Hey everyone. When Doug and I were in LA last week, the NPR show Day To Day was so enamored of the book that they recorded our whole LA show and then had us visit their Culver City studios for a nice interview with the very warm and sharp, Alex Cohen (she’s a lady, FYI).
Click here to listen: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97177154
And if you enjoyed the story, please click on the tiny “recommended” link located at the very top and bottom of the article.
Speaking of Culver City, our trip out West was a great success. First we hit Los Angeles. We performed our talent show at the Steve Allen Theater, which is an oddly cool theater located somewhere in that sprawling town. Eight people from the book performed various talents including in no great order, being nude, playing the bass, showing a video of a dramatic monologue, doing a somewhat lewd sword demonstration, a mugging scene featuring one guy trying to steal another guy’s phone which ended, of course, in a judo demonstration (featuring TV’s always hilarious Nick Kroll), an eerily mesmerizing Count Dracula monologue, a confusing group scene from Deliverance featuring guest performers from TV’s Human Giant, Paul Scheer and Jason Woliner, and finally a mime routine to a midi-version of Eleanor Rigby (played on a cassette player—no I’m not joking). Did you get all that? It was quite the show. Fortunately for us, LA’s best book shop, Book Soup, was on hand to sell copies of HH.
San Francisco was not nearly as lewd or hay wire. We were fortunate enough to have booked the legendary Purple Onion (Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen and others have performed there). The theater is nestled right in heart of San Francisco’s entertainment district which is not so commonly known as Showville (that’s made up). The show itself featured a two-man stand up act, an energetic Michael Jackson impersonator (who, later, came out and did a light saber demonstration first, minus the sword, but then was handed a long umbrella and was able to finish with dignity). We also had an Uncle Remus monologue, a piano solo composed for an ex-wife, and it all ended with a remarkably professional magician. Books Inc. was kind enough to set up shop in the back.
Fortunately, Douglas the master photographer was on hand with his camera loaded. He has over 200+ shots which we’ll post here soon. We promise.