Paul Scheer is my new favorite podcast guest

Plus lots of Rob Lowe, the Brat Pack doc, the perils of 'St. Elmo's Fire,' and a Barbra Streisand initiative

Weirdly, I did not know the joys of Paul Scheer until last year sometime, and I don’t know why. Because now, when I see he’s on a podcast, I know I am going to love it.

I first realized this when I heard him on the official Star Trek podcast (which may or may not even exist anymore), The Pod Directive.

That’s when I realized I had this really weird, wildly incorrect impression of him as a bro-y type, which he absolutely is not. He’s smart, warm, funny, and vulnerable. So I went on a mission to search out what I had foolishly missed in the Paul Scheer interview department.

I found him on WTF with Marc Maron, and was instantly rewarded with an EXPERIENCE. Because I usually skip the intro (sorry Marc), I didn’t realize that Marc had decided to intro his NEW Paul interview with one from all the way back in 2010, in which he started the conversation by saying Paul seemed like a relatively straightforward, happy, trauma-free guy only to find out that Paul had had a really fucked-up childhood with an abusive stepdad who once got in a physical fight with his dad. There was also a home invasion, the impact of which was dismissed by his mom with “you’re okay now.”

Marc then segued into his new interview, which was just as compelling.

Go listen to it. And then do what I’m doing right now in another tab: Buy Paul’s book.

He was also on Literally! with Rob Lowe, which was very different but equally enchanting.

I don’t want to tell you any of their stories because they tell them a lot better than I do, but hearing them gush about Barbra Streisand’s mammoth memoir specifically as an audiobook made me want to check it out.

Here’s the funny thing: I work at Audible (as a copy editor), but I have never listened to an audiobook. I am a reader who loves the printed page. I didn’t even have an Audible membership until I got one as part of a free promotion, and it came with one credit. So guess what I’m using my credit for?

Yes! If you’ve never tried to make your way through an audiobook before, why not start with one that’s 48 hours long?

Truth be told, I come from a father whose number one favorite everything is Barbra Streisand. He took us to all of her movies and played us all of her albums, and she is part of my DNA at this point.

I’ll give it a shot. Whether you’re into the Barbra audiobook idea or not, do make a point of listening to the podcast. She’s not on it.

But let’s talk some more about Rob Lowe

I went back into the Literally! archives this week after being re-charmed by Paul Scheer and found a handful of additional A-plus episodes. The first was with Tig Notaro, who seemed a little baffled by what she was doing on Rob Lowe’s podcast—although I bet he’s one of the few celebrities she’s actually heard of—but was her usual funny, surprising self. He kept trying to get a handle on her and she kept her distance, but I liked the banter.

I never tire of a good Ted Danson interview. He always brings something new to the conversation and he knows how to tell a good story. He’s so much more interesting than I gave him credit for all those years ago watching Cheers. (I may even check out his new Cheers podcast, who knows?)

The Jeff Daniels episode was fun (but mostly about acting), and Katey Segal was even better. I don’t think anything will ever top the conversation she had with Marc Maron in 2021… I remember stopping what I was doing about a quarter of the way in and planting myself in our front window to just sit and listen to the rest without the distraction of chores or other activities. This one is shorter, less of a deep dive, but full of great moments and surprising tidbits, like the fact that Norman Lear—Katey’s godfather—and Bud Yorkin used to hang around with Leonard Nimoy.

I do enjoy Rob’s interviewing, although he interrupted Paul Scheer in the middle of a story I never got to hear the end of. (Boooooo.) But he’s a fun host and he’s been in Hollywood forever and has experienced it from ALL angles. He was also, as anyone over a certain age knows, a member of the Brat Pack.

Here’s the thing… I’m probably the right age to have revered the Brat Pack, but I did not. I missed a lot of the movies (only saw Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club as an adult and missed many of the others), and wasn’t really sucked into the whole thing. That said, I’m always fascinated by how fame affects people, especially when they’ve come out okay on the other side and can talk about it. So I put on Andrew McCarthy’s documentary, Brats.

Loved it! Well worth your time. Hulu suggested I watch St. Elmo’s Fire next, and since I’d never seen it, I made the mistake of taking them up on it.

I am sorry to report this, but St. Elmo’s Fire is a terrible movie.

Worse than Rob Lowe’s haircut and earring (which his wife also had negative feelings about) and his weird saxophone rock star storyline was the Emilio Estevez-Andie MacDowall story, which has not aged well and should never have been written that way in the first place. Ick.

I do not recommend it.

I miss Gilbert

Our beloved cat and fifth member of our family is gone. He had lymphoma, and when we realized the chemo wasn’t working and he was just suffering, we did the right but tragic thing. There is a huge Gilbert-shaped hole in our house. I really MISS him… we all interacted with him in different ways and he was our buddy.

He was extraordinary.