It's Sunday, June 5th. The brilliant monologist, Spalding Gray, was born this day in history. He was revered by New York City audiences in the 1980s. I was one who had a reverence for his work. His skill of sitting at a desk and telling his life stories, as he did in 1987's SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA, had an influence on me when I had my weeknight celebrity talk show on VH1. In fact, Spalding was one of my favorite guests on the show.
In 2008 or 2009, when my bank account was nearing malnourishment and I could not get any regular TV or radio employment, I got a very nice call from a young lady named Amy Hobby. She worked with director Steven Soderbergh and he was working on a documentary about the late monologist. Ms. Hobby told me that Mr. Soderbergh wanted permission to use a long clip from my VH1 interview of Spalding in the documentary.
I was touched but also disappointed. I told her that I loved interviewing Spalding but, unfortunately, I did not have a copy of that show. She replied, "Oh, we have it." Spalding had recorded that entire edition of my talk show and it was found in his belongings.
I was extremely touched to hear that. So much so it just about put tears in my eyes. Sometimes, you can become invisible to those who've been up close to you for a long time. That was the case with me. Mom, Dad, my sister and my brother, I discovered, didn't watch my show. Other things occupied their time and got their attention. None of them had a recorded copy of any of my weeknight show on national television.
But Spalding Gray did.
AND EVERYTHING IS GOING FINE is the name of Steven Soderbergh's documentary. It's part of the Criterion Collection. You'll see me in the documentary. Here's a trailer.
It is our loss that the monologist-actor-writer took his own life in 2004.
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