WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.110 align:middle line:84% I want to read from a novel that will be published next month 00:00:04.110 --> 00:00:08.880 align:middle line:84% entitled The Terrible Threes, a sequel to The Terrible Twos. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:09.480 align:middle line:90% It gets worse. 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:10.570 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:10.570 --> 00:00:13.380 align:middle line:84% And by the time I write The Terrible Fours, 00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:15.490 align:middle line:84% it's going to be in a state of collapse. 00:00:15.490 --> 00:00:20.160 align:middle line:84% Anyway, I use my Afro-Native American heritage, 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:25.475 align:middle line:84% and I have animal characters in this novel. 00:00:25.475 --> 00:00:27.600 align:middle line:84% And I start-- I thought it was appropriate to begin 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:29.850 align:middle line:84% the novel with a quote from Johnny Carson. 00:00:29.850 --> 00:00:30.960 align:middle line:90% And he says-- 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:32.310 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:32.310 --> 00:00:34.290 align:middle line:84% You know, I'm not a modernist, so you won't 00:00:34.290 --> 00:00:35.700 align:middle line:90% find me quoting Saint Paul-- 00:00:35.700 --> 00:00:36.330 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:36.330 --> 00:00:40.410 align:middle line:84% Or Saint Augustine, or Pascal, or Kafka. 00:00:40.410 --> 00:00:44.730 align:middle line:84% OK, John Johnny Carson said, "When turkeys mate, 00:00:44.730 --> 00:00:46.020 align:middle line:90% they think of swans." 00:00:46.020 --> 00:00:47.870 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:47.870 --> 00:00:50.630 align:middle line:84% This-- I want to give you a little background 00:00:50.630 --> 00:00:52.580 align:middle line:90% on this novel. 00:00:52.580 --> 00:00:53.210 align:middle line:90% I have to-- 00:00:53.210 --> 00:00:55.775 align:middle line:84% I asked somebody to-- somebody said, how does the first-- 00:00:55.775 --> 00:00:56.900 align:middle line:90% give me a plot [INAUDIBLE]. 00:00:56.900 --> 00:00:59.300 align:middle line:84% She said, I'll go read Terrible Twos. 00:00:59.300 --> 00:01:01.935 align:middle line:84% OK, in Terrible Twos-- it's been three years since Christmas 00:01:01.935 --> 00:01:03.560 align:middle line:84% of The Terrible Twos, a Christmas which 00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:06.560 align:middle line:84% saw amazing events transpire in the White House of Dean 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:09.800 align:middle line:84% Clift, a former fashion model who 00:01:09.800 --> 00:01:11.990 align:middle line:84% rose from Congress into Vice President, 00:01:11.990 --> 00:01:14.240 align:middle line:84% and then to the presidency, after the death of General 00:01:14.240 --> 00:01:15.893 align:middle line:84% Walter Scott, a hero of Dominica. 00:01:15.893 --> 00:01:17.810 align:middle line:84% And they went into Dominica, invaded Dominica, 00:01:17.810 --> 00:01:20.000 align:middle line:84% and found that there was only one communist. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:22.790 align:middle line:84% And he was sort of like a CIA plant. 00:01:22.790 --> 00:01:24.740 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:24.740 --> 00:01:28.940 align:middle line:84% They filmed the whole thing in Marin County, anyway. 00:01:28.940 --> 00:01:30.440 align:middle line:84% Dean Clift was a hands-off president 00:01:30.440 --> 00:01:32.065 align:middle line:84% who didn't know and didn't care to know 00:01:32.065 --> 00:01:35.000 align:middle line:84% about the activities of his advisors, Admiral Matthews, Bob 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:37.700 align:middle line:84% Krantz, Vice President Hatch, Jesse Hatch, and Reverend 00:01:37.700 --> 00:01:39.350 align:middle line:84% Clement Jones, the administration's 00:01:39.350 --> 00:01:41.497 align:middle line:90% spiritual advisor. 00:01:41.497 --> 00:01:43.580 align:middle line:84% Clift changed, however, after his wife, Elizabeth, 00:01:43.580 --> 00:01:46.220 align:middle line:84% the first lady, was electrocuted while lighting the White House 00:01:46.220 --> 00:01:50.872 align:middle line:84% Christmas tree, and was visited by Saint Nicholas, who 00:01:50.872 --> 00:01:52.580 align:middle line:84% reveals to him the fate of former leaders 00:01:52.580 --> 00:01:54.163 align:middle line:84% who made terrible and tragic mistakes. 00:01:54.163 --> 00:01:56.900 align:middle line:84% Nicholas, out to remove his Protestant image 00:01:56.900 --> 00:01:59.600 align:middle line:84% as a buffoon in a red suit, also warns 00:01:59.600 --> 00:02:03.590 align:middle line:84% Clift of a covert operation developed by Krantz, Jones, 00:02:03.590 --> 00:02:05.690 align:middle line:84% and Matthews code named Two Birds, a plan 00:02:05.690 --> 00:02:08.472 align:middle line:84% to rid America of surplus people and an African country's 00:02:08.472 --> 00:02:10.430 align:middle line:84% possession of nuclear weapons at the same time. 00:02:10.430 --> 00:02:12.830 align:middle line:84% Nobody believes Dean Clift when he discusses 00:02:12.830 --> 00:02:15.530 align:middle line:84% his vision for a nation-- well, he goes on television, 00:02:15.530 --> 00:02:17.960 align:middle line:84% tells everybody, saying Santa Claus told them 00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:21.050 align:middle line:84% that this operation was going on. 00:02:21.050 --> 00:02:22.700 align:middle line:84% So they invoke the 25th Amendment 00:02:22.700 --> 00:02:24.380 align:middle line:84% regarding presidential disability 00:02:24.380 --> 00:02:27.050 align:middle line:84% to remove him from office to a private sanatorium 00:02:27.050 --> 00:02:29.810 align:middle line:90% about 50 miles from Washington. 00:02:29.810 --> 00:02:32.812 align:middle line:84% And then I introduce a character named Black Peter, which 00:02:32.812 --> 00:02:35.270 align:middle line:84% if you're German or if you're of northern European ancestry 00:02:35.270 --> 00:02:40.610 align:middle line:84% in Europe, this Nicholas is accompanied by a companion 00:02:40.610 --> 00:02:42.140 align:middle line:90% named Black Peter. 00:02:42.140 --> 00:02:45.650 align:middle line:84% I saw this ceremony in Amsterdam, 00:02:45.650 --> 00:02:48.560 align:middle line:84% and Nicholas rides a white horse and Black Peter rides a sports 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:50.100 align:middle line:90% car behind him. 00:02:50.100 --> 00:02:51.280 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:53.060 align:middle line:84% And he's the one who passes out the gifts, 00:02:53.060 --> 00:02:54.800 align:middle line:84% and he's the one that also goes on a chimney, wouldn't you 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:55.880 align:middle line:90% know-- 00:02:55.880 --> 00:02:57.590 align:middle line:90% does all the dirty work. 00:02:57.590 --> 00:03:00.050 align:middle line:84% So I introduce Black Peter into the American Christmas 00:03:00.050 --> 00:03:02.120 align:middle line:90% through this novel. 00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:04.628 align:middle line:84% Former university professor-- former president 00:03:04.628 --> 00:03:06.170 align:middle line:84% of the University of California named 00:03:06.170 --> 00:03:08.552 align:middle line:84% Charles Jones, who wrote the definitive book on Nicholas, 00:03:08.552 --> 00:03:10.010 align:middle line:84% said the reason that you don't find 00:03:10.010 --> 00:03:12.445 align:middle line:84% Black Peter in the Nicholas or the American Christmas 00:03:12.445 --> 00:03:16.190 align:middle line:84% is because he couldn't get hotel reservations. 00:03:16.190 --> 00:03:18.590 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:03:18.590 --> 00:03:22.202 align:middle line:90% I'll do the best I can, pal. 00:03:22.202 --> 00:03:24.002 align:middle line:84% Black Peter learns, though, the-- 00:03:24.002 --> 00:03:25.460 align:middle line:84% so there's an imposter Black Peter. 00:03:25.460 --> 00:03:27.260 align:middle line:84% And he comes-- the real Black Peter 00:03:27.260 --> 00:03:29.390 align:middle line:84% emerges from an island of Guinea, an island 00:03:29.390 --> 00:03:32.690 align:middle line:84% beneath the Caribbean Ocean, to challenge 00:03:32.690 --> 00:03:35.190 align:middle line:84% this other Peter, who's been living underground in Manhattan 00:03:35.190 --> 00:03:37.398 align:middle line:84% since the riot that happened during a Christmas party 00:03:37.398 --> 00:03:39.590 align:middle line:84% at Madison Square Garden, which is precipitated 00:03:39.590 --> 00:03:40.880 align:middle line:90% by Jack Frost and his goons. 00:03:40.880 --> 00:03:45.200 align:middle line:84% Jack Frost makes-- works for the toy manufacturers, Christmas 00:03:45.200 --> 00:03:46.340 align:middle line:90% card merchants. 00:03:46.340 --> 00:03:47.700 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:03:47.700 --> 00:03:49.610 align:middle line:84% Nance Saturday, a wannabe detective-- and it 00:03:49.610 --> 00:03:50.820 align:middle line:90% goes on and on. 00:03:50.820 --> 00:03:53.618 align:middle line:84% I'll just read from the first chapter here, 00:03:53.618 --> 00:03:55.160 align:middle line:84% and this is from The Terrible Threes. 00:03:55.160 --> 00:03:58.070 align:middle line:84% And the character here is Nance Saturday, who's 00:03:58.070 --> 00:04:01.940 align:middle line:84% an incompetent detective, doesn't solve 00:04:01.940 --> 00:04:03.920 align:middle line:90% the case in The Terrible Twos. 00:04:03.920 --> 00:04:06.530 align:middle line:84% As a matter of fact, one of my friends, a feminist critic, 00:04:06.530 --> 00:04:08.920 align:middle line:84% said this character-- what kind of detective is this? 00:04:08.920 --> 00:04:10.670 align:middle line:84% The clues are always getting ahead of him. 00:04:10.670 --> 00:04:13.730 align:middle line:84% So in this novel, I had the clues getting ahead of him. 00:04:13.730 --> 00:04:15.380 align:middle line:90% I've learned from critics. 00:04:15.380 --> 00:04:17.670 align:middle line:90% And it says-- 00:04:17.670 --> 00:04:18.680 align:middle line:90% OK, I'll go on with-- 00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:19.638 align:middle line:90% I'll read some of this. 00:04:19.638 --> 00:04:21.290 align:middle line:84% "Nance Saturday agreed with Genesis, 00:04:21.290 --> 00:04:23.413 align:middle line:84% where it said that man should not be alone. 00:04:23.413 --> 00:04:24.830 align:middle line:84% He spent a lot of time interacting 00:04:24.830 --> 00:04:27.200 align:middle line:90% with his electronic playmates. 00:04:27.200 --> 00:04:29.307 align:middle line:84% He's watching his ex-wife's show. 00:04:29.307 --> 00:04:31.640 align:middle line:84% She's interviewing a woman whose hairstyle resemble that 00:04:31.640 --> 00:04:33.230 align:middle line:90% of a baby chick's. 00:04:33.230 --> 00:04:35.335 align:middle line:84% And she says, 'Thanksgiving is just 00:04:35.335 --> 00:04:36.710 align:middle line:84% an excuse for all the misogynists 00:04:36.710 --> 00:04:39.830 align:middle line:84% and female fools in the country to keep women over a hot stove. 00:04:39.830 --> 00:04:42.020 align:middle line:84% And in the shopping aisles, searching 00:04:42.020 --> 00:04:44.630 align:middle line:84% for bargains on turkey, the American men 00:04:44.630 --> 00:04:48.293 align:middle line:84% are fully capable of obtaining their own cranberry sauce. 00:04:48.293 --> 00:04:50.210 align:middle line:84% Most of them don't know how to carve a turkey, 00:04:50.210 --> 00:04:53.270 align:middle line:84% and so the woman must also perform this chore. 00:04:53.270 --> 00:04:56.030 align:middle line:84% And so when people wish me a happy Thanksgiving, 00:04:56.030 --> 00:04:58.730 align:middle line:84% under the circumstances, I wonder what there is to be 00:04:58.730 --> 00:05:00.128 align:middle line:90% so thankful about.' 00:05:00.128 --> 00:05:01.670 align:middle line:84% She's wearing a white shirt, buttoned 00:05:01.670 --> 00:05:04.640 align:middle line:84% at the collar, tight, shiny black pants, no socks, 00:05:04.640 --> 00:05:05.510 align:middle line:90% and black shoes. 00:05:05.510 --> 00:05:07.280 align:middle line:84% She folded her arms and crossed her legs. 00:05:07.280 --> 00:05:08.330 align:middle line:90% She then lit a cigarette. 00:05:08.330 --> 00:05:10.400 align:middle line:84% 'I agree with you, Becky,' Virginia said. 00:05:10.400 --> 00:05:13.460 align:middle line:84% 'My ex-husband didn't even earn enough money to buy a turkey. 00:05:13.460 --> 00:05:14.957 align:middle line:90% He was always doing odd jobs. 00:05:14.957 --> 00:05:16.790 align:middle line:84% I paid his way through a year in law school, 00:05:16.790 --> 00:05:18.080 align:middle line:90% but then he dropped out. 00:05:18.080 --> 00:05:21.800 align:middle line:84% But now I found a man who really knows how to carve the turkey. 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:23.600 align:middle line:90% He's sensitive. 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:25.088 align:middle line:90% He's considerate. 00:05:25.088 --> 00:05:26.630 align:middle line:84% And he's 10 years younger than I am.' 00:05:26.630 --> 00:05:28.865 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:05:28.865 --> 00:05:30.740 align:middle line:84% Nance got up and turn off the television set. 00:05:30.740 --> 00:05:32.060 align:middle line:84% To think that he spent those years sleeping 00:05:32.060 --> 00:05:34.610 align:middle line:84% next to a woman who will later tell all their secrets 00:05:34.610 --> 00:05:36.830 align:middle line:90% to a nationwide audience. 00:05:36.830 --> 00:05:39.500 align:middle line:84% Her ratings were as high as those of her only rival, Oprah 00:05:39.500 --> 00:05:40.010 align:middle line:90% Hippo-- 00:05:40.010 --> 00:05:43.990 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:05:43.990 --> 00:05:46.210 align:middle line:84% Who had to be moved into the studio for appearances 00:05:46.210 --> 00:05:47.740 align:middle line:90% on a network by piano movers. 00:05:47.740 --> 00:05:49.248 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:05:49.248 --> 00:05:51.290 align:middle line:84% He switched-- That one'll make me friends, right? 00:05:51.290 --> 00:05:53.388 align:middle line:90% He switched to another channel. 00:05:53.388 --> 00:05:55.180 align:middle line:84% An Asian-American man was speaking heatedly 00:05:55.180 --> 00:05:55.990 align:middle line:90% to an Asian-American woman. 00:05:55.990 --> 00:05:56.823 align:middle line:90% The man was furious. 00:05:56.823 --> 00:05:59.200 align:middle line:84% The camera kept cutting away to the audience 00:05:59.200 --> 00:06:01.720 align:middle line:84% of mostly women, who were giving the man a cool response. 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:03.550 align:middle line:84% The woman calmly sat in a chair, ignoring 00:06:03.550 --> 00:06:05.425 align:middle line:90% her debating opponent's fury. 00:06:05.425 --> 00:06:07.300 align:middle line:84% She was wearing a black suit and a man's tie. 00:06:07.300 --> 00:06:09.310 align:middle line:84% The moderator ask her a question. 00:06:09.310 --> 00:06:10.810 align:middle line:90% Nance turned up the audio. 00:06:10.810 --> 00:06:13.090 align:middle line:84% And she says, 'I think Mr. Hamimoto's arguments are 00:06:13.090 --> 00:06:13.280 align:middle line:90% absurd. 00:06:13.280 --> 00:06:15.113 align:middle line:84% To suggest that the American government owes 00:06:15.113 --> 00:06:17.800 align:middle line:84% the Japanese-American community reparations-- 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:21.310 align:middle line:84% as usual, Mr. Hamimoto ignores the facts. 00:06:21.310 --> 00:06:22.510 align:middle line:90% He speaks of internment.' 00:06:22.510 --> 00:06:24.880 align:middle line:84% Identification came on the screen-- 00:06:24.880 --> 00:06:25.905 align:middle line:90% Beechiko Mizuni. 00:06:25.905 --> 00:06:27.280 align:middle line:84% This a Japanese woman who wanders 00:06:27.280 --> 00:06:30.116 align:middle line:84% through the novel searching for the great blonde wig. 00:06:30.116 --> 00:06:31.050 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:06:31.050 --> 00:06:34.540 align:middle line:84% Beechiko: 'He fails to distinguish between internment 00:06:34.540 --> 00:06:36.557 align:middle line:90% and relocation. 00:06:36.557 --> 00:06:38.140 align:middle line:84% Only a few thousand Japanese-Americans 00:06:38.140 --> 00:06:39.105 align:middle line:84% were actually interned, but speaking 00:06:39.105 --> 00:06:41.710 align:middle line:84% of the larger question, which was the worse, the relocation 00:06:41.710 --> 00:06:42.310 align:middle line:90% and the internment? 00:06:42.310 --> 00:06:44.643 align:middle line:84% I say that the United States did Japanese-American women 00:06:44.643 --> 00:06:45.577 align:middle line:90% a great favor. 00:06:45.577 --> 00:06:48.160 align:middle line:84% They remove them from homes in which they are being brutalized 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:51.520 align:middle line:84% by Japanese-American men, a far greater imprisonment, 00:06:51.520 --> 00:06:53.500 align:middle line:84% next to which relocation or internment were 00:06:53.500 --> 00:06:54.710 align:middle line:90% minor inconveniences. 00:06:54.710 --> 00:06:58.360 align:middle line:84% So instead of receiving $20,000, Japanese-Americans should be 00:06:58.360 --> 00:07:00.593 align:middle line:84% donating that amount to our generous government.' 00:07:00.593 --> 00:07:02.260 align:middle line:84% The audience erupted into wild applause. 00:07:02.260 --> 00:07:04.677 align:middle line:84% The camera cut to the man, who was shaking his head sadly. 00:07:04.677 --> 00:07:06.400 align:middle line:84% Nance didn't care about the battle 00:07:06.400 --> 00:07:09.910 align:middle line:84% between the sexes that has spilled over from the '80s 00:07:09.910 --> 00:07:11.290 align:middle line:90% into the '90s. 00:07:11.290 --> 00:07:14.900 align:middle line:84% As far as he was concerned, he was AWOL from the war. 00:07:14.900 --> 00:07:18.610 align:middle line:84% He was keeping his to himself and not sticking it nowhere. 00:07:18.610 --> 00:07:22.000 align:middle line:84% The mysterious black Russian he'd been seeing since he 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:24.038 align:middle line:84% and Virginia separated had also left. 00:07:24.038 --> 00:07:26.080 align:middle line:84% He remembered the last night of their lovemaking. 00:07:26.080 --> 00:07:28.455 align:middle line:84% She yelled out something that sounded like [? yabatza, ?] 00:07:28.455 --> 00:07:32.403 align:middle line:84% [? yabatza. ?] He was on her like a coyote-- 00:07:32.403 --> 00:07:34.570 align:middle line:84% he was on her like a coyote on a chicken that night. 00:07:34.570 --> 00:07:35.320 align:middle line:90% Limbs were flying. 00:07:35.320 --> 00:07:36.207 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:07:36.207 --> 00:07:38.290 align:middle line:84% And the heels of her feet were facing the ceiling. 00:07:38.290 --> 00:07:39.850 align:middle line:84% Their buttocks are rolling, gyrating. 00:07:39.850 --> 00:07:42.130 align:middle line:84% At one point, when their rhythm was perfectly synchronized, 00:07:42.130 --> 00:07:44.320 align:middle line:84% he gave a nasty shift, like the pot-bellied flamenco 00:07:44.320 --> 00:07:46.150 align:middle line:90% dancer he'd once seen do. 00:07:46.150 --> 00:07:48.820 align:middle line:84% And she shrieked like someone who'd 00:07:48.820 --> 00:07:51.190 align:middle line:84% walked into the kitchen in Florida on Sunday morning 00:07:51.190 --> 00:07:52.870 align:middle line:84% and found an alligator on the floor." 00:07:52.870 --> 00:07:54.040 align:middle line:90% It's my tribute to Faulkner. 00:07:54.040 --> 00:07:57.560 align:middle line:90% He has long similes, you know? 00:07:57.560 --> 00:07:58.780 align:middle line:90% It's pretty good modernism. 00:07:58.780 --> 00:08:00.630 align:middle line:90% I'm not against them. 00:08:00.630 --> 00:08:03.520 align:middle line:84% "The cognac-- there were lots of French kisses 00:08:03.520 --> 00:08:04.600 align:middle line:90% and Russian fingers. 00:08:04.600 --> 00:08:06.100 align:middle line:84% The cognac had spilled on the floor. 00:08:06.100 --> 00:08:07.630 align:middle line:84% They were so weak that they almost 00:08:07.630 --> 00:08:09.820 align:middle line:84% missed a Soviet airliner that was to return her 00:08:09.820 --> 00:08:11.110 align:middle line:90% to a family in Kiev. 00:08:11.110 --> 00:08:13.600 align:middle line:84% She was wearing a black dress decorated red roses, black 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:15.830 align:middle line:84% '40s hat, and she'd carried a black handbag. 00:08:15.830 --> 00:08:18.190 align:middle line:84% Their sporadic lovemaking had become 00:08:18.190 --> 00:08:19.990 align:middle line:84% victim of yet another liberalizing trend 00:08:19.990 --> 00:08:21.910 align:middle line:84% in Russian politics, the 1980s trend 00:08:21.910 --> 00:08:23.950 align:middle line:84% having been ruthlessly repressed towards the end 00:08:23.950 --> 00:08:25.480 align:middle line:90% of the decade"-- profit, right? 00:08:25.480 --> 00:08:27.760 align:middle line:84% "She was out with her relatives because she 00:08:27.760 --> 00:08:29.320 align:middle line:84% wanted to claim her Tartar heritage, 00:08:29.320 --> 00:08:31.540 align:middle line:84% while they wanted to be thought of as European. 00:08:31.540 --> 00:08:33.789 align:middle line:84% A friend of the family, who had dinner with them, 00:08:33.789 --> 00:08:35.440 align:middle line:84% drank all the Stoli they'd ordered, 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:36.815 align:middle line:84% ate the red cabbage and sturgeon, 00:08:36.815 --> 00:08:39.700 align:middle line:84% had returned to Kiev to tell her family that she had a lover. 00:08:39.700 --> 00:08:41.110 align:middle line:84% They were very provincial people, 00:08:41.110 --> 00:08:42.730 align:middle line:84% commented on books they hadn't read 00:08:42.730 --> 00:08:44.963 align:middle line:84% and performances they hadn't seen. 00:08:44.963 --> 00:08:46.630 align:middle line:84% He thought he remembered her telling him 00:08:46.630 --> 00:08:48.525 align:middle line:90% that they were mathematicians. 00:08:48.525 --> 00:08:50.400 align:middle line:84% They had a dacha, housekeeper and a chauffeur 00:08:50.400 --> 00:08:51.640 align:middle line:90% and didn't want to blow it. 00:08:51.640 --> 00:08:53.020 align:middle line:84% He didn't seem to get along with the parents 00:08:53.020 --> 00:08:53.967 align:middle line:90% of the women he dated. 00:08:53.967 --> 00:08:55.300 align:middle line:90% Virginia's mother took the cake. 00:08:55.300 --> 00:08:58.150 align:middle line:84% Virginia said it wasn't til she was 35 that her mother stopped 00:08:58.150 --> 00:09:00.100 align:middle line:90% beating her with an iron cord. 00:09:00.100 --> 00:09:02.980 align:middle line:84% When her relatives visited them when they were married, 00:09:02.980 --> 00:09:05.837 align:middle line:84% he always wondered why they kept on that trench coats. 00:09:05.837 --> 00:09:07.420 align:middle line:84% One night, he awoke and found that she 00:09:07.420 --> 00:09:09.070 align:middle line:90% wasn't sleeping beside him. 00:09:09.070 --> 00:09:10.750 align:middle line:84% He drove to the motel where her family 00:09:10.750 --> 00:09:13.180 align:middle line:84% was staying and peeked into the window of the suite 00:09:13.180 --> 00:09:14.350 align:middle line:90% they'd rented. 00:09:14.350 --> 00:09:16.870 align:middle line:84% Some of his personal items lay on the table. 00:09:16.870 --> 00:09:21.010 align:middle line:84% And her sister, the one with the slow rate of metabolism, 00:09:21.010 --> 00:09:22.930 align:middle line:84% was plucking a long strand of the Russian's 00:09:22.930 --> 00:09:25.420 align:middle line:84% lady's coarse black hair from one of his shirts 00:09:25.420 --> 00:09:27.400 align:middle line:90% marked exhibit A. 00:09:27.400 --> 00:09:28.850 align:middle line:90% Virginia was crying. 00:09:28.850 --> 00:09:30.940 align:middle line:84% They seem to be building up a case against him. 00:09:30.940 --> 00:09:32.710 align:middle line:84% That wasn't the only cause, but he remembered, 00:09:32.710 --> 00:09:34.168 align:middle line:84% in the series of arguments they had 00:09:34.168 --> 00:09:36.880 align:middle line:84% before they broke-- broken up, he said that she was still 00:09:36.880 --> 00:09:38.290 align:middle line:90% shackled by her family. 00:09:38.290 --> 00:09:40.240 align:middle line:84% He dated a series of European-American women, 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:41.740 align:middle line:84% ranging from the California beauties 00:09:41.740 --> 00:09:44.410 align:middle line:84% you see modeling in bikinis in Sports Illustrated, Herb Gold's 00:09:44.410 --> 00:09:46.840 align:middle line:84% favorites, to the black-haired arty types 00:09:46.840 --> 00:09:49.270 align:middle line:84% who listen to Laurie Anderson and were into [INAUDIBLE].. 00:09:49.270 --> 00:09:51.400 align:middle line:84% Virginia and her friends were right about European-American 00:09:51.400 --> 00:09:51.900 align:middle line:90% women. 00:09:51.900 --> 00:09:54.060 align:middle line:84% They spent a lot of time tossing their hair. 00:09:54.060 --> 00:09:54.880 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:09:54.880 --> 00:09:57.970 align:middle line:84% While vacationing in the Caribbean, 00:09:57.970 --> 00:10:00.610 align:middle line:84% he visited a museum where he came upon a painting 00:10:00.610 --> 00:10:01.992 align:middle line:90% of ancient Carib woman. 00:10:01.992 --> 00:10:04.450 align:middle line:84% The lust in her eyes as she stared at a pig was immaculate. 00:10:04.450 --> 00:10:06.652 align:middle line:84% He fell in love with her fat lips and shiny hair. 00:10:06.652 --> 00:10:08.110 align:middle line:84% She had small breasts, and her legs 00:10:08.110 --> 00:10:10.840 align:middle line:84% looked as though she spent a lot of time running out of craters. 00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:13.012 align:middle line:84% Another painting showed her spearing a wild boar. 00:10:13.012 --> 00:10:14.470 align:middle line:84% Coincidentally, he ran into a woman 00:10:14.470 --> 00:10:16.090 align:middle line:84% who looked just like her at a gallery opening on the Lower 00:10:16.090 --> 00:10:16.870 align:middle line:90% East Side. 00:10:16.870 --> 00:10:18.760 align:middle line:84% She said that she was from Philipichino, 00:10:18.760 --> 00:10:20.410 align:middle line:84% or from a small island in the Pacific 00:10:20.410 --> 00:10:21.730 align:middle line:90% called the Philiphichines. 00:10:21.730 --> 00:10:23.200 align:middle line:84% They began to date, and for a while 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:25.300 align:middle line:84% they were as happy as two sailors dancing 00:10:25.300 --> 00:10:26.815 align:middle line:90% in a movie with Ann Miller. 00:10:26.815 --> 00:10:28.990 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:10:28.990 --> 00:10:30.670 align:middle line:90% Her mother found out about it. 00:10:30.670 --> 00:10:32.800 align:middle line:84% She began to send strange envelopes to him. 00:10:32.800 --> 00:10:35.525 align:middle line:84% Some were filled with parts of birds. 00:10:35.525 --> 00:10:37.150 align:middle line:84% In a large envelope covered with stamps 00:10:37.150 --> 00:10:38.800 align:middle line:84% with pictures of men wearing the kind of hairstyles 00:10:38.800 --> 00:10:40.342 align:middle line:84% that influenced the punkers, he found 00:10:40.342 --> 00:10:42.125 align:middle line:90% the ear of a large rabbit. 00:10:42.125 --> 00:10:44.500 align:middle line:84% He told her about it, and she said that her mother always 00:10:44.500 --> 00:10:46.390 align:middle line:84% sent horrible material to her lovers 00:10:46.390 --> 00:10:49.665 align:middle line:84% and that her last boyfriend, Richard, had disappeared. 00:10:49.665 --> 00:10:51.040 align:middle line:84% One night, she called to tell him 00:10:51.040 --> 00:10:52.990 align:middle line:84% her mother had flown in from the Philipichino Islands 00:10:52.990 --> 00:10:54.520 align:middle line:84% and wanted to have dinner with them. 00:10:54.520 --> 00:10:56.200 align:middle line:84% That was fine with him, because after dinner, maybe 00:10:56.200 --> 00:10:57.730 align:middle line:84% they'd go to her apartment and put on some Marvin Gaye 00:10:57.730 --> 00:10:58.240 align:middle line:90% records. 00:10:58.240 --> 00:10:59.595 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:10:59.595 --> 00:11:00.970 align:middle line:84% Marvin Gaye would have loved her, 00:11:00.970 --> 00:11:02.617 align:middle line:90% because she was a real healer-- 00:11:02.617 --> 00:11:06.890 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:11:06.890 --> 00:11:10.370 align:middle line:84% What Martin Luther King, Jr. Would've called a doctor"-- 00:11:10.370 --> 00:11:11.466 align:middle line:90% didn't get that one, huh? 00:11:11.466 --> 00:11:12.290 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:11:12.290 --> 00:11:14.540 align:middle line:84% "The kind that would have sent JFK, with his bad back, 00:11:14.540 --> 00:11:16.365 align:middle line:90% to a chiropractor. 00:11:16.365 --> 00:11:17.240 align:middle line:90% She did all the work. 00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:18.290 align:middle line:90% All you had to do was lay there. 00:11:18.290 --> 00:11:19.490 align:middle line:84% She may not have been the kind of woman 00:11:19.490 --> 00:11:20.960 align:middle line:84% that you found behind every great man, 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:23.577 align:middle line:84% but she certainly was next to him in a variety of other ways. 00:11:23.577 --> 00:11:24.770 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:11:24.770 --> 00:11:26.378 align:middle line:84% At dinner, her mother said that she-- 00:11:26.378 --> 00:11:28.670 align:middle line:84% at dinner, her mother said that she didn't see anything 00:11:28.670 --> 00:11:31.130 align:middle line:84% on the menu that appealed to her and requested 00:11:31.130 --> 00:11:33.446 align:middle line:84% that the waiter bring her the names of the diners. 00:11:33.446 --> 00:11:36.962 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:11:36.962 --> 00:11:38.670 align:middle line:84% He didn't get the import of this incident 00:11:38.670 --> 00:11:40.220 align:middle line:84% until later, when his date went to the ladies room 00:11:40.220 --> 00:11:42.470 align:middle line:84% and he was left alone with his mother-- her mother. 00:11:42.470 --> 00:11:43.850 align:middle line:84% Her mother didn't say anything but glared at him 00:11:43.850 --> 00:11:44.785 align:middle line:90% for a long time. 00:11:44.785 --> 00:11:46.160 align:middle line:84% This made him feel uncomfortable, 00:11:46.160 --> 00:11:47.120 align:middle line:90% and he shifted in his seat. 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:48.980 align:middle line:84% What was taking her daughter so long in the bathroom? 00:11:48.980 --> 00:11:50.813 align:middle line:84% Finally, her mother pulled out a huge basket 00:11:50.813 --> 00:11:53.510 align:middle line:84% made of straw with a ship design on it and removed something. 00:11:53.510 --> 00:11:55.550 align:middle line:84% It was a miniature head, about the size 00:11:55.550 --> 00:11:59.480 align:middle line:84% of a chestnut, an old wrinkled chestnut or prune. 00:11:59.480 --> 00:12:01.460 align:middle line:90% It was the head of a man. 00:12:01.460 --> 00:12:02.930 align:middle line:90% 'Richard?' he said weakly. 00:12:02.930 --> 00:12:04.411 align:middle line:90% The old woman nodded. 00:12:04.411 --> 00:12:07.848 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:12:07.848 --> 00:12:09.322 align:middle line:90% 00:12:09.322 --> 00:12:11.530 align:middle line:84% He went out to the parking lot and emptied his dinner 00:12:11.530 --> 00:12:12.604 align:middle line:90% on the ground. 00:12:12.604 --> 00:12:14.380 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:12:14.380 --> 00:12:16.960 align:middle line:90% He never ate shrimp again. 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:20.393 align:middle line:84% That's when he entered a new celibacy period. 00:12:20.393 --> 00:12:22.810 align:middle line:84% Orifices of the '90s were like those of the '80s, anyway-- 00:12:22.810 --> 00:12:25.720 align:middle line:84% they were covered with do not enter signs. 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:27.220 align:middle line:90% No wonder Cuba was armed." 00:12:27.220 --> 00:12:27.790 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:12:27.790 --> 00:12:30.670 align:middle line:84% It goes on and on like that-- on and on. 00:12:30.670 --> 00:12:34.320 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:36.000 align:middle line:90%