EPISODE 241: OOH-WHEE. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?

POP CULTURE SPIRIT WOW

When I was a kid I used to spend hours in our extra bedroom with the door shut listening to my parents’ records. I’m the oldest of four, and part of what that means is that instead of an older sibling to tell me what to listen to, I had the things my parents collected – The Age of Aquarius, Donna Summer.

And, my personal favorite, the comedy of Bill Cosby.

It feels wrong somehow to say that today, as though in doing so I’m implicated somehow in his horrific acts. But the fact is William Henry Cosby was the storyteller of his generation. His takes on such things as family, school and God resonated for a lot of people while overcoming what was then an even more enormous racial divide. Sometimes I think about trying to do comedy, and one of my touchstones into what that could be is Cosby doing Noah.

Little did any of us know that at some point that sweet and funny young man become a monster. Some have scorned the crowds that continue to come out to his shows, but it’s such a huge adjustment to make, I guess some would rather just deny it.

And maybe that’s how I’ve been living the last few months after hearing that Louis C.K. was being accused of some other appalling acts. On the one hand, I was disgusted and wanted him to come clean right away – which he didn’t, and shame on him. (His new movie, which I suspect will never come out now, actually has character doing exactly the same thing he’s been accused of. The appalling strangeness of that...)

But on the other hand, so much of the comedy he’s done in the last ten years has been about dealing with your own nonsense and trying to be a better person. I have repeatedly, including in this newsletter, described him as the homilist every Catholic priest should want to be, a truth teller who somehow manages to get you to take a hard look at yourself without making you feel judged.

The wisdom of the crowd at this point is that we take the work of these people and others like them and we never look at it again. To do otherwise would be to ignore the horrible things they’ve done, the victims they’ve created.

Also, their art is forever changed now, and tainted. Try watching an episode of Louie anytime soon and watch how it goes down. Not well, I’m going to imagine.

But the stories that really resonate with us also have a life of their own. In fact they only become what they are to us once they leave the hands of the people that created them.

I’m not saying there should or ever will come a day when I can watch a Louis C.K. comedy special again. Honestly, I don’t know what I’m saying.

People wonder about the concept of original sin. From a certain point of view it doesn’t make a lot of sense; say what you will about how little your newborn sleeps, I don’t think it’s reasonable to believe they have some stain of sin they need washed away.

But another take on original sin is that it’s a way of expressing our experience that no matter how much we hope or try our world is still a fallen, imperfect, sometimes horrible place. And that some of that is just out of our hands.

Maybe that’s what I’m circling. Hope is life, there is goodness all around us. But also, as a priest once said to me when I was complaining about some screwed up dynamics in my community, “This world...it’s not the kingdom, is it?”

No, it sure isn’t.

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I saw Thor: Ragnarok last weekend. And it’s funny, it didn’t blow me away the way I expected. I actually thought it was a little slow at times. But even with that, it’s kind of stayed with me. It just refuses to have that earnest, “EVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT” dramatic vibe of most super hero movies. Thor is more like what if the cast of Thor got together with some other pretty fantastic people and just had a good time. And you end up liking it because in watching it you get to hang out with them and have a good time too.

There was a piece in UPROXX a while back that described The Big Lebowski the same way. “I learned that the secret to appreciating Lebowski,” author Steven Hyden writes, “is seeing it enough times to get past the nonsensical plot, so you can simply enjoy spending time with the characters. (Lebowski is one of the greatest “hangout” movies ever.)”

It made me think about other actors where I’ve felt like that same groove, like who cares about the plot, I’m just happy watching this person do their thing. And I came up with this Top 10 Hangout Actors.

10. Comedians on Screens Breaking Character
What do Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock and a ton of other actor/comedians have in common? They don’t mind acting, but they’re rarely able to fully immerse themselves in the character. There’s always that part of them that’s on display casting a glance our way and kind of laughing about it all.

Rock has really fought his way to get beyond just mugging for the camera. But Seinfeld never really seemed to have any interest in that. His trademark, really, became the very idea that even when he was outraged he was actually just laughing along with us while he played outraged. Which is why we loved him.

9. Chris Pratt
Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World made Chris Pratt an international mega-star. But few times has there been such puppy dog happiness on television as his performance on Parks & Rec, in which goofing around and mugging was absolutely the name of the game. Check it out.

8. Ryan Gosling in a Comedy
I feel like this is self-explanatory. In case it isn’t.

7. Channing Tatum
Channing Tatum has about six minutes in Hail Caesar! And look what he does with it.

6. Jennifer Lawrence (Except for Franchise Movies)
Jennifer Lawrence doesn’t even need to make movies to make this list. She’s ridiculously relatable, and always seem ready to laugh. But even when she’s playing serious roles, she makes such a meal of her performances it’s impossible not to feel how much she’s enjoying herself.

(This photo, by the way, is her at some pre-awards ceremony red carpet photo shoot, in which she decided to just make ridiculous faces.)

5. Ryan Reynolds
Again, doesn’t even need the movies at this point. This is a man who is loving the ridiculousness of his life. (Note the caption.)

4. Amy Poehler
I could spend all day collecting clips that show how much fun Amy Poehler seems to be having in every single thing that she does. But here’s just one.

(God I hope you’ve watched Parks & Rec. It is filled with incredibly funny moments and actors like this.)

3. Kenan Thompson
Kenan Thompson has been on Saturday Night Live at this point I think since the first season. I don’t know, it’s hard to tell, because he never gets old.

And that’s because instead of having some schtick or different characters that he does over and over, in every sketch he basically just laughs and enjoys himself.

There are lots of fantastic comedians on Saturday Night Live, but other than Kate McKinnon right now, there’s nobody that the audience is so ready to laugh for.

The all-time classic example: What’s Up With That.

2. Bill Murray
This is absolutely self-explanatory.

1. Jeff Goldblum
Didn’t see this one coming, did you? Most lists like this would absolutely put Murray at the top. But I go with Goldblum because he combines that zen-clown thing that Murray is doing off-stage with a similarly wonderful vibe screen. It’s very hard to put your finger on; there’s just something about him.

GQ did an article on Goldblum for the Thor premiere. Basically they just interviewed other people about why he’s so fantastic. Some of the highlights:

Edward Norton (‘Grand Budapest Hotel,’ 2014; ‘Isle of Dogs,’ out in March): A friend of mine was on a flight and was seated next to Jeff. She was reading a book and became aware that Jeff seemed to be looking at what she was reading. She said hello, and he asked her if she was enjoying the book.

Jeff Goldblum: It was some good book she was reading! [It was ‘The Private Lives of the Impressionists.’]

Norton: Jeff said, “I don’t know if this would interest you—and if not, of course no problem—but I’m very good at reading books aloud, and if you’d like I’d be happy to read it to you.” She said, “Sure.” She had about 90 pages left, and Jeff read her the rest of it out loud. She said his reading was excellent....

Paul Rudd (self-described “Goldblum admirer”): There’s a twinkle in Jeff’s eye and something in the way that he just delivers whatever it is that he’s saying that make you want to enjoy the joke as much as he seems to be enjoying it himself. He’s so engaged and alive in the moment. You look at him, and he seems incredibly healthy.

Kevin Kline (co-star, ‘The Big Chill,’ 1983; ‘Silverado,’ 1985): We were on a plane, and Jeff was telling a flight attendant’s fortune, holding her hand and reading her palm. I said, “What is that?” And he said, “Just something I do.” He just gets close to them and holds their hand, and the women are all under his spell.

Laura Dern: Everyone from my grandma to Steven Spielberg to the psychic who said that there was a ghost living in his dining table would say the same thing: He makes you so damn happy to be alive.

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Short one this week. Lots going on.

If you’re interested, America just published a piece I did on U.S. Catholics who voted for Donald Trump and also support Pope Francis. It’s something I’ve been working on for most of the last year. And it was a great experience for me personally; one of the main things I seem to keep learning is that the people you don’t understand or you don’t think you’d see eye to eye with are usually some of the interesting people you’ll meet. So glad the people I interviewed were open to my crazy idea.

Or, how about a story about what it’s like to work at Disneyland as Mickey Mouse. (My favorite reveal: how each character has very specific hand gestures and movements the actors have to get down, so that the character feels exactly the same no matter what park you meet him in.)

Or – not exactly for the faint of heart, but a great read – an oral history of last year’s election day.

Have a good week. The world may be getting dark, but we're still here.