Last Night…
Last night I had the good fortune of being a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He is such a generous and energetic and deeply there person - a comic genius, a national treasure.
I had a great time - the experience is like: deep nerves, followed by big fun, during which seven minutes goes by like seven seconds, because one is in a hyper-alert state, followed by a sense of relief…and then one immediately wants to do it again. But, too bad, one is in a car bound for LaGuardia.
A good reason to write another book. 😉
One thing we talked about was his beautiful reading of my story, “Love Letter,” at Symphony Space, back at the beginning of the tour for Liberation Day, three weeks ago. Here’s a link to Stephen’s reading of “Love Letter” and here’s our talk from last night.
Am writing this from my classroom in the Hall of Languages at Syracuse, as I wait for my brilliant third-year fiction writers to come in for workshop this morning.
This room has so many happy memories - Paula and I had a class in here with the great poet Hayden Carruth…my workshop with Tobias Wolff was in here…I remember teaching so many talented students in this room…and soon our current group will be coming in, and (lucky me) I get to do it all again.
Some trivia: The photographer who shoots the still photos for The Colbert Show and other CBS productions is John Filo. He's best known for his iconic picture of the Kent State massacre, taken in 1970 when he was a senior at the university. He won a Pulitzer Prize the next year. We worked at the Philadelphia Inquirer in the 80s.
Oh man, this is just about the best post from the road yet...honestly...this feels like frames from the Frederick Wiseman film (in my imagination) about George in his various work environments (his classroom, his publisher's offices, the Green Room). Like I posted last night, the Colbert visit felt like quicksilver--I'll admit I missed the funny bonus skit (the song, or the charming bedtime reading with Colbert in his PJs)--but it was such a nice capper on the marvelous tour. And it's wonderful to see a photo of the hard-working Random House support staff--these are the people who really have the author's back. And, wow, to see LIBERATION DAY propped up on the Random shelf in front of LEE CHILD'S BOOK!! Sweet...
Still...I would say that the true capper to this tour has to be the extraordinary interview that George conducted with Ezra Klein on the NYT Ezra Klein Show podcast. I think that Klein sounds by the end of this one like this may be the best one he's done at his new NYT perch. It's truly a podcast for the ages--and released on Election Day. Extra sweet...