One of my best used-book finds ever was a copy of 1912's Hygiene for the Worker, a book published to help young men and women become happy, healthy, and unquestioning factory-laborers. The book is wonderful in so many ways. The illustrations are simultaneously delightful and creepy, the language is charmingly outdated, and the lessons in the book attempt to create a race of scrubbed-clean, milk-drinking super employees who spend their vacations at home "laying up a greater store of health and energy than the young people who come back tired and weary from having too good a time at the mountains and other regular summer resorts."

I love Hygiene for the Worker a lot, and thus I was pleased to recently discover that it has been digitized by Google Books. I highly recommend taking a skim through this hilariously outdated, yet sometimes disturbingly pertinent book.

Look people: The Jerk is one of my favorite comedy movies. If comedy was nutrition, you could say I was weaned on this film. Now The Jerk is on Hulu in its entirety, so you have no excuse not to watch it. Well, unless you're my parents and still have a dial-up internet connection because the internet companies won't serve DSL to rural areas. Hi Mom, hi Dad!

I've been reading a few comedy and pop culture blogs lately, and while people are quick to condemn Cavemen (with what sounds like good reason) and give the obligatory (and well-deserved) hat-tip to The Office, there's an eerie silence when it comes to Carpoolers. "People!" I want to yell. "People! This is Bruce McCulloch! This is one of the men…may I say, quite possibly the best man? Who changed our comedic lives on The Kids in the Hall!" But nobody who I read regularly is making a peep. So I will.

And I'm disappointed.

It pains me to say that. It's like sticking a little knife into my comedy heart. Bruce McCulloch is one of my top three favorite comedians. But I've watched two episodes of Carpoolers so far, and while I can see bits of Bruce shining out, the plotlines have been stale. For example (spoiler alert), in the second episode, one of the characters is caught sneaking into a motel room instead of going to his office. Why Bruce, why? Are you going to be daring? Are you going to figure out how to really turn the whole "I'm-having-an-affair" piece on its head in an exciting new way? Nope. The guy is sneaking to the hotel room to have alone time. A plot necessity? Yes. Funny? Not really. It's a twist, but a pretty predictable one.

I don't mean to bash the whole show. When Bruce shines through, he really does. There are some absolutely brilliant bits of comedy, and I "LOLed" more than once. But I was really hoping that the man I loved so much for his brilliant sketch ability could easily parlay that ability into an equally brilliant plot-driven show.

The second episode was better than the first, so I'm hoping that maybe Carpoolers will continue chugging forward until it's full-speed at the end of the season. And I do suggest watching. I mean, come on people. It's Bruce.

I'd said I post something else about Kids in the Hall this week. Here's a PSA written by Bruce which a) is the only place I am currently aware of to see Bruce and Anthony Michael Hall acting together and b) remains a pertinent message for the times.

...I might as well come up with two more Kids in the Hall posts to round out the week, right?

Here's a clip I found on YouTube of Kevin, Dave, and Mark in a music video for The Odds. It's not very good, but it's a little bit hilarious in that.

I swear I didn't intend on making this Kids in the Hall week, but here's a preview clip of Kevin McDonald's new one-man show, Hammy and the Kids, from the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal (he's in the second half):