I had a birthday last week and am already behind on writing thank you notes to people who took me to dinner, bought me gifts or simply remembered.
It’s never a chore to say it in person, at the moment, so that’s usually my go to. But these days, more than ever, I think people also appreciate getting a note.
I guess a little glitter wouldn’t hurt
Sure, a text is okay. And an email is adequate. But a hand-written note in an ever-growing, impersonal digital world? Who does that anymore?
Not enough of us.
And by handwritten note I don’t mean giving A.I. the assignment of figuring it out for you.
What did I do Chairy??
Better not to send it along at all.
It’s the impolite social equivalent of regifting.
Something about it WILL seem off to the reader even though you are sure it won’t. They might not know you were helped along by something unhuman but they are likely to think your response is something less than human (Note: Aka real).
It just…. won’t smell right
Which robs the gratitude of any true meaning. Unless what you meant by it was to fulfill a social obligation that would otherwise have you come off as cold and unappreciative.
Or in old-fashioned parlance, raised by wolves.
Speaking of which, can you believe we live in a world where the president of the United States calls a female reporter Piggy out loud?
What’s that supposed to mean?
Perhaps you can.
What about admonishing her on camera with, Quiet, Piggy,, receiving no on-the-spot blowback from fellow journalists, and having the White House press secretary then publicly laud said POTUS for his frankness and openness?
Perhaps we should skip the thank yous and go straight to the I’m sorry(s).
As if
In any event, it’s THANKSgiving time for MOST of us.
And I selfishly prefer the former.
Because, at the end of the day, any reason for saying thank you should give any one of us who says it a warm and fuzzy feeling.
Since the very fact of doing it means that someone (Note: Or more than one) did something NICE for YOU.
It doesn’t have to be BIG.
Or BIGLY.
Or HUUUUGE.
Just nice.
it’s the least you can do
Imagine that when you’re eating your turkey.
Or tofurkey.
Or simply taking it upon yourself to treat another person kindly for no reason at all other than common decency. And with no expectation of receiving anything in return.
Except maybe this sash
Not even a thank you note.
It will make receiving one all the more warm and fuzzy. An even more convincing confirmation that doing an act of kindness for someone else, one that they might even give you thanks for, doesn’t make you a chump.
Despite what you are seeing from the top. On a weekly, and often daily, basis.
The very nature of a blog is that you get to put your opinion out there in print for anyone, or preferably everyone, to read.
There are many reasons for this.
Let me entertain you!
But speaking for those of us who do this consistently and with regularity (Note: Because why wouldn’t I?) we also believe we are here to inform, entertain, educate and/or yell and scream at the world when we think it deserves it because someone has to and no one can do it the way it needs to be done except for us.
At our idealistic best, we’re merely trying to help.
At our unvarnished worst, we’re promoting our thoughts and/or ourselves.
Often shamelessly.
Ya got that right
So, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s the thing:
My husband and I wrote a fun and informative book on Saturday Night Live that will be released on Sept. 17th from Rowman & Littlefield and we want you all to read it, enjoy it and, if you can, BUY IT!
It’s titled:
The SNL Companion: An Unofficial Guide to the Seasons, Sketches, and Stars of Saturday Night Live.
The list price is $36.95 but you can get it for 38% off at $22.81.
And it’s a whopping 648 pages!!
AND IT’S NOT BORING!!!
YAY!
So here’s the deal and some background.
This book is more than a list of stars, sketches, hosts and musical guests through the seasons. It takes readers through all of the notable highlights, the transitions and the necessary evolutions it took to make SNL the longest-running comedy series on television. Also, through an analysis of all of the historical information, as well as interviews about how the show portrayed what was going on in the country, it becomes a sort of time capsule of comedic and musical American pop culture, as well as a showcase for much of the political and sociological change we’ve endured and evolved from over the last 50 years.
So what you’re saying is…. THIS. BOOK. HAS. EVERYTHING.
This was not necessarily the plan.
It only became that through extensive research on every key sketch (Note: And I mean EVERY) and seasonal high and low and in-between point throughout the history of the series.
We interpreted the information but at the end of the day it’s Lorne Michaels and everyone associated with SNL who deserve the credit. They are responsible for creating the many hundreds of hours of outstanding television memories (Note: Oh, and of course, every episode and season has moments that bomb, that’s the case with every long-running series that’s ever been on television) we had the pleasure, and sometimes appalled bemusement, of reliving.
and it was occasionally wild… and crazy
It’s not like every notable comedy star, writer, director or creator stepped through the doors of SNL since it began. But, well, A LOT of them did. Like — A LOT. As we write in the book:
…Consider the popularity over the last fifty years of films starring: Bill Murray, Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell, Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and Mike Myers. Or the impact on TV made by shows created by, produced by or starring: Tina Fey, Larry David, Amy Poehler, Jane Curtin, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, Conan O’Brien, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg and Will Forte. Not to mention writers and directors like Adam McKay, Michael Schur, Greg Daniels and Bob Odenkirk…
And that’s a partial list that leaves out stand-up comics, Broadway and concert performers, musical guests in pretty much every genre, and even any number of flash-in-the pan one hit or one bit wonders.
My husband and co-author, Stephen Tropiano, published the forerunner to this book, Saturday Night Live FAQ, through Applause Books almost a decade and a half ago. But with the 50th anniversary coming around and SNL’s enduring influence in the zeitgeist, especially in politics and through a continuous loop of viral moments, R & L (Note: They acquired Applause Books some years ago) asked him to revisit the material and expand the scope.
she knows
Knowing I’m a political junkie who can’t resist comment and chronicling my every thought about that and pop culture somewhere, he generously asked me to co-author what has become a much more gargantuan and strangely personal project than we both imagined.
This brings me to the second thought.
One of the best things I ever did in my life was to say “yes” in 1987 when a friend asked me to get together with someone he went to school with at NYU who had just moved to L.A. to get his PhD and didn’t know many people. I took that someone to a party, spent the next three hours talking to him about something I was writing in between a few requisite questions about himself, and then drove him back to his college apartment at USC.
Flirting
When we got inside we hung out and watched a new episode of SNL where guest host Sean Penn (then married to Madonna) joked about beating up paparazzi (Note: He used to do that kind of stuff and in fact had just done so mere days before the broadcast).
Then we…..well, never mind.
In any event, that was thirty-seven years ago and that someone is now DR. Tropiano, the guy who I am married to and still hanging out with watching SNL.
notes from a chair 