Beck/Smith Hollywood

Will Kristen Stewart’s Tacky cheating episode land her in the top?

It’s that time of year again, when we ask readers to select the entertainment celebrities most deserving of our annual Beck/Smith Hollywood Tacky Taste Awards.  This year marks the 35^th such cavalcade of the crass, the churlish and the contemptible, and obviously, you will have no shortage of candidates for Tackiest Celebrity in 2012.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, with his memoir that capitalized on his own tacky and embarrassing  behavior, is bound to get some attention.  So is Kristen Stewart for cheating on Robert Pattinson – and Chris Brown for cheating on Rihanna, right on the heels of the unwise rekindling of their rocky romance.  It was a year when the showing of more skin than intended made for the strangest of celebrity groupings: the Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry and…Hulk Hogan?  The sad spectacle of Lance Armstrong’s fall from hero status may elicit some Tacky votes.  And no doubt various tacky types at the forefront of politics this election year will, too.   We’re sure that, as always, readers will remember many more.

Tell us who’s your choice for Tackiest and why – by writing to stacy@becksmithhollywood.com, or by dropping us a note in the comments area of this post.  The winners, if you can call them that, will be announced Thanksgiving week.

SPEAKING OF POLITICS:  “It’s hard to find the funny sometimes.  You get so upset,” admits political humorist Will Durst, who’s been keeping crowds laughing throughout the run-up to next month’s election.  “You just have to plumb deeper.”

Durst, whose writings include his Elect to Laugh! A Hilarious, Common Sense Guide to American Politics book, his syndicated column, and his pieces on Huffington Post and elsewhere, takes jabs at Republicans and Democrats – and performs before audiences of both persuasions.  “I do theater shows and corporates, and they’re two different crowds, but they laugh at both sides,” he tells us.  He’s received his share of angry emails.  However, he notes, “The only real trouble I’ve had is with the true believers – Orange County and Berkeley.”

Durst cites an anecdote that he used in his book, recalling an occasion when Abraham Lincoln told a joke – and a woman approached him to complain.  “Madam,” he reportedly said, “we all laugh in order not to cry.”

Interesting, the story behind George Clooney becoming this year’s honoree at Barbara Davis’ gala of all Hollywood galas, the Carousel of Hope Ball.

The socialite philanthropist, whose event draws dozens of A-list stars and power players each year, tells us that she got to know Clooney just after he put together the January, 2010 Hope for Haiti telethon.

Medical personnel on the scene in that earthquake and poverty-stricken land needed drugs, including Insulin and antibiotics specifically used for diabetics. Clooney turned to Davis – whose Carousel of Hope events have brought in more than $100 million for the fight against the disease– and she turned to the pharmaceutical companies who know her well. Soon, the asked-for medications were on their way to Haiti – and Clooney and Davis had become philanthropy pals. Now Clooney’s the man of the hour at this Saturday’s (10/20) Carousel of Hope at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

“Honestly, I can’t rave enough about the man. He uses his celebrity in such amazing ways. There may not be a Santa Claus, but there is a George Clooney,” says Davis, whose fundraiser benefits her Denver-based Center for Childhood Diabetes. Her friend George is a huge draw, of course, and it sounds as if the suave star even has Davis a little breathless. “He’s so nice you just can’t believe how wonderful! He’s such a mensh,” she gushes.

Carousel of Hope has been called the glitziest, most elaborate event on Hollywood’s charity calendar for good reason. Sponsored by Mercedes-Benz (which contributed a $137,505 Mercedes-Benz 2013 G63 AMG design for auction this year), the affair boasts Neil Diamond and Babyface as performers, Jay Leno back as emcee, with George Schlatter as producer and David Foster as music director.

Davis admits her charity, like nearly every charity out there, has felt the impact of the recession (not that you’d notice). “Very honestly, there are some people giving less. But there are also some giving more. People affected by auto immune diseases are more prone to get yet another auto immune disease,” she notes. One of her daughters has had diabetes since age seven, the other has MS– both auto immune diseases.

Among the expected attendees this year: Tatyana Ali, Antonio Banderas, Adrien Brody, Cheryl Burke, Sophia Bush, Jessica Capshaw, Jackie Collins, Joan Collins, Cindy Crawford & Rande Gerber, Billy Davis, Clive Davis, Jane Fonda, David Foster, Quincy Jones, Shirley MacLaine, Alyssa Milano, Shaquille O’Neil, Sidney and Joanna Poitier, Don Rickles, Smokey Robinson, Sarah Silverman, Jaclyn Smith, Sharon Stone, Alan Thicke and Diane Warren.

And among the items being auctioned off, in addition to the Mercedes: a luxurious Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week, including tickets to runway shows by Valentino, Versace, Giorgio Armani and others; and a Bora Bora dream wedding valued at $250,000.

WELL-DESERVED: Nice to see Mel Brooks being designated next year’s American Film Institute lifetime achievement honoree – as well as getting the full-on biographical treatment from PBS’s “American Masters,” also for next year. The hard part will be dealing with time constraints, considering the funnyman’s contributions and hilarious behind-the-scenes stories. Three of Brooks’ movies are on AFI’s top 100 list of all-time great comedy films (“Young Frankenstein,” No. 13; “The Producers,” No. 11; and “Blazing Saddles,” No. 6). And then there’s his Broadway success, and his serious side (eg: “The Elephant Man.”) And he’s not done yet. The man who told us he delights in “putting pins into balloons, deflating pompous types”has a comedy horror picture called “Pizzaman” on his to-do list, with Cary Elwes and Stacy Keach.

“I’ve been accused of vulgarity, and rightly so,” admitted Brooks. “I think that vulgarity, pointed properly, can be a good weapon in the hands of a creative person.” It’s certainly worked for him.

THE FUNNY SIDE: Kellie Martin says that one of the appealing aspects of her Oct. 20 ‘I Married Who?” was that the movie – about a woman who wakes up wed to a movie star she doesn’t know – gave her a chance to work her comedy chops. “Usually I have to be really upset and emotional,” says the veteran of drama series including “ER,” “but this was‘Learn your lines and have fun.’” Fun she did have, including adding improvisational bits to some scenes, with a director who encouraged the cast to stay loose. “There were times I felt it was way too big or too broad, but when they put it all together I was so surprised they used as much of the improv as they did…I needed to feel safe, to be able to try and fail.”

Ethan Erickson plays the movie star, and Kellie applauds him for making the most of his perfect looks for comedy’s sake.

“It’s Hallmark’s answer to ‘The Hangover,’” she adds with a laugh. “A super clean version of the Hangover.’”

Scott Baio says he was not looking to get back into sitcom TV when first presented with the idea of “See Dad Run” — his Oct. 14-debuting Nick at Nite show.  The former “Happy Days,” “Joanie Loves Chachi” and “Charles in Charge” star admits, he’d pretty much given up on that idea.  “I thought, ‘Oh, to hell with it.  I’m not going to worry about this stuff.  I’m not going to get my hopes up.”

However, since it was his long-time pal, actor-producer Jason Hervey (“The Wonder Years”) that brought him the script, Baio says, “I told him, ‘If you like it, I’m in.’  Then stuff happened, and it snowballed.  It was very shocking, nice, unexpected.  The pilot script was really good.  The show we’re doing is a fairly traditional sitcom — nothing gratuitous, gross or offensive — and the hope is that families can watch together.”

“See Dad Run” has Baio as an actor who has been starring on TV shows for 10 years — then becomes a stay-at-home dad after his soap star wife lands a new gig.  Of course, “There are many things that are relatable.  I certainly understand the TV actor mindset.”

Relatable indeed.  Baio confesses that he’s called TV wife Alanna Ubach by his real-life wife’s name rather than her character’s name on the set.  “I go, ‘Renee — .’  It happens more than you would like,” he says.  “The other scary part is that the girl who plays my youngest daughter is named Bailey (Bailey Michelle Brown), which is also my daughter’s name.”

Baio, who’s TV successes also include his two VH1 reality shows (“Scott Baio is 45…and Single” and “Scott Baio is 46…and Pregnant”) and his stint on “Diagnosis Murder,” says he’s focusing his full attention now on the show.  However, the conservative actor was one of the few Hollywood faces at a Mitt Romney fundraiser at the Beverly Hills Hotel this past summer.  He says, “I’ve done a bunch of stuff already” in support of the candidate, and “I get invited to do a lot more.  I do what I can.”

It’s a hectic time, particularly in contrast to the recent past when “for three or four years I did nothing and stayed home.  It was fantastic.”

Josh Mills says that when he was a child, he thought “‘The Addams Family’ had lived in my house.  There were bear skin rugs and suits of armor around, and a trap door that led to a wine cellar.”  Mills is the son of the late singer-actress-comedienne Edie Adams and her second husband, photographer Martin Mills — but the house he recalls so vividly was furnished by her first husband, comedy genius Ernie Kovacs.

After Adams passed away in 2008, Josh moved into the role of keeper of the flame of Edie and Ernie — as the popular show biz couple were called prior to Kovacs’ death in a car crash at age 42.

Taken aback by Kovacs’ omission from a PBS series on great comedians of television, he was behind the successful release of a DVD collection of his work last year, and has “The Ernie Kovacs Collection Volume 2” coming out Oct. 23.  (Included are a TV pilot Kovacs produced for Buster Keaton, a home movie with Jackie Gleason, three episodes of Kovacs’ oddball game show, and eight episodes of Kovacs’ national morning TV show, featuring Josh’s beautiful young mom providing musical numbers.)  He brings to people’s attention the fact that such luminaries as Terry Gilliam and Mystery Science Theater’s Joel Hodgson cite Kovacs as an influence.

“His comedy was fairly cerebral.  Ernie didn’t do standup.  He said that if asked to tell a joke, he wouldn’t know how to do it,” he notes.

He’ll be celebrating Kovacs’ legacy of humor at a National Gallery of Art retrospective in Washington, D.C. late this month, among other events.

Josh has also been busy seeing to it that his mother’s work gets attention as well.  He has “The Edie Adams Christmas Album Featuring Ernie Kovacs” coming out today (10/9) in time for the holiday season.

“She was a Juilliard-trained singer, who all of a sudden was doing this show in which she was singing pop songs.  She paid for a transcription company to record the audio so she could hear how she sounded.  That’s the reason this audio exists.”

The early 1950′s transcription discs — “giant records, two or three times the size of an LP” — have been stored all this time in the UCLA Film and Television Archives.  Adams’ voice is a beautiful blast from the past.

Dogs have always been man’s best friend, but it’s only been in the last few decades that we have started behaving as if it works both ways.  That’s an encapsulation of an idea that Betty White expressed last night, when she was honored at the Second Annual American Humane Association’s Hero Dog Awards — and Betty is one who would know.

The 90-year-old national treasure has been an animal lover throughout her lifetime, of course, going back to the days that, according to her, animal advocates were viewed as “a bunch of zealots” and our beastie besties were strictly considered beneath us.  Now, though, every year we’re discovering more capabilities of these wonderful creatures, Betty enthused.

Kristin Chenoweth presents a new line of greeting cards for dogs — not too seriously — at the Hero Dog Awards

At the Hero Dog Awards, many of these remarkable capabilities were celebrated, as eight Hero Dog honorees and their stories were introduced with the help of emcee Kristin Chenoweth (and her own dog, Madeline Kahn Chenoweth), Joey Lawrence, Jewel, Pauley Perette, Kellie Martin, Denise Richards, Naomi Judd, Mark Steines, Jake T. Austin and other celebs.

For instance, there’s Jynx, the Law Enforcement/Arson Dog honoree.  He was on duty with his handler, Deputy Sheriff Kyle Pagerly of the Berks County Sheriff’s Department, and other officers in rough terrain — and the German Shepherd alone detected a bad guy lying in wait, ready to ambush the law men with a sub machine gun and a cache of other weapons.  Jynx alerted the deputies to the gunman’s presence, attacked the gunman — who nevertheless managed to fire several shots at Pagerly — and then attempted to pull his wounded master to safety.    Pagerly died at the hospital, but the other officers on the scene that day feel they owe the hero dog their lives.   Jynx now lives with Pagerly’s widow and baby daughter.   It was Mrs. Pagerly, only a few weeks pregnant when she lost her 28-year-old husband,  who tearfully accepted Jynx’ award — and a heartfelt standing ovation from the crowd.

There are stories of therapy dogs who’ve saved lives and brought troubled humans out of their shells, stories of courageous canines on the battlefield, dogs who’ve given people with disabilities ways to live normal lives.   Yes, have the hankies handy if you watch the Hero Dog Awards on The Hallmark Channel November 8.  Each honoree is loveable and deserving, unlike other awards shows we could name.

The Beverly Hilton Hotel’s Grand Ballroom, where such galas as the Golden Globes take place, was again the setting for the Hero Dog Awards, with quite a few canines, large and small, there to enjoy the event first-paw.  (Whatever must those doggies have thought of being applauded by a ballroom full of people?)  The crowd feasted upon sauteed tenderloin of beef and seared citrus olive marinated filet of sea bass — and a dessert of espresso almond tiramisu in a chocolate cup, complete with white chocolate hero dog medallions.   For those who watched the first Hero Dogs Awards last year, with Carson Kressley as host — expect a more even program this year.

What’s it like to work with a puppet all day? “It’s insane!” says Disney kid Cole Jensen, who has the Disney XD show “Crash & Bernstein” debuting on Monday (10/8).

“But it’s not as hard as I thought. I was prepared for something hard, but the biggest thing is helping Tim stay out of the shot.” He’s referring to “Sesame Street” and “Muppets” performer Tim Lagasse, who performs the role of Crash, a puppet who comes to life after being put together in a “Build-A-Bestie” workshop by a boy suffering from too little male companionship in a house full of females. “They said to treat him like a normal human being and be completely natural. It’s really easy,” says Cole.