New York Report #3

Wow! What a show! Congrats to all! And special thanks to JP for nailing the host duties! What a fun concept and we should do them annually.

Feeling a little wiped out this morning after a long week of shooting. Yesterday was fairly tame as we were back in a quieter part of Queens but the day before was a real whirlwind.

We started with a shot in Washington Square Park and the crazies were out. This one dude with a acoustic guitar strapped to his back who looked a little like that awful Tony Hinchcliffe was powerwalking through our set and cursing us out for no apparent reason claiming we were some big studio movie making garbage. We were flabbergasted!

An hour or so later we were on McDougall Street in front of Cafe Wha! where you saw me stream from during the show and he returned. He was clearly nuts doing laps around the neighborhood and each time he walked through our tiny little footprint of a set he got into it with us. It got on my nerves, of course and I eventually pushed back telling him to "get the fuck out of here,"

It escalated as he decided he was going to just plant himself on the sidewalk and determined to ruin things by shouting over our scene. Our locations representative got up into his face and things nearly came to blows.

Finally, the police officer assigned to our crew, came up and told him to scram. Even then he resisted and pushed back, cursing at the cop, telling the cop to fuck himself and that it was his, right to free speech to stand there and ruin everything. The cop then began to physically move him across the street took out his handcuff, and as he began to put it on his wrist, the nutty dude finally relented and walked off.

I talked to the cop afterwards and said I'd never seen that move before where you go so far as to take the cuffs out but don't apply them and he said "most of my job is just like you. It's an acting job. I'm putting on a great performance that, he thinks he's going to jail and that scares them off."

It continued to be a tricky day, shooting on the streets of New York, with traffic, horns, construction, waiting for the sun to go back behind the clouds...

We moved from McDougall down the block to 6th Ave where our street shooting got even more audacious! We had track lined up on the side of the street and PAs were holding pedestrians so I could run down the block... I got recognized a few times by some nice fans.

As I was waiting to run down the block, a older couple walked by and asked me what the cameras were for and he asked before I could answer. Is it for the Trump announcement? Huh? Oh yeah, I checked my phone and saw that the jury had reached a verdict. But it made me laugh to think that this guy jumped to the conclusion that there was some, big tracking shot set up in a random part of New York City for the reading of the verdict. Nowhere near the courthouse. I kept my eyes close to my phone to wait to see what the verdict was and found a live stream of David Packman, watching the news and just as I opened it up, I saw guilty on all counts. We were, all flabbergasted. I was not expecting that at all. We had a little break in the schedule and the original Joe's Pizza was across the street so I ran over and had a quick slice and a Coke in a private act of celebration even though of course I know there's not much to celebrate, as the only relief we're ever going to get from the guy is when he eventually croaks. And maybe he's got Carter genes... strap in.

I'm vibing nicely with this crew.... I like them a lot and since I'm in every damn scene so I'm getting to know them all quite well. It's hard work for everyone and it's stressful to make a movie with not all the time and money you need but the energy is positive and fun. I love that I get to do this for a living.

We wrapped and I raced to meet Sarah Sherman and Jeremy Levick for a comedy show. Their pal Jack Bensinger was running his new act at a place in Brooklyn called LIttlefield. Jack was hilarious. You should check him out and Matt, we should get him on the show sometime.

Off to see my dear cousin Colu upstate for the weekend and hopefully take it easy. Thanks for your patience and understanding with our whacky schedules this year. I think we're making it work and have some cool stuff planned... You'll see... you'll see...

P&L T

PS - just watched a GREAT special this morning! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrCb9rntbv0&ab_channel=DanLicata