Showing results by narrator "Edward Asner" in All Categories

The Best of Second City is an unforgettable ride through decades of hilarity, packed with classic sketches that helped make this America's foremost comedy troupe. Dubbed "a temple of satire" by Time magazine, The Second City has been convulsing audiences since its founding in Chicago in 1959, lampooning every aspect of modern American life with brilliant, improvisatory sketches.

At the age of 48, film critic David Denby returned to his alma mater, Columbia University, to re-experience the core humanities courses he had taken as a freshman 30 years before. Facing the question of what he really knows, Denby re-examines the besieged Western classics, ranging from Homer, Sappho, and Sophocles to Dante, Nietzsche, and Woolf. What relevance do the writers and thinkers of the past have to our current life? The answer surprised Denby and will surprise and enlighten his listeners.

What do fast-talking New York octogenarians Abe and Mabel do when their lifelong grocery store, Pepperstein Produce, is driven out of business by Wonder Food? They embark on the ultimate road trip with a 19-year-old stoner, Wisdom, to Los Angeles to become actors.

Suppose you could ask God the most puzzling questions about existence, and God would provide clear, understandable answers? It happened to Neale Donald Walsch. Conversations with God is Neale Donald Walsch's account of his direct conversations with God, beginning in 1992 while Walsch was immersed in a period of deep depression. He composed a letter to God in which he vented his frustrations, and much to his surprise, even shock, God answered him.

Hilarity abounds in this portrait of three couples successively occupying a suite at the Plaza Hotel. A suburban couple takes a suite while their house is being painted, a Hollywood producer calls a childhood sweetheart for a little sexual diversion, and a mother and father fight about the best way to get their daughter, the bride, out of the bathroom and back to the wedding.

The Key and Tone Clusters are two one-act plays by 2009 Man Booker Nominee Joyce Carol Oates. The Key is a hilariously perverse encounter between a vacationing suburban housewife, recently separated from her husband, and a prosperous businessman. Tone Cluster is a chilling comedy that takes the form of an interview between a middle-aged, middle-class American couple and the media.

As a young Jewish man in 17th century Amsterdam, Baruch de Spinoza excelled as a theological student; but as he encountered free-thinking Protestants, atheists, and radicals in this relatively tolerant city, he began to question his religion and the nature of God. As a result, he was branded a heretic and faced excommunication. Directed by Rosalind Ayres. Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles.

Conversations with God is Neale Donald Walsch's account of his direct conversations with God that began while Walsch was immersed in a period of deep depression. He composed a letter to God in which he vented his frustrations, and much to his surprise, even shock, God answered him.

This moving courtroom drama is based on a true incident that exposed the shocking conditions at Alcatraz. The tale begins when 18-year-old Willie Moore makes the biggest mistake of his life. Now, all he wants is a chance to talk baseball before he dies.

A team of lawyers uses a little-known legal writ to fight and overturn the conviction of Fred Korematsu, unjustly sentenced for resisting the WWII mass incarceration of all Japanese Americans on the West Coast. The play draws much inspiration from Enduring Conviction: Fred Korematsu and His Quest for Justice by Lorraine K. Bannai (University of Washington Press 2015) and Justice Delayed by Peter Irons (Wesleyan University Press 1989).

In the mid-1950s, the House Un-American Activities Committee began investigating the communist influence in the entertainment industry. This searing docudrama from actual transcripts of the hearings reveals how decent people were persuaded to "name names", and the steep price paid by those who refused.

From the imagination of radio pioneer Norman Corwin comes one of the strangest trials in the history of jurisprudence. A molecule refuses to be assigned to any particular substance and insists on choosing for itself.

Honor's Voice provides a revealing look at how Abraham Lincoln became the 16th president of the United States and one of the greatest men of his time. Douglas Wilson traces the development of this great leader from an insecure country boy full of ambition to schoolboy, storekeeper, riverboat man, and, finally, politician. The author returns to original sources, including friends and acquaintances in the Illinois of the 1830s and '40s and exposes truths about Lincoln never before revealed.

Forty-Two Stories is a comedy about life in a high-rise condominium. A motley assortment of staff members struggles with survival in the face of urban pandemonium - and with the fact that one of them may be breaking into the units and stealing women's underwear.

What if, all of a sudden, everyone started performing good deeds every day? This inspiring collection presents many true stories of people who've committed, received, and observed voluntary acts of kindness. Hearing their stories reveals how these simple, small acts of goodness can have a profound positive effect in the world. As explained in the text, "every hand we extend, every act of kindness we commit, sends a ripple out into the world that is magnified by every life it encounters."

Conversations with God, Book 3 is the final book of the original three-book series. As was written in the introduction to Book 1, it deals with “universal truths to the highest order, and the challenges and opportunities of the soul.” In Book 3, the dialogue expands to include more about the nature of God, about love and fear, about who we are and who we may become, and about the evolution of the human species that is about to take its place in the universal neighborhood.

Fast-forward to 2076, the nation's Tri-Centennial, when guns are outlawed and displayed in the city zoo. Find out what happens when the last seven existing guns, including Billy the Kid's Colt.45 and Andrew Jackson's Dueling Pistol, escape to see what they were really made for and why they can never be free. Starring Yeardley Smith, Edward Asner, and Tyne Daly!

Stacy Keach stars in this shocking tale of a Polk Street dentist and his wife in 1899 San Francisco. Frank Norris’ powerful insights into the depths of the human soul make this a story of compelling narrative force. This seminal novel about murder, obsession and the destructive effects of greed features an all-star cast including Stacy Keach, Edward Asner, Ed Begley Jr., Bud Cort, Hector Elizondo, Teri Garr, Katherine Helmond, Helen Hunt, Amy Irving, Carol Kane, Marsha Mason, Richard Masur, Judge Reinhold, and more.

Adapted directly from the actual transcripts, Unquestioned Integrity examines the notorious Senate Confirmation hearings, when law professor Anita Hill charged Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas with sexual harassment.

Coming of age in America by way of the baseball diamond, left-hander Henry Wiggen grows to manhood in a right-handed world. From his small-town beginnings to the top of the game, Henry finds out how hard it is to please his coach, his girl, the sports page and himself - all at once. Starring Edward Asner, Amy Pietz, and a full cast!