Charlie Sheen is the winner of The Paunch Stevenson Show Lame Idiot of 2011 Award.

Last October, Charlie Sheen was busted for trashing a swank hotel room at New York’s Plaza Hotel, admitting to using drugs and having a hooker over. In the face of controversy, Sheen admitted himself to his third attempt at “home rehab.” With CBS growing anxious, they decided to halt production on his hit show Two and a Half Men, which infuriated Sheen. He took to the airwaves and the internet, blasted the studio, the network, and the show’s creator Chuck Lorre, and refusing to come back to work without a 50% raise. Eventually Sheen was fired, losing his $1.8 million dollar an episode salary.

Shortly after being fired, child services removed his toddler children from his house, where Sheen lived with former porn stars. His ex-wife Brooke Mueller, gets into worse trouble than Charlie. Sheen became an internet sensation, but tweeting nonsensical things like “Duh, winning”, “Tiger Blood”, and “Warlock.” He would repeat these things in prime time interviews, including a bizarre night on Pierce Morgan’s show, in which Charlie was clearly wasted. Sheen attempted multiple comebacks by hosting web cam shows, where he spewed more craziness, and a video on Funny or Die.com where he cooked food mixed with cigarettes.

Lastly, Charlie attempted a comedy/improv tour, but he was booed off the stage in Chicago and Detroit, and quit shortly thereafter. He also claimed to be starring in a new movie, Major League 3, even though that film was already produced over 10 years ago with Scott Bakula. Somehow, Sheen, like Keith Richards, has managed not to kill himself, so we expect he’ll eventually return to film and TV. Where’s Hot Shots part Twee?

So the great Jeff “It’s Me Barney” Bridges just released his second musical album Jeff Bridges, first since 2000′s Be Here Soon. This new album is sort of a continuation of Jeff’s work in the film Crazy Heart (2009), about a down and out country singer. He worked with highly successful producer T-Bone Burnett on the album. This album is definitely country, but it’s old school country, which is why the country music press hated it! I personally hate newer country, essentially everything made from Billy Ray Cyrus onwards. Anyway, Rolling Stone Magazine gave it 3 out of 5, which I’d probably agree with. Several of the songs were just way too slow and bogged down, although a few were very good, and one is now stuck in my damn head! Here’s a quick rundown of the tracks in the CD I got, with 2 Barnes & Noble bonus tracks:

• What a Little Bit of Love Can Do -> The signature track, very catchy, Bridges voice actually works quite well with this song.
• Falling Short -> This is a strange one, seems to go nowhere.
• Everything But Love -> Folksy, very pleasant.
• Tumbling Vine -> Like track 2, written by Jeff Bridges, in the tone of “The Dude,” and highly psychedelic.
• Nothing Yet -> Another slow one, put me to sleep.
• Blue Car -> A nice poppy folk song with a easy beat (though slow).
• Maybe I Missed the Point -> Easily my favorite track, and now stuck in my head. Wish he did the whole album like this.
• Slow Boat -> Spoken word? Why?
• Either Way -> Dullish love song.
• The Quest -> Old school country song.
• I Will Wait -> First B&N exclusive bonus, modest.
• Shotgun Bride -> Second B&N exclusive bonus, kind of falls off the cliff.
• Drag Me To The Party -> Amazon MP3 exclusive, more odd spoken words.

Oh, and surprise, I got to meet Jeff Bridges at the Fifth Avenue Barnes & Noble in New York! Here’s his signed CD cover and my picture just before getting it signed. We’ll talk about the encounter in Episode 177.

Jeff Bridges Signed CD

Greg meets Jeff Bridges

(from Yahoo! TV – Edie Falco Bashes Reality TV Stars: ‘Who The Hell Is Kim Kardashian?’)

In episode 167 and 170 of The Paunch Stevenson Show, Greg and I shared our disgust for stupid talentless dummies getting famous and making millions of dollars for nothing. Is it because we’re jealous and bitter about our own lack of fame? Nope! Edie Falco, a famous actress, feels the same way!

When asked if she watches reality television, Falco said, “Who are these people and why are they famous and why are they advertising things and being asked their opinions about things? I just don’t understand what these people did to be in a position of having everyone ask their opinions about stuff.”

“Who the hell is Kim Kardashian? If there’s something about her personality or something that she’s accomplished or her philosophy on something – but beyond that I don’t understand what’s happening. It’s actually frightening.”

Edie Falco, you summed up our feelings perfectly. How about being a guest on our show? You’d fit right in!

We’re in syndication!

That’s right, the Paunch Stevenson Show is now part of The Overnightscape Underground! Frank Nora invited us to join his network of podcasts several months ago and we’re very excited that our episodes are being reposted there. Frank, thank you for including us. PQ Ribber, thank you for doing us the huge favor of posting our episodes on onsug.com.

What does this mean? When we post a new episode here on paunchstevenson.com, it’ll also be posted on The Overnightscape Underground. That’s more exposure for us, which should result in more listeners, comments, and interaction.

That’s also more exposure for The Overnightscape Underground here on our site. Go and listen to some of the other podcasts being posted (and reposted) there. They make commutes, workdays, and chores more pleasant.

Normally one big time dimwit gets to win The Paunch Stevenson Show Lame Idiot of the Year Award. Well in 2010, one award was not enough for the cesspool of loserdom otherwise known as American politics. It was a banner year.

1) The “Tea Party” were in full force on the prime issues of the day, first and foremost, that President Obama did not have a birth certificate. Throughout the year, spillover from 2009 in fact, was the battle over Healthcare. Well, the lack of affordable healthcare. As the right wing screamed and yelled about socialism, working people continued to get the shaft. Get sick, don’t look at us, it’s your problem.

2) Those lovelies were egged on by the grand phony himself Glenn Beck of Fox News.

3) Let’s not forget the lack of climate change reform, which has led to a miserable winter where snow is everywhere. More importantly, who can forget the decades of political favors paid to the oil industry. They returned the favor by causing the worst oil spill in US history. BP Chairman Tony Hayward reacted by complaining about not being able to get back to his yachting.

4) And lastly, our wonderful home state of New Jersey has a new Governor, Chris Christie, who fought with everybody. That’s not what annoys us. He canceled a project that was long underway to add rail access, via a new tunnel from NJ to NYC. If there’s one thing we absolutely abhor, it’s our commute to and from work, whether on the roads or on the trains. Any project that lessens the congestion is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, the governor didn’t think so.