Page 63 - My FlipBook 1

because they can’t afford bail.
An inmate at Cook County Jail, in Chicago,
sends a message to the outside world.
SMART, OR ARTICULATE,’
G THE WORLD TO MY HOME.”
blower outside!” It can be hard
They haven’t been convicted of to have gravitas.
anything, and they haven’t had I’m very worried about my chil-
their day in court. They’re pre- dren. At the same time, I’m
sumed innocent. incredibly worried about the for- 2 0 L I V E S ,
Why do they have to fight for ty-five-hundred-plus people in 2 0 P E R S P E C T I V E S
soap? the jail. Switching between
I’ve been working at a card those two viewpoints is very . . .
table set up in the bedroom. My I feel unbalanced sometimes.
husband and I switch off using —As told to B. L.
it. We have a one-year-old and
a four-year-old. There’s a bit of
chaos—say, asking a judge to
hear our request for release with
a baby screaming in the back-
ground. Judge is like, “Counsel,
what is that noise?” “A leaf
W H A T
W E ’ R E
LEARNING
THE ENTERTAINER
JIMMY FALLON
THE TONIGHT SHOW HOST,
The Hamptons, New York
MARCH 13: Date The Tonight Show suspended my camera operator. I don’t know if it’s
production fight-or-flight, but your instinct takes over.
MARCH 17: Date The Tonight Show: At Home
Edition premiered on YouTube It shows who you really are. It shows your
MARCH 23: Date At Home Edition premiered on character.
NBC, alongside previously aired segments
FOR ME, THE CLOSEST thing to this
experience was New York after 9/11. I was
I HAD TO DO something. You have to be
on Saturday Night Live and I didn’t know
there for the people—they were there for
what to do, where to turn, or whom to talk
me for twenty years. I just didn’t know what
to. I remember going to the late-night hosts—
I was going to do. But sometimes that’s the
I’d watch Conan, Jay Leno, David Letter-
start of the best ideas. You just have to make
man—to hear what they were saying. And I
a decision to do it.
remember David Letterman had a great line
AFTER DOING THE show for ten years, about courage: that sometimes pretending
you just keep adding more stuff, getting to be courageous is just as good.
slicker. The production value heightens.
THAT’S WHAT I’VE learned through
When I’m wearing a suit and makeup and
this: My role is to be there for people in some
all that stuff, I really feel like there’s a lot of
way. I’m lucky to be in a position to maybe
phoniness, or stuff that can come across as
help someone get through this by giving
phoniness. The audience is laughing, but
their brain a little balance with all of the
maybe they’re just being polite. Maybe what
awful out there.
I just said wasn’t funny, I don’t know. And
maybe you tense up. I’m not really a WE’LL SEE WHAT we end up with when
stand-up comedian. I don’t want to tell this is over. The show will look different.
funny stories. Then again, it might feel just right.
BUT WHEN YOU peel it all back, it’s like, I DON’T KNOW if I can put on a suit again.
All right, who are you? It forces your brain I would feel odd coming out in a suit.
to be creative in ways that I haven’t done in —As told to Matt Miller
years. I have no crew, I have no staff here, I
have no lighting. My wife is my director and
63 SUMMER 2020