Coincidentally, I've been engaged in some heated discussions with online friends about another great (in my never-humble opinion) comedic actor, (fasten your seatbelts, folks!), Sarah Silverman. If you are offended by the mention of her name in the same breath as Paul Newman, I understand and apologize. But the reason I bring it up is that I've been making the claim that she is, above all, a comedic actor (if perhaps not a very versatile one, alas!), whose standup routine is premissed on a created persona that is enormously difficult to pull off and shows brilliant and original talent and insight. And further, I've compared her mock pose (as someone oblivious to the racist - or otherwise outrageous - content of her casual remarks) to those of Swift (in A Modest Proposal) and Twain (in The War Prayer), not in the gravity of their content, certainly, but in the ironical/satirical device used, and used so skillfully. Anyway, her recent performance for The Great Schlep is a case in point, for anyone who hasn't seen it yet http://www.thegreatschlep.com. It's been the target of accusations of antiSemitism and racism by those who have a very low tolerance for ironic comedy, indeed. I'll leave it up to our esteemed list manager to decide if it's appropriate to mention Sarah's name in a thread honoring Paul Newman, and a listserv celebrating Mark Twain. I don't mean to demean either one by so doing. Oh...and Happy New Year to all! Benjamin N. Wise, Ph.D. Keene State College Keene, NH