Feldman's Faves: July 25, 2022

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE

I hope you all had a great weekend. I got a new BBQ for Father’s Day this year and I am in full “DAD MODE” this summer as a result. There is nothing I won’t grill and some of what I grill is even edible (although you can ask my family to validate this claim – I hope they will).

We are one week into our new docketing system and I appreciate there are a few glitches that need to be fixed and some improvements coming but overall I think it is working well – so please make sure to keep on track on this front. If you are having any issues both Marc Wilson and Josie Lui have been very helpful.

This week the theme is pure joy. In my mind, the two best comedians alive are David Sedaris and Conan. Today you get to hear from both. Enjoy!

HAPPY-GO-LUCKY By: David Sedaris – I am always very excited when David Sedaris comes out with new material. He is always hilarious to the point where he makes me laugh out loud (good I am no longer taking the subway to work), but at the same time often covers topics that are serious and of real importance. Happy-Go-Lucky is no exception. In this book Sedaris covers topics such as gun control, Covid, family dynamics and the difficulty of losing a parent at any age (he talks about being a 70 year old orphan after his 96 year old father passed away). Sedaris has a unique ability to tap into the issues of the day but from a perspective that is truly different. I still love that he named his beach house “Sea Section’ and people now make it a tourist destination when visiting North Carolina. As one reviewer notes, “In his previous collection of original essays, Calypso (2018), the author was unusually downbeat, fixated on aging and the deaths of his mother and sister. There’s bad news in this book, too—most notably, the death of his problematic and seemingly indestructible father at 96—but Sedaris generally carries himself more lightly. On a trip to a gun range, he’s puzzled by boxer shorts with a holster feature, which he wishes were called “gunderpants.” He plays along with nursing-home staffers who, hearing a funnyman named David is on the premises, think he’s Dave Chappelle. He’s bemused by his sister Amy’s landing a new apartment to escape her territorial pet rabbit. On tour, he collects sheaves of off-color jokes and tales of sexual self-gratification gone wrong. His relationship with his partner, Hugh, remains contentious, but it’s mellowing. (“After thirty years, sleeping is the new having sex.”) Even more serious stuff rolls off him. Of Covid-19, he writes that “more than eight hundred thousand people have died to date, and I didn’t get to choose a one of them.” The author’s support of Black Lives Matter is tempered by his interest in the earnest conscientiousness of organizers ensuring everyone is fed and hydrated. (He refers to one such person as a “snacktivist.”) Such impolitic material, though, puts serious essays in sharper, more powerful relief….His father’s death unlocks a crushing piece about dad’s inappropriate, sexualizing treatment of his children. For years—chronicled in many books—Sedaris labored to elude his father’s criticism. Even in death, though, it proves hard to escape or laugh off.” Happy-Go-Lucky is an easy read that will make you laugh and make you think. Here’s a good review from The New Yorker -https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/09/happy-go-lucky

Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - Dana Carvey Returns – There is nothing funnier to me than when Conan and Dana get together and just riff. I am so inspired by them and think I will sign up for improv this year (we helped our client ZMC, buy Second City last year so it seems like a sign to me….). Just sit back and enjoy these two geniuses. As the PODCAST describes, “Dana Carvey feels stupefied about being Conan O’Brien’s friend. Dana sits down with Conan once again to discuss winding up on a Neil Young bootleg album, stretching out an impression, developing his new Team Coco podcast The Weird Place with his sons, and more.”: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/conan-obrien-needs-a-friend/id1438054347?i=1000569483548

Thank you for your ongoing engagement and participation.

And remember to stay safe, stay healthy and to docket daily.

Jon