View source for Laughing Back - A Movie For Radio

{{Infobox
|name         = Infobox/doc
|bodystyle   = width:30em;
|headerstyle  = background:#ccf;
|labelstyle   = background:#ddf;
|datastyle    = 
|title = Laughing Back - A Movie For Radio [https://www.joefrank.com/streaming/shows/?jfsearch=laughing+back]
|titlestyle   = 
|header1 = Series
|data2 = [[WBAI And NPR Playhouse]]
|header3 = Original Broadcast Date
|data4  = 11/29/[[:Category:1978|1978]]
|header5  = Cast
|data6  = Joe Frank
|header7 = Format
|data8 =  58 minutes
|header9 = Chronology
|label10= Preceded by: 
|data10 = [[Jewish Blues]]
|label11= Followed by: 
|data11 = [[An American Hero Workshop]]
}}

''I work hard at my job.''

'''Laughing Back - A Movie For Radio''' is a program produced by Joe Frank for [[WBAI And NPR Playhouse|NPR Options]].  It was originally broadcast November 29, [[:Category:1978|1978]], and was released as a monthly premium at [http://joefrank.com joefrank.com] in December 2004.

== Synopsis ==
This program features several Joe Frank stories.  Mike Waters, the announcer, begins by comparing hearing Joe's work to watching a movie. 

0:52: "The Night Watchman": the first person account of a night watchman who rises through the ranks of a company by inviting bosses to dinner, poisoning them, then burying them in the back yard. When Joe becomes the boss the new night watchman invites him to dinner.<ref>Joe tells a similar story in [[Lies]]</ref>

7:55: "A Time On The Beach": Joe describes his life on a beach in Curaçao; though a diabetic, he eats a chocolate gun.<ref name=emergency>Joe uses this segment in [[Emergency Room]]</ref>

12:05: "Caldwell": a fitness nut who dies while climbing stairs in the 1977 blackout has an out of body experience. He travels down a long dark tunnel and emerges into a festive dinner party attended by dead family members. They do the carnival dance. Then he's resuscitated, to his regret.<ref name=emergency /> 

17:26: "Isn't it true that we continue to strive all our lives in order to find peace and fulfillment ... life is not a game you can win, but a game that has no end, and all you do is die somewhere in the middle of it."<ref>Joe uses this segment in [[He Hesitated]]</ref>

25:41: "Long Island Memories": Joe's childhood in Long Island.  A child is open to experiences: Lady bugs, frogs, turtles, butterflies, campfire, grandmother's hollow chocolate-filled cookies, being in the countryside with a dog, walking to meet his father's car on its return  home.<ref>Joe tells a similar story in [[Karma Memories]]</ref> 

30:20: It's now almost 30 years later.  Joe's promoting rock concerts, is driving from Binghamton to Syracuse.  Because of the traffic on Route 81 he takes a country road, gets lost, runs out of gas, starts walking.  He sees a car approaching in the distance, remembers meeting his father's car coming home from work when he was a boy.  It's Murray Gwertzmann, director of A&R at Capitol Records, who had made the same mistake, picks Joe up in his limo; they celebrate with Dom Perignon.

33:59: "Beautiful Woman on Elevator": Joe's in an elevator with a beautiful woman; he fails to work up the nerve to talk to her. 'Hard Work' plays in the background.  Joe says this happens to him almost daily.<ref>Joe tells the same story in [[Five Part Dissonance]] and a similar story in [[Obsessions]]</ref>

53:54: "That was really wonderful, Alan - I've never heard it played quite that fast": a dispute between fast piano players.<ref>Joe uses this segment in [[Arena]] and [[Emergency Room]]</ref>

== Music ==
{{Music-Stub}}
{{Banda (Cyril Jackson)}} [Intro] <!-- also appears on numerous compilations like "Afro Drums" and "African Drums & Afro-Caribbean Grooves" -->
* Original music by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Peaslee Richard Peaslee] [8:14]
{{Evensong (John Abercrombie)}} [14:48]
{{All My Tomorrows (Frank Sinatra)}} [22:33] {{Unidentified|id=easy listening [29:17 & 32:51]}}
{{Hard Work (John Handy)}} [33:59]

== Shared material ==
* "The Night Watchman" shares some text with [[Lies]].  
* "A Time On The Beach" and "Caldwell" appear in [[Emergency Room]].  
* The striving/fulfillment/futility essay appears at the end of [[He Hesitated]].
* We hear another reference to Joe walking out to meet his father (Freddy) in [[Karma Memories]].  
* "Beautiful Woman on Elevator" is not the same material as the elevator encounter in [[Obsessions]].
* The fastest piano players dispute appears in [[Arena]], [[Arena (Remix)]], and [[Emergency Room]].

== Miscellanea ==
* About 16 minutes of the program is a distinct "Cartoon For Radio" segment by Mac Calhoun
* The background music to the elevator story ("Hard Work") is used often on Harry Shearer's ''Le Show.''  

== External links ==
* [https://soundcloud.com/thejoefrank/the-nightwatchman-extended The Nightwatchman] - extended version at [https://soundcloud.com/thejoefrank SoundCloud]
* [https://www.worldcat.org/title/laughing-back-a-movie-for-radio/oclc/8236943/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true Worldcat]

== Footnotes ==

[[Category:Absurd_Monologue]]
[[Category:Serious_Monologue]]
[[Category:1978]]
[[Category:Show]]	
[[Category:Show_by_date|19781129]]	{{Airdate|airdate=1978-11-29}}
[[Category:WBAI And NPR Playhouse]]
{{Series|series=WBAI And NPR Playhouse}}{{Cast|cast=Joe Frank}}