I’ve noticed that since the clampdown, late night talk shows (Seth, Stephen, and the Jimmies) are more willing to put their writers on the air as performers. As a show producer, you know they’re funny and you don’t need to go through the trouble of auditioning actors during a pandemic.

“Late Night with Seth Meyers” writer and stand-up comedian Jeff Wright has been appearing by Zoom and in-person for months, commenting on politics and culture. This week, the clip getting passed around is Jeff as personification of all the COVID-19 vaccines interviewing for the gig.

Daily comic strips are still out there, though most folks don’t bother with physical newspapers anymore. Even my 83-year-old mom reads the obituaries on her laptop.

As a kid of the 1970’s, I would tear through a newspaper funnies page. “Peanuts,” “B.C.,” and “Beetle Bailey” were favorites. I had drugstore paperbacks of “Wee Pals,” probably the first strip with an integrated cast. I even read “Love Is…,” the one-panel that makes “Ziggy” look deep.

The few comics I still check out are now digital and not so much a daily read as a binge every week or two. “Nancy” is one of them.

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I haven’t been watching “Cobra Kai.” Is this still canon?

Star Wars Weekends was a big thing at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park from 1997 until 2015 (with a few skipped years early on). Cast and Crew from the movies would come to the park, sign autographs and participate in talk shows. Dozens of Star Wars characters would roam the park, and park guests would often dress up too. For a few years, I produced and hosted weekly wrap-up videos for the Disney Parks Blog. In 2011, I talked with Matt Lanter who voiced Anakin Skywalker for the “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” animated film.

I also met martial artist and actor Ray Park, who appeared in “The Phantom Menace” as Sith Lord Darth Maul. Ray came to Star Wars Weekends several times and would bring dozens of kids on-stage at a time for an introduction into wushu, aka Chinese kung fu. Ray also showed one goofy guy how to cut down on carbs with a spin kick. You can jump to 2:32 if you must.

Maybe more Star Wars Weekends stories to come. In a drawer somewhere, I still have a harmonica that was played by Kenny Baker (R2-D2).

I saw a fantastically funny show on Broadway about three years ago, “The Play That Goes Wrong.” Now, there’s a sorta sequel on Amazon Prime in the US and I want to make sure you know about it.

The hook of “The Play That Goes Wrong” is a play within a play. Amateur actors ruin a performance (and the set) of a creaky mystery called “The Murder at Haversham Manor.” In fact, the bad actors are played by a cast that’s rehearsed each flubbed line and escalating catastrophe with split-second timing. That original cast, The Mischief Theatre Company, has been performing versions of the show together since 2012.

Here’s a condensed chunk of the original show, for a charity benefit in 2015, with bonus cameos by Kylie Minogue and John Groban.

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