Central Park & Colbert

Got up at 4am to catch a flight to New York City to visit Tisher. After a bite to eat in Brooklyn we headed to Manhattan and walked around Central Park.

I can't stop thinking about one of my favorite movies The Cruise. It's about this double decker bus tour guide Timothy "Speed" Levitch. He has this amazing monologue about Central Park, listing all the tons of dirt and rocks, all the figures on plants and animals that were imported to construct it. The worlds largest man made piece of nature.

It was beautiful, quiet, and green. So bizarre to have such a huge park in the middle of a crowded city.

Walking around I haven't seen as many pigeons or rats as I expected.

There were people there but not a ton, it was easy to have a relatively solitary Central Park experience.

Being in New York reminds me of Through The Looking Glass. It feels like an amped up mirror image version of Chicago where everything is just a bit different. A bit faster, a bit more compact.

Central Park: an oasis for the on-the-go New Yorker.

Shakespeare in the park.

By the lakefront under the stairs these two weirdos were playing violin and singing opera. Behind me there was a middle aged guy with a huge string contraption making bubbles. It was wonderful.

After the park we went to The Colbert Report. Robert Plant was the guest. I wouldn't describe it as fun exactly, I feel like Tisher and I as comedy people can kind of see the strings being pulled, and with Ariel writing for the show I didn't go into it with the same kind of unbridled enthusiasm as some of the other tourist type guests. Regardless it was very cool. It went by surprisingly quick and Colbert was all business, the consummate professional, compelling from the moment he hit the stage.

Once the taping was over Ariel(I made her make a "tough" face) took us back stage and showed us her office and the writers room. It was all very exciting and wonderful. She was incredibly generous getting us the tickets and showing us around and I think very excited some friends came to see her work.

We got dinner and caught up, Ariel describing her routine and me providing Chicago updates. A great first day.