Monday morning coffee: conversations

Every two weeks, me and my two friends get together for coffee, comradeship, and conversation.  I delight in the twists and turns of our talks. Today was a kind of meta-conversation, our tangent began with one actor movies and shows, marveling at the charm, cleverness, and creativity that enthralls an audience for over an hour. 

Willem DaFoe's performance in Inside, a movie released on St Patrick's day, is receiving some hype today.  None of us have seen it.

In our local area, Jack Gallagher has performed a number of his one man plays: Letters to Declan (1993), Just the Guy (2002), What He Left (2006), A Different Kind of Cool (2010), Complete and Unfinished (2013), 5 Songs (2015) Concussed: Four Days In The Dark (2017) and A Stand-up Guy (2019).

Here is a listing from Playbill's top 10 solo shows on Broadway:

Whoopi Goldberg: Back to Broadway	The 2005 movie is the twentieth anniversary revival of Whoopi Goldberg's monologue which introduced broadway audiences to her genius. It's available on HBO max and DirecTV
Elaine Stritch At Liberty	Elaine Stritch solo autobiographical play premiered in 2001.
Via Delorosa	David Hare performed this monologue in 1997. The link is to an audio only version on YouTube
Freak	John Leguizamo introduced his solo performance of his autobiographical storytelling in 1998. A filmed version directed by Spike Lee is available to rent on YouTube
Gray's Anatomy	a 1996 film adaption Spalding Gray's one man play by Stephen Stoderberg

And, of course, our favorite performer came to mind:

Robin Williams Live on Broadway 2002

Robin Williams was an actor and stand up comedian with unsurpassed improvisational skills

We talked about movies that had only two actors in a conversation and My Dinner with Andre was mentioned. Here are three movies with two actors in conversation that I'm interested in:

My Dinner with Andre	A 1981 film starring Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn. It's available on HBO max and for rent on Apple tv or Amazon prime.
Before Sunrise	A 1995 movie starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. It's available on HBO max and for rent on YouTube, Google, Amazon, etc.
The Sunset Limited	A 2011 production starring Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson. It's available on HBO max and for rent on YouTube, Google, Amazon, etc.

What does it take to be a good conversationalist? The talk show, of course, provides ample grounds for examples. The good hosts, especially those interviewing performers, provide encouragement, patience, and space for the interviewee to perform.  The work of James Lipton, Charlie Rose, and Terry Gross provide guidance:

Inside the Actors Studio	An American talk show in which James Lipton interviews actors before a live audience of acting students. The series ran for 23 seasons (between 1994 and 2018). A few are available on YouTube: compiled by Anita Patricio.  James Lipton wrote a book, Inside Inside, published in 2009. A copy is available in the Internet Archives.
The Charlie Rose Show	An American talk show hosted by Charlie Rose on PBS from 1991 to 2017. A complete, searchable listing of Charlie Rose interviews is available on Charlie Rose's website. Episodes can also be watched in the Internet Archives.
Fresh Air	An American radio talk show with host Terry Gross has been broadcast on NPR since 1985. They are available in the Fresh Air Archives

Here is a link to James Lipton's interview with Robin Williams in 2001. In this interview Robin demonstrates how to answer the question about how he thinks by opening his mind and dumping its contents.  James demonstrates how to step aside : )

Speaking of asides: a good resource for discovering where to find a show is JustWatch.