Rich Mintz  

If you’ve never neatly folded and put away nine loads of laundry at once while watching Hoarders, you should try it. Highly recommended.

Bonus comment: Where in the world did the name Standolyn come from? Now the mystery is solved.

Extra bonus comment: When someone on Hoarders says “And we have ten cats who live with us,” the proper reply is “Yes, of course you do.”

This week on a listserv I read regularly — which happens to be a place where a lot of smart people hang out, each of whom thinks he is smarter than all the others, and, let’s face it, most of them are right — one of those petty little bitchfights broke out that will break out from time to time in such a place. And one smart but impatient person said to another smart but impatient person, by way of ridiculing his harping on some point or other, “Toot that horn, Clarabell.”

I thought that was funny in itself, but Michael Rose pointed out that it’s a reference to “Howdy Doody,” which is something so old that I know about it only from hearing actual old people talk about it. (Employees of Blue State Digital, take note: I am not the oldest person in the world.)

Turns out Wikipedia now knows as much about Howdy Doody as the olds do. (Perhaps an old actually wrote the copy that follows!)

Clarabell the Clown was the mute partner of Howdy Doody…. Clarabell, who wore a baggy, striped costume, communicated by honking a horn for “yes” or “no.” Clarabell would also spray fellow cast member Buffalo Bob Smith with seltzer….

Buffalo Bob Smith and the Kids of the Peanut Gallery sang a song about Clarabell, sung to the tune of “Mademoiselle from Armentières”: “Who’s the funniest clown we know? Clarabell!” (etc.)

For the benefit of those of you who are as old as me but not older: “Mademoiselle from Armentières” is the “Hinky dinky parley-voo” song from World War I — you know, “The first marine found the bean, parley-voo?” — tap tap, is this on? — and World War I, for the benefit of those younger, is the one that has the Germans in it but not the Nazis, not the one with Robert E. Lee and Oliver North. But I digress.

So far so good, except that based on the video below, Clarabell (who, I reiterate, despite the name, is a man) looks like someone grabbed Popeye off the street during a bender and slapped some makeup on him. It’s amazing how ragged and experimental this all looks, fifty years after the fact.

Tonight we’re watching “So You Think You Can Dance,” tape-delayed from last night. It’s the top 11, this time paired with “all-stars” from previous seasons.

I like SYTYCD because it involves genuine talent, of a type that you can’t fake. Creativity and innovation count for something here, but you also need native ability and the willingness to learn and hone a craft. These young people aren’t just putting one over on America — on “America’s Got Talent,” a schlocky ventriloquist might make it to Vegas, but you’re not going to crack the top 20 on SYTYCD unless you’re a star across the board. And you won’t survive elimination unless you keep up your game.

Now, when I first came to this show, I knew almost nothing about dance — possibly even less than you do. But after three seasons of this — and the judges, though they have their quirks, are pretty dedicated and legit — I’ve learned a lot about both how to recognize good dance and how to enjoy it.

On the whole, the contestants’ partners (the all-stars) were visibly better than the contestants — smoother, snappier, cleaner, more effortless. The contrast was obvious, for example, in Melinda’s and Pasha’s routine. Even when they were doing the same step side by side, your eyes were mostly on him. But Robert’s and Courtney’s African jazz routine was an exception. He matched her move for move, and brought a grace and a bounce and a flexibility and a confidence of his own. Nigel called him a dark horse, but I think he’s going to turn out to be more than that — he’s the one to beat. It’s on!

Kent, in his cha cha, wasn’t the best ballroom dancer I’ve ever seen. But wow! I can’t remember when I’ve seen a dancer having so much fun. And isn’t that the whole point?

One final comment: for two of these dancers, Alex and Robert, this was probably the best day of their entire lives. Look at their faces as the judges give their notes! Aside from everything else, the humanity of this show is what gets me.

Straight recap here. Bitchier recap, with video links, here.

… make up the opening scene of the “Three Valentines” episode of Frasier, which I saw this morning while getting ready for work, and which you can see right here. I’m not sure that a more sublime 6 minutes of comedy starring a single actor have ever been shot in the history of television.