A couple of weeks ago I was in New York on business and I went to see the new 9/11 Memorial Museum. It was, of course, a deeply powerful and moving experience. They did an amazing job of capturing the stories of that day. Not everyone will be ready to relive that awful time in such … Read more
Like millions of Americans last week, I took to social media to heap scorn upon The Sound of Music Live. We are now in that next predictable phase of pop culture ephemera: the backlash to the backlash, wherein the production’s defenders scold its attackers. So it’s incumbent on me to tell these people THEY ARE … Read more
Studies suggest that millennials are more focused than previous generations on achieving fame and wealth. You can blame reality TV or a culture of celebrity worship, but the idea of equating success with material reward and status is so embedded in our culture that it’s hard to pinpoint a culprit. Maybe we’re all part of … Read more
Eleven years ago I started on a strange journey, fulfilling a long-held desire to perform by signing up for classes at Chicago’s famed Second City training center. That led to improv and sketch shows, theater performances and national commercial work. But a funny thing happened on my way to becoming an actor. I discovered these … Read more
On Sunday night I got home from a short vacation and found our very old, very dear cat in a terrible state. After a rush to the animal ER and a diagnosis from our specialty vet, we made the difficult decision the next day to let her go. It had been a long time coming, … Read more
In the hours after the September 11 attacks, I was furious. I wanted revenge — and if the pursuit of that resulted in some measure of justice, so be it. But justice was not the first thing on my mind. We still don’t know who was responsible for the attacks in Boston, but it strikes … Read more
My father died last week, after a heartbreaking, years-long battle with Alzheimer’s. It was not unexpected, yet it hit me a little harder than I thought, even after all this time to prepare. My sister and I delivered the eulogy, and it was both the writing and public speaking job of a lifetime. As I … Read more
I did this TV interview on Friday and learned a little something that I should have already known, since it’s something I always preach. People tend to think that their job or their industry is enormously complex and that an outsider could never possibly understand how it works. As a result, businesses often demand extensive, … Read more