Copie's Choice for the weekend of May 20, 2022

Published: Fri, 05/20/22

May 20, 2022

Happy Weekend!

I hope that it’s been a good week and that you’re happy and healthy.

Busy week for me. Been working on the rewrite of the pilot script for the television adaptation of NOT A GENUINE BLACK MAN. We’ve decided to expand it from a half hour to an hour, so I’ve been restructuring the thing. I think what I’ve got so far is not bad. Not bad at all.

It’s been a busy time for my family as well. If you’re a Bay Area sports fan, you’ve probably heard my son Adam on KNBR radio as part of the Murph and Mac morning sports talk show the last few years. Well, due to his great on air personality and encyclopedic knowledge of all things sports, he’s been promoted to co-host afternoon drive with the legendary Golden State Warrior Tom Tolbert. TOLBERT & COPES airs Monday to Friday from 2-6p pacific on KNBR 680. If you’re not in the Bay Area, you can listen through a number of radio apps and internet devices including Alexa and of course KNBR.com.

Yeah…I’m proud of the kid.

I was also informed recently that my daughter Carolyn will be having her first child and my first grandchild in the fall.

Like I said, busy time.

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

WATCHING

I haven’t watched much television this week but I didn’t miss the penultimate episode of THIS IS US on NBC. If you can watch that episode without crying your eyes out, you have ice water running through your veins.

The beloved series airs its final episode on Tuesday. You can catch up on the NBC app or on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock.

READING

ALL ABOUT ME by Mel Brooks. Actually, I’m listening to this terrific memoir on Audible, read by Mr. Brooks himself. It’s incredibly entertaining. He covers his extraordinary life in show business from his childhood in Brooklyn to his work on the writing staff of the legendary comic Sid Caesar on YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS and CAESAR’S HOUR to the creation of GET SMART for television and classic films like YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and BLAZING SADDLES to the development of the Broadway smash, THE PRODUCERS. Nothing is left out! It’s a great read/listen. I highly recommend it.

MOVIE

“THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT”

I first heard about this movie after it was dubbed the darling of the South by Southwest festival. After viewing it, I can see why.

In this hilarious adventure/comedy, Academy Award winner Nicholas Cage plays a fictional version of himself who, needing money, accepts a million dollar gig to appear at the birthday party of a fan in South America. It turns out that the fan is a notorious arms dealer who may have been behind the kidnapping of the daughter of a presidential candidate the cartel opposes. Cage ends up working with the CIA to find and save the girl.

It’s a riot! Tiffany Haddish, Neil Patrick Harris and Sharon Horgan (who I love on the Amazon series CATASTROPHE, another show you should watch) co-star. DEFINITELY see this movie!

LISTEN

RUN BAMBI RUN is a first rate true crime podcast about the case of Lawrencia “Bambi” Bembenek, a former Playboy bunny and Milwaukee cop who was convicted of murdering the ex-wife of her police officer husband back in the mid 1980s. For years she protested her innocence and the fairness of her trial. After her appeals were exhausted, she broke out of prison and triggered an international manhunt for her capture.

It’s a gripping tale of murder, the corruption of the 1970s and 1980s Milwaukee Police Department, women’s rights and the manipulation of our criminal justice system.

Definitely check this on out. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts.

SAVE THE DATE

I’ll be doing staged readings of my new solo play, GRANDMA & ME: An Ode to Single Parents, at the Marsh theater in San Francisco on Friday nights in June at 7:30. The play officially opens this September. Come on out for a sneak peek at what I’ve been working on! Tickets are available at themarsh.org.

Have a great weekend and, stay safe!

Copie