People-
I’d like to start by sharing some bad news. On May 17th the great Ron Shock passed away. He fought hard against the cancer and shared that process with his fans. It’s a brutal disease but he lived at least 8 lives and was a profound influence on comedy. We are re-releasing my chat with Ron from March 2010 in memory of this wizard and guru to the likes of Bill Hicks and others. Vaya con Dios, Shock.
I’m a bit reflective sitting here in my Holiday Inn Express in Brooklyn. When did I lose my love of NYC? Because it is gone. All the things that I thought were great and gritty and real and raw are now just grimy and annoying. There’s something about personal space that is appealing to me now. I can’t seem to handle the constant onslaught of people that I am confronted with on a second-to-second basis in the City. I used be excited by the intensity and chaos and energy but now it’s draining. I don’t have the shield I used to have to protect myself from all the psychic shrapnel that is flying around. I would walk down almost any street and feel mentally and emotionally molested by parades of multi-ethnic, multi-class, multi-bad fashion choices and attitude problems. I’m exhausted. I feel dirty.
It’s not so much that I love LA, I don’t. I do have my own space there. I would hate LA, too, if I woke up and my living room was filled with dudes in tank tops wearing shorts and Yankees hats on my couch listening to iPods and there was a guy screaming at my sink in the kitchen and four guys in suits and a loud obese woman talking to her friend about her nails in my bathroom. That’s every day, give or take a character, in NYC.
Brooklyn has been okay. That’s another stage entirely. Lots of beards, dogs, strollers and yoga mats all converging on one coffee shop. I’m a little more use to that. I had some good sets here and I had a blast shooting a scene with Louie CK for the upcoming season of his show. I did spend some time with old friends and it’s nice to see people getting older and still fighting the fight and even winning a bit.
This week on the show, I had a long talk with the odd, charming and brilliant Paula Poundstone. I hope you dig that on Monday. On Thursday, I talk to a guy who I used to see headshots of my entire career and had never seen or met until I ran into him in Montreal last year. Killer Beaz is a comedian who has played primarily the South for his entire career and I was excited and curious to talk with him because he was ever-present in pictures and more of an idea than a person to me. It was fun. I hope you like Skynyrd.
Love,
Maron
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