Keith Olbermann‘s Mouth That Roared is open again. Although he burbles, “I don’t know why MSNBC shed me,” reluctance disappears when discussing his new “Count down” show on Al Gore‘s Current TV station 103.
“No rustiness or creaking hinges when I began again. This new company is small, so if you need things done, it’s wonderful. Straightforward. You accomplish it in two hours. I originally wanted to experiment with a long 63-minute show. As news director, I’m in charge. If we run long, then I’m on a little more and the next show’s a little short. But the idea didn’t work because my fans and Rachel Maddow‘s, who follows me, had to choose. Rachel didn’t complain, but I’d be cutting into her time.
“My idea was to supersize it. Follow with Twitter feedback. The difference was three minutes. But progressive political people watch both our shows. I realized there’s no need to choose. We’re a two-hour unit. I’m at 8, she’s on at 9. So I said, ‘How about we change this?’ and immediately, a day later, it was changed.”
You basically yearned to babble beyond an hour? What if you ever run dry?
“Oh, please. How could I?”
Being a smaller network, any difficulty in getting A-1 guests?
“It was a concern considering we’re starting from scratch, so I decided to formalize guests. Pay them even if it’s not much money. Make law professors, nonpolitical people, contributors. We built this in a matter of weeks, but the baseline is we’ve formalized it so it wouldn’t be a problem.
“I go to work 1 p.m., stay until 9 p.m., dinner’s a chef salad in some subterranean cave. Weekends is theater. I’ve seen ‘The Book of Mormon’ three times. It’s past being vulgar. One patron’s mouth opened so wide, you could have put a baseball in it. I’ve gone backstage to be with the cast. The show’s so funny that you’d appreciate it even if it wasn’t vulgar.”
Three times applauding those F-words, C-words, S-words, B-words? Three times?
PART-TIME painter Jim Carrey to display his art in an NYC gallery . . . Americana Festival is Oct. 12. Day long vendors, Fifth Avenue to Seventh Avenue, will line 52nd Street with clothes, jewelry to raise money for Encore senior services . . . So do old sitcom stars see their old sitcom co-stars? Roseanne Barr is tight with John Goodman, David Hyde Pierce breaks bread with Kelsey Grammer, and “Friends” Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston are friends.
VH1’s “Mob Wives” finale ended with genteel flowers Drita D’avanzo and Karen Gravano in a brawl. At the Pacha wrap party, they didn’t speak. With a hit out on their friendship, each hugged separate sides of the room mingling with fellow cast members Renee Graziano, Carla Facciolo and whoever acted as lookout. A quantity of booze later in front of the ladies’ room emotional Drita started crying and begged forgiveness. When the night and the bottle was over, the battle was over. By night’s end, they hugged.
KNICKS player Carmelo Anthony sharing seafood with wife LaLa at Puerto Rican eatery Sofrito . . . Ben Stiller dined solo at Film Center Café . . . Comic Rich Carucci: “New York is great. While you’re here, I’m getting towed.” . . . Headlines from Year 2059: “Castro finally dies at age 133. Although Cuban cigars can now be imported legally, President Chelsea Clinton has banned all smoking.”
NY LAW Journal now reports lawyers may monitor jurors through online social networks but not “friend,” e- mail, tweet them, not any way contact them, not let them know they’re being monitored. “Becoming aware an attorney is following them online could influence their opinion.” And “learning of any improper juror conduct during trial may not be used to attorney advantage.”
So, question is, what’s the whole point of the whole thing?
FOLLOWING Brooke Shields, who’s manipulating pulleys in her “Addams Family” dress, Christie Brinkley who’s looking to do “Chicago,” even in Portland, Detroit or Tulsa, Ben Stiller, who did “The House of Blue Leaves,” Robin Williams‘ “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” thing, Ellen Barkin in “The Normal Heart,” that Harry Potter kid in “How To Succeed etc., etc.,” Chris Rock in “The Motherf**ker With the Hat,” everyone’s discovering legit.
Coming up “Sweet Bird of Youth” with James Franco and Nicole Kidman, and also Samuel L. Jackson in “The Mountaintop.”
Now Oprah wants in. No one-woman show. No musical. A drama with an ensemble cast. She’s reading plays. She met with a B’way producer.
‘THE Book of Mormon” bookends this column. At B’way and 65th’s Taber nacle, reader Jim Fragale saw an Elder hand out a “Book of Mormon” copy. The passerby asked: “You seen the Broadway show?” Replied the Elder: “No. We’re not encouraged to listen to music.”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.