Hi, People!
You good? Holding up? Staying cool? Tempering your contempt? Good.
Before I get into it just wanted to give you a heads up that my friend Brian Scolaro has a new comedy album out. It's called "Stupid Time: A Sketch Album." You can get it on iTunes or allthingsrecords.com. He cracks me up. Always like watching him. You can listen to him on episode 728 of WTF. Goofy bastard.
Holy shit. I’m just now listening to David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ and it is so fucking powerful and great. Maybe it would’ve helped me grieve better or maybe I wasn’t ready. I don’t know. Listening now is a pure experience. I’m through the loss and I can just listen to it. It feels like one of his greatest records. The band he has working with him is perfect for this final stage. Raw, jazzy, precise, just out there enough to carry him home. It’s very exciting in my living room as write this. I miss knowing he’s on the planet but I think he’s much bigger and more present than he’s ever been now that he has shuffled off.
So, I had an exciting weekend. As some of you know, Senator Al Franken and I did an event at Book Expo in NYC a little while back. A few weeks ago, he asked me to do an event with him here in Beverly Hills. I said of course I would. When we did the podcast together I had not finished his book. I told him that. It was a funny moment. When we did the NYC event I told I had finished his book, which I had, and he was happy about that. When I agreed to do the event out here he emailed me and said I would have to read the book a second time. He’s hilarious.
The show was sold out pretty quickly so we added another show. What was so great about doing the show, other than he’s a very funny guy and a thoughtful and decent senator who deeply cares about people, is that we got into a rhythm. I knew which of the funny stories I wanted to hear again and which of the thoughtful stories were great and I could basically be his straight man. I threw in some jokes but it was just great watching the stories land and being in it with him. All the shows were different. There was new stuff. Al is a big Grateful Dead fan so we wanted to leave plenty of room for riffing. We even did a 12-minute drum solo using our knees as drums and an a cappella, nonverbal, sound-based space jam so people could get up and stretch their legs and go to the bathroom. It was a three-hour show. Kidding.
Today is the last in our series of GLOW-specific episodes. This is a great one for writers because I talk to ALL the writers. The first talk I did was at the production offices where we shot the show. There I talk to the main writers Rachel Shukert, Nick Jones and Sascha Rothschild. The second part of the show I talk to the creators/showrunners Carly Mensch and Liz Flahive in the garage. Great talks all around.
Enjoy!
Boomer lives!
Love,
Maron