WEBVTT - 2025 Update: Buzz 0:00:15.210 --> 0:00:24.090 Pushkin. Hello, Khalila Holt, don't scare me like that. I'm sorry, 0:00:24.090 --> 0:00:26.410 my god. Welcome to the studio. 0:00:26.610 --> 0:00:26.970 Thank you. 0:00:27.690 --> 0:00:30.490 So now that we find ourselves at our new home 0:00:30.890 --> 0:00:33.130 at Pushkin Industries. 0:00:33.129 --> 0:00:34.889 Like you're reading it for the first time. 0:00:34.930 --> 0:00:38.130 We're celebrating some of our past accomplishments in the form 0:00:38.170 --> 0:00:43.810 of encore presentations. Encore Ravisimo. Today we're going to be 0:00:43.849 --> 0:00:48.450 listening to the very first Heavyweight. Yeah, an episode called 0:00:48.489 --> 0:00:49.610 Buzz and it's. 0:00:49.450 --> 0:00:51.250 An episode that's personal to you. 0:00:51.730 --> 0:00:55.530 It's spoiler alert, Sorry, yes it is. It is Buzz 0:00:55.610 --> 0:00:56.250 is my father. 0:00:56.890 --> 0:00:59.450 I really enjoy your dad. Whenever I get to hear 0:00:59.490 --> 0:01:00.930 from him, it warms my heart. 0:01:01.450 --> 0:01:05.890 Oh that's so nice. Yeah, my father has well I'm 0:01:05.930 --> 0:01:08.330 not going to say that my wife married me because 0:01:08.330 --> 0:01:10.370 of my father, but I'm sure it didn't hurt because 0:01:10.370 --> 0:01:14.210 she's a very big Columbo fan Peter Falk, and my 0:01:14.330 --> 0:01:17.970 father sounds a lot like he's of that generation. In fact, 0:01:18.010 --> 0:01:21.090 he would have grown up in Brooklyn around the same 0:01:21.130 --> 0:01:25.810 time as Peter Falk. But anyway, Yeah, this was the 0:01:25.850 --> 0:01:29.210 blueprint for Heavyweight. And it was out of this episode 0:01:29.210 --> 0:01:31.610 that I thought maybe I could use my powers of 0:01:31.650 --> 0:01:35.370 interlocution to help others as I was helping my family, 0:01:36.090 --> 0:01:37.330 why not spread the wealth? 0:01:37.530 --> 0:01:40.010 Yeah, you thought I'm so good at this that I 0:01:40.090 --> 0:01:40.890 got to do more. 0:01:41.490 --> 0:01:44.490 When you have mammoth gifts like that, I mean you 0:01:44.770 --> 0:01:46.370 have a responsibility to share it. 0:01:46.530 --> 0:01:46.810 Yeah. 0:01:46.890 --> 0:01:49.650 So well, without further ado. 0:01:49.810 --> 0:01:52.890 Let's listen to the episode and stick around after for 0:01:52.930 --> 0:01:54.370 an update from your dad. 0:01:54.730 --> 0:01:59.290 But first, oh, but first, a word from our sponsors. 0:01:59.770 --> 0:02:02.210 Thank you sponsors, Miss Holt. 0:02:02.610 --> 0:02:05.410 Before you go, if I could just ask you one 0:02:05.410 --> 0:02:19.930 more thing. That's very interesting that you wear combs Ye 0:02:20.330 --> 0:02:23.490 from Gimblet Media. This is Jonathan Goldstein, your old pal. 0:02:24.810 --> 0:02:27.370 Is that is that was called Gimblet Gimblet Media. 0:02:27.610 --> 0:02:30.370 That's correct. It sounds like giblets, the inside of a chicken, 0:02:30.410 --> 0:02:32.970 like all the innerds. Well, everybody loves giblets. 0:02:33.130 --> 0:02:35.329 You, oh ship, they're my kids. 0:02:35.370 --> 0:02:38.170 Hey guys, I'm up here. Do you know what my 0:02:38.210 --> 0:02:40.930 new podcast is about. I know, I don't know anything 0:02:40.930 --> 0:02:44.290 about it. Each week, I travel into people's pasts to 0:02:44.330 --> 0:02:46.570 help them repair something that's been troubling them. 0:02:46.930 --> 0:02:47.370 M hmm. 0:02:48.010 --> 0:02:57.489 I'm sort of like a therapist, like a therapist, So yeah, 0:02:58.090 --> 0:03:00.410 do you find out? Do you find that funny? I supportive. 0:03:00.690 --> 0:03:01.890 That's the laughter of support. 0:03:01.930 --> 0:03:02.530 I think it's great. 0:03:03.090 --> 0:03:03.930 I think it's great. 0:03:04.250 --> 0:03:06.250 Do you have any questions for me about what my 0:03:06.330 --> 0:03:10.889 show is and what it's going to be, Like, what's 0:03:10.930 --> 0:03:11.690 the name of your show? 0:03:11.770 --> 0:03:12.730 What's the name of your show? 0:03:13.330 --> 0:03:15.210 Yes, we're gonna go now, but Johnson's just about tell 0:03:15.250 --> 0:03:17.090 me the name of his new show. As soon as 0:03:17.090 --> 0:03:18.650 he tells me, I'm going to bang down on him 0:03:18.650 --> 0:03:19.489 in five. 0:03:20.970 --> 0:03:21.970 Remember to do that. 0:03:22.170 --> 0:03:25.610 Yes, to hang up the phone on each other. Okay, ready, Yes, 0:03:25.770 --> 0:03:30.730 the name of the show is Heavyweight, Heavyweight, you get it? 0:03:30.810 --> 0:03:31.890 Two one. 0:03:33.890 --> 0:03:34.170 Hello. 0:03:35.930 --> 0:03:44.170 Hello from Gimblet Media. I'm Jonathan Goldstein and this is 0:03:44.250 --> 0:03:46.490 Heavyweight Today's episode. 0:03:47.250 --> 0:03:47.610 Buzz. 0:03:51.330 --> 0:03:53.650 Hello, Hey Dad, Hi Johnny. 0:03:53.730 --> 0:03:55.290 Hey, how you doing good? 0:03:55.410 --> 0:03:56.370 You good? 0:03:56.490 --> 0:03:56.770 Good? 0:03:57.130 --> 0:04:02.610 Good? Yum Tivova, what's that? 0:04:02.970 --> 0:04:07.210 I'm not sure? This is my father, Buzz. I'm calling 0:04:07.290 --> 0:04:10.130 him at his home in Montreal. And the reason we're 0:04:10.170 --> 0:04:13.530 talking crazy talk is because it's young Kipper the Jewish 0:04:13.610 --> 0:04:16.250 day of Atonement, which seems as good a day as 0:04:16.250 --> 0:04:21.570 any to talk with him about forgiveness. So I wanted 0:04:21.610 --> 0:04:23.969 to I wanted to ask you something and I just 0:04:24.010 --> 0:04:29.210 wanted to gauge your interest. Yeah, how would you feel 0:04:29.409 --> 0:04:32.369 about paying your brother Sheldon a visit. 0:04:33.609 --> 0:04:35.890 I have no feelings, die, I'm not really interested. 0:04:37.169 --> 0:04:43.809 You're not no. My father, Buzz is eighty and his brother, Sheldon, 0:04:44.010 --> 0:04:47.209 his only sibling, is eighty five, and for the past 0:04:47.250 --> 0:04:52.729 forty years they've pretty much been on the outs. My 0:04:52.810 --> 0:04:56.089 father lives in Montreal and Sheldon lives in Florida, and 0:04:56.130 --> 0:04:58.729 the last time they saw each other over twenty years ago, 0:04:59.250 --> 0:05:01.409 was at their mother's funeral when they had a fight 0:05:01.570 --> 0:05:05.769 over the details of the arrangements. Since then, they've hardly spoken. 0:05:07.570 --> 0:05:09.529 It worries me because there's no not a lot of 0:05:09.529 --> 0:05:12.489 time left, and I don't want my father to have regrets. 0:05:13.369 --> 0:05:15.289 When the subject of his brother comes up, as it 0:05:15.330 --> 0:05:18.609 often has over the years, my father feels competing things. 0:05:19.089 --> 0:05:22.250 He grows angry or defensive, but other times he'll become 0:05:22.330 --> 0:05:26.130 sad and remorseful. And it's the sorrow and the remorse 0:05:26.210 --> 0:05:29.009 that I like best, because it's these feelings that I 0:05:29.049 --> 0:05:31.770 believe speak to his better self, the self I want 0:05:31.770 --> 0:05:35.130 to encourage. I'm not surprised that you're not jumping at 0:05:35.130 --> 0:05:38.529 the idea, but I'm a little surprised that yours against 0:05:38.529 --> 0:05:40.289 the idea Yeah. 0:05:40.210 --> 0:05:44.849 Time's passed. He hasn't shown much interest, so I'm respecting 0:05:44.890 --> 0:05:45.890 that and I leave alone. 0:05:46.330 --> 0:05:49.650 What he did do was he he called you on 0:05:49.690 --> 0:05:53.130 your eightieth birthday not so long ago, and you. 0:05:53.130 --> 0:05:55.650 Felt good about it to him on his eightieth birthday. 0:05:56.489 --> 0:05:59.210 This kind of tit for tat accounting is what always 0:05:59.250 --> 0:06:02.049 gets in the way. There's been a competition between the 0:06:02.089 --> 0:06:04.770 brothers since I was a kid. I remember how in 0:06:04.849 --> 0:06:07.890 my grandmother's small New York kitchen, Sheldon and Buzz got 0:06:07.929 --> 0:06:10.769 into an argument who could do the most push ups, 0:06:11.169 --> 0:06:13.450 and the next thing I knew, my father was pulling 0:06:13.450 --> 0:06:16.210 off his shirt and dropping to the kitchen floor in 0:06:16.250 --> 0:06:19.529 his undershirt. My mother, not used to seeing the side 0:06:19.529 --> 0:06:23.489 of him, stood over my father, flapping a dishtowel hysterically 0:06:23.810 --> 0:06:27.529 while begging him to the point of tears to please stop. 0:06:28.089 --> 0:06:30.809 Now you go, my father said, rising from the floor 0:06:30.849 --> 0:06:33.569 when he was done. But Sheldon shook his head with 0:06:33.609 --> 0:06:36.049 a smile. It was like he didn't even think my 0:06:36.089 --> 0:06:37.409 father was worth the effort. 0:06:38.570 --> 0:06:40.249 You know what it is at this point with him, 0:06:40.330 --> 0:06:42.130 I'll tell you what it is. I don't think it's 0:06:42.169 --> 0:06:45.689 even anger. He's past anger, and he's passed any feelings 0:06:45.690 --> 0:06:51.369 of animosity. He's passed that. He just doesn't care. Yeah, 0:06:51.409 --> 0:06:55.249 you know that's apathy. I mean, sometimes at least hate 0:06:55.330 --> 0:06:58.370 or love their emotions. Apathy is nothing. 0:06:59.250 --> 0:07:00.729 Yeah, you know what. 0:07:01.369 --> 0:07:04.450 Johnny as a child, even when I was ten, when 0:07:04.489 --> 0:07:08.330 I was nine, and I was crazy about him. We 0:07:08.409 --> 0:07:10.050 had a great you know, I loved him. He was 0:07:10.050 --> 0:07:10.850 the older brother. 0:07:11.050 --> 0:07:13.929 He was hello, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm listening. 0:07:14.890 --> 0:07:17.890 Uh, you know. I just looked up to him, and 0:07:17.929 --> 0:07:20.369 he had older friends. Sometimes he'd take me along with 0:07:20.450 --> 0:07:24.369 him and he was good. Hey, somebody trying to somebody 0:07:24.410 --> 0:07:26.410 trying to call here, binging. 0:07:26.090 --> 0:07:30.130 Me here, don't you see, Buzz? It's father time? Who 0:07:30.210 --> 0:07:34.009 is bringing you here? And Buzz loses track of time. 0:07:34.489 --> 0:07:38.690 Air Conditioners remain boxed all through July, and expired coupons 0:07:38.730 --> 0:07:42.290 from the mid nineties make plump his wallet, So I 0:07:42.330 --> 0:07:45.249 worry he'll put off reaching out to Sheldon until it's 0:07:45.250 --> 0:07:52.570 too late. The most complicated question, the one I keep 0:07:52.610 --> 0:07:55.569 coming back to, is how did the bad blood begin? 0:07:56.369 --> 0:07:59.489 And there are many versions. An ill fated trip to Montreal, 0:07:59.530 --> 0:08:01.809 where Sheldon felt slighted about having to stay in my 0:08:01.850 --> 0:08:05.010 father's basement, an ill fated trip to New York, where 0:08:05.050 --> 0:08:07.610 my father felt slighted about having to stay in Sheldon's 0:08:07.610 --> 0:08:11.410 attic rude word spoken to each other's wives. In one 0:08:11.530 --> 0:08:14.570 version of the story, Sheldon's refusal to bring a table 0:08:14.610 --> 0:08:17.689 to my brisk almost resulted in my being circumcised on 0:08:17.730 --> 0:08:21.290 an ironing board. But in the version being told today, 0:08:21.770 --> 0:08:24.290 my father was asked by Sheldon to pay more than 0:08:24.290 --> 0:08:27.010 his fair share for their mother's funeral, and I. 0:08:26.929 --> 0:08:30.449 Said, you always working some kind of an angle. So 0:08:30.810 --> 0:08:33.850 he got furious. He got furious. He started screaming into 0:08:33.850 --> 0:08:37.290 the phone, go to hell, drop dead, bah bah bayh. 0:08:37.490 --> 0:08:40.809 And was that was how that ended. But I feel 0:08:41.210 --> 0:08:42.890 he's the kind of guy that the gun. He has 0:08:42.970 --> 0:08:47.850 angles like that, you know, he has angles. I always 0:08:47.890 --> 0:08:49.370 felt I was on the up and up with him 0:08:49.370 --> 0:08:50.210 and he wasn't with me. 0:08:50.810 --> 0:08:53.890 If you've got a stronger sense that he was interested 0:08:53.930 --> 0:08:56.490 in seeing you, then would you. 0:08:57.290 --> 0:09:00.170 Yes, yes, you would be my g I wouldn't play 0:09:00.210 --> 0:09:01.690 the house though, that's out of the question. 0:09:02.290 --> 0:09:05.770 Okay, quick sidebar. Anytime I've ever raised the prospect of 0:09:05.850 --> 0:09:09.530 visiting Sheldon, no matter how hypothetical the scenario, my father 0:09:09.610 --> 0:09:12.530 always makes a point of insisting how no matter what, 0:09:12.890 --> 0:09:16.290 he would not stay in Sheldon's house, even if he 0:09:16.370 --> 0:09:19.970 was invited to, which I should point out he never is. 0:09:20.570 --> 0:09:24.090 I wouldn't stay at his house. How come you I 0:09:24.090 --> 0:09:26.890 wouldn't stay there? I mean, not my thing? 0:09:27.210 --> 0:09:29.810 How come you always bring that up? I mean, normally, 0:09:29.850 --> 0:09:32.330 when someone goes to visit someone that they haven't seen 0:09:32.370 --> 0:09:35.090 in decades, don't stay at a hotel, you. 0:09:35.050 --> 0:09:38.810 Know, I would stay at a motel or somewhere near hetel. 0:09:39.050 --> 0:09:39.250 Yeah. 0:09:39.290 --> 0:09:41.650 No, we'd get a place, you know, with an ice machine. 0:09:41.730 --> 0:09:44.530 And uh, you know why you want to You're interested 0:09:44.530 --> 0:09:45.530 in making a trip. 0:09:48.290 --> 0:09:52.450 I mean, I'm interested. Do you think that there's anything 0:09:52.490 --> 0:09:57.290 to be gained in seeing him? 0:09:57.490 --> 0:09:57.650 Hm? 0:10:00.050 --> 0:10:04.130 I guess there's something. Then, you know, you share your 0:10:04.130 --> 0:10:07.610 common experience and talk about the old days, and there 0:10:07.610 --> 0:10:09.930 are things that only he and I I can remember, 0:10:10.250 --> 0:10:14.530 you know, yeah, you know you What you could do 0:10:14.650 --> 0:10:17.610 is you could call him and see what what what 0:10:17.610 --> 0:10:20.450 what his attitude is? You know, it depends on you, 0:10:20.490 --> 0:10:23.970 know how how, how how you feel, what kind of 0:10:23.970 --> 0:10:24.930 receptions you get? 0:10:25.290 --> 0:10:27.930 Yeah, I mean I would. I would be happy to 0:10:27.970 --> 0:10:28.210 do that. 0:10:29.050 --> 0:10:33.170 I like your initial suggestion that you call him feel 0:10:33.210 --> 0:10:34.170 him out and see what he's like. 0:10:34.810 --> 0:10:38.890 Okay. I didn't suggest that, but you you suggested that. 0:10:39.290 --> 0:10:41.610 Yeah. I like that just because you'll give me an 0:10:41.650 --> 0:10:43.530 honest you'll give me an honest reaction. 0:10:44.010 --> 0:10:47.530 I'm happy to do it. But I mean, what, what 0:10:47.530 --> 0:10:50.570 what are you looking for from? From? What do you 0:10:50.610 --> 0:10:51.570 want to hear from him? 0:10:51.850 --> 0:10:54.130 I missed my brother. I would like to see him. Okay, 0:10:55.010 --> 0:10:59.930 that's all. Okay, you understand, and you come back on 0:11:00.010 --> 0:11:01.650 me with an honest evaluation. 0:11:11.850 --> 0:11:17.090 Hello, Sheldon, Yeah, speaking hi that it was quite a 0:11:17.130 --> 0:11:23.650 shock getting your phone call, you said, Johnath. Yeah, my 0:11:23.810 --> 0:11:27.490 hearing is not that great, okay. And when I heard 0:11:27.530 --> 0:11:30.610 the first message, I'm saying, who the heck is that? 0:11:30.810 --> 0:11:32.770 I don't know anybody by that name. 0:11:33.930 --> 0:11:36.930 Sheldon now lives outside of Fort Lauderdale, but my few 0:11:36.930 --> 0:11:39.050 memories of him are from when he lived in upstate 0:11:39.130 --> 0:11:42.090 New York. I remember he lived in a trailer. I 0:11:42.130 --> 0:11:44.530 remember that he worked at a local prison, that he 0:11:44.570 --> 0:11:47.330 smoked cigars, that he looked a little like my father, 0:11:47.570 --> 0:11:50.570 but was hunched, like the world was weighing down on him. 0:11:50.890 --> 0:11:53.010 And he always wore this expression on his face that 0:11:53.090 --> 0:11:57.770 seemed to say, you gotta be kidding me. You're keeping okay, 0:11:57.810 --> 0:11:58.930 you're keeping occupied. 0:11:59.490 --> 0:12:04.530 Yeah, I read a lot. I going to gym. I 0:12:04.570 --> 0:12:08.250 go shopping. Hi, you know, here and there, little things 0:12:08.290 --> 0:12:10.090 here and there, and so. 0:12:10.010 --> 0:12:11.809 You still go. How often you go to. 0:12:11.770 --> 0:12:13.850 The gym three times a week? 0:12:15.050 --> 0:12:15.290 Wow? 0:12:15.330 --> 0:12:16.690 And what kind of stuff do you do there? 0:12:18.130 --> 0:12:18.370 Well? 0:12:18.530 --> 0:12:24.690 I do about twenty minutes of aerobics, uh huh, and 0:12:24.730 --> 0:12:28.530 then I do a little weight training. I try to 0:12:28.570 --> 0:12:30.610 flirt a little with the women there. 0:12:30.970 --> 0:12:36.570 Oh yeah, my father also goes to the gym. That's 0:12:36.610 --> 0:12:42.050 a part of his routine. Also, he was happy to 0:12:42.050 --> 0:12:43.890 hear from you on his eightieth birthday. 0:12:45.530 --> 0:12:45.930 Yeah. 0:12:45.970 --> 0:12:50.410 Well he didn't call me on my eighty fifth though. 0:12:51.370 --> 0:12:56.490 Tit meet tat Yeah, like, so, you know, maybe we 0:12:56.570 --> 0:13:00.290 could go out for dinner. I don't know that kind 0:13:00.330 --> 0:13:00.650 of thing. 0:13:01.450 --> 0:13:07.610 Uh huh. Well, what kind of time frame are we 0:13:07.770 --> 0:13:08.890 talking about here? 0:13:18.770 --> 0:13:19.290 I don't know. 0:13:20.010 --> 0:13:23.490 Our lives have been much different. I don't know how 0:13:23.570 --> 0:13:27.010 much we have to have in common anymore. 0:13:27.730 --> 0:13:33.170 Yeah, we don't have We don't have much in common 0:13:33.250 --> 0:13:38.010 anymore except the fact that we're elderly and retired. 0:13:38.850 --> 0:13:39.929 Other than that, I. 0:13:39.850 --> 0:13:41.410 Don't know what we have in common. 0:13:42.490 --> 0:13:43.850 You have your past in common? 0:13:45.810 --> 0:13:52.610 Yes, I'll tell you honestly, I'm not a very sentimental person, 0:13:53.690 --> 0:13:58.130 and I think, and I being a pragmatist, I take 0:13:58.250 --> 0:14:02.650 things the way they are. I try not to dwell 0:14:02.810 --> 0:14:09.010 upon the past, and I try not to take people 0:14:09.610 --> 0:14:12.330 the way I remember them, but as they are. 0:14:14.770 --> 0:14:19.490 Do you think that makes things easier, makes. 0:14:19.290 --> 0:14:20.330 Things easier for me? 0:14:21.210 --> 0:14:28.490 Yeah? Do other people around you? Sometimes? Doesn't make it 0:14:28.530 --> 0:14:31.090 harder for other people around you ever. 0:14:33.130 --> 0:14:38.770 To be honest with you, I've been in the last 0:14:38.770 --> 0:14:43.850 few years, I've been a loner. You would basically almost 0:14:43.890 --> 0:14:49.730 call me a recluse. I don't socialize with many people, 0:14:51.090 --> 0:14:55.330 and I really don't give a damn what anybody thinks. 0:14:55.930 --> 0:14:58.730 Yeah, and. 0:15:00.650 --> 0:15:05.930 Contrary to popular believe, I like being alone by myself. 0:15:06.930 --> 0:15:13.130 I get along with myself. Well yeah, look, I don't 0:15:13.170 --> 0:15:16.170 want to be rude. Yeah, yeah, but I want to 0:15:16.210 --> 0:15:17.410 go have my lunch. 0:15:17.530 --> 0:15:20.450 Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fine. It's fine, Sheldon. I 0:15:20.450 --> 0:15:24.410 appreciate your talking to me, and you would be amenable 0:15:24.530 --> 0:15:27.250 to spending some time. 0:15:29.130 --> 0:15:31.290 Why not. We are brothers. 0:15:31.570 --> 0:15:34.210 I mean, we're not closer or anything, but. 0:15:35.290 --> 0:15:37.610 You know, we're not going to have a chance to 0:15:37.650 --> 0:15:39.690 see each other much in the future. 0:15:42.770 --> 0:15:48.210 Yeah, is that anything that you think about. 0:15:50.370 --> 0:15:51.170 Not much now. 0:15:54.690 --> 0:15:57.010 And so I call my father back and let him 0:15:57.010 --> 0:16:00.810 know that Sheldon is amenable. And because I know that 0:16:00.810 --> 0:16:03.210 for my father the days tend to pile up like 0:16:03.330 --> 0:16:06.210 unboxed air conditioners, I have my mother get on the 0:16:06.210 --> 0:16:09.530 phone to help nail down a firm travel date and 0:16:09.650 --> 0:16:12.530 Dad he wants to go, if Dad wants to go, 0:16:12.650 --> 0:16:13.490 if he wants. 0:16:13.250 --> 0:16:15.770 To go next weekend. 0:16:16.730 --> 0:16:18.010 We don't have to go on the weekend. We can 0:16:18.010 --> 0:16:18.930 go during the week. 0:16:20.290 --> 0:16:27.610 Yeah, comes, as you know, you caught me off. God, 0:16:30.370 --> 0:16:32.610 how about it. I'll call you Wednesday or Thursday. 0:16:32.650 --> 0:16:36.090 How's that today's Monday or yeah, or even if you 0:16:36.090 --> 0:16:37.650 feel like calling tomorrow, you can call me. 0:16:38.530 --> 0:16:46.770 Yeah, okay, I'll probably I'll call you at the latest Thursday, to. 0:16:46.650 --> 0:16:54.450 Get the Thursday at the latest, that's three days from today. Okay, 0:16:55.090 --> 0:16:56.410 all right, you do what you want to do. 0:16:56.450 --> 0:16:59.050 You call me, but I'll call you a Thursday. 0:16:59.370 --> 0:17:08.770 Coming up after the break Thursday. And so on Thursday, 0:17:09.170 --> 0:17:12.290 possibly with a little nudging for my mother, Buzz agrees, 0:17:12.810 --> 0:17:15.850 And then my father and I are off to Florida 0:17:15.929 --> 0:17:18.330 to visit my uncle Sheldon too. 0:17:18.369 --> 0:17:22.090 And then you have an address, Yeah, I do Okay. 0:17:22.530 --> 0:17:24.970 My dad and I meet up at the Fort Lauderdale Airport. 0:17:25.409 --> 0:17:27.810 I flew from New York and my dad from Montreal. 0:17:28.369 --> 0:17:31.049 My father's all dressed up, wearing a faux Swaede sports 0:17:31.129 --> 0:17:33.850 jacket that I've never seen him in. We grab our 0:17:33.889 --> 0:17:36.409 airport rental and prepare for the two hour drive to 0:17:36.449 --> 0:17:40.090 Sheldon in the ninety degree heat. It's immediately made clear 0:17:40.169 --> 0:17:43.369 that faux swayed might not have been the best fashioned choice. 0:17:43.490 --> 0:17:45.409 It's like we're on a safariy. 0:17:44.889 --> 0:17:50.769 You on the road to Sheldon's. My father will experience 0:17:50.889 --> 0:17:54.850 a spectrum of feelings as we first set out. There's excitement. 0:17:55.209 --> 0:17:57.290 You know, my brother was funny in a lot of ways. 0:17:57.490 --> 0:17:58.050 I could laugh. 0:17:58.090 --> 0:18:00.609 We're gonna have laughed with him, you know what I mean. 0:18:00.649 --> 0:18:01.970 He's a very funny man. 0:18:02.609 --> 0:18:04.889 A half an hour in and there's bitterness. 0:18:05.169 --> 0:18:08.449 We invited him to your baments and he returned a 0:18:08.570 --> 0:18:13.729 very cold calld. Sorry we will not be attending, you know, 0:18:13.970 --> 0:18:17.410 so mean, you know what I mean? Even the writing. 0:18:19.369 --> 0:18:21.409 An hour in and how is Buzz feeling? 0:18:21.850 --> 0:18:22.609 I'm relaxed. 0:18:22.730 --> 0:18:25.169 I'm kind of old to get anxious, you know what 0:18:25.250 --> 0:18:25.570 I mean? 0:18:26.010 --> 0:18:27.970 Half an hour to Sheldon's a. 0:18:27.889 --> 0:18:29.010 Little bit apprehensive. 0:18:29.090 --> 0:18:38.330 Now, yeah, ten minutes to Sheldon's and buzzes feeling all right, Yeah, 0:18:38.490 --> 0:18:39.690 he's feeling a little. 0:18:39.530 --> 0:18:41.490 Uh No, it's gonna be strange. 0:18:41.689 --> 0:18:45.850 Yeah, it's gonna be very strange. I mean the man 0:18:45.889 --> 0:18:47.969 is a stranger to me now, and yet he's my brother. 0:18:48.250 --> 0:18:48.810 You understand. 0:18:48.850 --> 0:18:50.169 It's a very strange feeling. 0:18:51.169 --> 0:18:53.249 Yeah. 0:18:53.649 --> 0:18:58.489 I wonder if he's getting nervous, maybe because he's waiting 0:18:58.490 --> 0:19:10.210 for us, right, yeah, yell set yeah. 0:19:11.129 --> 0:19:14.850 Oh it's hot, it's really hot. Sheldon lives in the 0:19:14.889 --> 0:19:18.570 corner house on a quiet suburban street ring the bell. 0:19:19.050 --> 0:19:22.889 I guess is this his door? 0:19:24.169 --> 0:19:26.210 I'll double check maybe because there. 0:19:26.090 --> 0:19:41.650 Is, Yeah, thank you, I smell the good smell of cigar. 0:19:44.409 --> 0:19:46.330 There had become a monk may. 0:19:46.290 --> 0:19:50.769 And after all the years and the worry and the dread, 0:19:51.129 --> 0:19:53.929 things seem to be going swimmingly. We sit down at 0:19:53.970 --> 0:19:57.010 Sheldon's kitchen table and my father gets right into it. 0:19:57.530 --> 0:19:58.809 Now, there's things I want to know. 0:19:59.570 --> 0:20:01.090 You said that Rainy died. 0:20:02.409 --> 0:20:05.409 The dead are a good place to begin as a subject. 0:20:05.449 --> 0:20:08.609 They're easily agreed upon and not likely to spark a fight. 0:20:09.169 --> 0:20:13.210 The uncle died, The uncle died. He was the youngest brother. Oh, 0:20:13.290 --> 0:20:14.530 he died long ago. 0:20:14.649 --> 0:20:15.169 He died. 0:20:15.850 --> 0:20:19.810 Oh you know who died, real prick. 0:20:20.129 --> 0:20:23.210 Yeah, I didn't know him that well, he didn't know Yeah, yeah. 0:20:25.169 --> 0:20:25.810 Nish. 0:20:27.050 --> 0:20:29.210 Shocking. Yeah he was fat. 0:20:29.330 --> 0:20:30.609 He was fat, red head. 0:20:30.530 --> 0:20:34.850 Red head right, yeah yeah. 0:20:35.050 --> 0:20:37.290 Remember remember Johnny, Johnny was a sax man. 0:20:37.330 --> 0:20:40.529 Ye, Johnny, he would fuck a dog on the street 0:20:40.530 --> 0:20:43.010 if you sort of dog. He tried to fuck the dog. 0:20:49.129 --> 0:20:51.169 Can I get you guys a cold beer? 0:20:51.290 --> 0:20:53.770 I'd like a beer, olive beer. 0:20:54.369 --> 0:20:57.129 Even though they're in their eighties, Sheldon and buzz Stop 0:20:57.129 --> 0:21:01.850 possessed voices and temperaments suited to shouting out Brooklyn tenement windows. Well, 0:21:01.929 --> 0:21:05.850 my voice, olive beer is best suited to asking a 0:21:05.889 --> 0:21:11.250 waitress if there will be a sharing charge. I forgot 0:21:11.290 --> 0:21:11.689 about that. 0:21:11.810 --> 0:21:12.129 Sorry. 0:21:12.449 --> 0:21:16.010 Case in point this is Sheldon accidentally swiping a portable 0:21:16.050 --> 0:21:19.249 microphone receiver off the kitchen table and me trying to 0:21:19.290 --> 0:21:20.210 smooth things over. 0:21:20.970 --> 0:21:22.490 This off. Well, it's annoying. 0:21:22.730 --> 0:21:24.970 You just put it in the in your pocket there. 0:21:25.490 --> 0:21:27.770 Just take it off, please, thank you. 0:21:28.850 --> 0:21:31.689 Over the next couple of days, my testes will flee 0:21:31.730 --> 0:21:36.330 like frightened cockroaches, upward, ascending to heights not seen since 0:21:36.369 --> 0:21:41.250 the bar Mitzvah that Sheldon was not attending. And while 0:21:41.250 --> 0:21:44.889 we're on the subject of testes, here's Sheldon reminiscing about 0:21:44.889 --> 0:21:47.249 the time he was examined for a rupture by their 0:21:47.290 --> 0:21:48.090 family doctor. 0:21:48.609 --> 0:21:52.410 Me and Wilie Rosen were joining the weightlifting Yep, say 0:21:52.449 --> 0:21:55.530 you how to be tested for a rupture? Hey, I 0:21:55.570 --> 0:21:59.490 remem being put his hand onto my balls. I started 0:21:59.609 --> 0:22:02.409 left and so hot, I pissed right in his hand. 0:22:05.530 --> 0:22:07.450 Hey. 0:22:08.290 --> 0:22:10.409 Over the years, I've seen my father in the role 0:22:10.449 --> 0:22:13.770 of husband, uncle, and grandfather, but I've never really seen 0:22:13.810 --> 0:22:16.290 him in the role of younger brother. How odd to 0:22:16.330 --> 0:22:19.489 see it now at eighty he sits beside Sheldon with 0:22:19.530 --> 0:22:22.969 this expression I've never seen on his face. It's wide eyed, 0:22:23.209 --> 0:22:30.650 sweet and deferential. But as the day wears on, Sheldon 0:22:30.689 --> 0:22:34.010 and Buzz began to squabble over their memories, fighting over 0:22:34.090 --> 0:22:35.170 every little detail. 0:22:35.570 --> 0:22:38.609 Remember the hallabaloo we had with the diet, head diet. 0:22:38.810 --> 0:22:41.889 That heavy set girl a manicurist. She was a head 0:22:41.970 --> 0:22:45.689 dying manicurist. No, she was a head dying. Here's what happened. 0:22:45.730 --> 0:22:46.530 She went over to Earth. 0:22:46.570 --> 0:22:48.729 They even argue over the death of their grandmother. 0:22:49.250 --> 0:22:53.609 I have found her body. My mother was across the 0:22:53.609 --> 0:22:57.090 street a Greenborough. I remember walk and I knew she 0:22:57.169 --> 0:22:59.890 was dead. I never saw a dead body of my life, 0:22:59.889 --> 0:23:00.850 but I knew she was dead. 0:23:02.770 --> 0:23:05.929 Sure, so wait till you found her, or you found her. 0:23:06.010 --> 0:23:07.689 I remember looking in on the room and see how 0:23:08.010 --> 0:23:10.450