A friend of mine kept giving me hell for not watching Iconoclasts on the Sundance Channel. This went on for several weeks before I broke down and watched it (a process that will likely repeat itself later this week when I finally realize ignoring Rome won’t make it go away). Having watched two episodes it turns out Iconoclasts is, in fact, a pretty good show. The series is currently in reruns, which is nice for people like me who want to catch up.
The show takes two celebrities who may be friends or may be acquaintances and then brings them together so that they can gush over the phenomenal career of the other. It’s a lot of, “You’re a genius!” “No, YOU’RE a genius!” This sounds tedious, and maybe it is, but it doesn’t hurt that most of these people actually are geniuses… or at the very least “fairly creative.”
The first episode I watched featured Quentin Tarantino and Fiona Apple, which is kind of like watching a conversation between the ADHD kid from junior high talking to the prom queen (hmmm, actually, that’s exactly what it was like). I can’t say that I learned anything (though the image of Quentin Tarantion and P.T. Anderson hanging out in a living room sounds almost too intense for words), but it was fun to watch.
The second episode, however, brought together Lorne Michaels and Paul Simon, two champions of their respective fields. Watching Lorne Michaels interact with people who don’t look to him as god (or dad) is endlessly fascinating and reminds us that, yes, there’s a reason he’s still running the show. He converses with a bone-dry sense of humor where you don’t really get the joke until the moment has long past.
As an obsessive SNL watcher (and sometimes fan), listening to Michaels restores one’s faith in the importance and cultural significance of the show. Sure, it hasn’t been dangerous in a generation, but the sheer presence of a 90-minute LIVE telecast almost seems out of place (though perhaps it is to Michael’s fault that the series has been so polished for so long most people wouldn’t believe that it is, in fact, actually happening NOW).
And then of course there’s Paul Simon, who I loved in Annie Hall, and who — get this! — is also a singer songwriter… and hilariously funny.
I keep hearing about the Maya Angelou/Dave Chappelle episode, but it has yet to rerun now that I’m looking for it. It’s suppose to be the proverbial bees knees.
Apparently a “nimrod” is a hunter. I always just thought a “nimrod” was an idiot. Shows how much I know.
