Entertainment Behind The Scenes

In this blog post, we go behind the scenes and hear the opinions of multiple individuals in the entertainment business, present and past. They talk about their daily lives and what they see on a day to day basis. In this edition of David Plotz's "Working", we hear from Stephen Colbert in "How does Stephen Colbert Work?" We also read "Hots Michaels" from Studs Terkel's Working. In addition, I also chose to read "Rip Torn" and "Jill Torrance" from Working as well. 

Steven Colbert, as most of us know, is a very successful comedian and TV personality. He is a writer, producer, and main cast member on the Comedy Central show "Colbert Report" The show has been a major hit and has even earned Colbert the new "Late Show" role on CBS, replacing long time host David Letterman. This was not mentioned in Plotz's podcast due to Colbert just recently being offered the job. Throughout the podcast, Colbert goes into further detail with Plotz on what he and his crew do on a daily basis to make the show so successful. After the details of makeup, pre show rituals and final touch ups, Plotz's asks Colbert if doing the show is an intellectual process or a physical process. Colbert answers by saying, "Writing and producing the show is an intellectual process, performing the show is far more athletic" As you can see, Colbert has separated and mastered both ends of his job with the writing and acting. All the successes that he has conquered on Comedy Central has truly payed off in earning him one of the premiere late night shows. 

Next, we read "Hots Micheals" from Studs Terkel's book Working. Michael works as a hotel pianist and seems to genuinely love his job and the different types of people he encounters. A pure example of how we know Micheal loves his job is when he says, "If I were suddenly to inherit four million dollars, I guarantee you I’d be playin’ piano, either here or at some other place.” He even says too that his playing in the is not affected by the amount of tip money he receives or not. You just get a general tone from him that money does matter to him, but the piano and different people every night do.

After that, we read about Jill Torrance, a high fashion photography model. Jill, like many models of today, had started out by going to New York at the age of 18. The crazy thing about Jill was that she has never had any aspirations to be a model. In today's day in age, girls grow up dreaming of becoming a model, but Jill had never done that. She says, "I had never put anything on but lipstick and had never worn high heel shoes" I think this is crazy that she improvised her college plan into making a career out of modeling. She talks about the different types of jobs she does in different places throughout the country and says she could never imagine doing anything else. Overall, even though she has a different outlook on her job, she is always improvising to what needs to be done, just like everyone else in the entertainment business.

Lastly, we read about Rip Torn, an actor from a small town in East Texas. Torn believes that acting is almost an escape for him. Torn says, “The theater would be the place for my flaws to be my strengths” Torn is drawn to acting because he believes he can use areas from where he is critiqued in reality, but may use them to become a better actor. Also, Torn talks about pride in your work toward the end of the chapter. He says, “You do the best you can with that. You try to make it a little better for your own self-respect. That’s what’s changed in the nature of work in this country—the lack of pride in the work itself. A man’s life is his work” I think this is a very strong statement and you can see how he feels about work itself. This opinion from Torn could be tied in with everything we have talked about in class about how people feel about their work. 

Overall, I think the entertainment business is a tough thing to succeed in. I have respect for each and every one of these individuals who never lost hope in their careers and did what they needed to stay afloat. 

Would You Manage A Manual Labor Job?

From the beginning of the semester, up until this current point, and until the very end of this semester we will hear about manual labor careers. For example, we have read about farming, working in a factory, and being a specific type of mechanic, but could you imagine doing back breaking labor for the rest of your life? I just don't think that many of us are able to put into perspective how hard some people work in order to keep themselves afloat in todays society. As you read on you will hear more about the daily lives of some men who chose the careers in the manual labor field. 

In Studs Terkel's book Working, we read about Mike Lefevre, as well as "Lincoln James, a Factory Mechanic." We also get to hear from John Lefever in David Plotz's podcast "How Does an Appliance Repairman Work" Each of these pieces goes into the lives of individual men who have dedicated their lives to manual labor.

First, work for Lincoln James is just more than just making money. Terkel quotes James on various occasions in the chapter stating that he is a hard worker and could not imagine not working. Lincoln says, "I like what I'm doing.  I never been laid off in thirty-six years.  I look forward to going to work.  I'd be lost if I wasn't working" (112). Even though some people may think Lincoln's work is back breaking and worthless, he seems to have found meaning with his job. After reading about James Lincoln, we enter the work life of Mike Lefevre. 

Next up is Lefevre, a laborer.  He works long days doing hard physical labor.  Lefevre likes to be able to point out something that he has created, , "I made that."  He says, "I'd like to make my imprint.  My dodo bird.  A mistake, mine.  Let's say the whole building is nothing but red bricks.  I'd like to have just the black one or the white one or the purple one" He wants to be able to point something out to his family and show them what he's done. This gives him a huge boost of confidence and creates pride in what he does. He believes even though he sometimes he makes a mistake, it's still his mistake. His mistake is noticeable and makes him realize he did it. 

After reading each piece, we listened to Slate's podcast "How Does an Appliance Repairman Work?" David Plotz interviewed a man named John Lefever, who has been an appliance repairman. He, like Lincoln James, truly enjoys his job. There are many instances throughout the podcast where Plotz exploits Lefever's willingness to go above and beyond the job description of an appliance repairman. Plotz uses a comparison of  him as a doctor, who "visits each of his patients at their homes and correctly diagnoses the proper treatments" I believe this is shows a lot of character for John and shows that his work means more to him than just a job that pays him. 

Something to leave you with: 

Would you be able to share the same passion that these men have for their work, even thought it is so physically demanding?