Kevin Smith @ LaGuardia: A Celebrity Sighting and a Thought

On Friday morning I was at LaGuardia airport, waiting outside for my traveling companion to arrive (turned out I was at the wrong terminal, but that's another story) when a big black SUV pulled up and out popped a man in a hockey jersey. 

The driver came out, helped the man in the hockey jersey take his bags out of the trunk, and then the man in the hockey jersey gave the driver a hefty tip, a "bro" handshake, said "Thanks Man", and ambled into the terminal. As I was waiting there, noticing this, I thought, "Is that Kevin Smith, the famous director, who made Clerks and Chasing Amy, two of my favorite movies ever?" 

Turned out it was: besides his recognizable voice and beard, his hockey jersey said "SMITH" on the back so I safely determined that it was the great man himself. 

I was impressed. Here was a big celebrity being kind and respectful to a humble driver when he didn't think or know that anyone else was looking. I've noticed people a lot less successful than Kevin Smith treat such workers like dirt but there was Kevin Smith being a decent guy just because ... well, that's who he is.

As you probably know, there's a huge storm swirling right now about Harvey Weinstein, the movie mogul, who was responsible for producing lots of great movies and boosting many careers (turns out Mr. Weinstein isn't such a kind, decent guy). One of those careers he boosted was Kevin Smith's who has express grief at the situation. But I don't believe in guilt by association, people should be judged by their actions alone, and the kind, decent behavior I saw from Mr. Smith, in my opinion, speaks for itself. 

In this age of "Grab 'em" Trump and "toxic masculinity", there's an understandable, cynical urge to look at all famous and powerful men as potential monsters. Many of them doubtless are. So that's why it was so great to see a famous, powerful guy act like a mensch and decent human being -- and it gave me a sliver of hope for humanity.  

Btw, Kevin Smith has a great Twitter which you might enjoy. 

Remembering "Idiot's Delight"

I was obsessed with radio as a teenager -- my childhood dream was to become a hotshot DJ/personality who was as funny and wild as Howard Stern, as thoughtful and smart as an NPR host, and as souful as Allison Steele. Oh, and I wanted to play music -- lots of different kinds of music, from the Beastie Boys to Led Zepplin to James Taylor to King Missile to Mozart to Bing Crosby, whatever I thought was good or funky at the time.

Basically I wanted to be a free form radio host.

I tried my hand at it in college -- I had a short-lived free form radio show that was on at 6 AM every Tuesday. No one listened to it and, after one semester, I didn't have any more time for it (although I still have tapes -- yes, cassette tapes, remember those? -- of my old shows).

But it made me appreciate just how hard it is to do a good, entertaining radio program, free form or no. Sitting behind that microphone, talking into the ether, trying to entertain everyone and no one, might seem really easy but it's not. It's hard, brutal work, it demands everything of your brains and emotions. And knowing what kind of music to play takes some skill -- fortunately I had a friend who gave me all sorts of weird music (like Shonan Knife!) that gave my show some hipster cred. Otherwise, I was an awful DJ, a blithering, unfunny mess. It was an acid test of my total lack of natural performative talent. In part, that's why I started this blog -- it allowed me to do something creatively free form that more suited by meagre skills. 

Free form radio barely exists anymore, if it ever really did. College and non-profit radio are the only places it ever really thrived. Even 25 years ago it was a strange offbeat thing. In these days of consolidated corporate ownership and public radio mega-organizations, the idea of free form radio is more unthinkable than ever. It doesn't really exist at all.

But there used to be one huge, great exception.

For roughly forty years a guy named Vin Scelsa hosted the ultimate free form radio show in NYC -- "Idiot's Delight." This show bounced around the NYC airwaves for decades, starting at non-commercial WFMU, migrating to commercial radio at WNEW and K-ROCK, then to its natural habitat on college radio at WFUV where it ended its long run in 2015. It was the ultimate free form show -- a quiet, well-spoken, very informed guy, Vin would play lots of different kinds of music and interview singers, musicians, filmmakers, writers, cultural leaders of all stripes. The show was never about Vin -- in fact, he was very unassuming. Instead, his focus was always on the music or his guests, and that made it wonderfully rich.

I started listening to "Idiot's Delight" on K-ROCK back in high school. I remember it was through this show that I first discovered the filmmaker Kevin Smith who was promoting his first ever movie, Clerks (I didn't understand why "37" was so funny until I saw the movie!). I remember it being such a great, relaxed, extremely interesting conversation -- the kind you hear on every podcast today but was unusual to hear on the radio, or anywhere, back in 1994. In fact, the show was basically the forerunner to podcasts with long form, intelligent, in-depth interviews. 

Vin was a great host and always featured interesting guests and topics -- and he had the time to do it. On K-ROCK, the show was on Sunday nights from 8 PM until 2 AM so he had lots of time. This show was a miracle and it's unbelievable that it was ever on commercial radio -- then or now. I miss it to this day. 

I never understood, but always loved, Vin's intro to the show. He would state, simply, at the start of every show:

Respect the elders.
Embrace the new.
Encourage the impracticable and improbable.
Without bias.
This ... is "Idiot's Delight."

P.S. I actually tried to interview Vin for this blog but he never answered my emails. Maybe, if he sees this post, he'll change his mind.

Interview: Billy Procida of the The Manwhore Podcast

Sex! Love! Comedy! You'll find all that, and much more, on The Manwhore Podcast with Billy Procida!

More to the point, you'll find an intelligent yet sexy untangling of the complicated emotions, pitfalls, and opportunities of being a sexual creature in 21st century NYC and America. I've never heard anything quite like Manwhore: on the one hand, it's very titillating (i.e. lots of sex talk) but the podcast is also about the emotional and societal complications of sex and dating in a time of social media, #MeToo, and social/economic/political insanity. Billy and his guests obviously love to talk about sex but the show isn't really "pervy" -- it's more existential, asking "who are we as human beings and what does our sex lives tell us about ourselves in this crazy time?"

Billy is an NYC-based comedian and was kind enough to answer a few questions for Mr NYC about his comedy, his life, his podcast, and NYC.

Tell us a little bit about your background and career in comedy. Who are some of your comedy idols and influences? 

I grew up listening to George Carlin and Chris Rock. I stumbled up on Carlin simply by searching 'comedy' on Napster. Whatever files weren't broken became my comedy library. Being as prolific as he was, there were many albums I became acquainted with. With Rock, I thought he was hilarious in Dogma and then discovered his stand-up. I think I had Bigger and Blacker memorized when I was 13. Today, I find myself falling asleep listening to Doug Standhope—which probably explains all the nightmares.

What inspired the creation of the Manwhore podcast? What in your life and career made you decide to do this?

I had this very peculiar problem: women would sleep with me, but they wouldn't date me. So I wanted to find out why. Because I wanted relationships; I wanted love; but anytime I wanted to get more serious, it was always the woman who told me she wanted to keep it casual. This rarely ended things—I was still told to come over and do that thing that I do with my tongue. When it happened for the umpteenth time, I decided to start this podcast where I reconnect with former flames and find out what went wrong. 

Your podcast, while obviously being about sex, seems to also be focused on how sex and fun should be enjoyable without being exploitative or demeaning to anybody. Do you consider yourself and the podcast "woke" or just smart? 

I'm just a comedian with a fuck show. But a lot of people have described me with a variety of adjectives from woke to feminist to problematic. 

You and your guests have done some pretty wild things on your podcast. What's the craziest interview or thing your and guests did? Don't spare us the details!

I had a listener 'blow her way to Brooklyn.' A woman slid into my DMs on Instagram earlier this year. She lived in a nearby city and really wanted to hook up with me. It was late one night and I suggested she find a friend to give her a ride to New York City and how she could "thank" him. Then I thought...what if she 'thanked' a series of drivers all the way to Brooklyn just to hook up with me? Fueled by an overinflated ego, feeling flattered, I pitched her this scene where I would coordinate several rides to driver her different legs of her journey. She was to give a blowjob on each leg to show her thanks. Then she'd get to my door and 'get' to blow me (I personally don't think I'm much of a prize, but hey, whatever gets you going). So we documented it through her solo recordings in-between each driver up until she was standing outside my bedroom door talking about the anticipation of meeting me. We had a super fun night together and the next day recorded a surprisingly intimate and raw episode. Having a hot chick suck some dicks just to suck mine might be the craziest thing I've done on the podcast. 

That's pretty wild! Who are some of your dream podcasts guests that you haven't interviewed yet?

Dan Savage. Charlotte Clymer. Janet Mock. Laci Green. Kevin Smith. Louis C.K. Barack Obama. 

What's been the biggest surprise or thing you've learned -- about life, relationships (and, obviously) sex -- in doing the podcast?

I've learned to listen better—which is difficult when your job is seemingly to talk. But my job is in fact to listen, because this show is nothing without the women from my life. The more I listen, the more they talk. The more they talk, the better the episode. At least in my opinion. The same holds true in dating (and sex). 

How do you think the Trump presidency and ugly political environment has affected sex and relationships? 

Oh god, don't get me started. My sex and my relationships don't really change—I'm a cis straight white guy. I'll be fine. But the lives and relationships of many of my friends and colleagues might change, if they haven't already. I don't want to speak to those changes, because I don't really experience them and others can speak on it better, but it's no surprise that the Trump Administration—as well as the Republican Party, since it's in their 2016 party platform—is anti-queer. If you're a Republican who is openly for LGBT rights, you're a deviation of the party, since the GOP put it in their literal party platform. Explicitly. Trump tweeted a trans military ban. His vice president has attacked queers when he was the Governor of Indiana. Trump even put money back into abstinence only education (even though it's been proven time and again that it does not work). A lot of 'sex-positive' people want to say that they support LGBT people and are sex-positive and all that jazz...but vote Republican (or, ugh, third party). If you were able to and didn't vote in this most recent midterm election—and didn't vote Democrat—I'm willing to say that you are not sex-positive. Full stop. 

What are your thoughts about #MeToo? 

Dude, you gotta tighten this question. I think it's great that women are stepping forward with their stories. I'm glad that it's raised the topic of consent into many people's consciousness, enough that we might try to teach kids comprehensive sex education so they can learn about consent at younger ages. 

What are your hopes of the Manwhore podcast moving forward? 

I'm super excited for ManwhoreCon 2019. We just wrapped up my second annual fanwhore weekend in August, but I'm already so stoked to do it again! Fans are already talking about it in our secret Patreon-only communities. I also want to do more live shows in other cities next year and, of course, some fun episodes. I'm thinking The Pepsi Challenge of Cocksucking. 

Finally, tell us about your life in NYC and what you love about the city. And tell us anything else you'd like us to know! 

I love New York City. I've lived here 11 years and I always feel the magic—even when I spend 95% of the day inside. It's both a historical city and a modern city at the same time—and you can feel that all the time. I feel connected to hundreds of years of stories when walking down a street I know used to house the city's largest orphanage, or sitting in McSorley's Old Ale House, an institution that's had its doors open since Lincoln. My favorite book on New York, Lowlife by Luc Sante, describes this city in the most beautiful way I've ever seen. And I quote it often. "The firmament that is New York is greater than the sum of its constitutent parts. It is a city and it is also a creature, a mentality, a disease, a threat, an electromagnet, a cheap stage set, an accident corride. It is an implausible character, a monstrous vortex of contradictions, an attraction-repulsion mechanism so extreme no one could have made it up." 

Great quote! Thanks Billy! You can find Billy on Twitter @TheBillyProcida and download The Manwhore Podcast on ITunes.