Author Fran Lebowitz on the stuff she hates, 1978: CBC Archives | CBC

[@marshhen]

Wow these dudes were past their prime even for 1978. They veer from seeming-drunk, to patronizing to oblivious. She just carries on regardless. Amazing.

[@steveneardley7541]

It's almost scary how thoroughly out-of-it they are. She may as well have landed in a space-ship. They have no idea how to relate to a woman that doesn't fall into their Neanderthal categories. They don't see her, and end up talking to thin air.

[@uglyawesome]

@@steveneardley7541 Christ what the hell are you talking about

[@summonivus5785]

@@steveneardley7541 It seems more like they're there to set up her punchlines and that they're both in on the joke.

[@sarahsnowe]

This is the way most guys were. No wonder so many boomer women got divorced as soon as they could get a mortgage and otherwise support themselves and their children. Women stepped up to the jobs-outside-the-home plate, but most men didn't step up to the domestic chores and childcare plate. Taking the garbage out (after being reminded five times--this apparently is called "nagging") and mowing the lawn (maybe) aren't enough when the little woman is bringing home her share of the bacon. A lot of these divorced men never figured out what the problem was (despite being told).

[@danbowman9294]

@@sarahsnowe old maid's insanity

[@1868foxpoint]

I was at this taping at the old CBC studio on Yonge Street and waited outside afterward to speak to Fran--she was warm and charming and wickedly funny and very generous with her time, she didn’t seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere and her astute observations about Toronto were hilarious-when I asked her what she thought of the CN Tower she deadpanned-“I keep looking for the World’s Fair underneath it”--truly an evening I will never forget!

[@kf31paris]

Really...are you serious ??!!!

[@1868foxpoint]

Yes, of course-I was with my close friend Lee and we both still remark on what an extraordinary evening it was!

[@natalievuong5468]

What a magical moment

[@NasreenUS]

Thank you for sharing ☺️ she is awesome

[@litsci1877]

that is the best possible thing to say about that tower

[@cahg3871]

Fran has a keen wit.Always has and always will.She is an intellectual who says it like it is and damn the consequences.She lives life on her own terms and not on what others expect of her.

[@henrimatisse7481]

really, I didn't know that. wow

[@beemerdon]

She always tries to be provacative

[@patricias5122]

She makes those patronizing old dudes look ridiculous.

[@litsci1877]

They do a fine job of that themselves.

[@jonathandewberry289]

youch! Kitty got claws!

[@jonathandewberry289]

@@petergambaccini7396 You and the OP are so dense-headed you don't 'get' that everyone there including (and especially) the host fully gets it on levels you can't even imagine. Smarten up.

[@petergambaccini7396]

And why should I take advice from a pinhead like you?

[@jonathandewberry289]

@@petergambaccini7396 Because I'm better than you. That's why.

[@jonahmendel4604]

This interview blew my mind. She was so ahead of her time!

[@mizuko6132]

What the hell does that mean. It was the time.

[@ispirto12]

@@mizuko6132 she was witty and had indirect humor which wasn't really well grasped or popular back then. Humor was a lot more primitive and obvious at the time. That's why she was ahead of her time and still is.

[@mizuko6132]

@@ispirto12 Yea no. Are you from that era? How do you know how people in the 70’s talked?

[@ispirto12]

@@mizuko6132 Yes, I am from that era that's how I know.

[@FelRxz]

she had and still has such a swagger about her

[@lorenbrunken]

the sexism is so apparent now given all of the time that has passed. But, even then she wasn't taking it. Good for her. That's an uncomfortable interview, at times.:(

[@MFYouTube683]

The joke at the end 🤮👎🏻 ... I support feminist principles but I think in our time of offended non-binary teens in their safe spaces 🙄 oppression activism and victimisation have gone too far. But that was awful.

[@ahill4642]

Yeah, seems like she's being indulged by the interviewer as if she's a silly child who will grow up and be a 1950s housewife some day.

[@StrawberryFeildsforNever]

@@MFKZbin683 Back to the nursing home you go Malo!

[@ellie-tk4jy]

It would have been apparent then though

[@ellie-tk4jy]

@@MFKZbin683 Nothing has gone "too far"

[@vrth0mas]

She has an amazing ability to remain entertaining and largely unphased while surrounded by concentrated levels of sexist cringe

[@End_Zionism]

There is 0 sexism in this video. The only cringe is you.

[@chillbuddy4178]

I love how she refuses to sell out by even raising her voice!

[@doktorzhigonzo9165]

only recently got introduced to her and i have to say she's becoming one of my newest heros

[@w.m.aslam-author]

And she's still a very intelligent writer and witty woman. She's spot on about 'news' not being important.

[@sammavacaist]

Guess they didn't know what lesbians were back then.

[@jonathandewberry289]

Kid, they invented lesbians back then.

[@MsShellectable]

@@jonathandewberry289 um, Sappho?

[@ahill4642]

😛 clearly!

[@colleenwhalen2924]

Yeah, and it would have never occurred to Orson Bean and that idiotic interviewer that a brilliant, droll, highly intelligent woman like FL would have ANY aspiration other than winding up a housewife, married, pregnant instantaneously by the end of that TV program. WHAT planet were these two men on? I am just 4 years younger than FL and vividly remember how commonplace it was for men to be so blatantly condescending, patronizing and egregiously sexist on a daily basis to the vast majority of women. It was right around this same time frame - 1978 - I went on a job interview and two minutes into the interview the man who was the Hiring Manager told me "Colleen WHY aren't you married with a couple of children, keeping house?" He told me this in a very shocked, flabbergasted, exasperated tone of voice. I was only a mere 24 years old and this man could not comprehend how I could still be single, no children at just 24 years old.......I tried to change the subject and informed the man who was interviewing me for the job that I would like to focus on the discussing the job description - talk about the workplace culture at his office, discuss what type of professional advancement this company offered the staff. He then told me "You better be CAREFUL Colleen, if you don't get married soon, you will wind up a "spinster Old Maid"........Really, I could not make up this crap! I kept politely trying to change the subject of my matrimonial and reproductive plans - but the jerk who was interviewing kept going back to "Why aren't you MARRIED" with a disapproving tone of voice........he kept alluding to how many single, eligible bachelors worked in the office and that he did not really like to "Hire Women as Secretaries Because Right After They are Trained How to Do The Job, They Quit and Get Pregnant".........then I told him " well you better only hire MEN for all your secretarial job openings". Then he started talking about my clothes, my hairstyle, how attractive he thought I was.......it really creeped me out - he came onto me in a creepy, sleazy, lecherous manner........I wound up accepting that job because I was flat broke and my rent was due in 2 weeks.......then I quit on the 8th day after I was hired......he was such a pervert sexist creep.....every single day I worked there - at least 2-3 times a day, he would ask my pervy creepy questions "Did you take a bath this morning?" "What part of your body did you wash?" etc.........disgusting. On the 8th day on that job I told him "You are a creepy pervert I QUIT and I told him I was going to immediately call the employment agency who referred me to this job interview".......that really scared him - for the employment agency to find out what a sexist creepy pervy jerk he was............HILARIOUS - then he told me "I will give you ONE MONTHS SALARY as severance pay if you promise NOT to tell your employment agency you quit because I asked you several times a day questions about whether or not you took a shower this morning, what parts of your body you washed". So I only worked there 8 days and QUIT but he paid me an extra FULL MONTHS SALARY. This was typical of what it was like back in 1978 for working women who were supervised by male bosses........this interview at 6:00pm was along the same lines of sexist comments......no matter how intelligent, sardonic, brilliantly hilarious FL was - the ONLY thing of importance to Orson Bean and the interviewer is their ardent belief FL was going to wind up married, pregnant and a housewife by the end of that evening...........

[@snag_central8886]

Fran inventing lesbianism: “You know what drives me crazy? Penises! If there’s something cylindrical hanging out of my mouth I’m lighting it on fire”

[@quillber]

That guy thought he was being so charming saying 'maybe later this evening' ew

[@Fiona58100]

@Joe M Jokes are funny. That was not funny. Unnecessary touching, too. ew Ms. Lebowitz, was amused, not at the joke, but at the smarmy Mr. Bean, sitting to her right. " beta boys"? I guess YOU have declare YOURSELF a, alpha boy? yeah right. You come off as a, Charlie boy, defiantly. So, don't get your tiny gurken in a twist.

[@jackanaples]

Blado I looked for this and couldn’t find it. Do you remember anything else about it?

[@auntymammalia9384]

RIGHT???? And to this day when this same scenario comes up, women just turn their heads away and smile. Because we're expected to be polite and behave. Not a lot has changed since the old days.

[@nkwari]

i think he was trying to lighten the mood, as the host was trying to get up in her business!!!

[@agoogleuser1261]

Little did he know, he wasn't her "type"

[@SuperWidemouth]

She's got extremely attractive lip gloss happening, the eye shade matches her jacket and the b/g set, and she was completely right about several points: children did take over world (adulthood has been unfashionable for some time now), and Andy Warhol did stay famous for 45 years.

[@ellie-tk4jy]

yeh i hate the 'children taking over the world' thing though

[@litsci1877]

They used to refuse to let women on set without makeup.

[@Fortwentt]

what a horrible world that was!@@litsci1877

[@RobertaTMS_]

Seeing her in Netflix, and she didn't change much. That's incredible!

[@kristin1533]

Pretend It's a City is fabulous. I'm so glad Scorsese and Lebowitz did it together.

[@evaelisaveta2844]

I don't think the interviewer understands her humour... Keeps talking to her like a little child.

[@jamesanthony5681]

A number of past middle-age interviewers/TV people at the time (1978) were embarrassingly behind the curve, so to speak, not understanding or having a clue about the music, comedy, clothes, etc., of that generation that came after them. For example, they didn't understand SNL when it first came out, saying "I don't get it, there are no punch lines!!"

[@lastnamefirst4035]

Wasn't uncommon for men to talk down to women like they were children or not quite capable of carrying a conversation as a man. But actually I think it was the man's own insecurities and incapabilities in conversstion. I know, being a woman of that era-Sue

[@amyd7794]

Fran is very accommodating in interviews. She embraces the content of the question and never the delivery or the interviewer. She truly does prefer ideas over people

[@voxer99]

The interviewer's name was Paul Soles. CBC utility player, not very bright or talented

[@sto620]

I love her remark about not understanding people who say they won’t know what to do when they’re retired. I’ve always said the same thing!

[@aaronying4989]

Yea I don’t understand that concept either. I always was puzzled when I’d watch something about people wondering what to do or tips about your retirement. Lol

[@skeptigal2785]

You'll understand it when you retire.

[@patriciasalem3606]

Me too. I have a million things I'd rather do than this "struggle for the legal tender."

[@williamlynch3130]

It’s funny when they called her a “slow learner.” She calmly interjected by saying, “Slow time learner.” She’s one of the most fascinating people, who, if Wiki is correct, got a perfect verbal SAT score and a really low math score.

[@outreachalcstudies3021]

I would take her wit and conversation over Warhol's dead-eyed affect any day.

[@frankievalentine6112]

I love her! Now, then, and forever! ♡♡

[@caroldraper5017]

Im retired and I have just spent hours listening to Fran on youtube!

[@littleogeechee223]

She was truly gorgeous in her younger years...

[@matthewbrown17]

Time is a thief and you can’t get it back!

[@susprime7018]

Still gorgeous.

[@karlr2908]

When you could still smoke on TV🤣

[@ninamartinez5596]

I noticed that too😅

[@rogerlephoque3704]

@@ninamartinez5596 I switched off......

[@CBeatty59]

Yes and it’s gross.

[@XX-zk2lf]

Guy: "...like fall in love & have children." Fran: "Terribly unlikely." *Internally* 😏😏 Us: 😏😏

[@garethmorgan3665]

Terribly unlikely has to be one of the most gigantic understatement ever uttered by a person haha. I don't know anything about Fran Lebowitz but I enjoyed her company very much.

[@MRayner59]

Personalized news... fairly prescient of Fran. It took Facebook and the like about 25 years to take up the idea - sadly, with horrible results where now untold millions of people just confirm their existing beliefs about things.

[@laneythelame]

But she is right in saying people would prefer that... no-one has a problem with it so far and seem to be content in their personalised bubbles

[@BaumanExplores]

So ahead of her time. These people didn’t get her AT ALL

[@evan.hongzhengyang7135]

If there is something really important my mother will call ... lol

[@baharam98]

OOOOH MYYYYY GOD, I LOVE Fran sooooooooooooooo much!

[@Lolabelle59]

Fran is a gift.

[@christiemcarthur3519]

She’s a beauty!

[@FearBoxFiles]

It's amazing how little her personality has changed since 1978, not really sure if that's a good or bad thing.

[@johndeluca298]

I think she's abandoned any hope or aspiration of writing a book and has settled into this schtick of the college circuit (I'm talking current day, as i n 2016). Nothing necessarily wrong with that -- there are so few as witty and charming.

[@Poler777]

John DeLuca She's abandoned t he idea of writing another book because,..well,..who really buys books anymore.

[@ohd00bley]

...we do rarely change after the age of 7 (and I'm being generous, Google or your favorrite search engine is your friend).

[@tdsims1963]

@@ohd00bley I agree with this. Very few people really change--I just think we come to grips with who we are, that's all. And Fran has always been fearless in her approach to life. This can be good or bad, depending on your pov.

[@jamesanthony5681]

She's been consistent.

[@NasreenUS]

Omg that ending ugh poor Fran

[@beanzbeanz]

Cringe moment.

[@danbowman9294]

Just a bit of good-natured ribbing. Don't be so dour.

[@zw6201pppnp]

​@@danbowman9294 Zip it D-Boy

[@NashellJezebel]

I love you, Franish.

[@marshabush232]

I am not familiar with this man's habits during interview so is it usual for him to be so patronizing to his guests? It annoys me to no end, doesn't he realise that he's talking to a briliant, witty mind? Her joke about the furniture being too smal if children took over the world - what an excellent surrealistic humor!

[@kativ46]

And, she was so young. can you think of anyone in her age group who is as interesting, intelligent or engaging in today's celebrity world? There is no one now in my opinion.

[@PomegranateStaindGrn]

Patronizing to FEMALE guests. You know she wanted to kick both of them in the face with her loafers...

[@voxer99]

The interviewer is a man named Paul Soles, which is funny because I always thought he looked like a fish. . He was with the CBC for years and years.

[@denisebrownstone1751]

He isn’t very witty. He simply can’t grasp the pearls she is giving.

[@egnazia]

Love the concept of time!

[@blipblip88]

obscure interviews like this is what keeps me up late when i should have been in bed 6 hours ago..

[@avag8242]

It’s so weird seeing her young and almost shy

[@kristin1533]

Soft spoken but not shy. She definitely held her own.

[@NS-ef2ix]

And beautiful.

[@eliaol4231]

@@kristin1533 she was quite shy actually

[@esausjudeannephew6317]

She changed very little over many decades

[@robertwill23]

she's very funny. very interesting observations.

[@gypsy2007]

One of the greatest things in human existence is the collective agreement that smoking indoors is no longer allowed.

[@barbaraschumacher3861]

This asthmatic woman agrees with you. I used to hate having to leave a restaurant when someone lit up close to my table.

[@Ellie-p2l]

California's public housing dept...HUD no longer enforces smoking and drug use restrictions nor enforces ADA (Americans w/Disabilities Act) r requirements.

[@cunluzerne]

Fran is iconic

[@patriciasalem3606]

I forgot how ubiquitous smoking was then. A year after this interview aired, I did a gap year in Europe. My teachers smoked in the classroom, and there were ash trays in the armrests when you went to the movies. Every flight, every restaurant seating..."Smoking or non-smoking?"

[@philip-at-tube]

Back then, you could even smoke in a doctor's waiting-room.

[@baharam98]

Fran, when you came to the world, you made it much much much more interesting. Much love & respect to u for being exactly u...

[@keevyhazelton3750]

I'm just discovering her work and I'm not dissatisfied.

[@mark-j-adderley]

There is something inventive and authentic about this person, also something particularly self centered and closed-minded, provincial and intolerant. She is someone I love to hate, and would hate to love.

[@Lanzhanzhan]

I admire her and enjoy listening to her, but your comment is very astute.

[@kerrymihalik3795]

I love her. Icon. Legend. NYC shero. My make a wish; spend the day in NYC with her. Walk around, have a meal, get a little tipsy.

[@elizabethtrainer9732]

Frikken LOVE Fran!!

[@fundifferent1]

She didn't smile the entire interview until the last part when that man made the sexist joke...so you can tell she was just putting on a front because that's what women had to do back then.

[@ritaroad]

Oh please...She’s 70, I’m 65. Back then we didn’t put up with or do anything we didn’t want to do.

[@litsci1877]

Also now.

[@sidekick5898]

It was a different time. People back then would have thought that a harmless joke.

[@lanacheng8709]

Wow people smoking on stage, the good ol' days! Being a New Yorker, I'm proud of our Fran. NYC wouldn't be the same without her.

[@codyclaeys2008]

Big reader and I just stumbled on this woman she’s hilarious I hope she has some good books

[@Kapritchosa]

8:27am is the real time I wake up before a zoom meeting at 8:30am. It is now a real time.

[@susangrossman410]

Shes brilliant. Kind of in the way Warhol was but even more so.

[@rr7firefly]

Warhol was brilliant? I'm quite well read and I have never come across that opinion. After having read his book "Diaries" in its entirety I thought he was interested in inconsequential celebrity subjects (surface issues).

[@jimjam2024]

what makes her brilliant exactly?

[@robtberardi]

I'd say she's more articulate/ quicker than Warhol, but more brilliant than America's greatest artist? That's a stretch.

[@edienandy]

Not sure I follow. Lebowitz is incredibly verbose and Warhol was always as vague and sparse worded as possible.

[@DavidTimlin-c8e]

My swatch watch is from 2007 and it still keeps perfect time.

[@oatmealhoney7446]

"Terribly unlikely" AAAAA YESSS

[@thisisallthereis]

Amazing they could smoke on TV back then. Also, she looks so young.

[@davidantonacci9525]

Back then we smoked in cars, on buses, on subway platforms, in movie theatres, every imaginable place, indoors and out, including hospitals and funeral homes.

[@beckerickson8034]

@@davidantonacci9525 on airplanes too!!! In grocery stores, people would just put them out on the floor!

[@rudyhaveman]

She was 28. I guess I guess she would look young.

[@jochenstossberg5427]

She's funny because underneath the caustic wit she seems nice.

[@Concentrum]

as if her mind wasn't enough on its own, she was quite good looking, darn

[@lindasimons691]

Same-thanks for putting my thoughts into words!

[@visnamacpherson5109]

What a woman! I think I'm in love.

[@ibuprofenPill]

We had digital clocks in my house when I was a kid in the 70’s. I didn’t know how to read an analog clock until junior high school.

[@reubennichols644]

- God Help Me . . . Oh I Do Sooo L O V E Her ! I Love Fran Lebowitz Sooo Much ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! -

[@ytugtbk]

Love people who are always kidding. And, she's gotten away with it for all these years. Good on you, Fran. Favorite quote, "In real life--I assure you--there is no such thing as algebra."

[@knelson3484]

Fran's brilliant.

[@mcm2366]

It’s like watching a new species of humans talk to the last iteration far behind

[@jimjiminyjaroo300]

I love my digital watch. Though mum made me have a traditional analogue watch first to learn properly. Gran would never say “a quarter past 10”, instead it was “5 and 10 past 10”.

[@brocklinehan]

The guy interviewing her is Paul Soles: voice of Hermie the Elf and the 1960s animated Spider-Man.

[@luminair11]

Interesting to see & hear her as a younger woman!

[@gaetanovindigni8824]

What would men be without women? Scarce, sir…mighty scarce. --Mark Twain Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition. --Marilyn Monroe Trying to be a man is a waste of a woman. --Coco Chanel

[@sorcerybird]

predicts social media @ 4:05

[@robertjameson2749]

Really smashing the stereotype of neurotically obsessing over the trivialities of life.

[@rogerlephoque3704]

...and when they are not doing that and making us laugh and self-reflect, they continue to make a mark on this world world as we know it...

[@aarondelgado6606]

Like the vocabulary usage and pretty typical he would ask what her likelihood is of getting married and having kids and then the old guy put a pass on her and the audience loved it.

[@hhhhhjhbjkbkjj]

Her stance on the news would serve as a pretty good summary of transcendental philosophy

[@suebrown7032]

love this lady 🥰

[@michelmoutinho]

Ugh disgusting last comment! Good thing we’re not in 1979 anymore!

[@mjistomczuk8936]

she got her wish: instant news updates on a personal twitter account.

[@alzahalemn7322]

So graceful

[@rabbitscooter]

Ah, the great Paul Soles, actor, television host and, for those who don't know, the voice of Spider-Man in the 1967 cartoon series.

[@GuyCybershy]

Does anyone remember "This is the law", a hilarious primetime game show he was the star of?

[@Booboonancy]

Thanks, I couldn’t remember his name. I was thinking Saul something ...

[@rabbitscooter]

@@GuyCybershy Barely, but yes.

[@whatevershebrings]

@@rabbitscooter That's remarkable. Thanks for the factoid!

[@johnlewis195]

Sara Gilbert should play her in a movie

[@jaredwalkingeagle]

Luck-y. I want to be interviewed on TV and talk about all the stuff I hate.

[@StellaChristelle]

She was really pretty in her own way. Love her views!

[@lilweaver2315]

She is so charming.

[@howardrobinson4938]

Young Fran looks like young Carol King.

[@marinm.6362]

"You see little tiny children dividing a hundred million zillion by 14, instantly giving you the answer. They shouldn't be able to do that. No one should be able to do that, let alone a child... It instills a terrible confidence in children, that they can do this incredible mathematical equation. I think eventually it might result in children taking over the world. In which case, all the furniture would be too small."

[@pkramerable]

Agreed. Those things aren't "Progress".

[@dddelorey]

I think people were more interesting when they were allowed to smoke everywhere.

[@rogerlephoque3704]

You gotta be kidding me. Back off the novacaine, Charlie..

[@howardgreenman2908]

I lived thru the 60’s and 70’s. Believe me, smoking did not make people interesting. It just made them smell bad and die young.

[@citrinestone6884]

She talks about Time and Calculators; how I despise technology and phones for children. Stop sticking a tablet in their face, and, let them read a damn book 🤣

[@JenMoss525]

I agree that 10:17 is not a real time. Too right.

[@DanaDansereau]

Funny thing is she desires something from the news that is basically the internet--A news cast custom created for you only containing what best strokes your ego. Funny. Great personality.

[@linw7320]

I love you Fran!

[@guzelaziz]

So sharp she was

[@jramsey9690]

Is.

[@karenwalter1417]

Fran, look how pretty you are! -- and that thick, gorgeous hair. Luv your ideas-- your opinions are very entertaining.

[@blahblah24681357]

she looks like andy samberg in that episode of the eric andre show. also, she reminds me of daria.

[@jayallysongreen7781]

N0 she dont!! She looks like Bette Midler with brown hair!!

[@melissabeswick9430]

She is my current obsession

[@moerosma]

Same!

[@jsquirrel9523]

ugh of course the guy had to bring up her having children at some point

[@nola2chi]

Or maybe, it was a pre-approved comment to 'normalize' her intent to not have children, as well as many other 'personal' choices?

[@MewWolf5]

I wish we could see the beginning of this interview.

[@Booboonancy]

Talk shows rarely age well. It isn’t just this show and host. They were all kinda similar. The arrogance, the sexism, the condescension, the smoking and even drinking. Being drunk was tolerated, even considered amusing ? While we may sometimes miss the good ‘ole days, this isn’t one of the them.

[@Booboonancy]

@samsuffit You’re right.

[@savvysearch]

Being drunk is still pretty amusing if you watch British talk show today.

[@wonderfulmockingbird4660]

I am still waiting for the evening.

[@michelerich1590]

"Maybe later this evening." Dude, NO. CRINGE

[@halcyonacoustic7366]

Awful.

[@sidekick5898]

It was him merely throwing in a slightly flirtatious joke. No one at the time would have thought anything of it..

[@War-Hammerone]

I love Paul Soles - he was the voice of Spider-man, played the old janitor in Heist ( starred De Niro, Brando and others.) Paul is a brilliant actor

[@TK-fk4po]

Holy crap she’s hilarious!

[@MrPlooky]

"Never put anything in your ear, except your elbow," Orson Bean