I am told, from the horse’s mouth, that CBS Sunday Morning will broadcast their segment on us, reported by the horse himself, tomorrow morning, 6/22. I am setting my TiVo now.
Update: Will wonders never cease, they broadcast it. I remember commenting on things other than my hairline, but apparently they cut all that. Video here.
I’ve been meaning to write a long post about the experience of picking up a Peabody Award last Monday, in New York, in the company of my friends and colleagues, and in front of an awful lot of people I admire, and other people I would admire if only I knew more about them. But I have a feeling if I wait to be able to write that post at the length it deserves, it’ll never get done… so, instead, some highlights:
Meeting Bob Woodruff;
Meeting the cast and crew of Mad Men;
Hanging with Peter Grosz, Second City (and WWDTM) alum and now a writer with Stephen Colbert;
Hearing the heartfelt acceptance speech from the news team at WSLS-TV in Roanoke, VA who were sincere in saying how much they were honored for their coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings, and how much they wished they were never in a position to win;
Getting a laugh with a joke about having to follow Stephen Colbert on the podium, which effectively solved the problem of following Stephen Colbert on the podium;
But mainly, being able to represent everybody on this show, as we accepted the highest award in our industry. Click on the photo below for some shots taken, again, by technical director Lorna White.
My apologies to all who care for not posting for a while… it has been, to put it mildly, rather busy, and I intentionally did not bring my computer along on our recent travels in order to focus on more important things, like, say, my wife. And my friends. And the Various and Interesting Events that have Transpired in the last week.
First off: the Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me Tenth Anniversary Party, last Friday at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. I will admit to being a bit ambivalent about it, beforehand. This party was a fundraiser for Chicago Public Radio, and I attend many such events in the course of the year. It’s always pleasant to meet fans, but it is a kind of work, and I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it at an event meant to celebrate our own achievement. But, as it turns out, if you’re going to have a party to celebrate something you’ve done, it’s actually a good idea to invite a bunch of people so fond of what you do that they’re willing to pay to come cheer you on. It was a wonderful event, and perhaps the best thing about it was that for the first time ever, all the Wait Wait panelists were gathered in the same place at the same time. (Sans Mo Rocca, who was in Europe.) Click on the picture of us all below to go to a gallery of more photos from the event, taken by Don White, husband of our technical director, Lorna White.
So: my wife and I are heading to the Big City this weekend, for the Peabody Awards on Monday. I think of myself as a former New Yorker, but the fact is, we didn’t live there long, and have been gone now for ten years. We’re going to see friends, and yes, a Broadway show, but we’ve got one evening free right now and I’d love to do something particularly New Yorkish, as it is now… I’ll check out what’s going on at BAM and other venues, but if anybody has any hip ideas on how best to enjoy the city circa 2008, lemme know… also looking for good restaurant recommendations, with emphasis on unique ethnic experiences… we get great high end food in Chicago. What I love in NY is places like Joe’s Shanghai, for the soup dumplings. In fact, I think I’ll go to Joe’s Shanghai, for the soup dumplings.
Somebody has put together one of those Ironic Brackets meant to determine the Greatest Comedian. Somewhat to my surprise, I’m in the running, down on the right hand side of the bracket.
I’d suggest carefully considering the pros and cons of myself and Mr. Brooks, and voting accordingly.
Whoops… on second thought, throw me a mercy vote. Son of a gun is running up the score on me…
UPDATE: Ah, well. You folks made it close but in the end, I didn’t bring enough game to beat the genius behind “Space Balls.” Thanks anyway for your support.
Chef Grant Achatz of Alinea in Chicago, who I wrote about at some length in my book, was just named Outstanding Chef by the James Beard Foundation, the highest award in American cuisine. He’s a brilliant and innovative chef, but the judges might have been swayed a bit by the fact that Achatz was diagnosed last year with Stage 4 cancer of the tongue, a bizarre bit of Dickensian tragic fate that you wouldn’t wish on anyone in real life, yet has continued to cook brilliantly throughout his chemotherapy, even though he still can’t taste anything. If so: right on, judges! I highly recommend the account of his illness and recovery in the recent Innovators issue of the New Yorker… as an interested party and fan, I followed the news stories about him as they unfolded but had no idea he had been so ill, that he had been in such danger of death or permanent disfigurement and disability, and how unlikely, and yes, brave, his recovery has been. They said to him, in essence “If we don’t cut out your tongue, you’ll die.” And he replied, in essence: “Without my tongue, I can’t cook, and if I can’t cook, I don’t want to live, so what else you got?”
Here’s to you, Chef, and no, I didn’t really leave hungry.
My interest in politics (at least insofar as I care to talk about it here) is mostly aligned with my life-long obsession with trying to figure out what’s really going on. So, for example, I’ve been really interested in what President Bush is like “behind the scenes,” as described in theseposts. We assume that we are not allowed to see the politicians as they are in private. We assume this because we are often told this, explicitly, by the candidates friends and associates. We are told that Al Gore, in private, is loose and funny and warm, not the stiff and humorless moralizer he seemed to be on the trail in 2000. We are told that Hillary Clinton is similarly impressive, when not on the trail. Intimates of President Bush — including a gentlemen who sat next to me at dinner in the fall of 2004, and who became quite exercised when he discovered that I worked from NPR — say that the person described in the media is not anything like the caring, thoughtful, serious individual they knew.
I believe them all. I believe them because it is impossible, even in this day and age, to achieve high political office without being able to charm somebody. Karl Rove fell in love with George W. Bush for a reason.
But still, you never get to see that candidate, that person who impresses one on one, that avatar that inspires his or her intimates to give up their lives for the cause. Until, maybe, now. We’ve seen how the constant presence of audio and video recorders everywhere have caught candidates in more and more candid moments. I hope this continues. Here’s an example of what I want to see more of, from everyone. It’s Barack Obama speaking to his staff at his campaign offices in Chicago after his primary win. It is, still, a performance. But it is a very good one — see how he flatters his staff, and then seamlessly links that with an exhortation to do even more for him — see how he clearly but effectively gives them the gift of responsibility. He does not say, “Do this for me, so I can save the world,” he says, “You have to save the world.” Who could say no?
Best of all, it’s a chance to see — whether you agree with his supporters and followers or not — why they’re supporting and following him. I’d love to see a similar video from John McCain, and will post it if I do.
UPDATE: It occured to me, as I saw this video proliferating at the usual sites and suspects, that this is a video made by the Obama campaign, uploaded to YouTube by them, and something they want us to see, hopefully so that other viewers will have the same reaction I did. So the video itself is as much as a performance as the candidate speaking; it’s a political act. I feel slightly duped, but remain impressed by their skill.
I am assured that the profile of Wait Wait, featuring yours truly and many of your favorite radio personalities, will air this Sunday Morning on CBS on the show titled, CBS Sunday Morning. I am assured this by the correspondent himself, who might well have a future in television despite his odd pants.
UPDATE: Okay, so, not. We were told after the fact that the RFK memorial piece went long, so our segment was cut. And of course, we couldn’t lose the tribute to historical lawnmowers. We’ll assume it’s on for this Sunday, but we’ll see…
