Mitchell, Rachel and I sat on the sea wall last night, and the ocean was as flat as a lake. There was a full moon and the glimmering path of white in the water stunned us. If only I could have followed that path. A yacht lay anchored out a bit, close to the sea wall … I’ve never seen one so close … normally that area is much more rough … and off in the distance we could see the lights of the Newport Bridge glowing. We had gone out to dinner, we went and got some homemade ice cream, and then we sat and talked … about Mitchell’s trip, about my writing, about horrible bug stories (prompted by Alex’s recent apocalyptic struggle with a grasshopper) and about Rachel’s most recent adventure in the employ of Justin Timberlake.<\/p>\n
Rachel is a humble person, so I hope I’m not embarrassing her too much but here goes: any time Justin Timberlake has to do anything, host an awards show, show up and blab, Rachel is called in to help write the material. JT loves her and she has written a ton of stuff for him so far. We loved hearing all the INSANE stories about Rachel’s recent experience writing the material for the ESPY’s, which Timberlake hosted. INSANE. The project was a hydra, in many ways – a multi-headed beast – and it was also a beast with many masters. The folks at ESPN, the producers, the athletes themselves, and Justin Timberlake.<\/p>\n
One of my favorite parts of the story was Rachel saying, “At one point, we realized that we needed a breakaway tuxedo, and a copy of Matlock and Debbie Does Dallas.” The randomness of it. So off someone was sent … to create a breakaway tuxedo, and someone else was sent off to track down copies of Matlock and Debbie Does Dallas. hahahaha Mitchell said to her, “I swear to God, if you say ‘breakaway tuxedo’ one more time …”<\/p>\n
Mitchell’s analysis of what it was that is so great about the “I Love Sports” number which was the big production number at the ESPY’s (written by Rachel and her writing colleagues) … will be left for another post. Needless to say, I completely agree with him … about the entertainment value of the number, and how the whole variety-show entertainer aesthetic is pretty much dead in American culture – due to a fear of seeming cheesy, perhaps? – but once upon a time, we had entertainers like Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin who knew how to handle themselves as entertainers<\/i>. And Justin Timberlake does, too.<\/p>\n
Watch him in the number. This is a hard number. He had a week to learn all those lyrics. And the dance moves. And “making it work”. It looks effortless.<\/p>\n
So he deserves the kudos, obviously … and he also deserves the kudos because he’s nice to my friend, he’s a hard worker, he takes advice, and he treats her well. If it’s a challenge? Justin Timberlake wants to do it. But I’m biased. I think RACHEL deserves the kudos, too. Brava!!! She was responsible for a couple of the best “bits” in the number … but I won’t point out which ones, since this was also a group effort. But if something seems to really “pop”, that seems really<\/i> funny? It’s probably Rachel’s idea.<\/p>\n
LOVE. IT. Old-school. It’s old-school variety-show entertainment.<\/p>\n
Enjoy! (If you haven’t seen it already) …<\/p>\n
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