What's Chris Been Up To?

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Hey now.

I’ve been dipping back into old episodes of The Larry Sanders Show. If you’ve never seen it, imagine a brilliant, unique show about the people who work at producing a talk show. The egos, disappointment, resentment, brilliance, comedy, drama. Like 30 Rock or The Office, it’s more about the people than the show being made or the paper being sold. It really broke the mold when it came out, and stands still as a testament to Gary Shandling’s open-hearted genius.

I just made last month’s open thread open to anyone, so even those of you who aren’t paying subscribers can dip in and read people’s favorite quotations. They’re all pretty awesome. I’m sure this month’s open thread (“What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?”) will also bear juicy fruit.

Anya and I took a quick trip to LA in February, to see some friends at a party in the desert and to visit my mom, sister, and other friends in the city. Over the decades I lived in Europe, it became something of a family tradition for me to fly over to see my family around the time of my birthday in mid-February. I’d say the motivation is 1/3 I’m not a fan of Christmas and the obligatory nonsense that’s inescapable if you’re in town, 1/3 it’s far less expense/hassle to travel in February, and 1/3 it seems like “my birthday” is really about my mom more than it is about me. Getting born is easy. Giving birth, not so much.

I think death is kinda similar. The dead don’t grieve. Lucky bastards!

I hope this finds you in fine fettle. As for me, I’m prancing around in my new Carhartt overalls and tool belt, thinking I look manly, but probably coming off as more of a Village People character than an actual construction dude. Them nails need a-hammerin!

CPR

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In keeping with the meta- meta- meta- nature of the Larry Sanders Show, the last episode of the show was the last episode of the show within the show. Jim Carrey was one of the guests. A lot of the show was about how people act on-stage vs. off-stage. Toward the end of this clip, you can watch Jim Carrey pretending to be on while actually on, and then pretending to be off while actually on. What’s real?

556 Mike Maher (Take a Deep Breath)

557 - Eric Czuleger (Traveler to Non-Existent Countries)

February Brain Dump

Do You Hear Voices?

1. ROMA (“Ranting Out My Ass” — essentially rants about whatever’s on my mind at the moment), BROMA (Bonus ROMA); TOMA (“Talking Out My Ass” — autobiographical stories from back in the day, ranging from travel stuff to an upcoming series about what it was like to shift from teaching English in Spain to bestselling author in a few weeks); AMA (Ask Me Anything).