Episode 684
Paul F. Tompkins and Meklit
Comedian and podcaster Paul F. Tompkins chats about taking his variety show Varietopia back on the road after his (surprise!) coronation as Live Wire's most frequently appearing guest; and vocalist Meklit offers her exquisite blend of Ethio-jazz during a performance of the track "Tizita" from her new album A Piece of Infinity.
Paul F. Tompkins
Comedian, Actor, and Writer
Paul F. Tompkins is a comedian, actor, and writer who the Los Angeles Times describes as "a mix of Mark Twain, old-timey radio entertainer and vaudeville actor for the internet age." He's appeared on over two hundred episodes of Comedy Bang! Bang! and hosts popular podcasts including Threedom, The Neighborhood Listen, and Spontaneanation. An Emmy-nominated writer on Mr. Show, Tompkins also hosted TV shows like Best Week Ever and voiced Mr. Peanutbutter on the Netflix animated series Bojack Horseman. In his long-running live show Varietopia, he blends stand-up, character work, and improvisation, always in his signature suit and tie.
Meklit
Ethio-Jazz Singer-Songwriter
Meklit Hadero, an Ethio-American vocalist, mixes the sounds of East Africa and the Bay Area so smoothly, Silicon Valley should use her process to make a super blender. Her latest album When the People Move, the Music Moves Too was called “compelling and wholly her own” by Afropop Worldwide. A singer-songwriter with a love of collaboration, she’s also a TED Senior Fellow whose talk “The Unexpected Beauty of Everyday Sounds” has been viewed over 1.2 million times. Meklit is also the host of the podcast Movement, where she tells stories of global migration through music. Get ready to get down with Meklit.
Show Notes
Best News
Elena’s story: “Meet the retiree who realized his dream of joining the LSU marching band as a 66-year-old freshman”
Luke’s story: “29-yo Becomes First Woman to Cross U.S. on a Skateboard–Honoring Stepfather Whose Ashes Were Carried in a Necklace”
Paul F. Tompkins
Paul and Luke hit on a broad range of pop culture references, including: pop artist Olivia Rodrigo, the film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), and comedian Vinny Thomas.
We hear a clip from the podcast Handsome, which is hosted by comedians Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster, and Mae Martin.
Live Wire Listener Question
What’s the most unforgettable surprise you’ve ever experienced?
Station Location Identification Examination (S.L.I.E.)
This week’s shout-out goes to KWSU-AM of Moscow, Idaho.
Meklit
Meklit performs the traditional Ethiopian song “Tizita,” which can be found on her new album, A Piece of Infinity.
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Elena Passarello: From PRX, it's Live Wire. This week, Comedian Paul F. Tompkins.
Paul F. Tompkins: I saw an ad for a squirrel picnic table. It brought me so much joy every single time. It's the same thing over and over again. There's a squirrel coming, taking a nut out of the thing, sitting on the bench and eating it. It was the absolute best. I never got tired of it. It's like, he's sitting at the bench like a person.
Elena Passarello: With music from Meklit and our fabulous house band. I'm your announcer, Elena Passarello:, and now the host of Live Wire, Luke Burbank.
Luke Burbank: Hey, thank you so much, Elena Passarello. Thanks to everyone tuning in from all over the country to this week's Live Wire. We have a great show in store for you this week, including maybe one of the worst lapses in judgment that I've ever made on stage. And that's really saying something that involves a balloon full of glitter, which I'm still finding pieces of in my laptop computer to this day, Elena.
Elena Passarello: Well, I mean, I could think of worse places to still be finding glitter, so.
Luke Burbank: Well, that is true. [Elena: Count your blessings.] Before we get to all that, though, of course, we got to kick things off like we always do with the best news that we heard all week. This is our little reminder that there is in fact, good news happening out there. You just, you got to get up pretty early and you got to really commit yourself to the process of finding. And that's what we do. And we've found some, Elena, what is the best news you've heard all week?
Elena Passarello: Okay, I heard this great story about an Uber driver in Victorville, California, named Diana Morales. She's been driving Uber part-time for three years. She's a mom of two. She's in her late 20s and likes the job. And last November, she picked up a 92-year-old resident named Leroy Burdick. She drove him to church. Leroy is a 92 year-old widower. And he can't drive anymore, but he is in great shape, master conversationalist, apparently, and his daughter books him Ubers when he needs to go to church or to choir practice, which is very important to him, or golfing, which is his other passion. And so he's in Diana's car, and they strike up a conversation, and I guess by the time they get to church, she is just... Just bowled over by this amazing man and how fun he is to talk to and what a sweetie pie he is. So she gives him her phone number and she's like, hey, anytime you need a ride, just give me a call. And that was, you know, almost a year ago and she takes him to golf, to church, to run errands. His church going schedule changed to a day where she's not driving. So their paths weren't necessarily supposed to cross anymore. But who cares, she still finds reasons to pick him up and drive him around. She's not even charging him anymore.
Luke Burbank: Oh my gosh.
Elena Passarello: Like slipping money to her when he can, but you know, like a total grandpa move or whatever. She just loves him. She says that, you know I learned from him that I can have family that isn't my blood relation. I can love someone like a family member. And she's introduced him to her family. And now Leroy takes her eight year old son golfing, got him golf lessons and his first set of clubs. And a couple of times a month, usually on Sundays, they go on these outings as a new kind of, you know, 21st century blended family, which I just think is such a lovely story and makes me want to drive Uber so I can make more nonagenarian friends.
Luke Burbank: Love it, by the way, total violation of Uber policy to give your personal phone number out, and I love it. I think- [Elena: Is it really?] Oh yeah, they don't like that. But listen, Uber can handle it.
Elena Passarello: Yeah, yeah.
Luke Burbank: Uh, the best news that I heard all week involves a, um, a college student named Lauren Choi, who, uh, was at Johns Hopkins niversity recently. And what do you know about being in college, but you know, the college kids, they like to party, right. And what is like the classic sign the day after there has been raging in a college environment, it's all of those red solo cups.
Elena Passarello: Oh yes, the ubiquitous, they're so ubiquitous that when people overseas throw American college parties, that's like the party favors that you have to have red solo cups.
Luke Burbank: There's also nothing more sad than it's the day after and you're just going around stacking up these cups, many of which still have some amount of alcohol in them and there's, you know, Lauren thought there's gotta be something that we could do with these red solo cups because they're getting thrown out and they're plastic and they're going to waste. So she had this idea. Well, maybe you could actually put them into something called an extruder machine, which could then basically spin the plastic from these solo cups into a filament yarn. Now it turns out that machine is very expensive and Lauren Choi is a college student. So she didn't have it. She tried to build one in her parents' garage.
Elena Passarello: Oh, I love this person.
Luke Burbank: It's some real, some real doc Brown from back to the future energy. Uh, it was not successful. Her homemade extruder machine did not work, but she was undaunted. She figured out everything else about the system of taking these solo cups and then turning them into this filament yarn so then they could be spun into fashion, into like sweaters and stuff, but you still needed the machine. So guess who bought her the machine, the Reynolds consumer products company, the parent company of Hefty. The largest producer of plastic solo cups in America.
Elena Passarello: Hey, how did that, how do they figure out about Lauren? Does she get in touch with them?
Luke Burbank: She received grant funding from some part of the Reynolds consumer products, you know, grant situation. It's a pretty big company. They probably do a lot of that stuff. [Elena: Cool.] And, um, so this sort of a match made in heaven. Now, uh, she's got this extruder machine and she has now started this company that's really successful. It's called New Norm. And basically what they do is they take all of these solo cups and they, they get them all together down in North Carolina in Virginia and they shred them up. And then they turn them into this filament yarn. Now, here's the reason that filament yarn is important in this. It is less likely to shed microplastics. So if you turned it into regular spun yarn, that would continue to shed the microplastic and that's a big problem, we all know. So they ship all of this yarn then up to a factory in Brooklyn where they do this 3D knitting where they knit these sweaters. And I've been looking at pictures of these sweatters. They're amazing looking. And they come in all these different colors. Yellow, green, blue, pink, guess what, Elena? They don't have to use any artificial dyes to make the sweaters these colors because that's the color that the Solo cups were.
Elena Passarello: Ah, so not just a red solo cup. You could get solo cups in multiple hues and they're using that to make these vibrantly colored sweaters.
Luke Burbank: Yes, any color that a solo cup could be that was then used, then thrown away, or in this case, not thrown away but recycled, could become a fashionable sweater from this company. They retail for between $45 and $85, which. Not bad. Honestly, not bad at all. So making use out of red solo cups. That's the best news that I've heard all week. All right, our first guest is a comedian, actor, and writer who might have the longest IMDB page in history, at least the longest one that I've seen. It's 177 credits, including as an Emmy-nominated writer on Mr. Show, as the host of the Best Week Ever show, and the voice of Mr. Peanutbutter on the Netflix animated series BoJack Horseman. The LA Times calls him a mix of Mark Twain, old-timey radio entertainer, and vaudeville actor for the internet age. He is none other... Than Paul F. Tompkins. Now, Elaine, I have to tell the listeners, when Paul came on stage, we thought it might be possible, and we haven't verified it, but it's close enough for us, that Paul was going to become the most frequent guest in Live Wire history, at least as of this appearance.
Elena Passarello: Yes, he has to be.
Luke Burbank: And I wanted us to celebrate it by doing something fun on stage, like popping a balloon full of confetti.
Elena Passarello: Oh, this I remember very well.
Luke Burbank: And over us, and my computer, and many of the people in the front row. So it's kind of chaotic for radio. You're gonna hear a balloon popping and a lot going on, but just wanted to give you some context. This is Paul F. Tompkins on live where I recorded at the Alberta Rose Theatre. Check it out. Hello. Paul, do you realize that with your appearance on this episode of Live Wire, you have now set the record for most guest appearances in the history of Live Wire Radio.
Paul F. Tompkins: Wow. [Balloon Pops.]
Luke Burbank: That was so much more glitter than I thought it was going to be Paul. It's a lot. I really apologize.
Paul F. Tompkins: You sprung for the big glitter too, that's nice. [Luke: I'm gonna-] And a little stuff.
Luke Burbank: Now, for those listening on the radio, Paul is, as always, just absolutely fabulously turned out in a beautiful three-piece suit that is now absolutely covered in glitter. [Paul: It feels good.] Sometimes described as the herpes of the art world. Because it will be with you for the rest of your life.
Paul F. Tompkins: It's an insidious creation.
Luke Burbank: It really is.
Elena Passarello: I like that there's a fleck of glitter inside your glasses.
Paul F. Tompkins: I can see it. I'm keeping it in there.
Luke Burbank: I, today, I thought it would be really fun if we could celebrate, uh, Paul's accomplishment and if we can have a little confetti drop. Paul, you are the most available of anyone we've ever booked on the show. And then I said, well, why don't we get a balloon full of glitter? And after saying that, almost every person along the way indicated it was a bad idea. Elena said, are you going to get clearance from Paul about getting on his fine suit? Our photographer said, is Paul a veteran? Will the bursting of the balloon possibly?
Elena Passarello: Oh, good point, good point.
Luke Burbank: Possibly be jarring for him.
Paul F. Tompkins: I'm not a veteran, but I do steal valor.
Luke Burbank: By the way, do not, under any circumstance, to drink your show-provided water. It's more confetti than liquid at this point. You do have, I have to say, Paul, though, in looking over your credits, and particularly with the show comedy Bang Bang, and now with us and Livewire, you are so prolific. Is this, do you just have more energy than some people? Is this like, how do you account for this?
Paul F. Tompkins: I mean, I think I just like to do stuff. I think it's really just that simple. And I do get myself into a situation where I'm doing too many things at the same time. And I used, but I had a turning point after quarantine when I was doing a bunch of shows, I think it was the Comedy Bang Bang Tour, and I think had told myself that I didn't like traveling around and having to do a show in a different place every night. And then I suddenly realized, I love this. This is absolutely, this is all I ever wanted to do when I was a kid and now I'm doing it. Thank you so much. And then it became, I would have respected it. I would've respected it, I was brought, I was brought- [Balloon pops.]
Luke Burbank: I forgot we had a backup balloon. [Paul: I have to respect it, I have to respect it.] I apologize. Speaking of touring around, I want to ask you about Varietopia, this amazing variety show that you're taking around. First, though, and I say this a lot on the show, and I rarely mean it, but we do need to take a break. I mean it this time, because we need to hose Paul F. Tompkins down.
Paul F. Tompkins: No, I refuse. I refuse to be cleaned up. I'm getting in the Uber like this.
Luke Burbank: So we are going to take a very quick break here on Live Wire, back with more in just a moment. Hey, welcome back to Live Wire from PRX. We are at the Alberta Rose Theatre in Portland, Oregon this week. We are talking to the fabulous Paul F. Tompkins from Varietopia and so many other things. So you're out touring your variety show. Can you tell the audience kind of what's a typical night look like? What do you guys tend to do?
Paul F. Tompkins: We will have, we have a band that we travel with. It's a four piece band. It's the classic four piece setup. It is guitar, drums, sousaphone and trumpet. Um, and, uh, the band plays, uh on their own. Uh, we have a musical guest who does a couple of songs. Um, I do, uh a standup monologue, um, getting back into standup again. It's been quite a while. I took like a long break from standup, but I'm slowly learning how to do it again. Um, um I'm still good at it. Yeah. I don't want, if anybody comes to the show. I don't want them to go in thinking, he's still learning how to do it? I remembered. And then we have what I call a variety act, which is something that's neither comedy nor music. And we try to always include that on every show.
Luke Burbank: One thing I was struck by watching various video of the show is that you sing a lot. You have a lovely singing voice.
Paul F. Tompkins: Thank you.
Luke Burbank: It's not a bit per se. I saw that you were singing an Olivia Rodrigo song, [Paul: Yes, yes.] Vampire. [Paul: It's a great song.] You and the band just knocked it out of the park, but I was kind of waiting for where there became an Olivia Rodriguez joke or something. It was just a good ass song that you are performing.
Paul F. Tompkins: Aren't we tired of all these Olivia Rodrigo jokes? Let's move on. It's funny, I've been doing the show in one form or another since 2002, and when I first started doing the show, I would add jokes into the songs. I do a song with a musical guest and it felt sort of, I don't know, I think I was worried about seeming self-indulgent or whatever, and I wouldn't really sing to the fullest extent of my ability and I felt like. I felt like I wasn't allowed to. And then as time went on, I realized, oh, it will actually be better if I do the best I can at this thing that I can do. And it's more fun to have it be unexpected that it sounds good than to have me do a joke, which is more predictable. So then I started getting more and more comfortable with it. And then eventually, I would every once in a while sing a song on my own. And- [Audience: Sing us a song.] No, this is like dead wood or something. Start shooting at my feet.
Luke Burbank: Yeah. The ballad, the ballad of Buster Scruggs. I've got a third balloon under here and it has the name of a song in it. Well, that's the thing though, because I feel like singing earnestly is such a different way of being on stage than doing comedy. [Paul: 100%.] Where there's no irony there. And I'm wondering was that hard for you to get to at a certain point.
Paul F. Tompkins: That was the hardest part because it is vulnerable. Comedian singing is always very dicey because for me, this might resonate with older listeners, but Joe Piscopo is always the example that I go to. [Luke: Sure, sure.] He was a guy who had no business releasing an album but did. [Elena: Yeah, he did.] So that's always, that had always been in the back of my mind. And then I realized like I would rather run towards something like that that I'm afraid of. And try to do it, then forever be running away from it. And it was very freeing. I wanted to surprise the audience as much as possible. We never say who the guests are gonna be on the show. And so when you come, you're gonna see something that you didn't know what it was gonna be, but you're going to maybe discover somebody new that you're now a fan of, or you're go to see something that I've never done before, you know, we just want it to be. As in the moment and as exciting for people as possible.
Luke Burbank: There's another character that frequently appears on the varietopia tour, which is a possum or a video of a possum Can you explain the origins of this video?
Paul F. Tompkins: Absolutely. So, I saw an ad for a squirrel picnic table. Comes with a little umbrella and everything. Looks like a picnic bench. And I said, I have to get that. And then I have to get a nature cam and have it stationed to always capture the squirrels eating the hazelnuts. And it brought me so much joy every single time. It's the same thing over and over again. There's a squirrel coming, taking a nut out of the thing, sitting on the bench and eating it. It was the absolute best. I never got tired of it. It's like, he's sitting at the bench like a person. It was always good. But then also, there's the night shift. If the squirrels have left any hazelnuts behind, then you get your raccoons and your possums coming out. And I had this, I captured this possum sitting at the bench and eating hazelnuts and he's just sitting there chewing for such a long time and it looked like he was talking. So I started- I used this footage so many times. I just have the possums saying different things. And I pitched the voice up a little bit, and it, it works for me every time.
Luke Burbank: Well, there's this trend that's been going around of late of dudes calling their male friends to wish them good night and putting it on speakerphone. [Paul: It's so funny.] To hear the reaction from their male friend. And there is a great video of you calling the possum to wish it good night.
Paul F. Tompkins: Because the friend is always, there's always a pause. The guys, you know, they make small talk for a second and the guy says, okay, well, I just wanted to wish you good night. And then there's a pause and then the guy on the other end of the phone is like, what? And so, like the weekend that this was going viral, we had a show coming up at our home, at Lodge Room in Los Angeles. And so I said, I gotta do this. And I got the very funny Vinny Thomas. Vinny is a comedian who like pushes that button in me. Like his stuff is so silly and so funny. And I've had him on the show a bunch of times. And I said will you be the voice of this possum? We'll just do a Zoom call, and then I'm going to put the footage in later. And so we just improvise this scene where I call up the possum to say goodnight, and he's confused. And then it gets into, gets deeper into our relationship.
Luke Burbank: Yes. You have a robust Wikipedia page, Paul. [Paul: Well, thank you.] And um, but even as somebody with a fairly puny Wikipedia page myself, some of the facts can get a little squishy. You never know what people are going to put up there. I wanted to read a little bit from your Wikipedia page and just fact check this with you. 'Tompkins' stand-up comedy performances are of a storytelling and observationalist style. His shows often consist of extended riffs.' There's so much glitter on this computer screen. [Elena: Yeah, it's a little hard to see.].
Paul F. Tompkins: I'm going to also reveal I have one piece of glitter in my throat right now.
Luke Burbank: 'Tompkins deals with topics of the bizarre and the absurd, such as a rant about peanut brittle.' Can you confirm that you have a rant about peanut brittle?
Paul F. Tompkins: I confirm that I did have a rant about peanut brittle. That's my greatest hit, the peanut brittle bit. [Luke: Is it?] It is the bit that most people will.
Luke Burbank: Oh, okay, well we won't bore them with that then. 'In addition to recounting stories about his own life experience and family, his comedic style has been described as alternative comedy. Tompkins has stated that he is not bothered by that label and that he likes the term.' Can you confirm that you-
Paul F. Tompkins: I'm not bothered by that. And I like it.
Elena Passarello: Citation.
Luke Burbank: 'Tompkins is known for his style of dress during the comedic performances, always performing in a suit and tie, sometimes in pinstripes and with a bow tie. His look has been described by some in the press as dapper.' There's four citations for that.
Paul F. Tompkins: It's true. [Luke: Tompkins-] I've been dapper at least four times.
Luke Burbank: 'Tompkins has described his own look as quote, 'foppish' and quote 'just this side of Cedric the entertainer.' j
Paul F. Tompkins: I did say that once, yeah. That's true.
Luke Burbank: Now, as I was writing these questions out to ask you about, Paul, my computer, the AI that is built into my computer. This is a very real thing. Kept trying to offer to write the questions for me. [Paul: Oh.] Yeah, truly dark stuff. [Paul: Wow.] So I decided to let it, and it wrote five questions. It asked me, this is a real, this is an actual thing from my actual computer, which may never work again with this glitter, but that's fine. Hello, I see you're writing some questions. Do you want me to help you? And I said, okay. And they said, is it gonna be a live event? And I say, yes. And it wrote, this is from the computer. Great! Here's a version of the five questions tailored for a live-event setting. Designed to feel conversational, keep the energy up, and encourage audience engagement. Paul, your characters are absolutely wild, in the best way. [Paul: Oh, in the best way.] When you're coming up with someone like Andrew Lloyd Webber or Cake Boss, how much of that is planned, and how much is you just letting loose? Now, what ChatGPT fails to understand is that these are improvised characters, correct?
Paul F. Tompkins: Right. That's right.
Luke Burbank: How much of it is planned and how much is you just letting loose, Paul?
Paul F. Tompkins: I would say it's one percent planning and then a hundred and one percent letting loose. Yeah, sorry. Sorry.
Luke Burbank: Let's talk style. You're one of the best dressed people in comedy. Was that a conscious decision early on or did it just evolve naturally? Now here's the problem. I believe I've asked you that question in appearances past. Oh, everyone's asked me that question. All on my own stupid brain.
Paul F. Tompkins: It is the number one question that people ask.
Luke Burbank: Really? [Paul: Yeah.] Is that annoying or have you just learned to-
Paul F. Tompkins: Yeah.
Luke Burbank: Hey, Paul, if you could time travel back to give advice to young Paul F. Tompkins, just getting started in comedy, what would you tell him? And would he listen? Actually, I don't think the end of that question is the worst. [Paul: No, it's not.] That's actually kind of good.
Paul F. Tompkins: I'll take the second part first. No.
Luke Burbank: Is it maybe the thing about authenticity? I mean, we're talking about it in the context of music, but the idea that, now I'm going to answer the question for you, but you were talking about singing in, you know, as part of Varietopia and how like it's, it's more interesting and more surprising for you just to do your best job singing the song. And I wonder if there's some of that in comedy too, where being the most arch, being the steeped in irony, the most removed from everything is an initial reaction to try to make comedy, but the better you get at it, the closer you're getting to authenticity and to being kind of vulnerable.
Paul F. Tompkins: Absolutely. I think that if I were to go back to my younger self, comedy or otherwise, the thing that I most would want to say to myself that I would hope my younger self to hear is, hey, relax, man. Just calm down. Everything's fine. Just relax. Because I was so wound up for such a long time, I had such a weird pull between doing my own thing and not thinking about it and also being very much concerned about what people thought of me. Like performing in front of audiences, when you start out and you, you just suck. I mean, it's very rare that people come right out of the box ready to go. You have to go through a period where you're learning how to do it and you're not very good and you have just enough self-delusion. You get just enough laughs that it's like, okay, I'm onto something here. I can keep going.
Luke Burbank: There's omething about this particular stand-up comedy brain. I was a sort of aspiring stand- up comedy comedian after college or whatever, and I would go have a set, and I'd get down off stage and my friends would be like, oh, that was rough. And I would remember the one laugh. [Paul: Yeah, abosolutely.] It would somehow, all the bad parts on stage would sort of leave my mind and I would focus on the one thing that worked. [Paul: Yeah.] I think that's part, I think what keeps people doing it. [Elena: You have to have it.] You have to have that.
Paul F. Tompkins: 100% because it's you feel like all right that's some proof of concept yes that I- I'm not, I didn't get zero laughs. [Luke: Yeah.] It's not zero and they were laughing with me so I'm, I'm gonna keep trying um and so when when when I would bomb it was really hard. I guess it would be for anybody but I was such a, uh a raw nerve in that way. That um, it really hurt. It really hurt every time I bombed. And now I'm at the point where if I, if I should bomb, because nobody's immune to it, I can go out and have a bad set anywhere. You know, and it's it's funny now. You know what I mean? [Luke: Right. Yeah.] It's like, oh, this is funny. I'm doing very poorly. These people aren't enjoying it at all. And I've been doing this for more than half of my life. And this is still happening. That's amusing. [Luke: Right.] Yeah.
Luke Burbank: It's Live Wire Radio. We're talking to the great Paul F. Tompkins. Paul, it has recently been brought to our attention by way of Tig Notaro's wonderful podcast, Handsome, that you, my friend, have a bit of a reputation around Hollywood. [Paul: It's correct.] Let's take a listen.
[Clip: And you know who has the best hands and fingers in comedy? Who? Who? Paul F. Tompkins. Really? Gorgeous fingers. I've never noticed anyone's hands. Beautiful hands. Really? Ever. It's the first thing I notice is hands. The man has beautiful hands.]
Luke Burbank: Beautiful, beautiful hands.
Elena Passarello: Honestly?
Luke Burbank: They are nice. [Paul: It's true.] Let's get eyes on those marvelous minutes. [Paul: Yeah, it's true.] What are you um, what's your secret, Paul F. Tompkins?
Paul F. Tompkins: I was born this way, I'm sorry to tell you and I have steadfastly refused to do anything that would put my hands in danger in any way, including playing the piano. You think a piano doesn't see these hands coming and say, let me at them? Of course, but I keep them pristine. There for one thing and one thing only display. Well, I do like that Tig included and fingers. [Elena: Hands and fingers.] Yeah. [Elena: Because if they said-} Beautiful hands, ugly fingers.
Luke Burbank: Whole package, you're the whole package.
Elena Passarello: But, because if they said, if Tig said that you had the best hands in comedy, that could mean something else.
Paul F. Tompkins: It's very true.
Elena Passarello: So we got to get the fingers in there. [Luke: That's a good point.] So that we understand this is an aesthetic judgment.
Paul F. Tompkins: I think that makes it worse, actually.
Elena Passarello: Oh, it does! Nevermind.
Luke Burbank: Whichever the non-creepy one is, that's what Paul F. Tompkins has. Okay, we figured since we have a recognized nice hand-haver and noted improviser here with us, Paul F Tompkins, we wondered if you would participate in a little, I don't even know if we can call it a game or a contest, an improv exercise. This is a little activity we're calling Only Hands with Paul F Tompkins. I'll just, I'll hand this a little reminder sheet to you. The idea here, and as we practice this, as we rehearsed this in the sound check, we realized just how limited the chances of success are with this particular exercise. We're gonna try it anyways. [Elena: Yeah!] Here's the idea. Paul F. Tompkins, you noted, nice hand-haver. We would like you to try to talk our announcer, Elena Passarello, through an exercise where you're gonna be describing famous hands in movies and TV and pop culture. Okay, these are things where there's a famous scene involving hands. And we would like you to try to describe what the hands are doing in the scene. And Elena, based on that description, is going to try and figure out the movie or TV show or commercial or what have you that you are talking about.
Paul F. Tompkins: Yes. Okay.
Elena Passarello: Do I do the things with my hands? [Luke: If that helps you, sure.] Like when spelling bee, when they spell it with their foot? .
Luke Burbank: Yeah, absolutely, yes. It's also occurring to me that this is radio.
Elena Passarello: Yeah, whoops.
Paul F. Tompkins: That's funny because when I was told this idea, it immediately occurred to me. I was like, it's their show. What am I gonna do?
Luke Burbank: All right, here we go. Let's go with example number one, question number one on only hands with Paul F. Tompkins. What's this person doing with their hands?
Paul F. Tompkins: Put your hands forward and point them towards each other. Okay, well not point. Yes, face them towards each other I should say. Fingers together and then I want you to lightly make a caressing motion, making the hands go opposite each other, no, but sort of you're caressing something in front of you, in front the hands. You're, you're almost sort of hugging the thing with your hands. Okay that's that's much better.
Luke Burbank: Are you getting any ideas Elena?
Elena Passarello: Is this the, uh, unchained melody scene from Ghost?
Luke Burbank: That's exactly right! That's exactly right!
Paul F. Tompkins: All right, now I would like you to make a sort of a praying motion, okay? [Elena: Okay.] But then angle your hands thumb side away from each other. Okay. You know what? No, that's, put it back together. Angle them away from the at the palms. But keep the tips of the fingers together, just move the palms away, keep the hands straight. Now I want you to tap your fingertips against each other. No, no, no. Keep them together. [Luke: Oh, oh.] Keep them together. [Luke: I think I'm picking kind of a this move a little bit.] Yes. Yes, yes, yes.
Elena Passarello: Is that like Dr. Evil?
Luke Burbank: Mm. No, it's- you're on the right track. It's dr. Evil coded
Elena Passarello: Uh, as, uh, um, hmm, Mr. Burns!
Luke Burbank: Yes, that's correct. That's correct.
Elena Passarello: Well done.
Luke Burbank: Have you worked on The Simpsons?
Paul F. Tompkins: I did do an episode of The Simpons. Look, if a show is gonna be on for 40 years, eventually they'll get around to me.
Luke Burbank: Was that as, like, amazing as those of us who've just been fans of the show for years- [Paul: Yeah, it was wild.] just to get to be around them?
Paul F. Tompkins: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I was like losing my mind. I didn't think about it that much. I was, like, oh, that's nice, you know? And then when I got there, I was like, I'm gonna, this is The Simpsons. Yeah, it was a huge deal.
Elena Passarello: I used to live across the street from Tom Savini, the horror movie designer guy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And 25 years ago, he got a voiceover part on The Simpsons. And this was before, I guess, he probably didn't even communicate on the internet. To tell him that the show was airing, they sent him a bowling ball with the information on it. Did they do that for you?
Paul F. Tompkins: I did not get a bowling ball.
Elena Passarello: Oh, he was also a liar, so he could have just made it up. I'm just kidding.
Luke Burbank: Wow.
Paul F. Tompkins: He was also a liar.
Elena Passarello: He's a big liar. He wore jean shorts a lot.
Luke Burbank: This is a... We're burning a lot of bridges this week, on Live Wire.
Elena Passarello: Sorry. Nice guy.
Luke Burbank: Nice enough guy. [Elena: Nice liar.] All right. Next one, Paul.
Paul F. Tompkins: This one? You're going to be two characters. One hand is one character. The other hand is the other. [Elena: Mm-hmm.] Okay. I want you to point with both fingers. I want you to raise one hand. Perfect. Angle them towards each other. No. Can I give you a hand reading?
Elena Passarello: Yes. Give me a hand-
Paul F. Tompkins: Then lower the other one and have it pointing up at that finger.
Elena Passarello: Oh, yeah! That's Evie from Out of This World, a 1980s television show about a teenage alien who could stop time.
Paul F. Tompkins: You're so close. In so many ways.
Luke Burbank: I don't even think I know.
Paul F. Tompkins: But remember, you're two characters.
Elena Passarello: Oh, am I David and God?
Paul F. Tompkins: No! That's also a good guess!
Elena Passarello: That is not that?
Paul F. Tompkins: It's not that.
Elena Passarello: Oh, it's E.T.!
Luke Burbank: That's right. That's it, that's it. Paul, I feel like we've put you through enough.
Elena Passarello: Yeah, wow.
Luke Burbank: On your night off.
Paul F. Tompkins: I actually enjoyed that.
Luke Burbank: Thank you so much for coming back on Live Wire, and congratulations on your title. As most frequent guest, Paul F. Tompkins, everybody, right here on Live Wire. That was Paul F. Tompkins right here on Live Wire. If Paul's live show, Varietopia, is coming to a town near you, you must check it out. I've seen it and it is incredible. Live Wire is brought to you by Powells Books, a Portland institution since 1971. Powells offers a selection of new and used books in stores and online at powells.com. Hey, it's Luke. Did you know Live ire is also available as a podcast? Yes, it is featuring the same engaging conversations, live music, original comedy, all the stuff you love on the radio show, but now you can listen when you want to, where you want to go to livewireradio.org to download the podcast or get it anywhere you get that kind of stuff. You're listening to Live Wire. I'm Luke Burbank: here with Elena Passarello each week on the show. We like to ask the Live Wire audience a question that is relevant to that week's episode, uh, inspired by our conversation with Paul F. Tompkins. We have asked them a question this week, Elena, what are we asking the audience?
Elena Passarello: We wanna know what is the most unforgettable surprise you've ever experienced.
Luke Burbank: Okay, what are they saying?
Elena Passarello: They're saying hilarious, wonderful, kind of sweet things. Like this one from Kayla. Kayla says, when I was little, my parents decided to take us to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but it was so packed, we couldn't find a single place to watch. We were on the verge of tears, and then a police officer saw us and said, listen, just pretend I'm your uncle Dave for a few minutes. He got them in to an NYPD family section, one of the best spots to see the parade. Yay, Uncle Dave! Officer Uncle Dave.
Luke Burbank: I'm going to use that if I'm ever in New York for the Macy's parade. My daughter and I need to make a pilgrimage because she's 31 now, but ever since she's, you know, been, I don't know, two, three years old. Every Thanksgiving morning Macy stay parade. We've got to watch it. It's a Thanksgiving tradition. And all we do the whole time is make fun of it. But we, but we like, that's how we like to enjoy it together.
Elena Passarello: Do you watch the dog show afterwards?
Luke Burbank: The dog show is usually on, but that's when I start trying to organize the Burbank family fun run.
Elena Passarello: Mmm, uh, bleh.
Luke Burbank: Which as all of my daughter and my little brothers and nieces and nephew, as all the kids have gotten older, fewer and fewer people participate in the Burbank Family Fun Run. I don't think it was fun for anyone except me.
Elena Passarello: It's the Burbank Forest Fund Run.
Luke Burbank: That's right. So maybe this year we'll go back to the dog show. All right. What's something else truly surprising that happened to one of our listeners?
Elena Passarello: Oh, this one's wonderful. Lindsay says, right after my son was born, I was working at a truck stop. Right before Christmas, my car needed new brakes. I was having a hard time paying for them. And one of my regulars came in and asked for my keys. Took the car, completely tuned it up, new brakes, belts, oil change, the works, and then filled the backseat with presents for my son. I was in tears in the parking lot, Lindsay says, and then they handed me an envelope with $1,500 in it and said, Merry Christmas.
Luke Burbank: Oh my goodness!
Elena Passarello: That is a Santa and a half right there.
Luke Burbank: I mean, that is an incredible thing to do for somebody.
Elena Passarello: Wow, that's life changing. Whoever that person is, I hope that they're having an amazing day because they definitely made Lindsay's day slash year.
Luke Burbank: Okay. One more shocking thing that happened to one of our listeners.
Elena Passarello: Speaking of shocking, Samantha says, I was at the airport once when a flash mob of dancers in airport uniforms started performing a full-on musical number about luggage. I'm trying to think what that would be, like a song about a bag, like Papa's got a brand new bag or something? Maybe?
Luke Burbank: Papa's trying to fit his bag in that Sizer thing.
Elena Passarello: Papa's gotta oversized bag. But how much do you want to bet that this flash mob about luggage took place at the Portland International Airport?
Luke Burbank: It very much seems like something, I mean, you know, I fly in and out of PDX on almost a weekly basis. And it's definitely an airport that prides itself on thinking outside of the airport box.
Elena Passarello: Yes. Yeah.
Luke Burbank: Hey, thank you to everyone who responded to our listener question this week. We really do appreciate it. This is Live Wire. We have a quick break. We've got to step away for, but don't go anywhere. When we return, we're going to have some music from Meklit who blends jazz and folk and her East African roots in a performance from her new album. A Piece of Infinity. Stay tuned for that. More Live Wire coming your way in a moment. Welcome back to Live Wire from PRX. I'm Luke Burbank here with Elena Passarello:. All right. It is that time. Once again, part of the show, we play a little station location, identification, examination. Now, if you're not familiar in order to win this game, our announcer, Elena Passorello has to try to figure out the place in the United States that I'm talking about where Live Wire is on the radio based on these clues that I am about to give her. Elena, are you ready?
Elena Passarello: Yes, I'm trying to gage how hard this is by your intro, and I cannot tell.
Luke Burbank: Well, I feel like there is a clue that I will give you towards the end, which may give it away, if you are familiar with the work of a certain comedian by the name of Yakov Smirnoff.
Elena Passarello: No- oh, okay.
Luke Burbank: That's the day we were expecting you to say, was it?
Elena Passarello: What a country!
Luke Burbank: We'll get there in a moment. All right. Here are the slightly harder questions. This area was actually first called Hog Heaven in 1875. Early settlers reported that five local men were chosen to choose a proper name for the town, but they could not agree. So the postmaster at the time, a guy named Samuel Neff, completed the official papers for the town and chose the name of his hometown in Pennsylvania. So this is already a place in Pennsylvania, and I want to mention because there's a lot of like weird. Pennsylvania towns, you know. [Elena: Like intercourse?] You've got- intercourse comes to mind. You've got industry. It's not any of those. I didn't know this was a place in Pennsylvania. And let me just say it is associated in my mind with a whole different part of the world actually.
Elena Passarello: And 1870 something, so we're post gold rush, so we are west, we are in the west.
Luke Burbank: Yes. Good, good, good thinking. Yes, we are out in the West. This place is part of a kind of unique bi-state metropolitan area. So you've got basically like a lot of people that are living right along the border of two states and you've got two rival universities that are just eight miles apart because of this.
Elena Passarello: So...
Luke Burbank: And it's in the West.
Elena Passarello: We're on the Washington, Idaho line, aren't we?
Luke Burbank: We absolutely are.
Elena Passarello: And you said Yakov Smirnoff. [Luke: Yes.] So we have to be talking about Moscow, Idaho.
Luke Burbank: You are so right. I'm thinking he might've recorded a comedy special there or something. [Elena: That makes sense. Yeah.] In 1990, that's like, you know, hey, we're gonna, it's Yakov Smirnov live from Moscow, but it's the Moscow, Idaho. That's right. It's where we're on the radio on K W S U A M. Shout out to all of our listeners there in Moscow, Idaho. Okay. Before we get to our musical performance from Meklit, a little preview of next week's show, we are going to be talking to writer and podcaster Dana Schwartz about her book, Immortality. A love story. It's one of those young adult books. It's got everything. History, romance, blood, in like a medical way. Speaking of blood, we're also gonna talk to Dana about her podcast that she hosts. It's called Noble Blood. Then we're gonna chat with the artist and writer Jenny Odell about her book, Saving Time, Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock. Then we're gonna close out the show with music from Black Belt Eagle Scout, whose latest album, The Land, The Water, The Sky, is inspired by her life in the Pacific Northwest, specifically the Swinomish Indian tribal community in Washington state. It's gonna be a fun show. Make sure you don't miss it. That's next week on Live Wire. This week, our musical guest is Meklit, a vocalist who mixes the sounds of East Africa and the Bay Area on her latest album, A Piece of Infinity, which was released by Smithsonian Folkways Records. She's also the host of the podcast, Movement. Where she tells stories of global migration through music. Here is some music from Meklit recorded at the Alberta Rose Theatre in Portland, Oregon. Hello.
Meklit: Hi.
Luke Burbank: What song are we gonna hear now?
Meklit: We are going to hear a song called Tizita, which is a traditional song, and it's our interpretation of it.
Luke Burbank: Excellent. All right, this is Meklit here on Live Wire.
[Meklit performs Tizita.]
Meklit: Thank you.
Luke Burbank: That was Meklit recorded live at the Alberta Rose Theatre here on Live Wire. Her latest album, A Piece of Infinity, is available right now. All right, that's going to do it for this week's episode of the show. A huge thanks to our guests, Paul F. Tompkins and Meklit. Also, special thanks to Chris Bright.
Elena Passarello: Laura Hadden is our executive producer. Heather de Michele is our Executive Director and our Producer and Editor is Melanie Sevcenko. Eben Hoffer is our Technical Director. Haziq Bin Ahmad Farid is our Assistant Editor and our House Sound is by D. Neil Blake. Teja Pallikonda is our Production Fellow.
Luke Burbank: Valentine Keck is our operations manager, Ashley Park is our marketing manager, and Ezra Veenstra runs our front of house. Tiffany Nguyen is our intern. Our house band is Jonathan Newsom, Sam Pinkerton, Ethan Fox Tucker, and A Walker Spring, who also composes our music. This show was mixed by Eben Hoffer and Haziq Bin Ahmad Farid.
Elena Passarello: Additional funding provided by the Oregon Arts Commission, a state agency funded by the state of Oregon and the National Endowment for the Arts. Live Wire was created by Robyn Tenenbaum and Kate Sokoloff, and this week we'd like to thank member Esther Freeman of Portland, Oregon.
Luke Burbank: For more information about our show or how you can listen to the Live Wire podcast, head on over to livewireradio.org. I'm Luke Burbank for Elena Passarello and the whole Live Wire team. Thanks for listening and we will see you next week.
PRX.
Staff Credits
Laura Hadden is our Executive Producer, Heather de Michele is our Executive Director, and our Producer and Editor is Melanie Sevchenko. Eben Hoffer is our Technical Director, Haziq Bin Ahmad Farid is our Assistant Editor, and our house sound is by D. Neil Blake. Eben Hoffer is DOS Tech. Valentine Keck is our Operations Manager, Ashley Park is our Marketing Manager, Tiffany Nguyen is our Graphic Design and Marketing Intern, and Ezra Veenstra runs our Front of House. Teja Pallikonda is our Production Fellow. Zoë Sidener is Tech Intern. Our house band is Jonathan Newsome, Sam Pinkerton, Ethan Fox Tucker, A. Walker Spring, who also composes our music. This episode was mixed by Eben Hoffer and Haziq Bin Ahmad Farid. Additional funding provided by The Oregon Arts Commission, a state agency funded by the State of Oregon and the National Endowment for the Arts. Live Wire was created by Robyn Tenenbaum and Kate Sokoloff. This week, we’d like to thank member Esther Freeman of Portland, Oregon.
