Le SHOW.
Harry Shearer's been at this (mostly one-man) weekly radio show for 20 years, and it's never been less than the best topical-humor forum going. What makes Le Show especially cool isn't just Shearer's considerable wit (also on display in Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind and the late ensemble The Credibility Gap) or his abilities as a mimic (dead-on takes of the last four presidents, an aphorism-packin' Dan Rather and a beaut of a Newt G).
Indeed, it's his willingness to take those tools with him into familiar but undercovered niches within the cultural crawlspace, in search of laughs. Thus, Le Show lampoons the gentility of public-radio programming (on a financial-affairs show, a right-leaning economist blithely touts a plan to re-hire laid-off employees as interns who'll work for free) or the obsessions of old-school fashion czar Mr. Blackwell (despite more severe challenges facing the planet, for Blackie there's but one issue that demands an answer: "Will glamour ever return to Beverly Hills?"). All this plus regular features like "Apologies of the Week" and "I Read The Trades for You." C'est magnifique.
G.S.
Check local NPR radio listings for Le Show times, or listen to archived programs at either harryshearer.com. or kcrw.com. Le Show highlights on CD: It Must Have Been Something I Said