Friendsgiving
Pride in some good people, plus plus my weekly shareables: The prophecies of Devo, the field of dreams that never was, and Pete Davidson nails it
One of my favorite things in life is seeing friends succeed. This week I was lucky enough to spend time with four friends who were in the middle of having good things happen to them. It lifted my spirits.
On Sunday we saw comedian Gary Gulman at the Booth Playhouse in uptown Charlotte. The theater next door was running a production of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, which led Gary (deeply if not devoutly Jewish) to joke about making sure audience members were at the correct show. Gary has been one of the funniest people in the world for years, but he lifted things to another level with his 2019 special THE GREAT DEPRESH, where he found the humor and spirit in his awful bouts with depression. Gary has a new memoir called MISFIT, about how his first-grade through 12th-grade years shaped him. Gary always comes out after his shows to meet audience members, and it was so gratifying to see him out in the lobby the other night, signing books and talking to adoring fans. He deserves every bit of the love.
The next night I had dinner with another comedian, Alex Edelman, who was in town for a Special Assignment that I’m not sure he has revealed yet. Alex’s solo show JUST FOR US, about his infiltration of a white supremacists meeting, started out in small theaters but made it all the way to Broadway this summer. (The night I saw it off-Broadway, Sarah Snook of SUCCESSION was in the audience.) His head is still spinning from the show’s success and now he’s got a lot of opportunities in front of him.
Two nights later I got to host a conversation at Park Road Books with Joe Posnanski, my friend for almost 35 years, and the author of the great new book WHY WE LOVE BASEBALL. Joe is how I met Gary and Alex in the first place—Joe had been in touch with Gary somehow, and we went to see Gary and Alex when they played the Comedy Zone here back in 2018. Joe has a vast and devoted following—one fan drove to Charlotte from Williamsburg, Virginia, for the book event. We’ve both told this story before, but when we were young reporters in a bureau office at the Charlotte Observer, some nights we’d toss a baseball around in the parking lot of Joe’s apartment complex and dream about moments just like that book event. I don't think either one of us thought it would ever happen. I know I didn’t. It’s a powerful thing to see a dream come true.
That very night, before the book event started, my buddy Gavin Edwards ducked outside to take a phone call. That’s when he found out that his new book, MCU: THE REIGN OF MARVEL STUDIOS, was a New York Times bestseller. Gavin has written more than a dozen books on everything from the original MTV VJs to the tao of Bill Murray. He brings joy to every room he enters, and there are few things in the world I like more than hearing him laugh.
I mentioned here a few weeks ago that I had been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation—basically, an irregular heartbeat. The doctors decided that I needed a cardioversion—a small shock meant to jolt the heart back to its normal rhythm. As it happened, it was scheduled for yesterday, right on the tail end of all these events. It’s an outpatient procedure. The cardioversion itself takes only a couple of minutes. It’s a simple thing, and very safe, but it involved going to the hospital and being put under and I was a little freaked out about it.
Everything was fine. I fell in love with Alix all over again because she was so calm and strong. I fell in love with all the nurses, as I always do, because they are so efficient and funny. The doctor was kind and confident. The drugs were excellent. I have no memory of the procedure and no pain. It’s too soon to tell if this fixed things for good, but on the way home, I felt fantastic. Maybe it was the drugs. But I also think the week had given me a store of good vibes to lean on.
10 things I wanted to share this week:
My weekly for WFAE was an audio version of an essay I wrote here a couple of weeks ago about the line between real and fake.
It was almost painful to hear Mike Schur tell Pablo Torre about the FIELD OF DREAMS reboot that never happened … even though they got so close they actually built another ballfield in Iowa. (YouTube)
WUNC, the fine public radio station in Chapel Hill, has an interesting new podcast called THE BROADSIDE, about stories from the South that have a larger meaning. Check it out! (Apple Podcasts)
I told you that Lisa Rab’s new Substack OVERDUE would be good … here’s a beautiful piece on the joy of a rare quiet moment with her son.
DOG NEWS: From now until DOGLAND comes out (April 2024!), I’m devoting this slot to dog stories. This week: The current front-runner in Argentina’s election is a hard-right libertarian who appears to take strategic advice from his five cloned mastiffs. American politics now sounds a bit more normal. (NYT)
My friend Kevin Van Valkenburg has a beautiful piece on looking for the magic of golf at a cynical time for the sport. (No Laying Up)
Devo, the band that spent the ‘70s and ‘80s telling us about the coming takeovers of technology and marketing, turned out to be … mostly right. (NYT)
This movie AMERICAN FICTION, starring Jeffrey Wright, looks like it stomps on several American hot buttons with both feet. Can’t wait.
Pete Davidson’s opener to last week’s SNL, days after the Israel/Gaza violence began, was excellent.
The Wordle answer a couple days ago was MERCY, which made me think of the song “Mercy Now” by the brilliant Mary Gauthier. It’s worth hearing anytime, but especially these days.
Have a great week, everybody.
Thank you for introducing me to the song, ‘Mercy Now.’ You always expand and open my mind to new things/ideas, I appreciate you very much!
So glad to hear the cardioversion went well. I had that done a couple of years ago and haven’t had any issues since. I pray the same for you. I got mercy on the second word, which almost never happens, so I guess you could say Wordle was a little merciful to me that day. It almost makes up for Connections, which gives me fits!