If, like me, you grew up a weird kid compulsively watching the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy and, yes and alas, the Three Stooges, then you might well enjoy “Backwash,” an enjoyably dippy web series with its final episode to be uploaded on Crackle this Monday night, December 20. The series stars Joshua Malina, who also wrote it, as the grumpy and conniving Val, who is, for whatever reason, charged with the care of the childlike and lovably idiotic Jonesy (Michael Panes). When they accidentally rob a bank with a sausage — you kind of have to be there — and hook up with a flamboyant ice cream truck driver, Fleming (Michael Ian Black, who I was unable to nab for a quick interview), the on-the-lamb trio begins a cross-country odyssey of sorts.

The enjoyably lowbrow but sometimes surreal silliness is book-ended by introductions from a rogues gallery of comic and acting talent, the funniest being a mysteriously bearded Jon Hamm, Allison Janney, John Cho, Dulé Hill, and Sarah Silverman. Somehow, Victorian author William Makepeace Thackeray is maligned as being the originally author of this more or less contemporary travesty lovingly directed by Danny Leiner, who also helmed “Harold and Kumar Go to Whitecastle.”

It was my privilege to chat with with some of the actors and creators of “Backwash” at the theatrical premiere of a somewhat shortened feature-length version of the web series. I started with Josh Malina, an actor I’ve been rather fond of since I stumbled over “Sports Night,” the show that convinced me that the writer of “The Social Network” was something more than an entertainingly glib semi-hack, actually a lot more.

In person, Malina is less nerdy than character on “Sports Night” and his somewhat similar character on another show written by Aaron Sorkin, “The West Wing,” but just as humble as some of his onscreen personae. When I asked about some of the press materials stating that “Backwash” is in the spirit of the Marx Brothers, he was cautious.

“It’s something we aspire to. I venerate them so I don’t want to say their name in the same breath. I was weaned on this anarchic and joyful slapsticky spirit of the Marx Brothers. It’s certainly an attempt to capture a little bit of that.”

So, if they characters are sorta kinda somewhat an attempt to be in some way in the same universe as the Marx Brothers, would Malina’s character be, in some way, Groucho-like?

“No. I wouldn’t say we quite follow those archetypes. I would say, however, that my character is sort of a combo. A little Groucho. a little Moe from the Three Stooges, a little [Bud] Abbott from Abbott & Costello, maybe a dash of W.C. Fields and then, sadly, a great deal of myself,” Malina said. Adding that, “in terms of slapstick he’s doing more of the slapping than being the slappee. You can tell that I wrote it. I’m the one beating everyone else up.”

That was about it for Malina. whose next gig is resuming his current recurring role on the USA Network’s “In Plain Sight.”

Next up was Michael Panes, a very unusual multi-talented performer who is both a violinist and a comic actor with an odd resemblance to the younger, slightly pudgier Peter Sellers. I glommed onto to him through his role in Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming’s 2001 dark comedy-drama, “The Anniversary Party,” in which he plays, strangely enough, a violinist with an odd resemblance to the young Peter Sellers. In the film, he finds himself hitting it off, so to speak, with an ambitious starlet played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Though I’ve seen Panes onscreen from time to time since, I told him that I’ve been wondering about him ever since the Leigh/Cummings movie.

“I’ve been wondering about me too. What happened to me?”

Well, I answered, it’s not every day you see a guy in a movie who looks like the pudgy young Peter Sellers, plays violin, and gets lucky with Gwyneth Paltrow (well, her character, that is).

“I thought that would have some legs. Apparently there is only one part that called for that, and I got it. After that, it’s slim pickings.”

But I knew I’d seen him in something — and his IMDb listing indicates he’s been working. I didn’t know until I researched it that he played author and gadfly Gore Vidal in “Infamous,” the movie about Truman Capote writing In Cold Blood that’s was not “Capote” but came out within a year of it and was all but completely buried.

“The truth is, just between me and [Premium Hollywood], I am usually the kiss of death to any project. The reason that you haven’t seen me is that all the work I’ve done, those projects sink. I haven’t told Josh Malina this yet. He’s probably going to find out soon enough.” Then, Panes changed his tune. “I hope that maybe ‘Backwash’ could be the one [that doesn’t sink]. I think it probably will be. It’s really good.”

While Panes puts on a pretty funny Eeyore-act, not all is terrible for him other than “Backwash.” He plays violin regularly with his singer-songwriter friend, Ryan Adams, and will be in the next Cameron Crowe production, “We Bought a Zoo,” “If I’m not cut out.” Let’s hope for Panes’ sake it’s more in the tradition of “Almost Famous” and “Say Anything” than “Elizabethtown” or “Vanilla Sky” and that he’s actually in it.

Panes did leave me with an evocative description of his “Backwash” character. “He’s a simple man. Without a lot of talent, or intelligence, or ambition, or knowledge, or insight, or intuition. He has hunger and bad dreams. I think a lot of people are going to be able to relate to him. There are people out there who are hungry and have really bad dreams. I represent them.'”

That was followed by a brief chat with actor Joe Lo Truglio, who is perhaps best known for hitting Jonah Hill in “Superbad.” He portrays one of the cops who are pursuing our comical heroes. My brief chat with Lo Truglio — who I at first mistook for director Danny Leiner — was marked by my complete lack of knowledge of his career (I can’t even remember his “Superbad” part) and, therefore, nearly complete incoherence.

I did come away with the knowledge that the actor is a tolerant, good-humored guy and that he will be seen playing an FBI agent in the company of Bill Hader in the upcoming science-fiction comedy “Paul” with Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and the voice of Seth Rogen. He will also be a nudist winemaker in the upcoming Jennifer Aniston/Paul Rudd comedy, “Wanderlust.”

The next person I talked to was the actual Danny Leiner, whose claims to fame includes the aforementioned “Harold and Kumar Go to Whitecastle” not to mention the brilliantly titled “Dude, Where’s My Car?,” and the recent episode of “The Office” centering around WUHF, an abortive web venture set-up by B.J. Novak’s character.

I started out by mentioning that “Harold and Kumar” and “Dude” (which I’ve never seen due to my severe Ashton Kutcher allergy) are probably about as close to the spirit of groups like the Marx Brothers as any recent movie. Leiner thought there might be one or two others, but then we moved on to the topic of web series and where he sought to take “Backwash.”

“It’s a very ambitious world to try to get into. In our thing, we went with a lot of production value. It’s a road trip movie. It’s got a lot of stunts. It’s got animation. There’s really a lot elements to it. I don’t think anyone’s been crazy enough to try it on our relatively low budget.”

We talked about the format of the show, and how the feature-length version I saw that night, which will eventually be available in various formats, differed from it. Most episodes, Leiner told me, were roughly 7 minutes long (about the length of a classic-era Warner Brothers cartoon), condensed from 9-11 page scripts by Joshua Malina. The primary difference between the web and feature length version is that the faux “Masterpiece Theater” style introductions omit most of the plot recaps and stick with the sometimes hilarious shtick provided by the hosts.

Leiner, who did not direct the first “Harold and Kumar” sequel but jokingly confesses that he kind of wishes he had and says he’s heard “good things” about the currently in post-production “A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas,” is moving on in a significant way. He’s taking on a “little indie movie” which is, wait for it, not a comedy. It’s called “Big Sky” and is, as of our conversation, uncast.

“It’s a little, noirish movie that takes place in the desert. It’s about an agoraphobic girl who gets lost and has to survive as she tries to save her mom.” Leiner is looking forward to the big change in tone, though he adds the movie will have some humorous elements.

And finally, I spoke there with the charming and very attractive Lindsay Kraft. When I admitted I didn’t recognize her, she was understanding, though she has had a recurring role on “Southland” as the girlfriend of Ben McKenzie’s Officer Ben Sherman. She’s also been on “Lie to Me,” “Without a Trace,” “Third Watch,” “The Sopranos” and “Epic Movie,” and will appear in the upcoming films, “NoName” and “See You in September.”

Rather than playing the more typical role in this sort of comedy of the ultra-sensible and strangely sympathetic woman who helps the wacky protagonist(s) (say, Kitty Carlisle in “A Night at the Opera,” the leading lady in any Adam Sandler flick, etc.), Kraft appears throughout in a number of guises. The first is a not-so entirely stable bank teller who falls for Jonesy (once again, a Michael Panes character enjoys remarkable romantic luck) as well as a prostitute, a homeless woman, and eventually a femme fatale of a waitress who may be out to lure the vulnerable boy-man to his doom.

I asked Ms. Kraft whether she was familiar with the comedy-team genre, and particularly the Marx Brothers, prior to working on “Backwash.”

“I’ve seen some of them but I’ve seen all of Josh [Malina]’s stuff, all of Michael Ian Black’s stuff that he’s done like ‘Stella.’ Josh is so funny. I’m so glad he followed through on doing this because I think it’s really something we haven’t seen in a long time.”

So, where there any big things coming up for Kraft in the future that she wanted to brag about before I let her go?

“You’re looking at it,” she joked. “There’s a few things. You’ll see.”

It’s only playing in three theaters right now and I haven’t seen it yet myself, but if either spy spoofs or slapstick are your thing, you’ll probably want to check out “OSS 117: Lost in Rio,” which picks up the adventures of Monsieur Bonnisseur 12 years after the events of “OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies.” I’m certainly looking forward to it.

Believe me, lefties are as angry at Polanski’s crime as righties and the poem’s attitudes are common across the political board. I actually like these verses quite a bit, and largely agree with them, though I’d vehemently quibble over one of Trillin’s word choices. However, I’ve already quibbled myself silly in various comments sections.

Instead, for no particular reason, I present an indescribable moment of Polanski, the actor, with a magnificent friend lip-synching a standard by Noël Coward — as suggested by Will Harris’s fine new piece on Monty Python solo projects.

Insert joke inspired by “The King and I” here —

Here’s a sample of the piece, to hopefully tempt you into checking out the whole thing:

Mark Hamill, AKA Luke Skywalker:

Mark Hamill may not have had much in the way of cinematic credits when he was introduced to the world as Luke Skywalker, future Jedi, in “Star Wars,” but he’d sure as heck done his time on the TV circuit, appearing on everything from “The Partridge Family” to “The Streets of San Francisco,” even playing a guy named Doobie Wheeler on “The Texas Wheelers.” But when you’re the star of the greatest space opera of all time ,you’ve got to expect a certain amount of blowback, and Hamill got it in spades. Despite starring in the fondly remembered “Corvette Summer” with Annie Potts and being directed by Samuel Fuller in the critically acclaimed “The Big Red One,” things just weren’t happening for the guy outside of the “Star Wars” universe…well, unless you consider being third-billed to Kristy McNichol and Dennis Quaid in “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” to be happening, that is. Post- “Return of the Jedi,” Hamill did a few straight-to-video features before realizing that he might well find more luck off the camera and in the recording booth. Having already worked for Hanna-Barbera in the early ’70s, it was a quick transition for Hamill to return to the world of voiceover acting, and it was a move that paid off in a big way. Whether you’ve known it or not, you’ve heard his dulcet tones providing voices for “The Adventures of Batman & Robin” (The Joker), “Spider-Man” (Hobgoblin), “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (Ozai), and “Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!” (The Skeleton King), among dozens of others. Good for him, we say. But the truth of the matter remains: when you see his face, Mark Hamill is still Luke Skywalker.

Got the idea? Great! To see the rest of the feature, either click right here or on the big ol’ image below:

These days, it seems almost impossible to bring up “Being There” without some unimaginative goon coming along and comparing it to “Forrest Gump.” That’s unfortunate, because if, like me, you’ve got little patience for that particular Zemeckis opus, you may be inclined to skip “Being There” altogether. This would be a grave mistake. The big difference between the two films is that “Gump” wants to be an important film, but in doing so, it achieves the opposite. “Being There,” on the other hand, has no such aspirations and manages to become an important film because it isn’t trying so hard. And if you’ve never seen the film and think you know everything there is to know about Peter Sellers, then “Being There” will show you the actor as you’ve never seen him before.

Chance (Sellers) is a middle-aged man best described as “simple.” He’s seemingly spent his entire life living with and tending to the garden of a very rich man. Since the old man is dead at the start of the film, we’re given very little information about Chance. Where did he come from and how did he come to be in the employ/care of the old man? We never find out. Chance is the blankest of all slates, and his only real exposure to the outside world has come through the television. He seems to enjoy the news and “Captain Kangaroo” equally. But now that the old man has passed on, Chance is given no choice but to go out into the world on his own, for the very first time, and it’s a strange place that doesn’t necessarily work as it does on TV.

A chance encounter (of which there are a deliberate many in this film) with rich socialite Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine) leads Chance into yet another privileged world – and thanks to him choking on a stiff drink at exactly the right moment – Chance the gardener is now known as Chauncey Gardiner. He befriends her dying husband, Benjamin (Melvyn Douglas), a political kingmaker. Ben appreciates what he interprets to be Chance’s straightforwardness and optimism. He gives this new old man hope in his final days. Before long, others feel similarly, and Chauncey Gardiner becomes the toast of Washington. He’s exactly what people need him to be, and says precisely what people want to hear, at any given moment – through no manipulation on his part. He is also, of course, oblivious to all the change he’s affecting around him.

“Being There” is largely a one-joke affair, but it’s an excruciatingly funny joke, and one that continues to build as the movie progresses. Even in its final, melancholy moments, the joke continues to be mined for everything it’s worth. Humor being the subjective animal that it is, there are bound to be people who don’t find it funny, although I’m not sure I’d like to have those people over for dinner. It’s possible I’m being too harsh, but having not seen this film in over 15 years, I found it every bit as fresh and resonant as it must have been when it came out 30 years ago.

Hal Ashby was one of the great directors of the ‘70s, and by the time he helmed “Being There,” he already helped to cinematically define the decade through such classics as “Harold and Maude,” “Shampoo,” “The Last Detail” and “Coming Home.” “Being There” was arguably his last great film, and it’s also an ideal big finish after the previous benchmarks. It’s with a sense of embarrassment that I admit an inability to pinpoint exactly what it is that defines a Hal Ashby film. They’re all so different, and yet there’s no denying that a man with a deep understanding of the ever-changing world around him was behind these features. It’s almost as if Ashby himself was a gift to each of the screenplays these movies were made from. Another director could have made “Being There” based on Jerzy Kosinski’s script, but it almost certainly would have been an entirely different and lesser work. Note the lengthy sequence when Chance first enters the real world: Ashby uses a funked-out, era-appropriate disco version of “Also Sprach Zarathustra.” Why not use a classical rendition? Because that wouldn’t achieve the right tone. Instead, Deodato’s take is a perfect, comical meshing of the symphonies Chance has watched on TV his whole life, and the urban sprawl outside the front door.

Finally, there is Peter Sellers himself. The man reportedly spent the greater part of the ‘70s trying to get the film made, believing Chance to be the ideal role for him to play. It’s almost as if the material had been beckoning him before it was even written. He’d played simpletons before, such as in “The Party,” and even his most famous character, Inspector Clouseau, was about three steps behind everyone else. And yet it does a huge disservice to his calculated work in this film to compare it to those broad, larger than life performances. Indeed, it’s unfortunate to realize that while “Being There” was being unveiled in theatres all over the world, I was very likely watching a “Pink Panther” entry on Sunday afternoon TV – oblivious to the Sellers renaissance happening around me. What separates Chance and the movie itself from those characters and films is that “Being There,” despite being a very funny movie, is rarely played for laughs. The overall tone is one of light drama, and it’s only through its situations that it becomes a sly, witty statement on society, politics and pop culture.

Deluxe Edition DVD Review:

Unfortunately, for a disc labeled “Deluxe Edition,” there’s precious little here to warrant the subtitle, and that’s the only aspect of this disc that keeps this from being a full, five star review. There’s only a theatrical trailer and a 15-minute featurette entitled “Memories from Being There.” The latter features actress Illeana Douglas (granddaughter of Melvyn) recounting time spent on the set as a child as well as her feelings and interpretations of the movie. It’s a wonderful reminiscence and analyzation, but hardly bumps the disc up into anything even remotely resembling “Deluxe.” In all fairness, though, many of the people involved in this film are dead, so it would’ve been tough to put a true celebration of the movie together. According to the press release, however, Blu-ray enthusiasts get a bit more: 10 minutes of never-before-seen additional footage, consisting of two recently discovered scenes, a gag take, and an alternate ending.

Click to buy “Being There: Deluxe Edition”