Mort Sahl my hero. I “discovered” him when I was 18, and have been saving and purchasing archives since then, as well as studying America to understand the references. “The Rebel Without a Pause” deserves better than to be forgotten. I’ve collected over 2,000 archives—video, audio, newspapers, photographs, articles.
Mort’s death was the most difficult thing I ever dealt with, getting a text that he passed away that day from the woman who was with him during his last breath, but being told he always liked when I visited him or talked to him online meant a lot to me and I only wish I had more time with him.. That is, until my little (and only) brother passed away at the age of 37 eighteen months later. I don’t leave my house anymore, and pretty much given up because it’s been the story of my life, so this is my last try. Ironically, my brother told me he was coming over, and would play Mort Sahl material, adding, “Matthew, I need to pause it any time I want so you can explain” just over a week before he passed, but I never got the chance.
Because of copyright issues, I didn’t upload this on my main channel and will have to upload it onto Patreon.
Again, if you can help me in any way. I have Paypal, but if you have ideas or some skills - anything would be appreciated. E-mail me anytime at MyMusicalAccount@protonmail.com and I promise to e-mail very soon, since I am not sleeping (which is probably the only way I’d post this - delirium!)
I’m glad you did this (or are working on this). Although I hope you have other interests, as well, for your own sanity.
Want a suggestion? Just in watching the first minute I felt rushed… Be more careful with your edits: you continually cut to the next clip before the speaker was finished with their last word. Ed Sullivan, Guy With Phone Number Over Him, and Whoopi Goldberg all got chopped. The first Mort Sahl clip was better: you gave Mort some “breathing room” at the end of his joke.
Mix the audio levels so that each speaker comes in at about the same volume. While I was watching, I had to raise and lower the volume four times. Whoopi Goldberg is too soft to be heard easily; Joe Rogan and Keith Olbermann, too loud. If you can equalize the sound levels, it will be much better for a listener. Also, Ed Sullivan’s voice is out of sync with his video, but I think that may be easier to fix.
I’d love to see more of this project. And please try to get some rest.
Thanks for all the comments! For over a decade, I’ve noticed I do more music work (and now, this) when I haven’t slept. It’s some kind of delirium energy, but it’s 10:14pm, and I just stopped, because when I go to bed, it’s all I think about. “Oh yeah, I should do THIS” or re-arranging things, placing another video that is a better and shorter summation. It’s been very obsessive, and although I’ve tried to distract myself with other things, I keep going back, telling myself I’ll do 30 minutes of work, and then 2 hours go by.
In progress, almost done. I edited sound levels. I’m not sure about the interest, so I might work on it less. I say this a lot, but I will just take it day by day. The first 100 seconds will be the intro, and I’m going to avoid music.. Initially, I thought since I already finished instrumental music of my own, that I wouldn’t have to worry about audio copyright, but there’s really no way to do that with video. So I’m going to avoid that, because my music isn’t what’s important, and I think hearing Mort is key, so it’s not going to be fancy.
I’ve been watching a lot of documentaries, and a lot of them seem corny to me, and if it’s “boring” because I don’t have eerie keyboard drones, or rhythm speeding up for tension, etc etc., oh well… 78% of my subscribers on YouTube (not that channel) but my paid subscribers on Patreon don’t seem interested, so I might as well do it my way. I’m sure I’ll change things (as I did today), such as how I organize the videos… Currently, it’s 90 minutes, chronologically, but I don’t know if that’s working now that I have finished it..
