No Show

No Show[1]

Series
Work In Progress
Original Broadcast Date
1986
Cast
Joe Frank
Format
Serious Monologue, 60 mins / 90 mins / 120 mins
Preceded by:	Landing Strip In The Jungle, A
Followed by:	Let Me Not Dream

I have an announcement to make this evening. There is no show.

No Show is a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series Work In Progress. It was originally broadcast in 1986.

Synopsis

• Joe announces that there is no show, and spends the program explaining why against soft piano music.
• Discussing the inter-connectedness of all things and the indomitable desire to live with a producer.
• Joe sweeps a tuner across commercial radio stations, suggests his audience listen to something else
• A woman invites herself to Joe's apartment, talks forever about nothing, and harasses his cat. Sharing a frozen dinner with an elderly cat.
• Joe calls a telephone counseling line from the studio.
• A dinner party in Joe's honor, feeling a fraud, discussing the meaning of quality of life. Dinner parties as an Olympic sport.
• The lawsuit against a film company for plagiarism.
• Joe's friend talks about problems with his mother.
• Joe's cat goes into a seizure.
• Living in a noisy neighborhood. Waking up to a film crew outside.
• Joe picks up a girlfriend at the airport.

Music

• "My First Homage" - Gavin Bryars (from Hommages, 1981) | YouTube

Miscellanea

• Although broadcast frequently in a 60-minute edit, there are 90-minute and 120-minute versions.
• Joe's most truly autobiographical show. 100% true, *probably*. He talks about his daily life and frustrations, and the cumulative interruptions which have caused him to be unprepared to write a show.
• Joe's most "improvised" monologue. You hear him tell unprepared stories about his life, his narrative is less polished, more hesitant, sounds like his "true speaking voice".
• Includes material about his lawsuit against the screenwriter from the Scorcese film "After Hours", which is not included in the 60-minute version.