WEBVTT - Not Lost Chat: Road Work (Andrew Sean Greer & Jay Pharoah) 0:00:15.316 --> 0:00:22.236 Pushkin. So the other week I was staying in a 0:00:22.316 --> 0:00:25.796 hotel on Hollywood Boulevard for a few days. It was 0:00:25.836 --> 0:00:30.996 a fine hotel, if not a fine hotel. Its most 0:00:30.996 --> 0:00:35.316 compelling feature was the pool area, which looked exactly like 0:00:35.436 --> 0:00:40.516 how people think Hollywood looks. A shimmering blue roushak plot 0:00:40.796 --> 0:00:43.716 surrounded by lounge chairs, each holding a yellow and white 0:00:43.756 --> 0:00:46.436 striped towel rolled up like a Swiss cake made of 0:00:46.596 --> 0:00:51.116 terry cloth. Attractive staff flitted to and fro trays of 0:00:51.196 --> 0:00:55.196 champagne and potato chips. I was at a cafe by 0:00:55.196 --> 0:01:01.116 the pool, eating a salad. Shakespeare once described someone's youth 0:01:01.236 --> 0:01:05.676 as their salad days, a time of carefree innocence. But 0:01:05.876 --> 0:01:09.036 my salad days didn't begin until I reached middle age 0:01:09.956 --> 0:01:13.316 and realized if I didn't start pounding vegetables, my body 0:01:13.316 --> 0:01:17.276 would molt into a piece of uncooked dough. The sandwich 0:01:17.396 --> 0:01:19.756 days would be a better phrase for my care for youth. 0:01:22.036 --> 0:01:26.156 So there I was pool side, virtuously eating my raw vegetables, 0:01:26.516 --> 0:01:29.476 as well as reading a book. It was a novel 0:01:29.716 --> 0:01:34.036 about a formerly successful, newly middle aged man, recently single, 0:01:34.596 --> 0:01:39.476 who decides to travel to find himself. Yeah, if it 0:01:39.476 --> 0:01:45.676 had been a podcast, I'd have a copyright claim. Palm 0:01:45.756 --> 0:01:50.516 Trees Swede American songbook music dribbled out some invisible speakers. 0:01:52.156 --> 0:01:55.596 Two young couples entered the pool area, and they looked 0:01:55.756 --> 0:01:59.316 as if they were from Central Casting, which, considering this 0:01:59.396 --> 0:02:03.996 was LA, might have been the case. They were all slim, smiling, 0:02:04.116 --> 0:02:07.156 and wearing black bathing suits, the men in trunks, the 0:02:07.196 --> 0:02:10.196 women in bikinis. They called over the waiter and ordered 0:02:10.236 --> 0:02:13.116 a round of spritzes. I looked down at my long 0:02:13.156 --> 0:02:16.796 sleeved sweater and corduroy slacks, forked a tiddley wink of 0:02:16.876 --> 0:02:19.676 radish into my mouth and went back to my book. 0:02:25.356 --> 0:02:29.556 Earlier that day, I'd walked along Hollywood boulevards, concrete galaxy 0:02:29.596 --> 0:02:34.636 of stars floating amidst the Milky Way of celebrities for tourists, 0:02:34.756 --> 0:02:38.916 street merchants, and unhoused people. Soon I found myself in 0:02:38.956 --> 0:02:43.236 front of the famous Hollywood landmark, Gramin's Chinese Theater, built 0:02:43.236 --> 0:02:47.876 in nineteen twenty seven by Sid Grammin. Built to look 0:02:47.916 --> 0:02:50.516 like a Chinese pagoda, It's set back from the street 0:02:50.596 --> 0:02:53.716 and has kind of a courtyard outfront. The story goes 0:02:53.716 --> 0:02:56.036 that when they were completing construction on it. Sid was 0:02:56.076 --> 0:02:58.876 inspecting things with an actress who stepped into the wet 0:02:58.916 --> 0:03:03.156 pavement by mistake. Instead of getting upset, Sid got an idea. 0:03:04.836 --> 0:03:07.556 He decided he would invite celebrities to dip their hands 0:03:07.556 --> 0:03:10.636 and feet into the pavement on purpose, and it would 0:03:10.676 --> 0:03:13.556 serve as sort of a monument to Hollywood, the town 0:03:13.676 --> 0:03:17.836 that lined his pockets. So the area is covered with 0:03:17.876 --> 0:03:20.596 the feet and hands of the many famous Hollywood stars 0:03:20.596 --> 0:03:24.236 that have come before. You can see Shirley Temple's little feet. 0:03:25.276 --> 0:03:28.396 You can see Carrie Grants also kind of little feet. 0:03:29.796 --> 0:03:31.716 When I was there, I saw a German tourist try 0:03:31.716 --> 0:03:33.956 to fit her hand into scarlet to a Hanson's hand. 0:03:34.916 --> 0:03:37.636 If you look closely, you can see the Melbrook's right 0:03:37.676 --> 0:03:41.756 hand has an extra finger. The comedian secretly wore prosthetic 0:03:41.916 --> 0:03:46.276 when he pressed his hand into the wet concrete. But 0:03:46.356 --> 0:03:48.516 a keen observer would realize that for a place that's 0:03:48.556 --> 0:03:51.636 been around since nineteen twenty seven, there really aren't that 0:03:51.676 --> 0:03:55.796 many slabs, which is odd because stars have been dipping 0:03:55.796 --> 0:04:00.036 their extremities in the concrete at Grammins for nearly a century. 0:04:00.876 --> 0:04:04.236 It turns out the theater removes slabs of sidewalk from 0:04:04.276 --> 0:04:07.356 time to time when a celebrity star is faded, or 0:04:07.636 --> 0:04:09.556 if they just need space to make room for the 0:04:09.596 --> 0:04:13.596 new kid in town, then the imprints of the formerly 0:04:13.636 --> 0:04:18.916 famous are stored somewhere in the theater. I imagine that 0:04:18.956 --> 0:04:22.716 inside Grummins is a room filled with hands and footprints 0:04:22.756 --> 0:04:28.556 that looks like an archaeological dick stacks of concrete indentations 0:04:28.556 --> 0:04:31.556 of people who made their literal mark on the landscape 0:04:31.556 --> 0:04:34.916 of Hollywood and never imagined that the ground could be 0:04:34.916 --> 0:04:37.676 pulled out from under them and they would be replaced 0:04:37.876 --> 0:04:46.836 by someone else. Later, as I'm dutifully eating my salad 0:04:46.876 --> 0:04:49.636 poolside at the hotel, I noticed one of the women 0:04:49.716 --> 0:04:52.676 from the blackclad foursome emerged from the pool, and I 0:04:52.756 --> 0:04:56.956 noticed someone else watching her. It's a silver haired stranger 0:04:57.676 --> 0:05:00.796 who selected a lounge chair one seat away from the couples, 0:05:01.196 --> 0:05:04.316 despite the many other available chairs around the pool. He 0:05:04.396 --> 0:05:06.796 looks to be what would be called a silver fox, 0:05:07.676 --> 0:05:11.436 gray hair, lean tan body, his white teeth flashed in 0:05:11.476 --> 0:05:15.436 the sun. He smiles and appears to start talking to 0:05:15.476 --> 0:05:17.796 the woman, while she looks on with that kind of 0:05:17.836 --> 0:05:20.396 grimace of someone who doesn't want to be rude, but 0:05:20.596 --> 0:05:25.996 is thinking what's going on here? Finally, her partner stands 0:05:26.076 --> 0:05:27.796 up and puts his arm around her, and they turned 0:05:27.836 --> 0:05:32.116 back to the other couple. The fox keeps chatting with them, 0:05:32.116 --> 0:05:35.036 even though their body language their backs mostly turned towards 0:05:35.116 --> 0:05:40.516 him indicate that they'd rather he didn't. At last, he 0:05:40.596 --> 0:05:43.916 took a hint, stood up and jumped in the pool, 0:05:44.596 --> 0:05:48.756 did a lap, and returned to his lounge chair. I 0:05:48.836 --> 0:05:53.356 closed my book. As I returned to my room, I 0:05:53.436 --> 0:05:56.436 walked by the couples and the silver Fox, and that's 0:05:56.436 --> 0:06:00.076 when I recognized him. He was an actor who started 0:06:00.156 --> 0:06:03.076 Who's the Boss, one of the most popular sitcoms of 0:06:03.116 --> 0:06:05.316 the eighties. When I was a kid, it was on 0:06:05.396 --> 0:06:08.556 all the time, and yet that hit shows last season 0:06:09.276 --> 0:06:12.916 was in nineteen ninety two, which is probably before the 0:06:12.916 --> 0:06:17.436 couple he'd been chatting with We're even born to them. 0:06:17.476 --> 0:06:21.716 He was just a guy interrupting their pool day. As 0:06:21.756 --> 0:06:24.396 I passed, I noticed the footprints he'd made stepping out 0:06:24.436 --> 0:06:32.276 of the pool, evaporating in the sun. All that is 0:06:32.276 --> 0:06:34.436 to say that novel I was reading by the pool 0:06:35.036 --> 0:06:38.356 really good. It was called Less. It won a Pulitzer 0:06:39.236 --> 0:06:42.596 and today I'm gonna be talking with the author. I'm 0:06:42.596 --> 0:06:45.756 Brendan Francis Newnham. This is Not Lost, and I'll be 0:06:45.876 --> 0:07:01.716 right back after this break. Welcome back to episode one 0:07:01.876 --> 0:07:05.676 of Not Lost Chat, my series of conversations with fellow travelers. 0:07:06.076 --> 0:07:11.596 I'm Brendan Francis Nunham, audio producer, journalist, dinner freeloader, and 0:07:12.116 --> 0:07:14.876 for the next half dozen or so episodes, I'm going 0:07:14.956 --> 0:07:17.756 to be doing something a little bit different. I will 0:07:17.796 --> 0:07:21.836 be in a studio speaking with writers, musicians, actors, and 0:07:21.916 --> 0:07:26.156 others about their journeys. Someday in the future I'll be 0:07:26.156 --> 0:07:28.076 out in the field going on more journeys on my own. 0:07:28.516 --> 0:07:32.596 But until then, we have this to enjoy. Also, since 0:07:32.876 --> 0:07:35.676 so many of you have been asking me for practical 0:07:35.676 --> 0:07:39.036 travel information, which if you've listened to the show, I 0:07:39.116 --> 0:07:42.116 clearly don't have a lot of. In each of these episodes, 0:07:42.156 --> 0:07:45.636 I've invited a frequent traveler of some renown. We will 0:07:45.636 --> 0:07:49.676 help answer your questions. But first, about that book I 0:07:49.756 --> 0:07:54.036 was reading by the pool in Hollywood. Less is named 0:07:54.196 --> 0:07:58.276 after its protagonist, Arthur Less, who is a mildly successful 0:07:58.316 --> 0:08:00.996 author who was surprised to find himself middle aged and 0:08:01.076 --> 0:08:05.036 a Drift. The author of Less is Andrew shown Grier, 0:08:05.076 --> 0:08:08.596 who coincidentally, I'm sure is also a novelist and travel 0:08:08.636 --> 0:08:12.196 writer probably definitely not a drift. After he won a 0:08:12.276 --> 0:08:15.636 Poulter for Less, he wrote a sequel called Less is Lost, 0:08:16.276 --> 0:08:18.436 and I wanted to talk with him about these books. 0:08:18.596 --> 0:08:22.636 So I decided to reach out Andrew Shan Greer, thanks 0:08:22.636 --> 0:08:24.956 for green to chat with me. I'm happy to be here. 0:08:24.996 --> 0:08:27.956 And also it seems like a perfect fit for maybe 0:08:27.996 --> 0:08:31.036 able to be on this podcast. It, I mean, it 0:08:31.076 --> 0:08:34.676 really is in fact, so I'm not to be a 0:08:34.756 --> 0:08:37.236 modest but you know, recently New York Magazine named Not 0:08:37.396 --> 0:08:40.236 Lost one of the best podcasts of twenty twenty two, 0:08:40.516 --> 0:08:44.396 and in the review describing Not Losses said, quote kind 0:08:44.396 --> 0:08:47.476 of has the slight energy of Andrew Shong Grier's Less, 0:08:47.876 --> 0:08:53.916 But let's not oversell it. What right I think that? 0:08:53.956 --> 0:08:56.916 To make you read that correctly? I think I think 0:08:56.996 --> 0:08:59.916 I think I was nagged by the reporter. But anyway, 0:09:00.076 --> 0:09:03.396 nonetheless he piqued my interest. But yes, for better or worse, 0:09:03.516 --> 0:09:05.796 I feel like the journey I took on this show, 0:09:05.836 --> 0:09:08.956 at least for season one, mirrored that of your part 0:09:09.116 --> 0:09:13.676 agonist Arthur lest Essentially, you know, he's a mildly successful 0:09:13.716 --> 0:09:17.236 novelist in the throes of middle age who in the 0:09:17.276 --> 0:09:19.876 first book goes on a journey to avoid the agony 0:09:19.876 --> 0:09:23.556 of attending the marriage of his ex boyfriend. And yes, 0:09:23.596 --> 0:09:26.316 all that does, except for the last part, sound eerily familiar. 0:09:27.316 --> 0:09:30.076 And in the first book he goes from San Francisco 0:09:30.116 --> 0:09:32.476 to New York to Mexico City, to Berlin, to Paris, 0:09:32.476 --> 0:09:35.476 to Morocco and then India. And in the most recent 0:09:35.516 --> 0:09:37.796 book he's in need of money and he ends up 0:09:37.836 --> 0:09:41.636 traveling around the US. And so I guess, just stepping 0:09:41.636 --> 0:09:46.676 way back, why is Arthur Less always traveling? I would 0:09:46.676 --> 0:09:49.516 say it started off as a very practical reason, which 0:09:49.556 --> 0:09:51.436 is that I was in order to make a buck, 0:09:51.476 --> 0:09:54.876 because I'm just a novelist. I was pitching myself as 0:09:54.876 --> 0:09:57.796 a travel writer, and I would pitch ideas to in 0:09:57.956 --> 0:10:01.756 flight magazines for United and stuff like that. Yeah, so 0:10:01.796 --> 0:10:04.876 I was already finding myself traveling around. And I was 0:10:04.916 --> 0:10:08.716 working on a novel about a sad, sack, middle aged 0:10:08.916 --> 0:10:11.036 game a man in San Francisco, and the novel was 0:10:11.076 --> 0:10:13.116 just a drag and I thought, what if I make 0:10:13.196 --> 0:10:15.996 him travel? What if I have memories of travel because 0:10:15.996 --> 0:10:18.476 I have all these notes, because if you're a travel 0:10:18.476 --> 0:10:22.036 writer or sitting alone in a restaurant in Saigon for 0:10:22.156 --> 0:10:26.636 hours just writing down what dog walks in, And so 0:10:26.916 --> 0:10:29.276 I thought, I will, I'll use my notes. And I 0:10:29.396 --> 0:10:32.356 enjoyed writing the travels so much that I ditched the 0:10:32.436 --> 0:10:33.916 other part of the novel and I made it a 0:10:33.956 --> 0:10:36.996 comedy about him traveling and it was great fun. And 0:10:37.036 --> 0:10:41.436 I started pitching ideas to fit the novel, not to 0:10:41.476 --> 0:10:43.916 fit where I wanted to go. Yeah, can we talk 0:10:43.956 --> 0:10:46.596 about that for a moment, because, as you just said, 0:10:46.756 --> 0:10:49.756 to help support your creative writing, you work as a 0:10:49.796 --> 0:10:53.276 travel writer. In other words, it's a job. Yeah. Now 0:10:53.396 --> 0:10:55.436 I'm someone who's done some travel writing. I have a 0:10:55.476 --> 0:10:59.636 travel show, and I find that my friends and people 0:10:59.676 --> 0:11:03.076 I meet often forget the fact that it's actually work. 0:11:03.476 --> 0:11:05.276 Does that happen to you? Like, I feel like people 0:11:05.276 --> 0:11:08.756 think it's all Margarita's and cha cha cha. Yeah. People 0:11:09.116 --> 0:11:11.596 people get very envious of my being able to travel. 0:11:12.036 --> 0:11:15.716 But I will tell them like, well, like I just 0:11:15.796 --> 0:11:18.076 took a trip to Australia and I was there for 0:11:18.116 --> 0:11:21.556 three days and then I flew back, And that sounds 0:11:21.636 --> 0:11:23.836 fun to people, and I know how to enjoy it, 0:11:24.236 --> 0:11:28.556 but it is madness, you know. And I'm still suffering 0:11:28.556 --> 0:11:31.876 the jet leg from that for three days in Australia. 0:11:31.956 --> 0:11:33.676 And it was, you know, the first time I went 0:11:33.716 --> 0:11:37.196 to Japan, in fact to research for Less, I was 0:11:37.196 --> 0:11:41.156 only in Kyoto for four days, and you can't do 0:11:41.316 --> 0:11:44.316 very much, especially if you're having to gather information about 0:11:44.556 --> 0:11:47.916 three hotels and five restaurants in that time. You can't 0:11:47.916 --> 0:11:51.116 do much else but eat the same meal five times 0:11:51.116 --> 0:11:54.916 in a row and sleep in very similar hotels. So 0:11:54.996 --> 0:11:57.436 you have to get used to that tedium. You mentioned 0:11:57.476 --> 0:12:00.596 that you drew from your notebook in many of Arthur's misadventures. 0:12:00.996 --> 0:12:02.876 So what about the most recent book, where Less is 0:12:02.876 --> 0:12:05.556 traveling across the United States. As I understand it, you 0:12:05.556 --> 0:12:08.236 yourself also drove across the United States in an RV. 0:12:09.316 --> 0:12:11.556 Kind of things occurred on your journey that ended up 0:12:11.596 --> 0:12:13.876 making it in the book. Yeah. I took two different 0:12:13.956 --> 0:12:16.356 RV trips. One was like a big Cruise America RV 0:12:16.596 --> 0:12:20.676 through the Southwest, and the second was these handmade little 0:12:20.756 --> 0:12:25.276 camper vans this guy makes out of Atlanta. What never 0:12:25.356 --> 0:12:27.436 made it in was when I would get the story 0:12:27.516 --> 0:12:30.396 of the diner cook who would tell me your life story. 0:12:30.396 --> 0:12:33.596 I didn't put anything like that in, but I would 0:12:33.636 --> 0:12:35.796 put in things like when I went to a rural 0:12:35.876 --> 0:12:39.156 bar outside of Muscle Show's, Alabama and it was kind 0:12:39.196 --> 0:12:41.116 of like a Peewee Herman movie where I walk in 0:12:41.196 --> 0:12:45.076 and the jukebox stops and everyone stares at me. I 0:12:45.156 --> 0:12:48.036 put that down verbatim in the novel because I thought 0:12:48.036 --> 0:12:51.036 it was so funny. I did not belong in that 0:12:51.076 --> 0:12:55.556 bar and they were awfully nice to me. Well, you 0:12:55.596 --> 0:12:58.836 allude to this a little bit in Definitely Less is Lost. 0:12:58.876 --> 0:13:02.156 But you know, traveling across the United States as a 0:13:02.196 --> 0:13:04.876 gay man is I'm assuming different than it was for 0:13:04.996 --> 0:13:08.676 me as just a straight white guy. First of all, 0:13:08.676 --> 0:13:10.356 I was saying, I don't think it's different at all. 0:13:10.476 --> 0:13:13.476 I don't know anything about you, but I bet the 0:13:13.996 --> 0:13:17.276 awkwardness of feeling foreign in your own country is something 0:13:17.316 --> 0:13:20.116 a lot of people share, and that it's most apparent 0:13:20.476 --> 0:13:23.756 for me that people can sense something different about me, 0:13:23.836 --> 0:13:26.636 but they can't quit put their finger on it. And 0:13:26.716 --> 0:13:28.476 that's what happened when I showed up at the RV 0:13:28.636 --> 0:13:31.556 park and there was a woman who said, now you're 0:13:31.596 --> 0:13:33.076 not from here are you? And I said I was 0:13:33.076 --> 0:13:35.236 from Maryland and she said, now, I thought you're from 0:13:35.236 --> 0:13:39.836 the Netherlands. There was just something about me she couldn't 0:13:39.916 --> 0:13:43.556 quite name that was not what she would call American, 0:13:43.756 --> 0:13:47.116 and I knew what it was. But that was actually 0:13:47.316 --> 0:13:49.916 the real surprise to me going around is that as 0:13:49.996 --> 0:13:52.396 much as I dressed myself up in Walmart when I 0:13:52.436 --> 0:13:55.476 thought was straight guyed clothing, everybody knew I was gay yea, 0:13:55.676 --> 0:13:57.636 whether they knew that's what they were talking about or not. 0:13:57.956 --> 0:14:01.556 And it was not dangerous for me. Yeah. So maybe 0:14:01.596 --> 0:14:04.196 stepping back to Arthur, and I guess I am asking 0:14:04.196 --> 0:14:07.436 this about you too, Like what is the appeal of travel? 0:14:08.316 --> 0:14:11.076 I think it's two things, and I don't share necessarily 0:14:11.116 --> 0:14:14.636 both of them. One is the sense of being wrong 0:14:14.996 --> 0:14:18.356 all the time. And if you are wrong at home 0:14:18.396 --> 0:14:20.676 all the time about like how to order a bagel, 0:14:20.916 --> 0:14:23.836 you're kind of like a loser. But when you travel, 0:14:24.276 --> 0:14:26.676 being wrong is like the name of the game, Like 0:14:26.836 --> 0:14:30.756 that's part of the experience, is to challenge yourself with 0:14:30.796 --> 0:14:34.436 There are other ways to get onto a subway or 0:14:35.316 --> 0:14:37.236 the different people around the world have a different idea 0:14:37.276 --> 0:14:40.676 of what a sidewalk is you start to realize that 0:14:40.756 --> 0:14:43.916 it's arbitrary the system you thought should always be in place, 0:14:43.916 --> 0:14:48.116 and that's eye opening and liberating because if you make mistakes, 0:14:48.196 --> 0:14:51.596 that's normal. Yeah, so that's good for him. He is 0:14:51.636 --> 0:14:57.516 a character who is utterly innocent about the sort of 0:14:57.596 --> 0:15:00.876 dangers of the world or the problems he himself is causing. 0:15:01.196 --> 0:15:03.716 And then at the end of each he keeps choosing 0:15:04.236 --> 0:15:07.516 doubling down on innocence. You know, like, the next town 0:15:07.596 --> 0:15:09.236 is going to be better. I'm going to get it 0:15:09.316 --> 0:15:12.436 right this time. I'm sure. I'm sure it's going to improve, 0:15:12.876 --> 0:15:15.756 which I found really sweet to write about and which 0:15:15.756 --> 0:15:18.196 I think is part of travel too. You're like, well, 0:15:18.556 --> 0:15:21.196 let's try the next town. You know, who knows what's 0:15:21.236 --> 0:15:24.476 going to happen there. I consider travel kind of the 0:15:24.556 --> 0:15:27.596 laziest form of learning in that sense too, where you 0:15:27.716 --> 0:15:30.036 arrive in a place and just waking up, getting breakfast, 0:15:30.476 --> 0:15:33.756 getting somewhere, getting a cup of coffee. You're learning all across, 0:15:33.916 --> 0:15:36.596 you know, just by survival, because you know you're in 0:15:36.596 --> 0:15:39.796 a different place. You might be a better traveler than 0:15:39.836 --> 0:15:41.956 I am, though I already have that sense that I 0:15:42.876 --> 0:15:45.436 am quite incompetent at those but I agree it's it's 0:15:45.476 --> 0:15:50.356 a great learning experience. Now, when I've done traditional travel writing, 0:15:50.596 --> 0:15:54.076 I've found that the frame is too limiting, like you 0:15:54.116 --> 0:15:56.716 have to leave out all the stuff that's the best 0:15:56.716 --> 0:15:59.396 part of traveling. Oh yeah, random meeting of people, Yeah 0:15:59.476 --> 0:16:03.316 yeah yeah, misadventures, romance, whatever. And when I was making 0:16:03.356 --> 0:16:05.196 this show, I tried to make it in a way 0:16:05.236 --> 0:16:08.196 where I could include all of that stuff. And I'm 0:16:08.196 --> 0:16:10.996 wondering if you kind of viewed your novels in a 0:16:11.036 --> 0:16:13.916 similar fashion, like that they were a place you could 0:16:13.956 --> 0:16:16.116 open up about what it's really like to go somewhere. 0:16:16.236 --> 0:16:19.956 I think you're totally right. Like I in the books, 0:16:20.036 --> 0:16:23.756 I don't have to put in every restaurant that I've 0:16:23.796 --> 0:16:27.196 been assigned, or sit down with the manager for two 0:16:27.196 --> 0:16:29.116 hours as they take you on a hotel to where 0:16:29.116 --> 0:16:30.756 you're never going to put in the article, you know, 0:16:30.836 --> 0:16:35.756 all those really important parts when they need a sidebar 0:16:35.996 --> 0:16:38.236 of like you know, five places to get a great 0:16:38.236 --> 0:16:40.676 bond me in ho Chi Min City. I didn't have 0:16:40.756 --> 0:16:44.076 to do that for the book, but for less everything 0:16:44.116 --> 0:16:47.516 else got put into the book because you're right, you 0:16:47.556 --> 0:16:50.996 can't put things that are too personal. So when you're 0:16:51.036 --> 0:16:53.076 you know this is your second this is the follow 0:16:53.156 --> 0:16:55.836 up to Less. When you're touring for these books or 0:16:55.836 --> 0:16:57.756 people are talking about them, why do you think they 0:16:58.396 --> 0:17:03.596 enjoy them so much? I people tell me. I can 0:17:03.596 --> 0:17:07.036 only report what people tell me. They find them to 0:17:07.156 --> 0:17:10.916 be like a big, warm hug, that's what everyone says. Now. 0:17:11.156 --> 0:17:13.196 I don't know if I wrote them as a hug, 0:17:13.636 --> 0:17:16.716 but I do think that it's because I'm not making 0:17:16.716 --> 0:17:19.996 fun of the places I'm going to. They're not cruel. 0:17:20.676 --> 0:17:23.716 People are, especially after being trapped inside so much that 0:17:23.716 --> 0:17:29.276 they're enjoying this sort of fantasy of travel as trouble, 0:17:29.316 --> 0:17:32.196 where everything certainly is going to turn out okay. Because 0:17:32.236 --> 0:17:35.236 I think in a comedy you have there's a tacit 0:17:35.316 --> 0:17:37.756 understanding with the author that it's not funny unless it 0:17:37.836 --> 0:17:41.316 turns out okay. So we're going to laugh assuming that's 0:17:41.356 --> 0:17:44.116 how it's going to be, and when you're actually traveling, 0:17:44.476 --> 0:17:47.716 you're not sure that's how it's going to be. Yeah, 0:17:47.756 --> 0:17:51.476 that's where the panic comes in. Like these books aren't 0:17:51.516 --> 0:17:54.556 simply hugs, Like they contain a certain amount of pathos. 0:17:54.796 --> 0:17:57.676 Arthur is a little heartbroken and a drift. You know, 0:17:57.756 --> 0:17:59.796 he's single at middle age, while most of his friends 0:17:59.796 --> 0:18:03.316 are in couples. And actually, on that point in particular, 0:18:03.916 --> 0:18:06.996 I have a question for you. Yeah, absolutely, How would 0:18:06.996 --> 0:18:11.596 you describe the difference between traveling when single versus traveling 0:18:11.596 --> 0:18:15.196 while in a relationship. Oooh, that is a juicy question. 0:18:16.316 --> 0:18:18.796 I'm not sure I get in there and that liberty 0:18:18.876 --> 0:18:24.476 to answer that fully. Well, they're definitely very different. I 0:18:24.516 --> 0:18:28.796 think when you're single, you're looking for an experience. You 0:18:28.836 --> 0:18:31.556 have the kind of person you would never meet anywhere else, 0:18:31.796 --> 0:18:34.956 and you might find that if you're open to it 0:18:35.036 --> 0:18:37.476 in these in these in places where you go, you're 0:18:37.476 --> 0:18:41.116 open to it. But if you're not single, it's you 0:18:41.156 --> 0:18:43.556 have it. You're open to something different, which is that 0:18:43.636 --> 0:18:45.916 you can't sit at a bar and just talk with 0:18:45.916 --> 0:18:48.396 the locals for hours because you're not trying to pick 0:18:48.436 --> 0:18:51.796 anyone up. Yeah, but so you're never going to get 0:18:51.836 --> 0:18:56.236 that intimate pillow talk from around the world, but you 0:18:56.316 --> 0:19:00.876 do get the bud light talk. Each is different. They 0:19:00.916 --> 0:19:03.396 both had their pros and columns. Yeah, I also think 0:19:03.436 --> 0:19:06.356 I've done both, and I do feel like traveling for 0:19:06.436 --> 0:19:08.476 better worse is a little bit of a narcotic in 0:19:08.556 --> 0:19:11.796 that you're on you know, it is a little bit fantasy, 0:19:11.916 --> 0:19:14.236 and part of the allure is that anything can happen, 0:19:14.716 --> 0:19:18.636 whereas when you're with someone, even if they're not with you, 0:19:18.876 --> 0:19:21.676 there is a ballast, which is a good thing but 0:19:21.796 --> 0:19:25.196 also changes the experience. Couldn't you get close enough to 0:19:25.236 --> 0:19:29.076 the fire where there's a little vibration of possibility and 0:19:29.116 --> 0:19:31.476 you're like, actually, I don't have to push the button. 0:19:31.516 --> 0:19:33.156 I can't push the button, so I don't have to, 0:19:33.236 --> 0:19:35.516 but I can just still imagine what might have happened. 0:19:35.836 --> 0:19:42.556 Good Night, everybody, you know, well, Andy, thank you so 0:19:42.636 --> 0:19:45.476 much for coming to chat with me, and thanks for 0:19:45.596 --> 0:19:49.956 making these books. They're they're just wonderful and inspiring me 0:19:50.076 --> 0:19:51.876 to want to go hit the road for me too, 0:19:52.476 --> 0:19:54.556 And I've just left the road. Thanks so much for 0:19:54.636 --> 0:19:58.276 chatting with me today. Thank you for having me. Andrew 0:19:58.316 --> 0:20:02.236 Sean Greer's most recent book is called Less's Lost. I 0:20:02.276 --> 0:20:04.116 saw it at the airport when I was returning from 0:20:04.276 --> 0:20:08.076 la which to me that means you've made it. Forget 0:20:08.076 --> 0:20:10.596 the Pulitzer. If they're selling your book next to the 0:20:10.836 --> 0:20:13.916 neck Pillows and Peanut M and M's, you are a 0:20:13.916 --> 0:20:18.036 popular author. And speaking of airports, it's almost time for 0:20:18.116 --> 0:20:20.516 us to talk about the less sexy parts of traveling. 0:20:20.876 --> 0:20:23.836 So after a quick break, comedian and master of impressions, 0:20:23.916 --> 0:20:27.836 Jay Farrow channels a former president to help me answer 0:20:27.876 --> 0:20:30.236 some of your travel questions. If I'm sitting in the 0:20:30.316 --> 0:20:35.476 seat and the person beside me is acting our rate, 0:20:35.596 --> 0:20:39.516 I'm going to call a flight attendant before I stick 0:20:39.596 --> 0:20:45.156 my size thirteen foot up there, tiny ass, not lost, 0:20:45.316 --> 0:20:58.956 We'll be right back. So I asked some of you 0:20:59.116 --> 0:21:02.996 to send me travel etiquete questions via my small but 0:21:03.236 --> 0:21:08.796 mighty social media channels. BF Newnham on Twitter. Thank you, 0:21:09.716 --> 0:21:13.476 I asked because during my recent excursion to La I 0:21:13.596 --> 0:21:16.116 realized that I've kind of forgotten how to be with 0:21:16.156 --> 0:21:22.556 other people in public, specifically in airports, in shuttles, in hotels. Anyway, 0:21:22.796 --> 0:21:25.556 you gave me some great questions, and today I have 0:21:25.716 --> 0:21:29.276 actor and comedian Jay Farrow here to answer some of them. 0:21:29.916 --> 0:21:32.316 Jay is best known as being that guy on Saturday 0:21:32.436 --> 0:21:37.076 Night Live who did amazing impressions of Barack Obama, Kendrick Lamar, 0:21:37.276 --> 0:21:41.036 Kevin Hart, and countless others. He has gone on to 0:21:41.076 --> 0:21:45.436 work on a number of TV shows and movies, including Unsane, White, Famous, 0:21:45.716 --> 0:21:49.316 and most recently comedy centrals out of office, and he 0:21:49.356 --> 0:21:52.076 also does stand up, which is where he started. And 0:21:52.116 --> 0:21:54.716 he's currently on tour all over the world, which means 0:21:54.916 --> 0:21:58.916 he's traveling a lot. And Jay, welcome, glad you're here. 0:21:59.516 --> 0:22:01.916 Tell me how do you feel about all this traveling. 0:22:02.516 --> 0:22:04.556 It's only a pain in the ass if I have 0:22:04.676 --> 0:22:07.756 to ride air lines because they're trash. You know what 0:22:07.796 --> 0:22:11.156 I mean. They really not a good airline. It was 0:22:11.196 --> 0:22:14.436 messed up. That was so bad. One time I ended 0:22:14.516 --> 0:22:18.956 up getting the mechanical problems and um, we took off 0:22:18.996 --> 0:22:21.836 from Texas and then we got stuck in Portland and 0:22:21.956 --> 0:22:25.716 my destination was Virginia, Like what, why do we go back? 0:22:26.436 --> 0:22:30.036 Why do we go back here? Yeah, that's the wrong direction. Absolutely. 0:22:30.316 --> 0:22:32.116 I like it when it's a straight flight, and I 0:22:32.236 --> 0:22:34.796 like when I have my bag. That's the only listen. 0:22:34.836 --> 0:22:37.236 As long as I can get my bag back. I'm 0:22:37.316 --> 0:22:39.676 good man, because I got oils and stuff in there 0:22:39.756 --> 0:22:41.916 that I need for my hair, you know what I mean. 0:22:42.036 --> 0:22:44.796 I've got I've got essentials that I need for the 0:22:44.876 --> 0:22:48.036 Jay Ferrell package. Are you a carry on guy or 0:22:48.076 --> 0:22:50.756 you or check? I got? I have so much stuff 0:22:50.796 --> 0:22:53.236 I have to check in check. I'm a check in guy. 0:22:53.516 --> 0:22:56.156 I feel like it's underrated frankly because you once you 0:22:56.236 --> 0:22:58.276 drop off your big bag, It's like life is a 0:22:58.276 --> 0:23:01.436 lot easier when you're gonna in and around the airport. Yeah, man, 0:23:01.476 --> 0:23:03.636 I got a question. Do you fit when you travel? 0:23:03.796 --> 0:23:06.116 Do you still put your mask on? Because I kind 0:23:06.116 --> 0:23:08.356 of feel like the only sub zero out here? What 0:23:08.356 --> 0:23:09.916 do you mean by sub era that you do wear 0:23:09.956 --> 0:23:13.356 your mask? Yeah? I wear my mask. I The only 0:23:13.356 --> 0:23:15.956 reason I don't recently is because I had COVID, So 0:23:15.996 --> 0:23:18.156 I feel like I'm in that sixty day window where 0:23:18.156 --> 0:23:20.516 I get to like do whatever I want. You know, 0:23:20.556 --> 0:23:23.076 even if the pandemic didn't exist. A mask in an airplane, 0:23:23.116 --> 0:23:25.556 isn't it bad? I don't like like being so close 0:23:25.596 --> 0:23:28.236 to all these strangers in the recycled error me neither. 0:23:28.396 --> 0:23:31.516 I still do a social distancing. I'm like your backup 0:23:31.556 --> 0:23:34.436