The Comedy Cellar: Live from the Table - Bonus Episode 8: Addictive Personality

Episode Date: May 17, 2023

Noam Dworman, Dan Naturman and Periel Aschenbrand discuss John Mulaney's new comedy special, addiction and Alzheimer's tests.

This is Table Talk, the bonus episode of Live from the Table, the official podcast of The Comedy Cellar. This is Dan Natterman, the host of Table Talk with Peril Ashenbrand, the co-host of Table Talk. Hi. We have a special guest. Well, he's not that special because he was at the last two bonus episodes. Noam Dorman, owner of The Comedy Cellar. He joins us because he feels like he doesn't have to, and so he doesn't feel any pressure. First of all, very quickly, I needed an Uber the other day, and so I downloaded, and it made me download the Uber app was being updated.

But in order to get the updated version, I had to update the operating system on my phone. Uh-oh. So I did that, and then the search bar, when I downloaded the new operating system, the search bar was at the bottom of the screen. I lived with it for two days until I said, I can't live like this. And I Googled around and I was able to reset, figure out, it wasn't that hard, but I was able to reset the search bar at the top. Okay. How the fuck can you have the search bar at the bottom? It's maddening. I'm looking right

Is it something you get used to? I can't imagine ever getting used to that. It was horrifying. I put up with it as long as I could, Perry. And then I said, no, this can't continue. I'm sort of impressed that you were able to figure out. Well, it's not that hard, but I'm

shocked it's even enough. Is it just because I'm used to it? Yes, it's just because you're used to it. Because you know how when you get a new phone, and it's much larger than the old phone? If you're a person who gets a new phone every few years, like

I am, some people get new phones all the time, and you're like, oh my god, this is enormous. How could I ever get used to this? That's what my wife said on our – Does anybody – Nicole, do you have the search bar at the bottom? Yeah, it's infuriating, but that update was a while ago, I feel like. So your search bar is at the top. Mine's at the top.

No, no, no. Mine's at the bottom, whatever the new one is. And it's infuriating. Yeah, I hate it. Well, you can put it at the top. How do you do that? I forgot. I think it's set.

I forgot, but just Google it, and you can put it at the top dan how do you do that i forgot i think it's set i forgot but just google it and you can put it at the top yeah it starts you off that it starts when you download the operating system it starts at the bottom i didn't need it until i needed a uber the other night i ordered an uber i was in long island at a gig and i i usually use lyft but uh you know whatever there was yeah that's something to talk about too how come you use usually use lyft i tried to put you in an u Uber the other night too and you were like, I don't have Uber. Yeah, because I didn't update my credit

card that night. But then the next week I had a gig and the Uber app said no, you need to update the Uber app. But I couldn't update the Uber app until I updated the operating system. I'm very glad you got that all sorted out. Alright, so I guess we're going. I understand what's going on here now.

Dan's got nothing for our first 15 minutes now because he's using... This would have been our first... The last three weeks, Dan's got nothing for his dumb first 15 minutes that we're supposed to... Because he's saving for the bonus episodes. So let's just start with the guests at the top of the episode from now on.

Unless there's something... No, I like having some start with the guest at the top of the episode from now on. Unless there's something. No, I like having some time in the beginning of the episode to chat with you. Anyway, I watched the John Mulaney special, Baby J. Normally, I would never watch comedy. I don't watch comedy. I mean, the last thing on earth I ever want to watch is comedy. But we're doing a bonus episode because I've had enough. And the last thing, and there are very few people I watch.

I watch, sometimes I watch Jim Norton because I like to hear him talking about trans women. Why do you like that? Why do you like that? Just because it's something no one talks about. Okay. The fact that Jim Norton is a straight cis man dating a trans woman. Really? Really?

Really? What? Well, how... Straight cis man who has sex with... Yeah, he's the only comedian. He's the only comedian that talks about...

You talk about a topic that pretty much every comedian addresses the same topic. There's nothing I talk about that hasn't been talked about by another comedian. And that's true with most comedians. Your cousin Sheila,

nobody talks about her. No, but people talk about texting. I mean, yeah, obviously my cousin Sheila, if you get that specific. The point is, who is talking about shit that's really entirely and totally unique? A, Jim Norton talking about liking trans women. No other comic talks about that. And B, Keith Robinson talking about being a stroke victim. Now, Norton doesn't say necessarily a straight cis man anymore.

He's a little... Well, he's straight. Whatever he is. Okay. The point is, those are the only two people that, as far as I can tell, are talking about things completely wholly and totally unique. And not Mulaney did. Well, I don't know if Mulaney was 100% unique.

Did you watch it? I mean, I think people have talked about drug addiction before, but it's pretty unique. I thought it was excellent. That doesn't mean I enjoyed it. I just thought it was excellent because I don't really enjoy watching comedy, but I had to judge it objectively. It's an excellent piece of work and well-crafted.

As I posted this on Twitter, it's excellent at minimum. It may be genius if he made it all up or a substantial part of it up. In other words, he told some crazy stories that were just unbelievably crazy stories about his life when he was addicted to cocaine. Are people addicted to cocaine?

Yes, of course they are. And also benzodiazepines with Xanax and Klonopin and so forth. So if he made it up, it's genius. Well, it's much harder to make something up. Right, right, right. I don't think he made any of that up. A lot of it was just like so outrageous. And I'm like, is this true? If it's true, then he's doing an excellent job of communicating a true story and injecting little things into it to make it funny. Like, well, I don't want to give too much away.

No, you can give some of it away. It's fine. I mean, it's on that book. Well, there's that bit about the whole thing about that Pete Davidson was texting him. Yeah, so, okay. Should I talk more specifically about it? Yeah, well, yeah, you have to, if people haven't seen it. Should I say spoiler alert? Yes, say trigger warning.

All right, so tune out if you don't want me to say it, but if you don't want to hear this, but, so Pete Davidson, apparently he put him in his phone as Al Pacino. Right, but Pete Davidson changes his phone number all the time. Right, so he, yes. But he put him in the phone as Al Pacino for some reason. Well, because, so he, so he would put, he realized that at a certain point he had Pete's number in his phone as nine different Pete Davidson.

So then he just started putting him in his like very famous. So he put it Al Pacino. So he's in the, in the rehab center. In detox. He's in detox. He's asleep or something like, yeah, he's asleep, but the phone is ringing and it says Al Pacino. And the nurse. There's a nurse watching him because he threatened to leave rehab twice.

We don't need to divulge everything. Well, I mean, OK. So the nurse is seeing that Al Pacino is calling. So is this true or is this not true? Did this really happen? And the nurse wakes him up because, John Mulaney said, because it was fucking Al Pacino. Well, she said that he called, she saw that he had five missed calls from Al Pacino. Oscar winner Al Pacino.

So he does this whole conversation with Al Pacino, like, no, I don't think it, like, Pete, I don't want to give too much away, but Mulaney's on the phone and the nurse is hearing him saying, no one's going to blame you. You know, and the nurse and he then does an act out of what the nurse must be thinking. Al Pacino is saying on the other end, like, you know, hey, you know, people are going to accuse me of an 80, 79 year old man of getting John Mulaney on drugs. So, you know, the imitation was very good.

It's a lot better than mine. And the act out was good. The question is, did that really happen that way? Did the nurse really wake him up thinking Al Pacino was calling him? I think for sure it's true. Because if it's true, it's an excellent piece of stand-up. If it's made up, it's genius. You know, because to make something up is a lot harder.

If all he's doing is taking real shit, and he lived a crazy, crazy existence as a drug addict, then it's great, but it's not as good as if he made it up. I mean, is it as good? It's just as entertaining, probably more entertaining if it's real. I was reading something today, a Cormac McCarthy novel, and there was this amazing story that somebody was

telling, this narrative of their life. And I had exactly the same thought. I'm like, this is made up out of, this is fucking genius. Even if he based this on some actual story that he heard somewhere, it was still unbelievable fiction. But I was actually wondering, like, did he fucking create this out of nothing?

Like, this is just unbelievable narrative. So I get what you're saying. But it's at a minimum, it's excellent. And then it might, depending on how much is made up, again, it doesn't make it more entertaining, but it makes it more creatively impressive. I mean, I'm going to go on record and say that I don't think any of that was made up. It certainly seemed real. Yeah. And that makes it, when an audience thinks it's real, it's more impactful.

It's actually more impactful when you think it's real. Yeah, I think so too. But it's more impressive if he just made it up. From the art of stand-up or crafting or storytelling, it's more impressive. One thing, yeah, I think so. What struck me also is just how, I mean, I knew he had his issues,

but I never knew how severe. It was the last person I would ever suspect. That's what I liked about it. I mean, he seemed so clean cut. He always seemed to get, you know, there are people that you meet them and you're like, this guy's in trouble. This guy's got problems. He wasn't, not that I spent a lot of time with him, but he never struck me that way. One thing that he didn't talk about, and this sort of is related to what we were discussing with Freddie a little bit.

One thing he didn't mention, I don't think, is that he that he was suffering during this period. He talked about how he was addicted. He talked about how he, you know, schemes that he did to get cash because he told his accountant, don't give me any money. So then now he had to figure out how to get money rather than just calling up his accountant and saying, it's my fucking money. Give me the money. He didn't want to. I guess he was embarrassed. So he had to find a way to get like crazy shit. But one thing he didn't say is that he was suffering. Right. And and and so I wonder, is it possible to be an addict? And definitely he was it was dangerous and he could have wound up dead. But is it possible to be an addict and not be suffering whilst you're an addict? No, I don't think so. You don't think so? Absolutely not. I mean, out of everybody I know who have suffered from various sorts of addiction,

I mean, it's part of being addicted to something, right? But I mean, if you have the resources to have as much cocaine as he does, as you want, is it possible that he was having a good time, even though he was flirting with death, perhaps? Or maybe not death, with cocaine, I don't know. Sure, of course. Of course you can over, I mean, and mixing all those pills with coke and those, yeah, I mean, he was running himself ragged. Is it possible he was, if not enjoying it, at least not actively suffering?

You can enjoy parts of something and also suffer from it. I mean, I know nothing about addiction. Well, people addicted to cigarettes, they're not suffering. Sure they are. Sure they are. I don't think so, no. Oh, I mean, i'll speak for myself i mean as an addict for years and years with cigarettes i love smoking cigarettes but you also

hate it and you know that you're destroying your lungs i mean they're all sorts of okay that's a different thing but like you know previous generations my father smoked marijuana all the time he wasn't suffering from it. I disagree with you, Perry. I think it is. I don't know if it's the case with John Mulaney, and maybe there's things he didn't want to delve into. He thought it was too much for a comedy special, even though he got pretty raw and pretty deep.

But he did say, well, I know we're real enough, but he may not want to reveal certain things that he felt were too much, maybe certain painful things that he was going through. I think that when you're at that level of being a drug addict, you are absolutely in pain. Well, I don't know. Addiction is one problem I don't have. I have plenty of others, but that's one problem I don't have. Nicole plenty of others but that's one problem I don't have Nicole do you have anything to say about that? Well I think that like it was pretty clear

like suffering comes in different forms that his life was falling apart based on the fact that all of his closest friends had this like intervention for him how he opens the special is disgusting the intervention so I feel like in some way he must have been suffering if it was that clear to his friends that something was going terribly wrong Yeah you're ruining your life, right? Like you're aware

of that. It's funny what you said, because I had a conversation yesterday with a friend of mine who we have a mutual friend who was together guy. And then we lost him. He's not dead, but he's he's no longer in anybody's life. He became a crystal meth addict. And my friend said, I was there the first time he took crystal meth. And what he said to me right before he took it was, I don't have an addictive personality. Oh, my God. He said that was the first thing.

That's the last thing he said before he became a meth addict was I don't have an addictive personality. That is haunting. Yeah, it was haunting. Dan says, I don't have an addictive personality. That is haunting. Yeah, it was haunting, yeah. Dan says, I don't have an addictive personality. Stay tuned next week when Dan tries crystal meth. Well, I mean, you can get addicted to anything, I suppose. But, I mean, heroin, yeah, you're going to get addicted to certain things

if you use them. But generally speaking, I mean, I can have a drink and put it down, you know, without a problem. I guess I'm not an alcoholic. Maybe I... Alcoholism is a very genetically based addiction, apparently. Yeah, I think so. And certain ethnic groups, I'll just leave it at that, seem to have...

Get the bleep finger ready, Nicole. I also... Seem to have, you know, unfortunately, tragically, really, a bigger problem with that than others. The Jews don't seem to have as big a problem with alcoholism, but I think we have more... Well, it's expensive. I think we have more likely to have certain mental illnesses. So I don't want to say that...

Neuroticism. I mean, I know... Anyway. Of course there are Jewish alcoholics, but there are studies. It's not a common thing. There's a gene that somehow plays a role in alcoholism. The other thing is that I liked seeing Mulaney like that, though, because of exactly what you said,

that he always came off as so clean cut and having it together. Somehow that made him much more likable to me I remember one conversation I was sitting with Mulaney talking at the table and he was telling me about were his parents like professors or something

it could be I don't know he's married to a Jewish woman whatever it is and he got up and walked away. And then I thought that somehow I had turned him off. But in a way, I can't explain that the moment stayed with me. I can picture it even now. And I had other experiences like this that turned out to be something like

some ridiculous other explanation. Like it was just it didn't fit the box of anything that I could actually identify as a behavior pattern that I could come to grips with. It was weird in some way. So that's why it stayed in my mind. And I think now in retrospect, it was it was in some way the drugs. For sure. And the other thing that he said that really resonated with me, and if you think about how obnoxious and awful

and whatever this story is, imagine that this is one I'm willing to tell you. See, I didn't want to say that. I was about to say that, but that's a good line that you just spoiled for our listeners. Well, they got a spoiler alert. I mean, without saying spoiler alerts.

By the way, I watched it with French subtitles. Oh, God. Just to see if I could learn some new vocabulary. And I did. Intervention in French is a réunion pre-dézentaux. A meeting... Detox. Pre-detox. Yeah, I mean, French is...

I thought it would be intervention. Not the way it was translated. Now, it could, French is so much... I thought it would be intervention. Not the way it was translated. Now, it could be that it might be translated that way because... I guess intervention doesn't mean a drug intervention in France. Right, I guess. Réunion, is that what it is?

Réunion, which is a meeting pre-desintox. Before detox. Oh, that's literal. One of the things in this Cormac McCarthy book I'm reading is a lot of Spanish dialogue. It fucking burns me up. I read it on the Kindle

so the Kindle can actually translate it. But as I'm reading it, I'm like, what were you supposed to have done if you bought this book? Does he expect everybody to speak Spanish? It's so arrogant. Maybe you should just translate it on the side or something or in the back. I'm sure it's in the back of the book.

No. It has to be. I'm going to wordreference.com just to see if they give the same translation. Psychological help. Okay. They translate it the way you did. No, intervention. They also say serious discussion with someone's approach. on psychological help. Okay, they translate it the way you did, no, intervention.

They also say, serious discussion with the approach to quelqu'un. Serious discussion with the people close to somebody. They don't, they do not translate it the way it was translated by whoever did the subtitles. Try to get Cormac McCarthy. You'll never get him. He doesn't do any interviews.

Anyway, one other thing I did want to talk about with regard to the special is that Mulaney mentioned, semi-spoiler alert, it's not that big a deal, but he mentioned that he was not recognized in rehab. And that sort of... Bugged him. Bugged him a bit. And then he does a whole... Let the record show that when Mulaney first came on the scene, he was called the next Dan Natterman.

Was he? Who called him that? People who... Well, he had that voice. Yeah, Esty would... But other than... As a Natterman. Esty.

It wasn't a universal... No, no, no. It was a pretty common thing. He was the new Natterman. Well, he has a similar voice, but very, very different, obviously, and far more successful. But no one recognized him in rehab, and that got me thinking about the modern— They didn't recognize you either. Well, we know that, but Mulaney is much more known than I am.

But that, I think, is just the modern nature of fame is just not what it used to be. I'm quite sure my parents don't know who Mulaney is, and I doubt my sister knows. I haven't asked. But everybody knew who Seinfeld was, from a 5-year-old to a 95-year-old. But you can't compare. Well, because the level of fame is different now.

I think there's just more people that are less famous. There's not as many people that are household names, but there's more people that have big, big followings that are making a lot of money and are famous, but they're not as famous as the famous people of yesteryear. Interesting.

Let's say he's famous for being on SNL mostly right but he's hosted I think a couple times yeah so I don't think he's got a big movie presence let's say a Martin Short level fame

or maybe even a little below Martin Short was a bigger thing but like what I'm saying is that even then there were people in that category

a well known SNL figure might not have been you know it was never right a few of them like Chevy Chase became became household names. Well, that's true.

So even then. Most young people would know. There were people like. John Lovitz, my mother, wouldn't have ever known. Right, right, right. He's pretty famous. But somebody like Steve Martin. But Steve Martin was universal.

Right, right. He was huge. So, but I do think. But your point is well taken huge. So, but I do think, I do think... But your point is well taken. It's true. Yeah, I do think there's more people... I mean, he's not... Balkanized.

Famous Balkanized. It's more Balkanized. And there are people that have big following. I mean, Mark Norman has a big following, and he can fill, you know, theaters, I suppose. But your parents probably don't know who he is either. No, they certainly... No.

But yet, if I ask 10 people on the street who's Mark Norman, I don't know how he is either. No, they certainly know. And, but yet if I asked 10 people on the street, who's Mark Norman, I don't know that I have robust response. I would get it. Watching, but he has, you know, but if he has a million people that love him,

that's, that's my dentist seems to know all, like he knows the Samorellas, you know, he's a comedy fan. Yeah, I guess he is. A lot of people,

a lot of people watch these Instagram clips. Yeah. A lot of people watch Instagram. Watching, um, Mulaney's special made me think about something that you said, actually, which is that there seems to be

a trend recently that a lot of comics are talking about things that are deeply personal. Well, no, I didn't say that was the trend, though it might be. I said talking about therapy seems to be a trend. No, you said that the comics who seem to be doing very well, right?

Yes, but that doesn't mean it's a trend. I'm saying the comics that seem to be blowing up are doing long personal stories. Right, which is what this was. Which is what this was. But, I mean, Sam Morrill doesn't, doesn't do those and he's doing quite well, but I think it's more the rule than the exception that the biggest comics like Chris Rock, Mulaney, you know, are doing these, Louis, are doing very personal stuff. They're not, Attel, by contrast,

you can watch Atel for three hours and know nothing about his real life. But Louis hasn't really... And he is as skilled as any comedian, some would argue the best, but not as famous as those other guys. No, I think Louis did more personal stuff before his thing. But then he...

Yeah, but I'm saying that... He hasn't talked about all the stuff he went through. No. Chris Rock did. He talks about his life. It's just he doesn't necessarily talk about the scandal. Yeah. But...

Le scandale. That's right. That's the word. French is easy. Le scandale. I think it's a masculine noun, but I'm not sure I could look that up. But scandale. I like it. I mean, I think it's a masculine noun, but I'm not sure I could look that up. But scandal.

I like it. I mean, I think it's interesting. Because in French, most words that end in E are feminine, but there are exceptions. It's noted. So it's le scandal. I believe it's a masculine noun. I can look that up. You see, that's where my non-native status really shines, is the masculine and feminine.

So I got a pretty... It is a masculine noun. That is correct. A scandal masculine. I got a pretty thorough genetic test this week. Oh, yeah? And apparently, I find this hard to believe, I'm at genetically low risk for Alzheimer's.

That's great. That's good news. Of course it's good news. But did you want to know? I mean, if you were, I mean, that's, I don't know if I'd want to know. I don't want to know. I mean, now you want to know because it's good news.

That's a big question. I couldn't resist. Where do you go to? Can you walk me through that? I can't remember the name of the company. It was Xcode.com, I think. I mean, you know, that would be a bit, if you did it on stage, you know,

I got a test to see if I was at low risk for Alzheimer's. I forgot the name of the, that would get a big laugh. That would get a big laugh. You can take that. No, there's a joke, like that guy goes to the doctor's office and says, oh, no, he does it with his friend. and says, oh, no, the guy says his friend.

He says, yeah, I was having trouble with my memory, and the doctor gave me this pill, and I can't believe I can remember everything. The guy says, what's the name of the pill? He goes, what's that flower? It's red and long. It has thorns. Rose?

The guy goes, Rose? I guess it's Rose. It goes, Rose, what's the name of the pills I'm taking? Yeah, I've heard of it. It's a cute joke, right? It's a cute joke. Who said Rose? You're offering the name Rose? That's part of the joke, man.

I don't know who wrote these street jokes. Some of them are so clever, and you wonder who wrote them. Modi told me a great joke. I won't tell you now. Modi told me a great joke. Anyway, go ahead. Anyway, that's good news about the Alzheimer's. So what do you do?

You take some... Well, you don't do what I did the first time. You don't jizz. That's my DNA. I've told that joke before. No, you spit in the thing. Actually, no. I first got it 23andMe.

And then there's this new company that you can download your 23andMe genome and upload it. Now, if you need me to come over to your house to help you download and upload, I'll help you. And then it gives you a different set of traits and stuff. Speaking of going to— But if you were at risk for Alzheimer's, learning a second language, they do say there is evidence that it is helpful. I don't know how helpful. If this came up, that I was at high risk for Alzheimer's, I literally, I think that I would. Would you die by suicide?

I don't know. It would ruin, it would literally ruin the rest of my life. And I'm not exaggerating. Well, what if the risk was at the age of 90? It doesn't say that. Yeah. But you could inquire. Well, maybe.

No, no. But if it was like, even late onset, I'm six years old. The point is that if I knew, like the BRCA gene is like a high risk of breast cancer. People get their breasts removed proactively. I know somebody who did that. Pramptively. Got a double vasectomy in her 20s. Angelina Jolie.

I mean, so that's what they do. Now, if you get the same kind of thing for Alzheimer's, what can you do? Well, what you can do is, as I said, they say that learning a second language and keeping your mind active can delay it by five years. My mind's active. What are you going to do? Obviously, there's foods I probably I'm not exaggerating 15 or 20 pints

of blueberries a week If you do everything right in terms of food and in terms of not drinking too much and in terms of keeping your mind active You could probably delay it by 7 years or something of keeping your mind active. A young girlfriend helps too. You could probably delay it

by seven years or something. I don't know. Do you guys get prostate exams regularly? Whether I need one or not. Of course, every checkup. Every month. I've spoken to others before, but that the technology for prostate exams

is still a finger in your ass. In 2023, when they have a sophisticated, that the technology for prostate exam is still a finger in your ass. Yeah. In 2023, when they have a sophisticated, they do heart surgery through a little thing that they, you know, that springs open in your heart, but they still have to stick a finger in your ass to check your prostate. They haven't been doing that for years. Had not made a finger small enough to fit in an ass. We'd never know whether we, we don't just die of prostate cancer without any.

I guess we'd figure something out. We'd have to figure something out. That's right. There's got to be some solution. We have AI. Ask ChatGPT. Well, maybe there's a, they got to stick something in there, whether it's his finger or something else. Why?

What can they tell? Or maybe they could do, you know. They can just tell if it's enlarged? They could do maybe an x-ray or something. No. Why do they stick their finger up there? To see if it's enlarged. They probably could use x-rays, but if they don't have to expose you to x-rays, they don't.

So they're erring on the side of caution. But I assume they probably could do that. They have blood tests now, too, for the cancer antigens, but that's not the same thing, I guess. My understanding is it's quite enjoyable for men to have their prostate stimulated. Well, I won't, you know, I won't question your experience, but...

It can be, but I think it depends on who's doing the stimulating. Obviously, it plays a role. But I can't believe you said... First of all, that's... So, listen, I've understood that it can be enjoyable

for a woman to have her vagina fondled, but I don't know if it's the same thing when a gynecologist does it. What are you talking about? Well, I'm sure some people... There was because

there was just a story in the news about some guy who went and got his and got a prostate exam, and he actually became aroused as a result in the doctor's office. Yeah, of course. I'm sure. Is that Jim Norton? Look, I'm sure somewhere there's a woman that has been aroused by organic colleges.

Well, of course. Somewhere out there. Didn't Sarah Silverman have some joke about the Jewish doctor rapist? She's ambivalent. Well, that was a joke. But, I mean, I assume, yeah, if you're touching those areas. But a prostate exam is not pleasant. It hurts.

It hurts. I haven't gotten one in a while. Yeah, it hurts. Why does it hurt? I got a colonoscopy. That's not included in the package, I guess. It hurts. One finger in your butt hurts?

You're supposed to use one finger? No, it hurts. Using his whole fist? I find that it hurts, yeah. Not the finger in your butt hurt? You're supposed to use one finger? No, it hurts. Do you think his whole fist? I find that it hurts, yeah. Not the finger in the butt that hurts. It's the pressing on the butt. How long have we been doing this, Nicole? Just about 30.

I'm going. Okay. Well, I just, but no, this is important because you're a musician. Any thoughts on the death of Gordon Lightfoot? Gordon Lightfoot has died this week. Oh, my God, Dan. If you could read my mind. Well, it's funny

because I just heard there's an instrument called a harpeggi, which I just discovered like two or three days ago. Yeah. And Harry Connick Jr.

Was it Harry Connick Jr.? Was playing it? Was playing If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lightfoot. And he was singing, I think. I might remember wrong. But that's a brilliant song. And I'll tell you this.

So I played In a Little While From Now, which is not Gordon Lightfoot. No, that's Gilbert O'Sullivan. And I played this song for my son, Manny. And my son, Manny, listens to this song. My son's nine. He goes, Daddy, that's so sad. And it occurred to me that when I was nine years old,

I would have never taken in the lyrics to a song on that level. Alone again, right? The lyrics just went by me. They still just go by me. And my son listened really intently to all three verses. So that kind of got me listening to lyrics.

I was like, well, if my son is listening to lyrics. So then just by coincidence, just the day before yesterday, I was listening to Gordon Lightfoot, If You Agree With My Mind, sung by Harry Connick Jr. And the words are incredible. The words are really, really good. If you read my mind,

what a tale my thoughts would tell. Yeah, what a tale my thoughts would tell. Just like an old-time movie about a ghost in a wishing well in a castle fortress. I don't know. Anyway, and then it goes, and then it goes,

if I could read your mind, girl, what a tale your thoughts would tell. Just like a paperback novel. It's really good lyrics for a very young man to have written. So it gave me a pretty substantial respect for Gordon Lightfoot. Now the next song I know after that was

Sundown, you better take care. Which is a good song, but not on the level of If You Could Read My Mind. And beyond that, I don't know his what's the word, Dan? O-E-V-R-E? It's a French word right yeah it means his

body of work his body of work so but I think he's respected you know well his other song Sun Tum Down if you could read my mind

Rainy Day People yeah I don't know that but the other person who died. And The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which. Oh, yeah. How's it go? The legend lives on from the Chippewa down. The legend lives on from the Chippewa down.

Yeah, it's kind of like Irish. It's a little. That, I think, is very sad. That's really sad. I have no idea what the lyrics were. It's about the wreck of a real ship that went down. Harry Belafonte also died. Oh, that's right. But that was last week

or this week? I think last week. Anyway, we're right on the borderline of the two weeks, the cusp of the weeks. But anyway, now, Harry Belafonte is, to me, a tremendous figure in music. And I don't know to what extent he's responsible for all of it. I spent

much time listening to Harry Belafonte growing up, every single song, those records. Was it Mary Ann? Was that it? Matilda. Well, I mean, there's a ton of songs. Dale, obviously. I believe, Morning Adore Her.

What's the other one? Down This Way Where the Nights Are Gay and the Sun... Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I had to say I'm on my own. Kingston Town. Don't be back for many a day. I'm hard as I'm...

Anyway, I got to meet a little... Did he write? He didn't write that. I don't think that's him. He didn't write these songs. Okay, yeah. But he brought Calypso music... To America.

To America. He was born in where? In the United States? He might have been born in the United States. Maybe to parents from the Caribbean or something. But anyway, he was tremendous. He was absolutely tremendous, Harry Rilafonte.

He was born in New York City. If you look later on, he had live concerts he did on PBS where some friends of mine were in his band where he kind of modernized a lot of these arrangements with like an African thing to them. And those were brilliant also. Again, I don't know the extent he was responsible for these arrangements, but he definitely was the guy, the decider of what was good and what wasn't good and what was going to have his name on and what wasn't. And that's a substantial talent like Sinatra.

I mean, Sinatra didn't do the arrangements either. But Harry Belafonte is maybe an underrated. He's a towering figure, in my opinion. Didn't you sing a song recently? Juanita? Is that him? I love Juanita. Is that Harry Belafonte? Alright, so Reston, but he died.

I put Harry Belafonte and then Gordon Lightfoot. Well, I don't want to hierarchy, you know, I don't want to rank them. But both big losses in the music world. Hey, that I think is our bonus episode. Thank God John Mulaney had a special that dropped, because otherwise I don't know what the hell we would have talked about. Well, I'm sure we would have come up with something.

How do you feel about these bonus episodes? I think they're good. Yeah? I do think they're good. I think they're good quality. I don't know that, you know, would people agree or not. Well, I think what you think sort of matters as much as anything. Well, I suppose.

No, I mean, you know, not really. I mean, you'd want people to like it. Well, sure. Otherwise, there's no point. Thank you, Nicole. You're welcome. You, sure. Otherwise, there's no point. Thank you, Nicole, for being our sound technician, Pyrrha Leshenbrand. Thank you, and we'll see you next time on Live from the Table and Table Talk.

Bye-bye. Bye.