Laughing Back - A Movie For Radio

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Laughing Back - A Movie For Radio
Series
WBAI And NPR Playhouse
Original Broadcast Date
11/29/1978
Cast
Joe Frank
Format
26 minutes
Chronology
Preceded by: Jewish Blues
Followed by: An American Hero Workshop

I work hard at my job.

Laughing Back - A Movie For Radio is a program produced by Joe Frank for NPR Playhouse. It was originally broadcast November 29, 1978, and was released as a monthly premium at joefrank.com in December 2004.

Synopsis

This program features four Joe Frank stories. The announcer begins by comparing hearing Joe's work to watching a movie.

  • "The Night Watchman": the first person account of a night watchman who rises through the ranks of a company by inviting bosses to dinner and burying them in the back yard, only to find himself invited to dinner by the new night watchman.
  • "Caldwell": a fitness nut who dies while climbing stairs in a 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.
  • "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. It's thirty years later, the adult has dulled senses. Joe runs out of gas in the country, experiences a vivid memory of childhood and imagines that his whole life has been a child's dream.
  • "Beautiful Woman on Elevator": the often repeated experience of an awkward elevator ride beside attractive woman.

Music

Shared material

  • "The Night Watchman" shares some text with Lies.
  • The "Caldwell" story appears in Emergency Room.
  • 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.

Miscellanea

  • The background music to the elevator story ("Hard Work") is used often on Harry Shearer's Le Show.

Commentary

Please see guidelines on commentary and share your personal thoughts in this section.

Spblat

Night Watchman is an ironic and very funny monologue about rising up through the ranks by poisoning one's superiors. This is good stuff and a nice indication of what's to come in the Joe Frank canon.

External links

Retrieved from "https://jfwiki.org/index.php?title=Laughing_Back_-_A_Movie_For_Radio&oldid=19383"