If you’re lucky enough to still have your dad, cherish him. And don’t give him a crappy tie. He doesn’t need or want it. Just sayin’.

 

I’ll be back at the Marsh San Francisco tonight and next Friday doing staged readings of my latest solo play, GRANDMA & ME. Come on out and watch me help me get the final text of the script right before my director David Ford and I go into rehearsals for my October 8 opening. Previews start the weekend after Labor Day.

 

 All dates are contingent upon what Covid decides to do.

 

I’ve got a few things to recommend to you this week…

 

BOOKS

 

BYE BYE BABY

 

I’m reading the new Spenser novel BYE BYE BABY. I’m about halfway through and really enjoying it. This time around, Spenser is hired to protect a young multiracial congresswoman (clearly modeled on New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) who is getting death threats from white supremacist groups who don’t like “her kind” representing their district in Boston. It’s filled with Spenser’s trademark wit and street smarts. His buddy and fellow badass, Hawk, is back for this ride.

 

Gotta tell you, when Robert B. Parker (creator of the series and its author for forty years) died a few years back, I thought for sure that was the end of the series. His estate has found this perfect backup in author Ace Atkins. He’s seamlessly picked up where Parker left off and his Spenser novels are WONDERFUL.

 

One last note on Parker. He died at his desk working on a Spenser book. Now that’s how a real author should go!

 

READ

 

MOVIES

 

THE VALET

 

I watched the Hulu original film THE VALET a few nights ago and was thoroughly entertained. It’s a totally formulaic film that you know exactly how it will end up, but you enjoy the ride. The plot is very close to the latest Jennifer Lopez RomCom MARRY ME, where she plays a movie star who marries a random guy in the audience for publicity reasons.

 

In THE VALET, Eugenio Derbez (who is a huge comedy star in Mexico and just breaking into American films) plays the eponymous valet who finds himself in a paparazzi photo with a famous movie actress and the married billionaire she’s having an illicit fling with. In order to cover up the affair, the couple pays Derbez to pretend that he is in fact the man with whom the actress (played brilliantly by Samara Weaving, niece of Hugo Weaving from THE MATRIX) is involved with. As I said, it’s totally formulaic but it was two hours of good entertainment in my own living room.

 

WATCH

 

TELEVISION

 

CRUEL SUMMER

 

This week I also checked out Hulu’s original series, CRUEL SUMMER. My daughter Carolyn turned me on to it. It’s a teen drama anthology that bounces back and fourth over three consecutive summers in the 1990s when the most popular girl in high school goes missing and the nerdiest girl in school makes herself over to take her place.

 

It's totally original and I never knew where it was going. Check it out.

 

LISTEN

 

NOBODY TOLD ME

 

My friends Jan Black and her daughter Laura Owens have a terrific (and VERY popular) podcast called NOBODY TOLD ME. It’s the #1 Self Help podcast on Apple Podcasts. On the show, they interview notable people, everyone from Olympic Gold medalists to my pal Lucie Arnaz and have them talk about the things they wish they’d known when they were at their lowest point in life. It’s such a great idea for a show and it has a HUGE following.

 

Listen to it on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts!

 

And on the subject of podcasts, my show, COPELAND’S CORNER, drops on Thursday afternoons now. I put together a panel of comedians and we analyze the news of the week. Check it out!

 

You can hear the latest episode here.

 

Have a great weekend!