Anne Levine Show
Funny, weekly, sugar free: Starring "Michael-over-there."
Anne Levine Show
Rain, Reflections, and Riverdance
Join us this week on the Anne Levine Show as we explore tenuous ties to a 1946 Guy Lombardo hit, weaving nostalgia and probably imagination into our Thanksgiving reflections. Together, we savor memories of exquisite feasts and heirloom china, while acknowledging the complex history of the holiday. Despite the rain, Thanksgiving's spirit shines through moments shared with friends and neighbors, even as we grapple with post-holiday maladies.
Experience the unpredictable charm of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, where in days past hosts like Katie Couric and Al Roker faced high winds and wardrobe malfunctions. We share our accidental parade attendance in 2010, laughing at the logistical chaos and pondering the merits of live versus televised viewing, meaning it's SO MUCH BETTER to see it on TV. As the parade celebrates its 101st year, we recall and truly wonder at the slip and fall Riverdance™ performance and marvel at the enduring American tradition that is the Thanksgiving Parade.
Immerse yourself in our light-hearted reviews and recommendations from the world of television and film and perhaps discover the comedic brilliance of "St. Denis" and the thrilling twists of "The Madness" on Netflix, both of which captivated our attention. We also discuss our thoughts on Saturday Night, the new film about the making of the very first episode of the famous sketch comedy show, Saturday Night Live. Uncanny portrayals of iconic figures like John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, and Gilda Radner made it special. We wrap up with a nod back at RIverdance™ and the cinematic contributions of the late Marshall Brickman, offering a delightful AI described tapestry of entertainment for all.
Find our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/447251562357065/
Hello and welcome to the Ann Labine Show brought to you by Old Times and starring Michael over there.
Speaker 1:Hello and starring.
Speaker 2:Michael over there. Hello, Thank you for tuning in to 92.1 FM WOMR In Provincetown Massachusetts.
Speaker 1:Or you might also be tuning in at WFMR 91.3 FM Orleans. Could be one or the other.
Speaker 2:Or maybe you're listening at WOMRorg, where we are streaming worldwide.
Speaker 1:Could be, and intergalactically. Well, true, I mean yeah everybody does that, though.
Speaker 2:Did I mention that this is Guy Lombardo? No, this is.
Speaker 1:Guy Lombardo. That's right. One of the big hits from 1946. That's right.
Speaker 2:Very big hit and there's a reason that I'm playing this. Put a pin in that, Okay all right. I'll get back to you on it at the end of the show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you haven't been paying attention, the music both the opening and closing music usually has something to do with what we're talking about during the show, even if it goes unmentioned, which it often does, yeah.
Speaker 2:There's some kind of tie-in there is yeah, there's some kind of tie-in there is. Well, how about a belated Happy Thanksgiving greeting?
Speaker 1:How about that To you and yours? Yeah, and also to you.
Speaker 2:Or, as some people call it, Happy Colonialism. Genocide Day.
Speaker 1:Okay, right.
Speaker 2:Plymouth, plymouth, plymouth yeah, for those in Plymouth and to those of us, to our friends and neighbors who go there to protest every year I'm sorry you had such lousy weather for it and neighbors who go there to protest every year. I'm sorry you had such lousy weather for it. Oh yeah, yeah, because it rained well around here anyway. Yeah, it rained and was generally nasty on Thanksgiving. Not terribly warm Both inside and out at some locations. Right, true, I was led to understand.
Speaker 1:However, around here wasn't a lot of nasty inside.
Speaker 2:Not a lot.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:And I've got to say that Michael made a fantastic Thanksgiving feast for us and our friends, and we also got to use some long-forgotten china.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That Mom used to pull out for special occasions, which Michael unearthed and cleaned, and it gave me a little, a little, I don't know what to call it.
Speaker 1:One of those things? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:It gave me a I won't say a zets and hars, a steck and hars. Yeah, a steck and hars. Certainly not. Yeah, I won't say even verklempt, because it wasn't quite that, but it gave me a nostalgic moment moment and there were a few moments when, between the cooking of the bird and so on and so forth, I definitely got a feeling of nostalgia.
Speaker 1:Well, that's nice, for many thanksgivings past yeah, because I mean thanksgivings are kind of nostalgic, you know around here, I guess, yeah, I don't know they are in this home yeah so that was cool.
Speaker 2:um, we got to see friends and neighbors over the holiday weekend, which was very nice and like that. That's right. But there were certainly Thanksgiving hijinks.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah. Yeah, I wasn't jinxing high or low, I was just trying to get the stuff done.
Speaker 2:Well, you got the stuff done admirably, but one of the great traditions in my home was always watching the parade on television, which is the same for everyone and we would watch it on television.
Speaker 1:Right, this is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:They would broadcast on whatever on a particular network. But yeah, we all watched it growing up. Every one of us did yeah.
Speaker 2:And then we would go on a walk on the beach and my whole family nice we have hilarious pictures from various years, depending on the weather, uh oh, okay, yeah, I just thought of a really funny one, but anyway so. And then we would come in and eat dinner, yeah, and then we would go back out and try to actually no by. At that point people were zonked.
Speaker 1:There are many, many photographs of your father carving a turkey.
Speaker 2:There are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like I don't know how there can be 100 pictures of your dad carving a turkey, but I think there probably are.
Speaker 2:Why don't you know Well?
Speaker 1:because I mean he wasn't around for 100 years.
Speaker 2:Oh, but there weren't only turkey carvings on Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, that's the other thing.
Speaker 2:And he was a master carver.
Speaker 1:He was yeah.
Speaker 2:So, yes, so we did get. Whenever he would get out the knives, there was a whole thing, and of course, this was just for himself. It wasn't like you know, come and watch me carve. Right, no but he would get out the steel and the knives, make sure it's all sharpened up. He would sharpen everything up and then he would start. And I'm not sure who taught him to carve a turkey. He did it absolutely perfectly every year. Were you any good at carving?
Speaker 1:no, never have. I wasn't this year either, for that matter. No, I'm no good at it, but you know, I guess you don't really have to be all that great at it, because you know it's just, here's a large plate of food and you don't even know what's on it.
Speaker 2:For the most part. If you carve it well, then you can assemble it beautifully on a platter.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so you know the drumsticks are where they should go, the wings are where they should go.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, I mean, I kind of did that. You know you got to make an arrangement of some sort, but you know it's not all that. It wasn't all that, but it was pretty good.
Speaker 2:People I have to say right now excuse me, because I have had for the past few days A little bit of a Thanksgiving, not a cold, but like symptoms. Okay, I'm not sick, but I'm symptomatic Okay. So forgive me yeah.
Speaker 1:If it's a little noisy.
Speaker 2:It's a little yeah, yeah, if it's a little noisy.
Speaker 1:It's a little.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, my cough button is broken.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2:And or missing. So you just have to put up with me sounding like this Oy and tossing it to Michael occasionally. Oh don't do that, michael, over there.
Speaker 1:Hello, hey, okay, while you're over there trying to recover, I want to tell people about something that I found out. That's a real thing. Snickerdoodle, pop-tarts it's a real thing.
Speaker 2:Okay, did they have frosting?
Speaker 1:No, because Snickerdoodles don't have frosting, and if you put frosting on a Snickerdoodle you should be arrested.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm thinking of the brown sugar Pop-Tart that had some glaze on it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean to call what they put on a Pop-Tart frosting that's criminal right there, yeah that is true.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's like glass really, you can cut yourself on it.
Speaker 2:Well, it's glaze, yeah, but it added a little. It's glaze, yeah, but it added a little extra. Something, something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, see my favorite, my favorite. I don't like the Frosted Pop-Tarts. I'm a unfrosted Pop-Tart kind of guy, I know. So, although you know some of them you can't get without the frosting on it. That's how they are.
Speaker 2:The best kind.
Speaker 1:Well, the snickerdoodle one's pretty damn good.
Speaker 2:Oh, I gather we bought and tasted.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah. Yeah, I'm not going to be coming on here and telling people about it without having tried it. Oh no, that's good stuff, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm glad you enjoyed. I'm sure you got me something that is of equal or greater value. Well yeah, Taste value.
Speaker 1:Right, some pecan shortbreads. How about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that happened already. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, so did those Pop-Tarts.
Speaker 2:Oh, so you're a secret.
Speaker 1:You're tasting Well we're just getting around to talking about it. You're tasting in secret yeah, I'm a secret to toast toaster taster well, anyway, to get back to thanksgiving, yeah, and the parade.
Speaker 2:My, my sister and I, in particular, later in life not when we were kids, we could not have been bothered by that parade but later in life, when we were in our 20s, 30s, we lived in the village and we lived in the same building for a lot of that time, and so we would get together first, we would walk, wake each other up in the morning, whoever woke up first, uh, that could be five, six am. Sometimes we hadn't gone to, but with a couple of those and a hang up, as though you know, one of us might think it was the great turkey.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, and not our dorky sister.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, but anyway.
Speaker 2:Of course.
Speaker 1:Who would be able to tell really?
Speaker 2:Who would know?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Our favorite part of the whole thing was when something would go awry, and so it was just a matter of waiting and seeing, and and there were the wonderful years when katie couric and al roker did it, and often it had to do with them.
Speaker 2:There were the years when it was too warm and katie and al were supposed to be wearing, you know, fuzzy gloves and big scarves and pom-pom hats and sipping hot chocolate, and they'd be sweating yeah through their wardrobe, or the years when it was 10 below and they could barely, you know, smile no, no, al roker is still doing a parade yes yeah but it up in the particular thing and um, so that or Katie's hat went flying off, right. That happened. Now, the biggest problems with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and the greatest moments have always been because of wind, because of high winds.
Speaker 1:Right, blowing balloons around like crazy, and the handlers?
Speaker 2:Well, yes, and for those of you that don't know, a lot of these avenues are essentially like canyons, and so you've got these high, high, high buildings on either side of this runway, essentially, and the wind gets trapped between the buildings and it swirls around, just rips right through there. Yeah, so it's intense. Yeah, I will also add Elena and I never went to the parade. We never wanted to go until Michael, you and I went by accident. We were staying at the Warwick. When was that? 2009?
Speaker 1:Yeah, something like that or 10. And walked out and there it was.
Speaker 2:Yeah, walked out of the building and oh, there's the parade happening. Yeah, I have been there, but, as I say, by accident, it wasn't a cool thing for New Yorkers to do. Also, not to this extent, but just like, say, new Year's Eve, you have to get there so early.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And stand wherever it is that you can get to and stay there and not leave.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're not leaving that spot, because if you do, someone's going to get it.
Speaker 2:Well, not only that, if you actually leave, and leave the barricades.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, you're never getting back in. You can't get back in. They won't let you back in. Right, yeah, you're never getting back in. You can't get back in.
Speaker 2:They won't let you back in. So it's a whole thing and it's a pain in the neck and you can't really see. You certainly can't see the whole thing.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:So much better to watch it on television.
Speaker 1:You could see the balloon. If you can see the balloons, you can't see the bands. Right, yeah, kind of thing, yeah, right.
Speaker 2:Anyway, this year, as I mentioned, it was pouring rain. If you were further upstate, it was snowing.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, they got a lot.
Speaker 2:They got a lot of snow. Well, it was.
Speaker 1:Buffalo, Rochester area.
Speaker 2:It was pouring rain on 34th and 5th, which is, of course, where Santa Claus flies in right in front of Macy's.
Speaker 1:That's right, yeah.
Speaker 2:And they have the big.
Speaker 1:What do they call it? I don't know the judging stand, or whatever.
Speaker 2:And they've got stands and the whole thing and they do big performances there. So the Rockettes come out and rockette around for a while some.
Speaker 1:Some group who's doing a play on on broadway is probably going to come out and do something from it right um, you know one of the big shows right, and there was some wicked nonsense which I am so tired of already yeah.
Speaker 2:I never want to see it.
Speaker 1:No, no, I'm so sick of the hype.
Speaker 2:I am too, and anyway, I think Cynthia Erivo was debatably a good choice, although she's thrilled about it because give me that sweet, wicked cash oh yeah any old day.
Speaker 1:I'll wear anything, do anything right pretty much yeah, well, yeah, actresses come on. Yes, yeah, that's what they do come on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what they do. Well, anyway, this year they had a river dance situation in the pouring rain.
Speaker 1:Yes, and guess what happened?
Speaker 2:Yes, you got it. Everyone was slipping, they just kept falling down, tripping and falling down. To the point that it was like you know you were watching it. I don't know how long could it have been Six minutes Less.
Speaker 2:Yeah, less probably yeah, but wow, it was every you know, every 15 seconds someone went down and they quickly popped up. But it was just heartbreaking, it was hilarious actually, but it was sad. I mean, you've got to be so excited or at least some people have to be and I don't know where this troop was. Is this the original river dance troop?
Speaker 1:oh from ireland I wouldn't think so, but I mean maybe a river dance troop. It couldn't be really, michael flatley.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I mean, I don't know, I mean, I don't know that Michael Flatley still dances.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what I'm saying, but I think it's his franchise. Oh, I see what you're saying. Oh, okay, I see what you're saying, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so is it? You know, Riverdance, Trademark or some other Irish dancing? I don't know, I got you Whatever it it was. They were falling on their little patooties right and left and getting up admirably, I've got to say, um, that part of it was extraordinary, the fact that no one wiped out completely or like ripped their tights and started bleeding or split their tight little river dance. No hip trousers, um, nothing like that, it was all just whoop I.
Speaker 1:I meant that this was the 101st year of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, by the way.
Speaker 2:Well, there you go.
Speaker 1:Launched into its second century.
Speaker 2:Oh, how about that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, how about that?
Speaker 2:I'm sure there was a time when I thought, well, never mind, let's just say congratulations to Macy's.
Speaker 1:Now it did have a bit of a rough start. There were protests at the beginning that kind of kept things from starting on time. Tell me what they were that pro-Palestinian protesters, 21 people ended up being arrested, and they held back the parade for a couple minutes.
Speaker 2:Are you kidding me? No, that's nauseating. Are you kidding me? No, that's nauseating. I thought you were going to say that it was Native American people who maybe were protesting which I would understand.
Speaker 1:They jumped the barricades and they sat down in the parade route with Palestinian flags and a don't celebrate genocide banner and a don't celebrate genocide banner, and they all free you know, chanted free Palestine. Right, well, for those of you who are interested. And then they got taken away.
Speaker 2:No genocide is taking place in Palestine.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that's a pretty good point.
Speaker 2:That's a different show. Check that show out on a different program. Anyway, no, I didn't know that and I'm glad.
Speaker 1:I didn't.
Speaker 2:So for me, what I was protesting was these poor people in these dance shoes that are famously smooth to enable you to actually slide if you need to, and spin, do twirls and various other things when you want to.
Speaker 1:Right, they're not made for sticking a landing.
Speaker 2:Not in the rain, yeah.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly yeah.
Speaker 2:None of what they're wearing is made for that, on wet cement, anyway. So yeah, now there have been some other very famous fails, um, and I'd like to just mention a few of them, okay, and all these have happened because of wind. Now, the first famous one was a candy cane, an inflated candy cane and not a terribly huge one, uh-huh.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:It was one of several candy canes in a little candy cane balloon.
Speaker 1:Situation Right Uh-huh, cohort yeah.
Speaker 2:And it just very quickly deflated, but because of the wind it didn't fall down, which was a problem. So in this case there was just this flaccid. It looked like wrapping paper, right Flapping thing Flying down. Fifth Avenue, you know, amidst a bunch of candy canes, right, and it was embarrassing. And of course, the handler, because all of these balloons have handlers, most of them have several if not a dozen, depending on how big and how complex they are, so they had to just keep walking this thing.
Speaker 1:Walking their dead balloon, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, because, yeah, their deflated, flaccid wrapping paper down Fifth Avenue because it wasn't falling to the ground but they had to keep it from flying up and injuring somebody or taking off. So, anyway, there are hilarious pictures if you go to YouTube I don't remember what year this was, if you go to YouTube, I don't remember what year this was but of people walking this thing down the avenue. Okay, there was probably the most famous one that I will never forget as long as I live, which was the Superman balloon. Now, this was more recent. This had to have happened, oh, I don't know, sometime in the last 10 years, I'm going to say Superman was. Now they've made these more articulated, so the whole thing isn't one balloon. You know, different parts of it inflate differently, so the arms and legs are separate compartments, so, um, it gives them a more lifelike look and you don't have that thing where you know one puncture can destroy the entire thing, right?
Speaker 2:can destroy the entire thing Just end up with a floppy arm or something. Well, in this particular year, Superman was swept by the wind right into a light post, a light pole that went right through the arm which knocked down the light pulse post injured several onlookers great um, hospitalized, some of them. Thank god no one was mortally wounded, um, but it was this whole thing. But then what you had was one-armed superman who otherwise was completely intact, continuing down the avenue, that's right.
Speaker 2:And was the absolute laugh of the you know and all of the commentators.
Speaker 1:All the other balloons laughed at him.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, and the commentators were all trying to come up with things like God. I don't know if you remember joe scarborough and sue simmons, but there was a joe scarborough moment in new york where he said, oh well, superman, down a wing. And everyone was trying to think of something clever to say right during the duration, because this happened at the outset.
Speaker 2:So for the whole parade, superman with one arm Awesome yeah, and some schmutz hanging off. It was heading down the avenue, the Avenue, and then my favorite one was the Nutcracker. Now, I'm not sure what happened to the Nutcracker, but the Nutcracker, one year, lost altitude, and lost altitude to the point where the Nutcracker was face down on the street, but inflated, totally inflated, and so the handlers had to drag the Nutcracker all along the parade, right. So, and the handlers are just, they're mortified, they're horrified, and I don't know if there's a director. I don't know how any of that works at this point.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:You know, does each balloon have a director.
Speaker 1:I don't know, there's got to be an overall director of it, but yeah.
Speaker 2:But someone should have said take a ride on 38th Street and get out the way. Yeah, but for whatever, or however, or why ever they just had to keep schlepping this face down, nutcracker.
Speaker 1:Right, well, they're almost carrying it at this point.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because it is really low to the ground.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, they're dragging it, yeah, and so these things weigh a ton. I mean, the fact that they're, you know, full of helium makes them maneuverable to a certain extent, yeah, but to say that they're not, you know, at the whims of the weather would be wrong.
Speaker 1:Yeah, true, I mean, they do have a rule that says if the winds are sustained over 25 miles an hour, or gusts of 35 miles an hour, then the balloons don't go. Yeah, well, and they were 10 miles an hour on this past Thanksgiving, so Well, let me just tell you. But they have sent them out and the winds have whipped up before on their own.
Speaker 2:And I'd like to remind and report that there was nothing mentioned about rain and dance shoes.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, true.
Speaker 2:To prevent this year's Riverdance from turning into Riverdance on ice in front of Macy's.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Macy's is a giant conglomerate that has eaten all of the department stores in the world or melded with them.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Perhaps you know, perhaps you don't, that Bloomingdale's is Macy's is Bloomingdale's Yep. For instance Right, well, it's not even federated anymore.
Speaker 1:It used to be yeah.
Speaker 2:It's Macy's.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And so you know what can I say? Kind of an evil giant, although the flagship store still has wooden escalators Very cool place to go to. And has some things to remind you of a time and a place in New York. Remind you of a time and a place in New York, but based on what I've seen and what I know most of a time and a place in New York is gone.
Speaker 2:Azoy, good riddance, goodbye. I don't know what else to tell you. All right, I must say that one of my TV delights these days is St Dennis. All right yeah, all right yeah saint dennis is a half hour weekly show done by the same people who did superstore right, and a lot of people uh in it as well came or were in superstore yeah, um, not america, ferreira, it's not like no, they didn't bring the whole cast over, but there's a lot of supporting cast some of your favorites
Speaker 2:yeah are are here and there in it and it's, it's hilarious, and it would be even funnier if it's a send-up of a medical drama right and when I say send up, total send up, there's nothing. You know there are no ew. I don't want to watch right, yeah, anyone uses scalpel.
Speaker 2:There's nothing like that. You know, it's mostly what happens in the break room and at the front desk and um, it's just total fun. The problem is that if you've spent any time in an actual hospital, that's kind of how it is yeah, well, that is true, it is pretty real life when you say send up, there's not a lot to send up anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, I've had hilarious hospital visits and hijinks.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it can be pretty nuts up there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so it's already a very funny situation. There is some great stuff. It is the component.
Speaker 1:Was that David Alan Greer? He's in it, right?
Speaker 2:Yes he's in it, yep, yes, and he's terrific.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's great.
Speaker 2:I really like him in this role. It's very different from different things that he's done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2:I like him as the doctor slash. Oh no, all the other surgeons are out. We need someone who hasn't done surgery in 10 years. You know, get Davidid. So yeah, great, fabulous, uh, what else? Ah, the madness. All right Now. Coleman Domingo is one of my favorite actors, and has been ever since I first saw him in oh gosh, michael, what was?
Speaker 1:it. I have no idea who this person is.
Speaker 2:And he played a black activist during the Civil Rights.
Speaker 1:Right, it wasn't Mrs Rainey.
Speaker 2:Well, anyway, he was Rustin Rustin yeah. Fantastic and he was in the color purple and Euphoria.
Speaker 1:Like I said, Rainey's Black Bottom. He was in Zola.
Speaker 2:Well, right now he's starring in the Madness, the Madness, and I'm a little obsessed. The Madness, the Madness, and I'm a little obsessed. The Madness is streaming On Netflix and it's Coleman Domingo, tasman Topolsky, and it's about a CNN pundit and they say CNN. They come out and say that Right. So I'm not and I'm not sure why or why that's allowed. I don't know if this is based on something that happened no clue, and I was given no clue to go by. Just based on other stuff you've watched.
Speaker 1:This sounds like something you'd like, so I, so I Is Bradley Whitford in this as well. Not yet, okay, why? What were you? Because I saw something that mentions him here.
Speaker 2:Oh, in the Madness? Yeah, well, I hope so. That sounds like a good, yeah, good thing. Uh, anyhow, maybe he's one of the cnn execs or something I don't know there's so much going on in this.
Speaker 2:it's about a cnn pundit and he's someone that they call in a lot to do commentary on particular topics. He doesn't have a regular show and he decides to take a weekend or a week off I'm not sure how long and he Airbnbs a cabin in the Poconos and he wants to get away. And so he's kind of in the middle of nowhere in this really nice cabin on a lake, in the woods. It's autumn, leaves all over the ground, and he's a runner, a jogger, so he's really like I want to get away from it all and be on my own and just completely chill out, which he does. And then he gets caught up in a murder. And a murder takes place at the next cabin, which is not close by, you know, it's like an acre over or whatever, um, and he gets framed for this murder and it turns out that the whole thing is about him getting framed for a murder.
Speaker 2:Now I'm at a point in watching this where that's all I know. I've seen him get back to the city and try to put X, y and Z together, but at this point he's just that trying to figure it, he gets fired. All sorts of bad things happen to him as a result of this, and so it's very exciting. It's edge of your seat kind of stuff, and what's most frightening to me about it it's not blood and gore, none of that. It's a thriller, and what's most exciting and frightening, I started to say, is that it's so close to the truth. You know the possible truth. It's so nail on the head and you can totally see this happening, totally. So I really recommend it.
Speaker 2:It's very good. It's not something you kind of want to have on in the background. You need to pay attention, certainly if you want to keep up. It's not. Oh, I can pick this up. I mean, at one point I fell asleep during something and I had to go re-watch a next episode. I had fallen asleep between two episodes and I had to go back and watch the end of the one I fell asleep during and then the next one entirely. That doesn't sound interesting, does it?
Speaker 2:no, no not really, I'll tell you people, a lot of the problem tonight here at the ann levin show, at the ann levin show studios, is that I can't breathe and I've got that thing with my nose where if you've been blowing your nose too much in the winter it gets sore and I have that and I also have this kind of like throat tickly thing going on. I'm struggling. I'm struggling to stay afloat like the nutcracker at the Thanksgiving Day parade. I'm doing my best. Anyway, the madness, in spite of what I may have said, that did or did not make sense, that did or did not make it sound interesting, is fantastic and I highly, highly recommend, I recommend A Day of the Jackal to someone who got back to me yesterday and said oh my God, thank you, I had no intention of watching this and it's fantastic. I'm almost done. Same thing with Monsters.
Speaker 2:I had a hard time convincing some people to watch anything about Lyle and Eric Menendez and, as it turns out, they were wrong. It's fantastic, must watch. When I tell you must watch, must watch. What have you been watching, michael?
Speaker 1:I haven't been watching anything. I'm watching YouTube, so I've been watching clips of David Letterman and Craig Ferguson and none of it relevant.
Speaker 2:Great, yeah, all right, elspeth, that's Carrie Preston, and this season there's a second season of it out, which is fun. I like Elspeth, michael does also. This first season starts out with Nathan Lane, who's everywhere. Nathan Lane is turning up everywhere and he's doing character roles. And he's doing a lot of straight roles, meaning he plays someone who is straight as opposed to gay, and I really like it. I like seeing Nathan Lane in these roles that I don't expect to see him in, in these roles that I don't expect to see him in. And you know he's often reduced to a caricature which is unfortunate where he's mincing it up. But lately we saw him as Dominic Dunn that was the Menendez brothers, actually speaking of the devil. And here he is in Elspeth playing an elder opera lover who had subscription seats with his wife for years and years and anyway he ends up. Well, watch it, it's very cute. The second season of Elsbeth.
Speaker 1:For those of you who don't know who Elsbeth is, she's a character from the Good Wife, right? Is that where we first saw her, right? Yeah, yeah, as come in as an investigator she's very kooky.
Speaker 2:Um, so if you remember her, you of it is over the top, but it's like it was on the Good Wife she's over the top, she's an over-the-top character. Her wardrobe is wacky and her attitude is wacky. And her attitude is wacky and she uses what would not normally be a successful way of. She uses her character and her wackiness as a way to get around the cops in Manhattan and to work her way, worm her way into various situations. And I'm realizing that that has more to do with confidence than anything, than anything. And if you have enough confidence, you can really make a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff happen, like Elspeth. Speaking of confidence, there is a film out that's here and I guarantee you it's gonna go and it's called Saturday Night and it is the film of the history of the first episode of Saturday Night Live and this is the 50th season, is it not? Yeah, and it is. It's a fascinating story. If you know it, or if you don't, I mean, I would have said, oh yeah, I know all about it, but it's, there are so many quirks, and those of us old enough, like myself and Michael, us old enough, like myself and Michael, to remember it when it first came out, when we were kids, and to have watched it since its inception, forget a lot about how it started, a lot about how it started, what it was like when it started.
Speaker 2:It had what? Six or seven cast members. Right there was Jane, lorraine, gilda, garrett, chevy, john and Dan Seven. That was the whole cast, and if you don't know the last names of those people, you really need to go back and learn some stuff. Lauren Michaels is played by a guy named named Gabrielle LaBelle, with whom I'm unfamiliar. Maybe someone else out there knows more about him and who he is. But the cast is fascinating because they have managed to find people who look and sound a lot like the people they are playing, like the guy who plays John Belushi, all the people who play the cast members.
Speaker 2:I incorrectly identified the guy who played Garrett Morris as his son, but the guy what's his name? Lemoyne as his son. But the guy what's his name? Lemoyne. Lemoyne Morris, yeah, is not his son. It's not, oh, okay, but there is some family in there. One of Jane Curtin's relatives is in there. It's fascinating. And there are people in it with little mini roles, like Brad Garrett, who has a small role Right JK Simmons as Milton Berle. Oh wow, yeah, small role right um jk simmons as milton burl.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, yeah, that was incredible. That was incredible. He so looked the part too totally willem defoe, who played one of the execs executive matthew reese, matthew Rhys oh right Now.
Speaker 2:Who did Tracy Letts? Who did Matthew Rhys Play? John Baptiste was in there. George Carlin oh right, matthew Rhys is George Carlin. Yeah, not someone I would expect.
Speaker 1:No, no, me neither. Pretty great though I don't know, and I had forgotten that, you know that it was George Carlin and the Muppets that were on the first show.
Speaker 2:And Joan Baez.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think it was the second joe that was show, that was paul simon yeah, they wanted to do him for the first one, yeah so, anyway, it's a completely nerve-wracking film because it's the final 90 minutes.
Speaker 2:I think it is before air and or it might. Yeah, I think it starts at 10 and it ends when it goes on the air at 1130. Yeah, I think it starts at 10 and it ends when it goes on the air at 1130. So you're given an opportunity to see not just what the first one was like, but the template for what a grind it is and what the schedule is like. Putting on a 90-minute live show every week. No joke, no joke, folks. It is a real high-wire act. It is a real high wire act and this film shows that exactly. And it takes a couple of liberties here and there with various things that happened that night, but all in all it's faithful to what we know to be the truth about the whole thing. And when I say short-lived, personally I don't see. Oh, the guy that plays Paul Schaefer is exactly like him.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Sounds exactly like him, schaefer, he's exactly like him. Oh yeah, sounds exactly like him.
Speaker 1:The voices were the thing that really captured me, because the faces and the clothes and the hair were all very similar. But you know, obviously they're not the faces, but the voices sometimes were so dead on, yeah, just in. Dead on, yeah, just in, like normal conversation, exactly, you know, and it really sucked you right in, it brought you right in. It's like, oh okay, this is real stuff. That's how I felt.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I did too, and it was sad. There was a lot about it that was sad. The John Belushi stuff made me really sad, troubled, you know before, during and after, and he was only on what like four or five seasons. Yeah, Is that true?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2:Well, anyway, I don't think this is going to be a big box office hit. That's just my opinion. I watched it and certainly didn't feel it felt very personal to me, and my guess is that a lot of people who lived there lived there, experienced it. Remember that first night, remember that first season and every season since, particularly if you lived in New York and it was just up the street where it was happening, I think you'll feel that it's personal to you. Yeah, but I'd like to know from people what they think, if you've seen it and what you think about this film. I guess if you. I guess the other point of view is, if you don't know what this show is and who these people are, it's not going to. I don't know if it will affect you at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it might not.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not a film for people who are unfamiliar with Saturday Night Live.
Speaker 2:Well, what's that?
Speaker 1:I hear.
Speaker 2:What's that I hear?
Speaker 1:That's some river dancers who are not falling down.
Speaker 2:It's the sound of river dancers not falling on their arses.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:Okay, I don't know what accent that was, but this is Real. Around the Sun by Riverdance Trademark. I actually watched a video of them, trademark. Uh, I actually watched a video of them. It was remedial, you know, I felt like I needed to I don't know get that vision out of my head. In any case, I'd like to say for Marshall Brickman, who won an Oscar for writing one of the greatest films of all time, annie Hall, please put a light on. Thank you, thank you.
