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Show h 22, 1996 Etc Page 3 Letterman enjoyslate nightfilibustering By Ed Bark Dallas Morning News Pat Buchanan likely didn't have late-night talk show hosts in mind when he warned supporters, “All the forces of the old order are go- ingto rallyagainst us. They're going to come after this campaign with everything they've got. David Letterman and Jay Leno, with assists from Conan O'Brien and “Saturday Nizht Live,” have since been coming after Buchanan, with jokes wrapped in barbed wire. Other presidential candidates have been butts of comparatively tame monologue jokes. Opposing presidential candidates and establishment Republi- cans brandish the word “‘extremist” to criticize Buchanan and then back off. Comics have no such hesitancy. On CBS’ “Late Show,” Letter- man told viewers that Buchanan recently attended “the opening of his theme restaurant, Planet Ary- an. Also, “hotels in New Hampshire are reporting that Pat Buchanan's staff has been cutting eye holes in pillowcases.” “The good thing about a Pat Buchanan rallyin Arizona —it’s a dry hate,” Letterman said. And the candidate “loves being in the I understand there's an opening on the Pat Buchananstaff. Appar: ently Pat Buchanan’s campaign manager stepped down temporarily after reports that he attended meetings of ultra-right-wing racist groups and militia organizations. Today he said, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong. I did everything bythe book.’ Of course. the book was ‘Mein Kampf.” Saturday Night Live's “Weekend Update” segment included this brickbat: “Buchanan warned that if anyone other than himself becomes president, blacks will retain the right to vote. The rest of the Republican field is whipped with a velvet lash Sen. Bob Dole is portrayed as old and dull. “There is one good thing about the cold weather. It makesit easier to see if Bob Dole is still breathing.” — Leno Magazine publisher Steve Forbes has been tagged as rich and goofy. Through the miracle of computer animation, he took a bath in his moneyon “Late Night With Conan O’Brien.” Arecent “Late Show” Top Ten list cited the “ways Steve Forbes celebrated his victory in Arizona.” No. 10; “Went cruising for chicks in his Nerdmobile.”’ No. 9: need to pay alot of attention to humor. When audiences laugh they're reinforcing something that’s plausible. You don’t laugh if something’s implausible. The fact that they keeptelling jokes about Buchanan's extremism and Dole’s age shows you they’r nating with audiences. any other presidential can- didate attracted the hammer-and tong humor aimed at Buchanan? In the television age, only Barry Goldwater comes close, says Ja: mieson, author of “Dirty Poli. tics.’’ During his 1964 run against President Lyndon Johnson there was a lot of humor that suggested he wascrazy,”’ she say’ Goldwater's conservative rally ing cry — “In your heart, you knowhe’s right” — openedarich vein for stand-up comics. variation of the times: One “In your guts, you knowhe’s nuts. Leno's contemporaryspin parlays the candidacies of Buchanan and Alexander. Noting that Alex- ander had thanked his wife, Honey, for campaigning with him. Leno cracked, Too bad Pat Buchanan didn’t marry a woman named Honey. ‘Cause then it would be Nut ‘n’ Honey.” Campaign news releases tend to be all dulled up with pro forma rhetoric. Buchanan’s sister and ter race. ‘Bought Rolex watches for all five people who voted for Richard Lugar.” On NBC's competing “Tonight Show,” Leno noted that Buchanan is in favor of students wearing uniforms in public schools. Spe- Alexander is tougher to pigeonhole. Comicsbasically have written him offas a nonentity. Letter- gram, a portrait of Buchanan ti- cifically, “brownshirts.” manrecently asked his audience, The Secret Service had a “big scare” when theyreceived a tip that “some lone psycho nut was gonna showup at a Pat Buchanan rally. Turns out it was just Pat Bu- with — a president named Lamar Alexander? I don't think so.” Kathleen Hall Jamieson, dean ry to appear on a major network in recent American history,” Bu- presidential race, but not half as much as he lovesbeing in the mas- David Letterman plays hard ball with his political humor. adviser Larry Pratt, Leno joked chanan.” Referring to former Buchanan Former Tennessee Gov. Lamar “Do we really want — can we live of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, says candidates campaign manager, Bay Buchanan, broke the mold recently with a withering blast at “Nightline The Feb, 23 edition of the pro- tled “Hometown Boy,” was “the vilest piece of anti-Catholic bigotchanansaid Warming to the task, she also charged that anchor Ted Koppel’s “mask of urbanity droppedfor a half-hour. We do not seek an apology because we believe this Jay Leneprefersto goby “the book” wheninsulting political hopefuls. was deliberate, and we only wish all America had had an opportunity to see revealedin this trashy Still, the program “should have checked it out for ourselves,” Koppel said. “The Buchanan fam- documentary the dark soul of ily insists the storyis not true and ABCNews.” Two days before Buchanan's broadside, Koppel apologized in they, after all, should know. My apologiesto all the Buchanans.”’ Buchanan stuck to her story “Its entirety was an endless slander against my brother Pat, my father, my family and our faith,” she said of “Hometown Boy.” “The piece was rooted in igno- part on the Feb. 27 ‘Nightline’ for reporting that Buchanan's fa- ther, Pat Sr., was a frequentlis- tener to the “bigoted and isolationist radio orator Father Charles Coughlin.” Koppel said “Nightline” was relying on reports in “several publications during the 1992primary campaign and againin the Washington Post about a week rance, malice andlies.” The candidate himself briefly denounced “Nightline” on Suinday’s “Meet the Press.” He theft laughed when moderator Tim Russert defended the program as “balanced.” ago.” It’s a ‘Fact of Life’ — ‘Tootie’ has moved on to bigger, better things ByChristy Slewinski New York Daily News True, to many, Kim Fields Freeman will always be remembered as the precocious, pigtailed Tootie, who roller-skated through nearly a decade of prime time in “The Facts of Life.” Andthat’s fine with her. I will never be able to deny Tootie,” says Fields Freeman, matter-of-factly. “People still call Ron Howard ‘Opie.’ And it's not to be disrespectful, or without recognition of his achievements as a grown-up. It’s just that that character wasa partof television history. And Tootie wasa part of people's lives for nine years.” Still, shaking the Tootie image has been surprisingly easy, particularly nowthat Fields Freeman has hadthree seasonsofFox’ hit sitcom, “Living Single,” to show whatshe can do, sans braces. That includes work behind the camera — she recently took her first crack at directing her on- screen roommates (and associates). The episode airs April 4 It’s a natural step for a girl who specializes in Christian entertainment — has several projects in the works. Butits hallmark is the short feature, “Silent Bomb,” which is circulating on the independent-film circuit. Fields Free- man produced, directed and cowrote the film, about the struggles of an HIV-positive female cop. But don't expect her to step be- grewup on and aroundtelevision hind the scenes full-time, particu- Five years ago, while a student at L.A.’s Pepperdine University, she established her own production company, Victory Entertainment Inc. “It's my baby,” she says proudly. “It’s my brainchild, it's myheart.” Currently, Victory — which larly since there are things she still wants to accomplish as an ac- tress. “One of my running jokes is, I've never been on a show where I've had my own apartment,” she says, laughing. “Just having my own room — that would be a challenging role.” chimneys, making installations easy and inexpensive. And because these fireplaces use natural gas, you can count on years of affordable comfort. In addition to direct vents, the Golden Flame Series includes top-vent gas fireplaces, a natural eS soy wall heater with a view, and natural gas log sets with burning sm The Golden Flame Natural Gas ls A Gas! 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