Rosie O’Donnell, Star Jones, and Donny Deutsch joined Matt Lauer on The Today Show for what can only be described as the best segment in Today Show history. Though the story gained traction for O’Donnell’s assertion that Lindsay Lohan isn’t ready to work, the entire segment is worth watching. The quick, topic-to-topic format, is blissful for ADD viewers such as myself. I particularly enjoyed O’Donnell’s revelation that Lohan couldn’t be bothered to show up for her Saturday Night Live rehearsals. Clearly she has some inside information. Watch below.
There’s a very valuable playlist in my music library entitled, “Music That Makes Me Happy,” and Eric Hutchinson has been on it for years. While playing his first album for the 500th time, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if he had a second album? Where’s he been? I want more Eric Hutchinson!” So I googled him, and my prayers were answered. He released his follow-up, Moving Up Living Down, on April 17th, and he achieved the rare feat of surpassing the quality of his debut. Because I’m The Dishmaster, and I have an insatiable need to pick the brain of everyone I admire, I requested an interview with the man himself — and he kindly agreed. Read below, and catch the video for his hit single, “Watching You Watch Him,” at the end.
I was a huge fan of your first record. I know you did the first record on your own and now you’re on a label. Do you have a preference?
I still consider myself an independent artist, but this way was a lot easier. I got to concentrate on the music and the writing and the singing a lot more, and I got paired up with some really great producers. I worked with Martin Terefe and lived in London for a month, and Mike Elizondo who I lived with in LA for a month.
Does the creative input from a producer ever create friction?
You have to find the right person. We had a few people that didn’t work out, but the most important part is the creative flow with the producer. Mike had pictures of The Beatles all over his studio, and The Beatles are probably my favorite of all time, so I had a feeling right off the bat that we would get along. It’s a really fun, creative vibe. Never for one second did it leave my head that here I am making an album for Warner Bros. Records, and how is this my life?
It’s been a few years since your first record. What’s the reason for the time-gap?
I toured for so long with the first record. It was sort of an unorthodox release, because it kind of came out on its own, and then it came out again when Perez Hilton sent it out, and then Warner Bros. picked it up. So I was just touring and touring. And then finally I came home to New York and got to process everything and started writing my record. I know from the outside it probably feels like a while, but I’ve been busy the whole time.
Did you know that Perez’s post would create such traction?
I was in LA and went to sleep, and the next morning I woke up, and my phone was blowing up. Within the day it was in the iTunes top five. It was a really great moment. Perez has been very supportive and continues to be very supportive.
I read that you went broke making your first record. Was there a definable moment where you thought, “I can make a living doing this.”
I had been making a living, but I went a little too far making that record. I feel a real privilege to be able to do this, but I got a lot of very lucky breaks.
One of my favorite songs on your record is “The People I Know.” It’s a really upbeat song with sad lyrics. Is that an intentional juxtaposition?
Yeah, it’s something I learned from The Beatles. It helps the medicine go down, if you will. I try to cram big ideas into a three-minute pop song, and if you do it with an upbeat feel it’s easier to process it all.
There’s a lyric, “I’ve got a sister who I barely see,” in “The People I Know.” Is that a literal lyric? Did she hear it and say anything to you about it?
I had a talk with her about it. It’s sort of true. My sister did live down the street from me, and I didn’t see her because I was on tour all the time. And then one day I ran into her on the street, and it was a weird moment. It’s a weird moment when you recognize someone that is that close to you and you see them on the street out of context. But I get along with my family really well, and they have been very supportive.
But you gave her the heads up before you released the song?
I did, yeah. She likes [the song]. The other thing that’s really cool about that song is I play it live and people come up to me afterwards and say, “I have an estranged relationship with somebody.” That’s when the music really feels special.
Do you ever have a revelation about your lyrics in hindsight and think, “Wow, I must have been really sad and not even known it?”
All the time. There are certain songs where I think, “I don’t even know what I’m writing,” and then I look back, and it’s so clear. That’s one of the good parts about the album. Having some time to release this album, I got a lot of perspective on it, and I could look at it clearly and think about which songs I like and what I wanted to say.
When you play live, do you have a venue preference? Do you prefer a smaller, intimate venue to a large stadium?
As long as the crowd is excited, that’s where the magic comes from. I could play to 50 people or 5,000 as long as they’re are excited about the tour.
You’ve performed on some really great late-night shows. Do you have a favorite performance?
The first time I played The Tonight Show. It was my first time on TV. It just felt really cool.
Do you still get nervous for those performances?
Not really anymore. I’ve performed so much at this point that I’m kind of used to playing. I really want to play Saturday Night Live. Maybe I’d get nervous for that.
What music are you listening to now?
A band I got really into is Los Lobos. My plan is to get them to come play on my next record. I love Vampire Weekend, the new Black Keys record, and Kanye West.
Who chose “Watching You Watch Him” as the single for the record? Did you write it and think, “That’s the hit?”
A lot of times I’ll have to [do something] and stop writing, but every now and then I’ll write a song and I just can’t leave it. I was supposed to meet a bunch of friends to watch a football game, and about ten minutes into writing “Watching You Watch Him,” I just knew I couldn’t go anywhere, and I called them and told them that I couldn’t come. I really love that song. To me, I can just picture driving through the desert on a road trip and blaring that song really loud.
I like self-deprecating humor just as much as the next person, but even The Dishmaster has a boiling point. Former Saturday Night Live performer Rachel Dratch is promoting her new book, which involves endless confessions about how by “Hollywood standards” she’s considered a “troll, ogre, woodland creature or manly lesbian.” She also recounts how Tina Fey replaced her character on 30 Rock, and how the media subsequently speculated that Dratch wasn’t attractive enough for the part. I’ve had it with Rachel Dratch. I realize that controversy sells books, but there comes a point where self-deprecating humor just becomes sad. She’s not ugly, and I’m sick of hearing her proclaim otherwise — even if it’s a joke.
My favorite part of Saturday Night Live’s “The Californians” skit was the very obvious effort for the performers to stay in character. I’m told that Lorne Michaels becomes insanely angry when his performers laugh during their skits, which makes it even funnier to watch. Also, after living in California for a few years, I was shocked at its accuracy. We’ve all been to the party where all anyone discusses is Los Angeles traffic, and we’ve also all encountered a brain-dead-nutjob. Watch below.
Not a day goes by where I don’t appreciate living in Los Angeles. My most recent appreciation is sparked by my night at The Groundlings to see The Crazy Uncle Joe Show, a long-form improv-comedy show that is based on suggestions from the crowd. Though every cast member of The Groundlings is astoundingly talented, Jim Rash stole the show tonight. If you don’t know Rash, aside from an Oscar winning resume, he’s the guy who made fun of Angelina Jolie’s ridiculous leg-pose at the Academy Awards by sticking out his own leg on stage. I didn’t realize at the time that his sharp decision to poke fun at Jolie isn’t surprising given his stint at The Groundlings, which involves a million sharp comedic choices in the span of an hour. It’s no wonder that Saturday Night Live has so many cast members from The Groundlings. These guys are incredible.
Lindsay Lohan received a lot of criticism for her Saturday Night Live hosting job, but there’s one sketch that’s worth mentioning. There’s no need for me tell you why “The Real Housewives of Disney” was so great, just watch below and judge for yourself. I imagine that if Disney characters were real, that’s exactly how they would actually behave.
The next time I want to insult an ex-boyfriend, I’m calling Elisabeth Moss for a fresh zinger. When the Mad Men star was asked about her eight month marriage to Saturday Night Live’s Fred Armisen, she quoted her friend, saying, “‘He’s so great at doing impersonations. But the greatest impersonation he does is that of a normal person.’ To me, that sums it up.” That’s just such a brilliant and cutting quote. When they split up after eight months, I thought, “What could you learn in such a short period of time that you didn’t already know?” But her comment certainly answers that question.
The late comedian Drake Sather once said that he wished he’d waited to perform on Letterman, because he wasn’t ready for the success that happened immediately thereafter. He didn’t have enough material, and the attention he gained as a result of his performance waned far too quickly. When I read that interview with Sather, I thought, “That can’t be true. If you waited, you might have forgone an opportunity that would never come your way again. You might have never had the experience of performing on that coveted stage, and you could have spent the rest of your life kicking yourself and living the regret of “the guy who turned down David Letterman.” But Lana Del Rey’s recent performance on Saturday Night Live might have confirmed Sather’s theory — there’s just no room for error. She performed on SNL because Lorne Michaels took a liking to her, and she was a media flop. The public didn’t get it, and they tore her apart. She then performed on Letterman, but she failed to redeem herself in the public’s eyes. And rumors are now circulating that she’s working on her stage presence.
But there’s something very important that the public is missing amidst this debacle. She’s fucking good. The SNL performance was terrible — that is for certain. And it’s unfortunate that she got really bad clothing and hair advice in addition to what was presumably a stage-fright-meltdown. That being said — I have absolutely no idea why every blogger and news outlet wants to take an artist with talent and throw rocks at her. If the public feels the need to attack her, then don’t complain that the radio is filled with musical garbage, because the only people meant to succeed in our unforgiving country are over-produced robots that spend more time on their image than their music. Watch her performance on Saturday Night Live and Letterman below, along with SNL’s very funny Kristen Wiig sketch, which comes to Lana Del Rey’s defense.
I’m told by my religious friends that atheists are the most judgmental of other people’s choices. They often site comedians and actors as the biggest culprits of such judgment. If that’s true, then Saturday Night Live’s Tim Tebow sketch is a great example. Sure I think it’s ridiculous to believe that God has time to worry about football, but shouldn’t Tim Tebow be allowed to believe what he wants without the ridicule?
I used to stand in front of my mirror with a fake snake around my neck pretending to be Britney Spears, imagining that I could dance like her. Years later, I’m confident I can dance better than her. That has more to do with her decline than my improvement. But after watching Saturday Night Live, it appears I have someone new to impersonate. Robyn killed it. Watch below.
