28 Nov Giovanni’s Superfan Sidebar 11/28/2014 – Take A Knee: Norman Lear
A real time blog where Superfan Giovanni does recap and commentary on the show as it happens and opines on all things ACS
Take A Knee – Special Presentation
Guest – Norman Lear
Recorded 11-05-2014 – Release Date 11-24-2014
Production Number #2
Adam welcomes Norman to the show as his 2nd guest on ‘Take a Knee’ and you’re all welcome for this awesome sample of the new show.
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Adam brings up Norman’s career and they have a brief recap on the music of sitcoms from Norman’s heyday and go in depth on ‘All in the Family’.
Adam is bringing up Norman’s age of 92 and he can’t believe it, Adam brings up his 50th birthday and how he still feels trapped in Junior High.
They both wax poetic on the idea of “one of my dad’s friends” and Norman sounds amazing, as lucid as can be.
Adam is asking Norman about his father, he shares what a “rascal” he was and how he was up to some larcenous activities and chased the skirts.
Adam is asking when he started to realize his dad wasn’t quite the hero we all would hope our fathers to be, he’s sharing the explanation of his dad getting arrested when and the front page shot of his dad he saw when he was 9 years old.
Norman says his sister ran off and he was shunted off to and uncles and then the grandparents homes in lieu if being raised by a single mom.
Adam uses his son entering the room and asking him what team he’s rooting for as an example for the hero worship of sons.
Norman has a great anecdote of his father form before the arrest, the memory is alive as any other memory he has of when he was away.
Adam is asking what it was like for him to be shuffled around like that and asks what it meant about his mom that she was able to move on, Adam asks if she was depressed.
Norman says she was the ultimate narcissistic, he’s setting up a story from the height of his creative and financial success where his mother came to visit.
Norman shares this story of his mother in her early 80’s, he’s telling the story of his mother’s eye drops and how she overlooked him to apply them, instead she chose to ask a stranger.
Norman shares this story from 1982 and has another from the end of the trip, where she diminished the whole trip.
Adam says he has the same mother and brings up their recent confrontation about this very issue, the “go back to what?” conversation.
Adam now brings up the “one good reason why I should get cable?” story from the dinner table in 1999 when ‘Loveline’ and ‘The Man Show’ were both airing.
Adam is now quoting the Jon Stewart story from 2005, when he guested on Oprah and she brought the VHS tape over.
Norman has the appropriate reaction to the reveal of Jon getting demoted in the next breath from his mother.
Norman has an anecdote about seeing his mother doing manicure work in New Haven while she was absent from his life, Adam is now bringing up how she would turn the abandonment and sorrow back on him as if it was unbelievable that he experienced what he did.
Adam brings up the lack of an emotional courtroom where a 3rd party gets to rule in on interpersonal dynamics.
Adam is asking Norman if he was able to ever give up and stop trying to seek the approval or share his success with his mother.
Norman is talking about his book that took him over 6 years to write, he explains how his mother never really talked about him to him, but she would brag to others about him.
Adam is now bringing up the reconciliation of thought about a sexual abuse victim who becomes an abuser and how parents are often the same way.
Adam says that people would brag about him like a commodity or an asset when he was absent, much like Norman’s own mother.
Norman tells Adam to write a book, he says just comedy and Norman clarifies he means something about his life, which ‘Not Taco Bell Material’ was, it’s a fairly deep comedy book.
Norman is bragging about his feeling of being an author, he notices that Adam doesn’t swear and he says it’s too much respect for Norman but implies he’s free to curse away.
Norman brings up an episode he taped of Charlie Rose, he didn’t remember the guy he was seeing when he saw himself years removed on this DVD copy of the episode he acquired.
Adam is now bringing up the lack of a self-esteem and what it’s done for them, the lack of entitlement and Adam brings up the years of roommates who would leave their dirty dishes piled up in the sink.
Adam is making a point about stepping away from your own art and work and judging it as harshly if not more so than the work of others.
Adam is marveling at how incredible it is that humans often squander the ability to change and grow, he brings up how many people are locked into adolescent reptilian forms of themselves.
Adam is commenting on the growth Norma experienced between 87 and 92yrs old, he says it’s the journey of journeys to grow and change.
Adam is now asking why as a society we treat personal evolution and growth like a space saver spare in the collective trunk of our metaphorical car.
Norman says these conversation should be happening at churches and synagogues and Adam is sharing his take on wishing we say the president leaving his therapist’s office.
Adam says this is the conversation that’s always left out of the preaching about education, Norman brings up religion and Adam says it’s almost opposed to this idea and conversation it’s too hard.
Norman has a thought about the role of a president, he remarks on the all places we might go, wow.
Adam says his 50th year feels like it’s been his best year, better than 30 and 40.
Adam is sharing his enthusiasm for wisdom, Norman says Adam was born an “Elder” wow!
Adam is sharing his “get cracking” way of approaching life, he didn’t think about it but reacted that way to his circumstances and Norman reveals he was the same way.
Adam is clarifying his point about surveying the landscape of his situation and now Adam is asking him if he feels forgiveness if important when it comes to parents and their shortcomings.
Norman thinks Adam is practicing forgiveness and explains to him why that is, he’s not explaining how his mother and her lack of a role in his life motivated him.
Adam is asking if there was a sense for him that if he ever reached a certain level he would get the recognition of his mother.
Adam has a Triple-A (AAA) minor league baseball vs. major league analogy for a mother’s love finally being received/given and now Norman shares another anecdote about his late mother.
Adam is asking if he found himself surrounding himself with peers that had the same feelings about him that his mother had and treated him the same way.
Norman shares he married women who would carry on the tradition of his mother, Norman clarifies his comments and is not badmouthing anyone.
Adam brings up wife who is the greatest mother in the world, she’s a good wife and a great mother, and he picked her for her maternal nature.
Adam is telling Norman about his sister who also ran away as a teen much like his own, Adam brings up his wife and her lack of interest in his career.
Adam says he physically uncomfortable with the idea of a personal cheerleader following him around.
Adam, asks if Norman was more comfortable standing in the shadows instead of being in front of the camera.
Norman shares his feelings, Adam is giving his mixed feelings on having to be in the spotlight to earn more money and opportunities.
Adam brings up his lack of desire to have his birthday celebrated and how he would hope it would fall on a weekend while he was on radio so he didn’t have to experience it.
Adam is now sharing his notion of an “Achievement Day” and asks Norman if he has one, he says it’s every day he wakes up.
Adam is now complimenting him and wrapping up this amazing episode.