T-M-I from T-I-M

Dumb People Town (pod) Live (Sklar Brothers and Daniel Van Kirk)

Live pod of "Dumb People Town" comedy show review:

TL;DR: Seeing DPT live with the Sklar Brothers and Daniel Van Kirk was a wild and totally fun ride.

The Sunday night my friend Cynthia and I saw a live performance of the podcast Dumb People Town (DPT) at Cobb’s Comedy Club in SF. It’s my favorite comedy pod I listen to.

It’s hosted by Jason & Randy Sklar (the Sklar Brothers, who are twins) and Daniel Van Kirk (DVK, who if he has a twin he/she may be properly estranged from his life, ha!).

The Sklar Brothers are a hilarious comedy duo that I first learned about on Jim Rome’s radio show of all places. They are consummate workers in the industry and have been in a ton of different things.

My #1 is a show called Cheap Seats on ESPN which is a lesser known (but no way should be) show where they watch old Wide World of Sports, Battle of the Network Stars and other weird sports. Kinda like Mystery Science Theater, they make hilarious comments on what’s shown.

I'm actually not sure which show came first.

I’ve seen comedy specials and they have an unmistakable rhythm. I’m guessing some of it is practiced but some of it has to be in the moment.

Cynthia said, after the show, she loves hearing their stories about starting comedy because they are both are so at ease up there. Jason (I think I can call him Jason…) said “that’s the result of 35 years of comedy).

Interestingly I really noticed how different from one another they are it was really clear on stage. They have similar roots in their humor and have different branches and leaves at times when they perform.

I was introduced to DVK on the DPT pod.

Daniel Van Kirk is sort of the straight man on the show, often reading the stories. He’s also an exceptional improv comic. He used to be a bouncer at a bar in the Midwest and easily calls on that during the riffs.

I’d definitely go see a show of his if it came to SF. His dry humor of @sklarbrothers when they tell a groaner joke always makes me happy.

The premise of the pod is simple, they read recent news articles about people being…dumb. Then the three of them riff (along with a guest on the show) about these stories. The three of them work perfectly together.

Personally, I think the lesser-known comics for some reason tend to be more hilarious than some of the really big names in comedy.

My all time favorite is an episode with Michael Ian Black about someone who purchased a machete sex fantasy and the “providers” went to the wrong house.

I’ve listened 20 times and sent to more people than I count.
The pod is improv comedy at its very best.

Last night Kyle Kinane (who I’ve heard of but never seen) and Robby Hoffman (who I’ve never heard of or ever seen) were guests.

Kyle Kinane had a sort of weird (maybe creepy) buddha/uncle vibe throughout that show that worked great, he was really funny.

There was a point where they wondered who a glam rock band is and he kept spitting out names as the content moved forward that really worked.

It was actually quite cool that at one point he was riffing and it was going nowhere and he admitted it was awful.

There was a point where we got to orifice entry and stuck stories of all orifices he was humorously flabbergasted that we passed on a stack of staples as it was “ok that’s normal”.

Robby Hoffman was good. She definitely had the New York Jewish vibe down and had a couple of good lines. She wasn’t quite as impactful and at times, I thought, broke the flow of the improv a few times.

The joy for me was seeing the Sklar Brothers and DVK interact. The years doing the podcast was obvious. They know how to vibe off of each other.

One fascinating fact to see live was they knew how to pause for each other. It was super cool to see the Sklar Brothers on either side of the group signaling they were about to say something by holding their mics towards their mouths.

The best way for me to describe the Sklar Brothers approach along with DVK is presence. When they are aware and present their lines were fantastic.

As a local stand up comic myself, it’s so instructive and inspiring to see how legit pros practice the craft.

The two main stories were both great material:

One about a couple that was arrested for doing a sex “act” in a line at Cedar Point (give it up for my midwestern crew!).

It included Kinane’s best contribution of the night when he pointed to the oddness of the word “act”.

They showed the pics of the two “criminals” and they went into the crowd for guesses after they did. I guessed 23 and DVK did a hilarious take about Michael Jordan. I was way off, they were much older.

The second one was about a woman who was scammed into sending money to a person who was “posing” as a glam rock lead singer. The scammer pretended to be Bret Michaels ( think).

And, of course, the police report included a “in the know” quote from the police saying “…every rose has its thorns…”. The riffs on the glam rock band as they tried to figure out examples, was excellent.

The final part was a series of things people got stuck into various orifices. It was pretty good.

They also did a bit finding stories on the days of each of their birthdays with “Florida man” stories. The funniest about a man who was arrested because specks of glaze from a doughnut on his car floor looked like crystal meth.

Randy Sklar did a hilarious karaoke cover of Gregory Abbot’s (yes THAT Gregory Abbot) “Shake you Down” because it was the first karaoke song he sang when DJ Eva (the special guest) played it for them.

I’ve listened to pods when they have cool musicians on it which isn’t my cup of tea. I want to hear the actual song I love so much.

A weird very fun twist is DJ Eva brought a bell to ring when people said really good or weird jokes. 90% of the time it was right on but it was hard to keep up given the pace of the show.

There was something really special about seeing the Sklar Brothers in particular in person. They were huskier than I thought (weird I know).

Randy looked like he was either Judd Hirsch in the sequel to Ordinary People or a not quite lead singer but definitely a member of a John Denver cover band (see pic with that sweater… and I also noticed we took like 10 pics in a row and Randy never smiled, maybe the weight of the mustache?)

DPT was a staple for me getting through the pandemic. And while I didn’t tell them it’s true for me when I got each week’s new pod I would cry when the theme song came on.

It was sort of out of joy as much as it was about the loss of something during that time.

It also was about the certainty of a really fun experience for the entirety of the podcast where I could completely turn off that tenuous time and just lean back and enjoy.

When we met all three of them, they couldn’t have been more gracious and grateful. They were so happy to take a picture with us and gave both of us quality, attentive time to chat as a big line went by.

I’ve seen a lot of comics and the three of them seem to legitimately care about their fans. In fact when anyone from the audience chipped in they asked for our name and said “Welcome to Town” which I thought was cool.

I learned in a show like that it’s really hard to keep up with the jokes. They are rapid fire. They are professionals and know how to not step on laughter in their performances but it was hard not to in this context.

The jokes would sort of roll through the room and the laughs were often loud so it was hard to tell where exactly they start.

I saw Whose Line is it Anyway live and that was improv for sure which was funny. That improv was like listening to a pod on ½ speed while DPT was like listening on 2x.

The crowd experience was unlike any I've experienced. The closest I can come to describing it is it was a comedic version of Song 2 by Blur when I saw them in concert.

It was like we were in a comedic mosh pit as the lines kept coming at us keeping us spinning in laughter.

Although somehow all of us followed along. I’ve never been legitimately tired out physically and wrung out from laughter.

Cynthia and I bought tix like 2-3 months ago, I’ve known her for almost 20 years. She’s a perfect partner to go to these events. We both laugh uproariously and are genuinely in the moment. It makes it really special to share those moments.

I knew the show would be fabulous and I got more than I ever expected. I’m so glad we said YES!

Grieving Brella, an umbrella for all of us

Brella, this morning you met your untimely end. You served me with distinction and honor. The wind was simply too much for you today.

 

I welcomed Brella into my home as a rescue. I found her on an empty bus left behind by yet another uncaring owner.

 

She was afraid of most people but she jumped right onto my wrist with her sassy little rope from the first moment.

 

Remember that time you protected both Zoe and I from the rain? Remember when I jumped off a high curb with you wide open to feel like I was flying?

 

I do.

 

Brella was more than just an umbrella, she was a member of the family.

 

In a dark regrettable moment, I forgot her once at a Starbuck's in a neighborhood where the mean household income was SLIGHTLY BELOW $150,000! I KNOW how scared she was.

 

Thankfully she was always willing to open up even when we had difficulty like this. And we'd work through it.

 

I wish she were still with us so I could apologize for the number of times I cursed her inability to close properly on the first try.

 

You see those were MY shortfalls. It was ME who was closed off to the beauty of Brella as she opened herself widely and lived her life's purpose.

 

Alas, you left me today Brella.

 

And while I came home soaked from the rain that moisture pales in comparison to the tears I'll shed having lost you....mostly because I'll probably have to buy my next umbrella at retail.

 

Alas, there will never be another Brella in my life.

 

You will be missed my dear friend.

 

In lieu of flowers, please send monetary donations to "Open up to the Love of Umbrellas" a charity devoted to matching lost umbrellas with new, loving homes and funding prosecution of those who leave them behind.

Review: Dave Chappelle: The Closer (Netflix)

REVIEW: Dave Chappelle: The Closer (Netflix)

The length of this reflects a careful consideration of an important piece of comedic art.

I watched the Dave Chapelle comedy special The Closer on Netflix twice. I realize some of this will upset some people I know (if they aren’t already by the fact that I watched it twice).

I’m putting this up because I’m willing to take the arrows. However, I’m only willing to take arrows from any of you that actually watched this show.

I am trans & LGBTQ supportive (although I do eat Chik Fil A, but dayum Popeye’s gives them a run). I endorse nearly every right they are fighting for and the dignity they deserve.

I’m also a novice comic.

I think Dave Chapelle is one of the most brilliant and thoughtful comedians of our generation. He is also (for me) uneven.

Killin’ Them Softly is one of the funniest comedy specials I’ve ever seen. His first Netflix one was ok not great.

I tried his show and never quite got into it (although the black blind old KKK guy is one of the funniest TV skits I’ve ever seen).

I’ve seen him live and he was transcendent. He performed for 3 and a half hours. He was terrific on 8:46 and on David Letterman’s interview show.

Comics are meant to push edges. It’s part of the art.

And in my humble opinion I want the greatest comics of our generation on those edges. FULLY knowing that they will make really big mistakes.

I’m not a fan of pushing edges when the jokes aren’t good, particularly when the subject matter the comic goes into is really touchy for whatever reason.

Put simply I’d rather have Chappelle trying things out that come out as offensive to Jewish people (which I obviously don’t want) than a random well known average comic trying to comment on difficult topics (paging Michael Richards…).

I’ll try not to give away the jokes, but then again if you’ve read this far, it’s probable you watched it.

There were times during this special when the concentric circles met that the jokes were in touchy territory and weren’t funny to me.

It wasn’t frequent but it happened for sure. I wasn’t a fan of the Transylvania or the physical attributes in the audience to signal a trans person.

I didn’t really like the one about the movie about Jewish people either.

He also rolled out some REALLY funny lines that I know offend some people. The metoo, Catholic Priest, LGBTQ and Trans material I know did.

Somehow at times he got me laughing at something that as I’m laughing I almost questioned myself as to why (the perfect one is a joke about him being the leader of the feminist movement with an absolutely cutting tag).

And yet, it is also one of the most thoughtful pieces of comedy that I’ve seen in a REALLY long time. I think he takes what Richard Pryor was trying to do and builds on it.

Dave Chappelle is fearless. He was willing to say just about anything on stage during the set.

He brings in toxic masculinity oddly, an MLK impression with words that are stunning and a text from a black woman writer friend about the women’s march that had me in tears laughing.

And for those of you that don’t nerd out on comedy like I do he is a master at a technique called the “callback”. He brings back parts of his routine later in the show in spectacular fashion.

He is an absolute master at timing and delivery (I think only Ellen is better). He also is fabulous at doing voices and physical comedy (he does a hand clapping while talking that is beyond funny).

It’s nerdy stuff that a novice comic like me is amazed by.

He brought up how feminism is inclusive (by definition) and the exclusionary approach is damaging and somehow weaves in Sojourner Truth (WOW).

He touched on the difference that DaBaby killed a black person in NC and got no heat and his latest awful words got him cancelled.

He brought up the difficulty of being black and hearing other groups get so angry for having been judged for decades. And he weaves in a story about a black South Carolina farmer who was formerly a slave and became a brutal slave owner.

It’s like we’re getting a history lesson and a comedy show all in one. It’s contextual evidence for a dynamic that he still sees today.

More than anything else, he calls out (with a perspective) what is the differences between how we think in a way that tries to build some kind of bridge to talk about it.

It’s NOT easy (he touched on that specifically in the David Letterman piece).

I could hear him in his performance trying to be respectful of using the right words (he mentions how he specifically uses trans not tranny which is hurtful).

The home run was when told a story about a trans woman comedian named Daphne Dorman that I won’t give away except to tell you I heard him tell that story live in San Francisco.

It was almost exactly the same story and when he told it that night you could hear a freaking pin drop.

We were totally transfixed.

That night I was moved. Yesterday when I watched it I was in tears when he talked about her, what she went through as he supported him and what happened to her.

He tried to thread a needle and at times came in hard.

He made it clear that from his perspective a great deal of the issues that create the division and difficulty start from white people who don’t get it or want to get it.

I don’t 100% get his intent at the very end of the show in terms of what his desire is for ensuring everyone is laughing. That’s an impossibility.

By definition some people will be pissed off for what a comic says at times. It’s part of the deal.

I am saddened by how comedy seems to be getting into a smaller and smaller box. We HAVE to learn how to talk about and laugh about important, difficult subjects.

I was texting with a friend about Eddie Murhpy’s Comedian which we all loved at that time. That did NOT age well and it was genius at the time. I wonder how this one will age.

It’s different and I’m willing to engage in dialog on things that push the edges and maybe even see where I have some blind spots.

I came out of this special with a deeper understanding of myself. I also came out with a stronger devotion to those beliefs for every group he addressed and even the ones he offended.

I’m convinced he’s really trying to get us to see something. And I’m not convinced he’s necessarily trying to get us to think what he thinks.

I believe he’s trying to get us to think how he thinks. I believe he's trying to get us to get that we ALL go through things.

That’s not easy, but The Closer takes a really good shot at it.

Niche Super Heroes

I was thinking this morning about slight adjustments to super heroes that I'd like to see movies made about:

No-Wonder Woman:

She's got a keen sense of figuring out things given a set of circumstances and can put it together slightly before everyone else always starting out with "Well No-Wonder....".

Neuro-Plastic Man:

He would be able to shift his and others emotions and feelings about things by changing their brain chemistry. But when he did it, it would only be in the name of being a healthy adult.

Captain South America:

He would attack people with soccer balls kicked from dizzying angles and would ride into situations on giant animals only found in the Galapagos. He also would take his shirt off after foiling the plot.

Paint it Black Widow:

She would come into situations and sing lesser known hits by super groups as a way to solve crimes. She first learned this when she sang the famous Stones song Paint it Black.

Sadly, I've got a ton more (don't get me started on The Flash Drive) that I'm certain most of you (if you've even made it this far) would gently suggest in the comments that I should pick up a few more Shelter in Place hobbies.

Chappelle's Show: The Comedy/Jokes (Installment 3)

Dave Chappelle’s overall comedy skills are the at the apex of comedy and not just because of his mind and writing.  His timing, voice inflection, facial expressions and body movement are unparalleled.  Having been a comic for a while his ability to go “into the crowd” is nearly without peer.  He uses a lot of the core things that many stand up comics do…he just does it….better.

SOOOO, to the content, if you’re one of the ones triggered by content, may be best to just move on from my post.  I found almost all of it funny and on about a dozen occasions I said out loud “I can’t believe he just said that.”

Some of this may be things you’ve heard before, but I never had.

He told stories or jokes about:

A friend who got called the n-word in a strip club in Asia and his friend was wearing an Ascot at the time (laugh OUT LOUD hilarious) (which by the way someone in the audience asked after the story if his friend was black in the story which he absolutely loved)

How he opens his Asian wife’s iPhone11 with facial recognition (yes, you are imagining correctly)

Sarah the midget hooker (his word)

Mo’nique complaining about getting paid by Netflix and her bringing him into it

A story about a white guy coming into a group of his friends all black named Richard and the eventual Dick reference and a “showing contest” with an absolutely hilarious which ended with only one participant, our man Richard who said he wanted to kill himself (he didn’t) which became humor

A KILLER joke about Caitlyn Jenner getting voted woman of the year

A HILARIOUS take on betting on fights where a woman fought a transgendered woman and a man fought a transgendered man in the ring (hint, back the one with more testosterone)

An absolutely mindblowing joke about how pussies could be gay that he wrote while on mushrooms

The difference between millennial and historical gay people (LOTS of glory hole jokes) and unbelievably linked it in a crazy way to slavery (this man is brilliant and courageous….and drunk and high…)

Greta Thunberg in what I thought was a really funny way

He did a few quick things where his DJ played sound effects that were about him taking his penis in and out of his pants and one sound effect of a couple of gay guys realizing some pants they love were on sale (I swear it’s hard to imagine this but they were hilarious, and I may have laughed harder at this than anything else)

Randomly ending up at a trans bar in North Carolina of all places (and of course a few bathroom jokes about NC)

Someone who had transitioned from the waist up and realizing it, way too funny to accurately describe

Even, jokingly, seeing Taylor Swift’s name written in feces in a bathroom and attributing it to one of his white musical friends

He also covered, not quite comedically:

The presidential race and how he supports Andrew Yang and he’s not thrilled about candidates that want to take huge amounts from rich people….kind of an awkward moment for folks holding $125 tickets

How he LOVED Louis CK’s current show (which set a few of the woke folks off near me which made me laugh and convinced me that if he comes to SF I’m going to the show) and that Ali Wong is an SF treasure

Several stories about Nipsey Hussle, I don’t think I really know what he meant to folks

Not getting properly paid for the value of the content he created for the Chapelle show

The one other joke/story he told really summed up my entire experience at the show.

He told a long story about a transgendered woman, who I think was named Paula who had gone after him on social media and lived in SF.  He ended up meeting her in person and asked her to open up for him one night when he was in SF.

Paula had done stand up like 8 times before going in front of a huge crowd similar to the one I was a part of….and….she bombed.

But she was in the audience for the rest of the show and this is the only joke/story he told that I’ll actually share as close to what he said because it was brilliant. 

Somebody in the audience at that show that she performed in back then yelled out to Paula (who had blond hair) “Does the carpet match the drapes?”.

Chappelle drew us in to the moment.  He is an absolute genius of engaging us into the moment he said:

“Without missing a beat…..she said…..”I’ve got hardwood floors”” 

The entire crowd went bananas laughing. 

He then told us that shortly thereafter, Paula killed herself. He didn’t go into why but he did tell us that he has put some of his money aside to take care of her son.

You may choose to believe that this is him propping himself up.  It’s him trying to make himself feel better.  That’s fine and I can even see that point of view. I know he’s got a checkered past with transgendered people, but honestly how many of us really, truly understand it?  (And I have a number of transgender friends)

I’d never heard the story before so I don’t see it as being publicized.

What I chose to take away from it is this is a man who legitimately lives on a different side of the street as Paula did.  But even when he makes fun of her he genuinely cared about her.  And when the call was there for him to help in some way to this person that impacted him in some way he answered.

That’s the Dave Chappelle that I saw that night and it will be hard to convince me of anything else.  Thank God I got to experience in such a clear open hearted way.

Chappelle Show: The experience (Installment 2)

Yesterday I wrote about how I ended up at the Dave Chappelle performance in San Francisco. The show lasted 3 ½ hours and I took a bunch of notes down and decided to share it.

I wanted to share something I’ve been reflecting on since I saw him. And after I wrote all this out I realized it’s kinda long, so I’ve written all about the bits he did in the show but I’m going to share that tomorrow.

The 3 ½ hour show included a ton of him talking to the audience and us shouting out questions/responses. It dawned on me that there are at least two possibilities (both of which could be wrong and both are meaningful to me).

First, I wonder if he was actually “writing” what will ultimately be a final show that he’ll perform and put on Netflix or something like that. He’s deep, thoughtful and extremely quick on his feet, even when drunk and high. And it was like he was creating and testing premises that he’d either thought of before or that night.

One example was he asked the crowd if there were any black gay men in the audience. There was one.

He asked him an earnest and quite funny question:

“Which one of the two, black or gay, makes you more angry that you are?”

I legitimately believe that he cared about the topic AND it’s really funny with a well developed comedy bit around it. He went back to that guy about 6 or 7 times during the time he performed. I don’t know if he thought of that premise before he got up there or not but it was magical watching him work with it.

He made it really clear he’s not gay and he deeply wanted to actually understand this man’s experience.

And if at some level he wanted to “write” some of his work he picked a great city to do it. The Bay Area is a great place to get all kinds of relevant topics “tested” with the people who live here.

Things like:

Being way too “woke” and comparatively easily triggered folks (CRAZY to hear some of the people getting “offended” at his show that night….)

Ridiculous wealth in SF with LOTS of misery and LOTS of folks who can’t afford it living elsewhere

Tons of perspective around issues like homosexual and transgender folks

Heck even early adopter technology folks and Asian influence came into play

I could name a number of others and from my perspective it makes sense, we’re a good test market for a lot of what he does and oddly, good writing partners too because a lot of folks here are creative.

The second thing I thought about with his 3 ½ hour set is maybe some part of him just honestly wants to figure things out. Somehow make sense of what is often madness, mock it at times and truly try to get it at other times.

There was a moment in his set where he got quiet and just said something to the effect, I just feel weird or I’m weird.

For any of you that read my Mr Robot review that hit me right in the heart.

After seeing him do his thing I’m convinced he has a set of extraordinary God given skills that can be expressed comedically.

And those same skills also create this darkness that make it hard at times to see and really understand.

And for those of you that really know me beyond my social media presence which is pretty darn open given what people tell me, you won’t be surprised that all of this resonates VERY deeply in me.

A friend yesterday reminded me of when I saw Robin Williams live in a small venue. He was so frenetic and could react to whatever was said to him on stage.

And while he was at the same level of Chapelle, he never really took a deep breath and just seemed to ask “Why?”.

At the very end of the evening he intentionally said a few things that I can’t remember the exact words but I do remember the message. It was about treating each other with kindness and genuinely try to understand each other.

And even when he’s pitching fire humorously about stuff that taken in the wrong lens I’m more confident than ever that he while he doesn’t care a ton about what people think about his takes, he cares deeply about how we treat each other.

That’s inspiring and in some basic way that’s exactly what comedy at the highest level is meant to do.

Tom Hanks & Dave Eggers @ SF City Arts

Reflections on Tom Hanks interviewed by Dave Eggers last night (who was an incredible interviewer, weird Tom Hanks pic in that link btw) in no particular order:

Tom Hanks had a mix and match upbringing in the Bay Area that included his “original parents” as he said getting divorced.  He said he was kind of big deal because his parents got divorced at a time when only people named Zsa Zsa got divorced.

At some point during his youth, he realized that acting was not just something to goof off and have fun with but something to be studied.  He talked about a class where they read a play, went to see it and wrote a paper on it and that was part of the transformation.

He said he thought one movie could be done over and over:  That Thing You Do!  He also talked about the inspiration being a song called Little Honda by the Hondells and how they got sick of singing that hit song.  He kind of wanted the movie viewers to get tired of the song “That Thing You Do” in the movie. 

My truth is I wish he would have played the full song every time because the camera work each time they did it and the setting of the story was different each time.  I also binge listened to that song with my daughter when she was like 10 and we loved it.

He talked about how he writes pages and pages of backstory for characters when he does movie that go beyond the script.  I didn’t even know actors did that.  The idea is to create a past story for the context of the current character’s motivation.

This is probably really basic for most, but I didn’t know that each scene in a movie has a purpose:  to move the story forward.  He talked about how one director told him they need to find the “Red Dot” in the scene.  (I couldn’t help but think of the Seinfeld Sweater episode or a few of my married Hindu friends)

He has a book of short stories and so many of them are founded either in history or in the lived experience of both discovering our tiny part of the universe and the related gigantic reality of our lives in that context.  I really appreciated how he shared that he doesn’t feel drawn to the classic protagonist/hero narrative. 

He told the story about how his Father In Law came to America which was a compelling 2 hour chat.  When he mentioned how incredible the story was to his wife, his wife said basically I’ve never heard the story, what was it?  It’s funny how we have people in our lives where there is tons of back story that we may not even be aware of.

He did a great physical imitation of writers who are confused and uncertain.  About that time, he also touched on how a writer thinks a story will go one way but upon writing it, the story follows tributaries to the river down all kinds of other paths.

This is not an exact quote, but he sort of said “Hubris and celebrity are not qualifiers for leadership” or something like that as he reflected on politics.  Not long after that he responded that he would not run for President.  He said that the level of commitment and ideological certainty at a minimum don’t fit.

One of the best stories was when he shared about the scene in John Adams where Adams was the lawyer for the British Soldiers who shot into the mob.  It was a substantial reframe of a historical event for him.  It is a totally compelling scene from a series I’ve watched twice from beginning to end.

He brought up how when he watched movies he assumed everything was totally accurate.  (he told a really funny side story about how he talks to people he portrays in movies saying he’ll do things they’ve never done, go places they’ve never been and his single desire is to play them truthfully!)  He feels a responsibility to be as close to accurate as possible because he understands kids sometimes watch it.

One funny quote:  “Politics is Hollywood for ugly people”

The quality he thinks is most important in work of almost any kind and I’m guessing life is perseverance.  He talked about when the phone is not ringing with opportunities you have to keep fighting for your dream.  I know it seems like a throwaway quote, but for some reason it felt real for him.  He seems like a really hard worker.

He talked about the abuses of power in the industry and not surprisingly strongly called it out as wrong.  He also asked the women in the audience to basically clap if they’ve been harassed or assaulted in the work place and it seemed like 80-90% of the women clapped.

Finally, three reflections on how he talked. 

First, I’ve seen other actors/actresses talk and they tend to talk about acting at a level that is just not relatable.  He takes on the same topics but does it understandably.  It made it totally engaging.

Second, dude swears like a sailor at times.  He dropped f-bombs like he was auditioning for a Scorsese mob flick.

Third, he’s funny, like really funny.  I don’t know why but I was surprised he was that funny.

My trip to Qatar

I just got back from what I call a peak life experience in Doha, Qatar working with the Qatar Science and Technology Park Research to Startup program.  We brought an incredible group of entrepreneurs to work with equally incredible researchers of the Qatar Computer Research Institute. I was so blessed to be asked to be a part of it by my very close friend Chris Yeh.

Qatari leadership is visionary in that they realize they need to look beyond the oil and gas economy.  It’s a fascinating study in the intersection of business and humanity.  There is a lot culturally to break through to really shift to an entrepreneurial mindset for the investors and entrepreneurs to thrive but the vision and energy is there.

It was really invigorating to be a present part of a 20-30 year vision.  So much of what I’m surrounded with in business has a less than 5 year horizon.  That longer term vision gives importance and space for achieving lasting and meaningful impact.

It was so rewarding to see the researchers light up as they saw the possibilities roll out of how their years of work, their babies essentially, could be taken to market successfully by entrepreneurs who care.  I was totally blessed to bring my piece of the puzzle in helping them with their presentations.

The long term vision is to help shift the researchers into a commercialization oriented entrepreneurial mindset ala Silicon Valley.

It will be fascinating to see what comes of it.  More to come.

And, here are a few quite random reflections from my trip to Doha, Qatar:

There is construction EVERYWHERE.  So much so that they are actually running out of SAND!  So they are fighting against illegal importation of sand….in the desert.  They are building world class facilities and have a TON of capacity to fill.

I met the ONLY couple in the world that is a marriage between a Qatari and Norwegian and they were delightful.  In certain cases, there is an approval process for Qatari citizens to marry different nationalities.

I had a heartwarming experience when a totally likeable and brilliant engineer/researcher pulled me aside at an event and told me that I had given him the incredible gift of teaching him “how to laugh”.  My rather big and full laughter is unusual and he loved to laugh along with me and others as we joked around.

I LOVED the times when there was singing over the loudspeaker to remind those who observe it to pray.  I honestly wish that we could somehow do something like that here that would be free of denomination or even belief in God (plenty of my atheist friends meditate).  A reminder a few times a day for all of us to pause and reflect in some way would have a substantial beneficial impact. 

There is a GIANT yellow bear at the airport.  I found out it cost almost $7 Million.  That’s one expensive relative of Winnie the Pooh.  I only pray that they don’t open a honey store in the airport.

Their salt shakers are much better than ours because yield per shake is much higher (or put less business-y their salt comes out of the shakers faster with more of it each time I shook it).

They use Kleenex as napkins.  It took some getting used to but ultimately it’s good because it’s more eco-friendly as I didn’t find myself using more of them.  Oddly, for whatever reason I became more careful about how I ate so as to minimize my use of them.

Not surprisingly, without a shared pop cultural reference point my blue ribbon comedic material at times is met with confusing looks and crickets rather than laughter.

It’s hot.  Like REALLY hot.  I would go for a walk at 5:30 am and it felt perfect, by 6:30 am my walk ended luckily because it was already steaming hot.  One upside is the AC in all the buildings I went to was phenomenal!

I’m not particularly surprised by this but was comfortably reassured.  Parents there love their young daughters as much as I did/do, that made me really happy.

I played hoops with an international key and three point line on a wider court.  And oh my GAWD it was a lot harder to do.  Shots that normally drop were falling well, well short.  (Oh and as a bonus the court was blue so I kinda felt like I was playing football at Boise State.)

Finally, I was reminded again how to be awake and aware to visitors to the USA as I walk around throughout my day.  San Francisco in particular brings a confluence of all types of different cultures and perspectives.  I was treated wonderfully while I was there.

It reminded me to be a little more patient, tolerant and kind and that my friend is, indeed, what is all about.

Spiritual Wackiness

I was sitting on the bus listening to an audiobook about how to live in the present moment this morning. A guy got in, who I’ve seen before. He wears a fedora hat and fingerless gloves (judgment already arising…) and seems to act fairly brusquely (judgment arisen) when he rides the bus.

The bus is pretty packed and he has to stand…next to me and he turns and whacks me with his bag (ok he actually probably BARELY brushed me…)

I spend 2 seconds in a self-righteous fueled anger story about how he’s a jerk, he doesn’t care what he’s doing, confirming my story about him, etc. as I am still listening to how to be “in the moment”.

He turned around to me and gave me a gigantic smile and apologized, completely disarming me.

The person sitting next to me got up and fedora hat, no finger glove guy sat next to me.

I tapped him on the shoulder and told him the story of what I was thinking and the impact his smile and apology had. We had a big laugh about it and told me he works on exactly these kinds of issues personally and professionally.

He told me that like me, he struggles with this. We figured out in short order that on so many levels we were the same.

I put my headphones back on and after a minute took them off and put out my hand and said:

“My name is Tim, what’s yours?”

He said, “My name is Tim”.

The life of Tim

I live an unusual life.  Or maybe it's usual and I just notice the unusual.  Here are two examples:

From the YMCA:  I was about to leave the gym after wailing on my pecs and lats and a friend who is like 6' 5" giant of a man came walking by. I pulled off my headphones to chat with him.

After about 45 seconds I realized I left my music on loud enough that he could hear the song playing...Mmm Bop by Hanson. Shortly thereafter, a look shot across his face, lasting for about 2 seconds.

It was that uncomfortable realization that he knew what was playing on my headphones but neither of us were spiritually advanced enough to address the truth. After a few discombobulated moments, I did one of those awkward put my fist out to get pounds and he put his open palm up for a high five.

I palmed his fist and we both exited the conversation with a sure to be unspoken secret that he knows I listen to Hanson while working out and I know he knows.

From the Bus:  I sat next to someone on the bus who took up about a seat and a half. I didn't realize it until I sat down.

The net result was I was side riding with one butt cheek gripping to the seat for dear life. The net result: The seated butt cheek started to cramp and the unseated butt cheek fell asleep.

However...I was too co-dependent to get up because I didn't want to make the person next to me feel bad (there were other seats open).

So, in the interest of not hurting someone's feelings I got off the bus and for five minutes walked around like a combination of JJ from Good Times and John Cleese from the Ministry of Silly Walks.

Thank you God for giving me the life I've got.  #timlife