renovate the horror section of this library.

That does it for this week. As always, if you see something WTF-worthy hit me up in the comments or find me on Twitter.

I never had the honor of meeting Mosilla “Mo” Gaba. The vast majority of Baltimore sports fans never met him. But we knew him and we loved him. We met him on the radio, calling into one of the local sports talk stations. I first heard him on the Scott Garceau and Jeremy Conn midday show on 105.7 The Fan. Mo was a breath of fresh air in a sea of armchair coaches and general managers. He was all giggles, infectious energy, and predictions for blowout Orioles and Ravens victories. You couldn’t help but be drawn to him. It wasn’t until you heard him for a while that you learned why he was able to call the radio shows so often.

Mo had been battling cancer since he was 9 months old. Early in his fight he lost his sight. Due to his repeated illness he was home from…

The role of straight man in comedy is a dying art. It grew out of vaudeville and moved to movies, radio, and television as the vaudeville artists moved to new mediums. Bud Abbott, Dean Martin, and Margaret Dumont are 3 of the most famous and successful straight men in comedy history (with “men” in this instance being a catchall akin to “mankind”). One could argue any of those 3 were the best and could back up their assertion with multiple clips. I, however, have always held Carl Reiner as the greatest straight man in history because he was able to do the role to perfection for two very different performers: Mel Brooks and Dick Van Dyke.=

Carl Reiner passed away on June 29th at the age of 98. To say he was one of the most influential comedians ever understates the impact he had on humor both here…

Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artist: Paolo Pantalena
Colors: Arif Prianto
Letters: ALW’s Troy Peteri
Covers: Paolo Pantalen & Sunny Gho; Phillip Tan & Sunny Gho
Editors: Ben Meares; Ben Abernathy
Publisher: DC Comics

Before we get into the amazing, continuity loving, end of this issue, let’s take a brief break to check in on Generation: Outlaw and poor Ma Gunn trying to deal with a houseful of super powered, barely sane, children. Spoiler alert: it’s not going well. While nothing and no one is on fire, yet, Faye is having a hell of a time finding anyone with the ability, and more importantly, patience to deal with Jason’s wards when he’s not there. However, after a fewstops and starts it looks like she may have found a decent set in Monsieur Mallah and The Brain. Now if she can only convince Ernst that the kids are, in fact, alright…

In my 30+ years in the comedy world I have yet to meet a comedian worth the name who can’t tell you when they first saw Fred Willard on screen. For me it was a double whammy in 1984: Watching Mama’s Family with my parents then sneaking into This Is Spinal Tap after my buddy’s parents bought us tickets to see Ice Pirates. Never has breaking a rule impacted me more.

Fred Willard was a master of awkward comedy. He was so seamless in his performance that sometimes I would re-watch scenes just to see the other actors trying so hard not to break character. When you watch the outtakes you see how often they failed.

In a 50 year career the only “scandal” with him was him going to an adult theater once. He responded by reviewing the film as “lousy”. While I never saw the film in…