I’m going out there, People!
Dates in Los Angeles, Bellingham, WA, Vegas, St. Louis, Portland, OR and soon Denver, Albq, NM and more up at wtfpod.com/tour.
I think I’m looking forward to getting out there into the country and doing some long sets. Things seem simultaneously more and less menacing out in the world. I am generally pleasantly surprised when I get out there and see the people and hang out in the strange cities. We’ll see. It’s what I do.
I want to thank everyone who came out to the screening of Dog Day Afternoon I hosted for American Cinematheque at the Aero theater in Santa Monica. What a great night it was. Obviously, it wasn’t about me, it was about the movie. I did feel responsible and proud for presenting it. I don’t believe I’d ever seen it on film and it was a beautiful print. I’ve watched that movie four times now in the last few months and I could watch it again tomorrow. It is of its time and also timeless. That’s what you’re looking for in art. Perpetually relevant because of its humanity. Visceral. There isn’t a false note in it. Without a doubt Pacino’s best performance. And that’s saying something.
A woman who was an apprentice editor of the film had reached out to me about almost accidentally destroying the one print of it on her way to a screening for executives and Pacino. It was run over by a bus while she was hailing a cab. Great story. I had her tell it before the movie.
I’d like to talk about the Ukrainian conflict. Not the one with Russia but the one that took place in my kitchen a few days ago. I don’t want to bore you with bougie luxury problems but I have been obsessed with getting the ice maker on my old refrigerator fixed. It came with the house. High end. I don’t even really need the ice maker but I get obsessed with small things being right because I have so little control over so much. It gives me focus and the hope of justice and order.
It’s a long story that I tell on today’s show but it’s been going on for months. I’ve been going back and forth with a repair guy who is Ukrainian. All the repair guys for the company I use for this appliance are Ukrainian. This guy told me not to get a new fridge because they have too many computers in them. He became obsessed with fixing mine because it seemingly couldn’t be fixed. He said it was because the water pressure was too high and it kept blowing everything up. I told him I adjusted the valve. I was wrong. It wasn’t the right valve. It was all my fault. Months of us trying to get it fixed.
He finally came with his son in a last-ditch effort to fix it. There was water spraying all over the place. He was yelling at his son in Ukrainian. I was uncomfortable. Then a hinge broke sending ball bearings all over the place and he was yelling at the fridge, ‘Eighteen years I’ve been fixing these. I hate this fridge. I hate it!’
His son came up to me and said, ‘It’s fucking Murphy’s Law. Always.’
He told me to just get a new fridge or he could order a hinge and keep trying. I didn’t want to see him defeated. I’m invested. We wait for the hinge.
So, now my freezer is propped shut with one of the shelves leaned up against it on the outside on a towel. I had a plumber put a valve in the correct place. The saga continues. My fridge is his Goliath. I’m rooting for him and I feel stupid. I think that’s a common feeling for a lot of people in relation to a lot of things. I have faith. I just hope he doesn’t string it out because I’m an idiot. We’ll see.
Today I talk to the amazing Maria Bamford for the sixth time on the show. Always exciting. I talk to Jeff Sharlet on Thursday about his book Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War. Not uplifting but sobering. It’s good to know what’s up.
Enjoy!
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
Love,
Maron
The Ukrainian Conflict
