What’s the deal with comedians of the ‘90s using TV to torment the little guys? First, sob sister Ellen DeGeneres televised her pity party when a dog-custody disagreement didn’t go her way. Then, Jerry Seinfeld spent his recent "Late Show with David Letterman" appearance trashing “Sneaky Chef” author Missy Chase Lapine, calling her a “wacko” and placing her on par with Letterman’s stalkers, the now-deceased woman who repeatedly broke into David’s house and those guys who planned to kidnap his kid.
Inspiration for Jerry’s nationally televised beat down came after multiple parties pointed out similarities between his wife Jessica’s “Deceptively Delicious” cookbook and the previously published “Sneaky Chef.” But just as the world discovered Ellen’s habitual pooch passing, Jerry, too, may be destined for a fall from his high horse. Even before his possibly libelous “Letterman” appearance, Jerry’s pop-culture cred started to crumble.
In a New York Press article published before the “Letterman” spot, David Blum wrote about Jerry, “The man who has lately been such a staunch defender of his wife’s latest noble cause — a cookbook designed to promote healthy eating in children — has now lent his voice to a McDonald’s advertising campaign to promote “Bee Movie.” Does Seinfeld seriously contend that selling Chicken McNuggets is compatible with fighting obesity?”
Meanwhile, Defamer took Jerry to task, lampooning his “Letterman” performance as thus: “Jerry Seinfeld used the opportunity to try out a tight, three-minute set of new material based entirely around the everyman premise, ‘So a billionaire comedian's wife writes an Oprah-approved cookbook about hiding brussels sprouts in your kids' mac and cheese, and some celebrity-stalking lunatic accuses her of plagiarism, just because the book she already wrote on that topic contains 15 identical recipes!’”
Slideshow 26 photos
Celebrity Sightings
As comedian Artie Lange quipped on “The Howard Stern Show,” “It’s the edgiest comedy bit (Jerry) ever created.”
Kiefer punishes fans for DUI bust Kiefer Sutherland’s John Hancock just became more precious, even if the reason behind it makes the actor seem a little less so. The New York Post’s Page Six reports that the “24” star is out of the autograph game.
This bold move comes in the wake of Kiefer’s Sept. 25 arrest for DUI. Apparently, fans and photogs captured him faltering on his feet after the fuzz pulled him over. Now it looks like Kiefer is more worked up about the candid cameras than his own role in the events.
“He was one of the best autograph signers there was,” siggy hound Michael Wehrmann explained to Page Six. “He would always stand and sign for a half hour, but since his arrest, he's been telling collectors, ‘I don't do that anymore. You guys screwed me.’”
Dish on the fly Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards are ready to bury their respective axes and work together for the sake of their kids. According to Life & Style, the contentious ex-couple finally settled their messy custody battle over daughters Sam and Lola. It took six hours of mediation, but in the end Charlie agreed to nanny-supervised visits and therapy for his girls. While an insider told the magazine it was a “big victory for Denise,” it sounds like the little ones are the real winners. … Plenty of American’s still haven’t heard of British pop legend Robbie Williams, and now Courtney Love no doubt wishes she were one of them. Robbie’s snarky snap to “America’s Sweetheart” recently surfaced on Digital Spy. “I met Courtney Love and she said she'd like to sleep with me, but couldn't because of my pop star thing,” Robbie recounted. “So I said I couldn't sleep with her either because of the ugly thing.”
Tabloid Tidbits is compiled by Ree Hines and Helen A.S. Popkin.