Freshly brewed: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

Eddie Murphy and Jerry Seinfeld share a good laugh
in a 2004 Porsche Carrera GT

Freshly brewed episodes of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s talk show that combines good laughs, great coffee and colorful vintage cars into a series of quirky but likable “caffeine-fueled adventures” with the sharpest minds in comedy, rolled out last week on Netflix.

The latest batch of 12 episodes of  Comedians ... features 11 comedians, 11 different cars, endless pots of coffee – especially prominently-featured Lavaazza Italian espresso – and lots of laughs. Among the featured guests this season are: Ricky Gervais (in back-to-back episodes), Eddie Murphy, Seth Rogen, Matthew Broderick, SNL’s Melissa Villaseñor and Martin Short. As for the cars, let’s see, they include: a 2004 Porsche Carrera GT, a 1976 Dodge Monaco, a 1969 Maserati Mistral and a 2018 Lamborghini Huracán Performante.

Each episode is touching in its own way, and thanks to Seinfeld – still curious at age 65 – the art of conversation remains alive and well. Seinfeld is one of the best when it comes to the art of observational humor, whether talking about personal relationships or the nuances of uncomfortable social obligations. It’s what we loved about the New York native in Seinfeld, which spanned 180 episodes over nine seasons from 1989-98 on NBC. The series remains a fixture in reruns across the country.

Now, having successfully transitioned from broadcast TV to an internet series, Seinfeld has taken an offbeat approach that shows another side of the comedy world. It’s something the comedian feels talk shows and interviews can’t or don’t let you see. The web-based comedy series he created, directs and stars in debuted in 2012 and is shot using DSLR and interior-mounted Go-Pro cameras.

“It’s a show about trust,” said former Daily Show host Jon Stewart.

Nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series or Special, in Comedians ... Seinfeld connects with those whom he admires the most and the show shines in its ability to go inside the minds of some of the word’s funniest people. A who’s who of contemporary A-list comedians, including Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman and Amy Schumer as well as iconic ones Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Don Rickles and Jerry Lewis, have been coffee companions of Seinfeld’s. So have present and past late night TV hosts Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, David Letterman and Jay Leno. Seinfeld co-stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards have also made appearances.

Each 12-to-20-minute episode of Comedians ... follows a premise of Seinfeld introducing a vintage car such as a 1983 Mercedes Benz station wagon or a 1991 Nissan Figaro, then picking up his guest comedian in that vintage car, driving around and sharing conversation, and, finally, stopping for coffee and more conversation. Seinfeld films most episodes in New York and Los Angeles, but has also ventured to New Jersey and Massassuchetts – even Portland, Ore.

In this season’s episode with Broderick, for instance, the two drive around the actor’s childhood Manhattan neighborhood, reminisce about their mutual love for Mel Brooks and share laughs about Brook’s original film version of The Producers. (Broderick co-starred as Leo Bloom in the Broadway musical adaptation as well as a 2005 remake of the film.) They also live out a baseball fantasy of being New York Mets ball players at Citi Field. The camera captures them walking into the clubhouse to don their Mets jerseys, then follows them out on the diamond hitting and fielding. Finally, we see the two sitting in box seats eating hot dogs while discussing Broderick’s 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which prominently includes the central character driving around Chicago in a sporty fire engine-red Ferrari and spending an afternoon in the bleacher seats at Chicago’s Wrigley Field cheering for the Cubs.

Meanwhile, when Seinfeld meets up with Short in L.A., not only do we get to re-live some of the best of Jiminy Glick, Short’s fictional Comedy Central talk show host character, but the former SNL and SCTV star also shares how appearing in a Canadian production of Godspell helped launch his comedy career and those of Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy and Paul Shaffer.

Whether meaningful or meandering, silly or deep, the unscripted conversations between Seinfeld and his Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee companions are hardly a show about nothing.

Cover photo: Courtesy of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee website. Video: Courtesy of YouTube.

Minnesota folksy appeal: A Prairie Home Companion, 2.0

New APHC host Chris Thile (left) and Nashville-man-about-town
Jack White share a music jam. 

The brilliant musician Chris Thile, tapped as the new host of public radio's "A Prairie Home Companion," made his debut last weekend. As the successor to creator Garrison Keillor, it will be Thile's task to maintain the radio show's Minnesota-folksy appeal while also drawing a younger audience.

Over the course of his first two-hour APHC, Thile gave props to all things Minnesotan in praising many of its sports teams – the Vikings, the Lynx, even the losing Twins – and also praised Prince and Bob Dylan, apple cider and autumn leaves.

During a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Thile (pronounced Thee-lee) admitted that with the upcoming presidential election that's less than three weeks away, everyone needs a means for escaping the rancor and madness that's been brought on by Donald Trump. "People out there need a break, man," he said. "Our fall has been hijacked by a presidential election. It's a very important election, and I will certainly be addressing that on the show, but hopefully I can provide people with a little bit of relief, too. Music and laughter: those are top-shelf forms of relief, I say."

During his debut show, Thile wasted little time taking jabs and poking fun at both major-party candidates, Trump and Hillary Clinton, while admitting that he, too, had once used an unsecured e-mail account and had not paid income taxes for 18 consecutive years – "after that I graduated high school."

The 36-year-old Thile, a Grammy Award-winning mandolin virtuoso, singer and songwriter who cut his chops in bluegrass music with the progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek and the acoustic folk/progressive bluegrass quintet Punch Brothers, has the unenviable task of replacing the legendary and literate Keillor.

Mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile, shown at the 2015
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco.
He wants to preserve the appeal of APHC, but
also "really blow the doors off on the musical front."

Thile made his first appearance on "A Prairie Home Companion" in 1996, at age 15, and he's been back numerous times – as a solo artist, with Nickel Creek, and with Punch Brothers. Twice in 2015 and on two occasions earlier this year, Thile was the show's guest host.

While the 2012 MacArthur Fellow not only wants to preserve the appeal of "A Prairie Home Companion," which made its public radio debut in 1974, Thile also has been charged with revising its structure and broadening its reach to a younger demographic (the average listener of APHC is 59 years-old). If his first show is any indicator, there will be less talk and more music.

Admitting that he wants to "really blow the doors off on the musical front," the music guests for the first weekend included "Nashville-man-about-town" Jack White, whom the New York Times Magazine once called "the coolest, weirdest, savviest rock star of our time," and Brooklyn-based hip jazz-soul vocal combo Lake Street Dive.

As for Thile's own music tastes, they range from Bach to Bill Monroe to hip-hop. So, anything seems possible and it's likely that Thile will welcome folksingers, jazz musicians, soul revivalists, roots-rockers and bluegrass bands. This week's guests include folk-based singer/songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, evocative American singer/songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, and comedian John Hodgman, formerly of Comedy Central's The Daily Show.

"I want the show to be a home for the breadth of the good music being made in the world," Thile told Rolling Stone. "My musical output has been consistently acoustic, but my taste has not. I love everything. As long as it's good, I'm in."

While A Prairie Home Companion is a very well-known and established public radio brand whose name is easily recognized – both in Minnesota and beyond – indeed, Thile has big shoes to fill. Yet, I like his youthful energy and enthusiasm – it's different than Keillor's – not to mention he's a better singer. I think given a chance, he'll do just fine – especially in expanding the depth of the musical offerings. If Thile brings in a younger audience as it is hoped he will, that's a plus that I'm sure will please everyone.

Note: A Prairie Home Companion is broadcast live from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, produced by American Public Media, and airs via National Public Radio (NPR) on Saturdays from 5-7 p.m. Central Time (10 p.m. GMT) – and at various other times – and selected shows are streamed live at www.prairiehome.org. APHC is available to listen via podcast, too.

Cover photo: Courtesy of twincities.com, Google Images.
Photo of Chris Thile at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass by Michael Dickens, © 2015.

Yes, folks, fairytales do come true at the U.S. Open

Flavia Pennetta / Unlikely but refreshing rise to the top; going out a champion.

Yes, folks, fairytales do come true -- even in tennis.

One need only look at Flavia Pennetta's unlikely rise to the top in winning the 2015 U.S. Open women's singles championship last Saturday over her long-time friend and former childhood doubles partner, Roberta Vinci. It was a refreshing conclusion to what had been a tense and anxious two weeks of hard-court tennis that included Serena Williams' dream of winning all four Grand Slams (Australian, French, Wimbledon, U.S. Open) during the same calendar year crushed only 24 hours earlier by Vinci in an improbable three-set defeat. It came after Pennetta upset No. 2 seed Simona Halep in the other semifinal.

When the 23rd-seeded Penneta beat the unseeded Vinci 7-6 (4), 6-2 on Arthur Ashe Stadium in the first All-Italian U.S. Open, she became a first-time Grand Slam champion. It broke a string of four straight Grand Slams won by Williams. The Pennetta-Vinci match was a throwback to what tennis once was circa the 1970s: lots of serve and volley, one-handed backhands, drop volleys, angled shots and, best of all, no grunting.

Joy and jubilitation /
Pennetta (right) is embraced by Vinci at the net.

As one might imagine, the scene at the net with Pannetta and Vinci turned into a celebration of unadulterated joy and jubilation. It showed on their faces. It showed in their body language, too, which included a long and embracing hug.

There were plenty of tears to go around for everyone to share.

Pennetta's triumph at the U.S. Open was witnessed by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who flew across the Atlantic from Italy on short notice just to watch the final. He brought along Pennetta's fiancé, Fabio Fognini, himself a tennis pro, who earlier in the tournament banished Rafael Nadal in the third round before bowing in the next round. He had flown home to prepare for Italy's Davis Cup tie this weekend.

Roberta Vinci (left) and Flavia Pennetta /
Happy together during the trophy presentation.

During the post-match awards presentation on the court, the 26th-ranked Pennetta (she rose to No. 8 with her U.S. Open triumph) shared a confession with the sell-out crowd.

"Before I started this tournament, like one month ago, I made a big decision in my life," she said. "This is the way I would like to say goodbye to tennis."

Pennetta, who at the tennis-old age of 33 years and 201 days, shockingly announced her retirement from tennis. She revealed her news to Vinci just prior to the trophy presentation while the two were seated on chairs together at court side sharing a moment of laughter.

Pennetta will finish her off her tennis commitments by playing in a few tournaments in Europe and Asia this fall, then call it a career year's end.

"I'm really happy," she admitted. "It's what all players think to want to do, going out with this kind of big trophy. ... I can't think to finish a better way."

So, just what does Pennetta plan to do with her life after tennis?

"I would like to have a family in the future," she said, during a post-match press conference, "but it's not something I would love to have right now." First is "to know who I am," away from tennis, "what I like to do" and "how is the life with Fabio going to be."

Photos: Courtesy of Google Images. Video: Courtesy of YouTube.

Laughing out loud: Remembering Tom Magliozzi

Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers / For 25 years, brothers
Ray and Tom Magliozzi hosted NPR's Car Talk together.

During a 1999 commencement speech to the graduates of M.I.T., Ray Magliozzi, the longtime co-host of NPR's Car Talk with his older brother Tom, shared this bit of wisdom and advice: "I just want to encourage you to never get so involved in your work, whatever it is, that you forget to have fun."

What great advice that each of us should heed, no matter our age. Simply, have fun.

At the same M.I.T. commencement, Tom Magliozzi shared his research that he claimed provided evidence that “being unencumbered by the thought process” leads to greater happiness.

Each week for 25 years, through some 1,200 hour-long episodes each beginning with mandolinist David Grisman's bluegrassy theme song, "Dawggy Mountain Breakdown," Tom and Ray Magliozzi (pronounced mal-YOT-zee) shared not only their happiness, but also a lovable crankiness, plenty of good self-deprecating humor and a whole lot of uncontrollable laughter with their nationwide NPR (National Public Radio) audience that numbered in the millions here in the United States.

Come Saturday morning, we turned on our radios religiously and were treated to a good soul cleansing. 

While the premise of their radio show, Car Talk, was about cars and mechanical repairs, the warmth and humor exuded by Tom and Ray -- not to mention their expert advice about the importance of cars and an appreciation of life -- was timeless and enduring. 

"Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers" as the personable Magliozzi brothers were nicknamed, became like family to us and we trusted them and they welcomed us into their "home" via the radio each week for an enjoyable hour of banter and good jokes. From it all came a lot of memorable one-liners like their signature "Don't drive like my brother," spoken by each at the end of each Car Talk show in a distinguishable Boston accent. The affectionate Magliozzi brothers grew up in a large Italian family in East Cambridge, Mass., and both graduated from M.I.T.

Tom Magliozzi / Enjoying a
good laugh.

On November 3, Tom Magliozzi, 77, passed away from complications from Alzheimer's disease. He died at his home outside Boston.

In a letter to public radio listeners of Car Talk, Ray Magliozzi wrote of his brother: "We can be happy that he lived the life he wanted to live; goofing off a lot, talking to you guys every week, and primarily, laughing his ass off."

Although Tom and Ray (who is 12 years younger) stopped making original episodes of Car Talk in 2012, we are fortunate to have "classic" episodes of Car Talk we can listen to each weekend via NPR and through podcasts, too. The show and its infectious laughter lives on. 

In a remembrance of Tom Magliozzi that aired on NPR's All Things Considered last week, Car Talk's executive producer, Doug Berman, said that when it came to cars, the brothers really did know what they were talking about. Yet, it's not why people listened to the show. "I think it has very little to do with cars," said Berman. "It's the guys' personalities. And Tom especially -- really a genius. With a great, facile mind. And he's mischievous. He likes to prod people into honesty."

Magliozzi's NPR colleague, Peter Sagal, host of NPR's weekly news quiz Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!, writing for Time, said that laughter "was Tom's great gift. All that raucous, distinctive laughter -- who knew you could laugh with a Boston accent? -- was genuine. Whether he was laughing at his brother or a caller with a car problem or his own silly jokes, his pleasure was too immense to be kept private. Everybody knows that Car Talk wasn't about cars. It was about Tommy Magliozzi and his little brother Ray, as they continued their life-long refusal to take each other, themselves, or anything else seriously. And by sheer force of will the self-regarding gray edifice known as public radio eventually did the same."

Sagal added: "Tom was opinionated, passionate, and occasionally profane, but very much the man he seemed to be on the air. He leaves behind his brother and a large family, but also millions of listeners he convinced -- if only for an hour a week -- to just relax and enjoy themselves as much as he did."

While we all share in the sadness of Tom Magliozzi's passing, just like we do when there's a death in our own family, one thing's certain: While he was alive, standing tall, bearded and friendly, Ray's big brother never forgot to have fun.

We should all be so fortunate. 

God rest ye merry gentleman, Tom Magliozzi.

Photos: Ray and Tom Magliozzi, together, courtesy of Google images; Tom Magliozzi, courtesy of Car Talk Facebook page.