Cocaine does not make you funnier
--Julia Louis-Dreyfus
In this season of life I am fascinated by all of the versions of my original self that I have become. Modern day iterations have brought me to many fascinating professional opportunities while simultaneously nudging me towards home. I am up ridiculously early, work in primarily solitude (unless on the road), and love running trails for hours with only my Plott hound Birdie for company.
Particularly in tune with my current rhythm of life I decided to walk to the gym today instead of wedging in a run first. I queued up a podcast that amuses instead of informs. Not that I don’t learn from Julia but there are a load of adds that interrupt the flow for me. Today’s episode was a rebroadcast of an interview from the Aspen Ideas festival where she was asked to create a course title for some of life’s lessons. She picked Cocaine Does not Make you Funnier to describe what she learned by watching fellow castmates while being an SNL cast member back in the 80s.
She is always funny…
A quote by Lillian Hellman describing pentimento was chosen by Julia for her senior page in high school. Not sure what I chose but it was probably a sentiment of undying love for my boyfriend at the time — what’s his name?
“…The paint has aged and I wanted to see what was there for me once, what is there for me now.” — Lillian Hellman
This pentimento might be the secret sauce of enduring friendships. A friend I have known since we lived around the corner from each other once stated that there is just something between friends that know where you are from. The power of place is stronger than your current geography. I have noticed that friendships fade but those that endure reveal something—pentimento—of a faithful persistent connection. I call them big friendships. The kind that pick up right where you left them regardless of the passage of time.
Coincidentally I often refer to the Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck when speaking about storytelling and perspective, hat tip to my brilliant friend Amy Herman and the Art of Perception.
What are a few life lessons that you have learned in retrospect? Perhaps a pentimenti that now that the layers of paint have worn away — the truth is revealed.
Here is one of mine.
I had a colleague once. We were never friends but at times were friendly in conversation. I observed the accolades and business opportunities sent his way — even when undeserved or on the heels of a major screwing-up in a prior role.
The final night of a conference a bunch of people were going to be heading out to drink and celebrate. Of course I notoriously didn’t participate. I preferred the quiet and sanity of room service and perhaps a good movie — I had small children at home so this was “being wild” for me.
I bumped into the aforementioned colleague (married with kids) and he asked me to call his phone in the morning to make sure he didn’t miss his flight. Curiously — not least because I was a senior level member of the team and not his personal secretary—I asked why he didn’t avail himself of a wake-up call. His response? He was not going to be sleeping in his room but with another colleague. Somehow he interpreted my blank stare as being in agreement with his salacious itinerary.
I bumped into a rather bedraggled and delirium tremens version of him at the airport the next morning. He asked why I didn’t call him.
I uttered what can only be the origin of the now popular phrase, well you f*cked around and found out didn’t you?
Now that would make a great title for a college level course, wouldn’t it?
Listen to Julia Louis-Dreyfus
A quick video cut as part of the day in the life series…