Barry told us that Josh Mitchell asked him to send us his answers to the following questions:
La Libertad: Where are you from?
Barry: New York — spent most of my time in Long Island. Think Kevin in “The Wonder Years.” He had a father, Jack; he had a brother, Wayne. So do I. No Winnie Cooper, though, who I’m convinced would have changed my life’s trajectory.
La Libertad: How did you get your start in comedy?
Barry: What’s that great Sylvester Stallone line in Rocky? “Because I couldn’t sing or dance”? Actually, I was on an interstate in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and saw a message board on the highway for a comedy contest at a local hotel. First prize $100... I entered; I won. Next week, same thing! I won again. I then decided to head to a comedy club, and to an "Open Mic Night," and see if this would actually, like medicine, "take." It did; thirty-two years later, I am still doing it - still almost make a living at it, too.
La Libertad: What would you like to tell our readers about your
latest book, Jack Sh*t?
Barry: It’s a book about my father and me — the three volumes will be — over the past twenty years. First, when he lived in Las Vegas, after my mom/his wife died, and then, in Tulsa, where I live, and [to] where, according to him, I “dragged him.” It’s about fathers and sons, generally, but capturing every moment with him I could, specifically, which meant meals at half-priced buffets that he snuck into, and visits to the V.A. [Veterans' Administration], and taking him on the road with me, when I did comedy. It’s a series of conversations with each other, mostly, but also with relatives, and siblings, and waitresses who didn’t understand just how dark he wanted the white bread toasted.
La Libertad: What's the craziest thing you remember about your father?
Barry: He used to say about people who died in their eighties - nineties, “They weren’t cut short. They had a life. They did all right.” He did, too. He died at ninety-six. So, to [answer] your question: His energy - his ability to wring out of life all he could - even his inappropriateness. Once, I saw him talking to two women in a casino. They were in their forties, I imagine. When I approached, we all talked for a little, and then the women left.
“Who were they?” I asked him.
"Oh, just some women I met,” he replied. "I think the big one wants me.” He was ninety at the time.
La Libertad: What inspires you?
Barry: Smiles, possibilities, articulate people, intelligence, wit, courage, and just the very nature that I get to do this — writing and comedy. It’s a blessing. And I don’t use that word much.
La Libertad: What are you most looking forward to in 2023?
Barry: An Academy Award and continued low P.S.A. [prostate-specific antigen] readings.
La Libertad: What are your overall career goals?
Barry: I’d like this book (or something else I write, or have written) to make an impression outside of "my world." I’m not supposed to care about external validation, especially as I get older, but I do. It’s what Olivier said when asked why he still acted: “The same reason every actor does: Love me, love me, love me!”
La Libertad: Of what accomplishment are you most proud?
Barry: Now that you’re asking, I think maybe escorting my father through the last twenty years of his life.
And my daughter still calls from time to time, and says, “Dad, I got a question.” And she asks because she’s reasonably certain I’ll have an answer for her. Or maybe she asks because she knows it makes me feel good when she does. I’ll take either explanation.
La Libertad: What links would you like to share?
Barry:
barrysfriedman.com
friedmanoftheplains.com
www.amazon.com/Barry-Friedman/e/B001K7NAVI
[At left: Barry Friedman face-to-face with Joe Biden]
La Libertad: What else, if anything, would you like to tell our readers?
Barry: I blog about my father, sure, but also about politics, the insanity of Oklahoma (where I live), and [I] channel Peggy Noonan and Donald Trump when the spirit moves me, which is quite often. I have written six books: Road Comic; Funny You Should Mention It; Four Days and a Year Later; The Joke Was on Me; Jacob Fishman’s Marriages; and my latest, Jack Sh*t: Voluptuous Bagels and other Concerns of Jack Friedman (Volume One). And I also write for a geology magazine, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists’ Explorer, which is probably not wise, because I hurt myself pumping my own gas.
Introduction and editing by William Mortensen Vaughan
