Fran Lebowitz gives her view of modern NYC

Author/Activist Fran Lebowitz talks about New York City as she views it and how it has changed since Bloomberg took office.

[@alisademi6327]

Such an intriguing person. I love Fran.

[@keithnichols7926]

I envy how quickly Fran comes up with a theory and then some examples to support it. If it plays well, it becomes part of her repertoire. So, being interviewed helps supplement the repertoire.

[@Ariela231]

Very true

[@FM-mj8pr]

Maybe one day this World will catch up catch to this amazing person🤞🏼✊✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏿🤞🏼we need one like Fran I every town. Thank you Fran

[@55vermeer]

Shut up, Fran.

[@jimcrovatt6988]

Apparently, the cameraman is only 3 feet tall.

[@seanwebb605]

Trouser cam.

[@Ayush-vr3xh]

🤣

[@bmus8008]

hahaha

[@millcitymercantile]

Fran is the voice of reason that the world lacks these days. She has absolutely no problem calling out democrats and republicans alike.

[@ThePearlsofGray]

I could totally listen to her yak on a rooftop in NY with a glass of wine in my hand. That would be awesome 😁

[@StuAnderson90]

If they had this kind of balcony in Britain people would get pissed up fight and fall over the edge.. because when we're drunk we are complete assholes...

[@Ozmni11]

I went to NYC in 1995. It was so cool because there were so many interesting shops, not store chains that carry the same thing across the country that occupy Times Square now. There were so many people from all over the world it was such a cool place to visit. Now it's so commercialized like Fran says it is for the tourist, it has lost it's sense of uniqueness.

[@770WT]

Hugh rents priced the little people out .

[@laurayanelli1447]

Said it before and I'll say it again..Fran Lebowitz for President!!!

[@nem0763]

I feel like this is a very specific roleplay video, where I'm 5 years old again, visiting the big city where one of my wacky aunts is sounding off on something incomprehensible to me, and it's going on way past my bedtime but the whole energy is captivating so I'm not complaining yet

[@walterradunsky5558]

I can't believe I'm being more pessimistic than Fran Lebowitz, but the truth is that no person or thing can go back to the past, only learn from it, which America has never done.

[@vrth0mas]

Fran has mastered the art of complaining about things in interesting and enjoyable ways. It's a skill I really need to learn, rather than being a grade a prick all the time haha

[@kristinebyrne9938]

Good old Fran...keep beating your drum !

[@nathanbradleyf777]

Why does this sound condescending?

[@hayleyannamathieson7261]

Fran. I adore you!!!!! !😘😘

[@XX-zk2lf]

She both excites & intimidates. Lol Seriously a fantastic person. Fran 2024.

[@focusedfreebird]

Nyc used to be so unique...now its just too gentrified

[@under88Me]

I guess it is the same in European big cities.

[@nonenoneonenonenone]

Love you, Farn.

[@megdwy9732]

More please!

[@jameslivergood348]

She is the last sane mind in NYC!

[@robertbarnier45]

Tell it Fran

[@nancywysemen7196]

Interesting take on tourism. I will ask around. Thank-you.

[@theairinthebranches]

It looks like this was recorded covertly

[@treintaydiez]

ya think

[@jamesbaldock4140]

@@treintaydiez She seems like a very frank person though. I doubt she would hide views, even these kind; you'd just have to ask her for her two cents and she'd be off like a rocket.

[@sammavacaist]

I said often that restaurants would be better without smokers. Smokers don't realize how badly they smell to non smokers.

[@creativeblunder]

sammavacaist there shouldn’t be absolute bans on smoking. Let businesses decide if they want to allow it or not, and let the patrons decide whether or not to go

[@sammavacaist]

@@creativeblunder That's fine. I would never patronize an establishment where smoking is permitted. And I'm sure theyll find that nowadays people who don't smoke will do the same. And they outnumber smokers by a margin now. Probably wasn't true 40 years ago, but I promise you most businesses will side with the nonsmokers for $ reasons.

[@josephkearny5874]

I'd like to hear Fran's feelings about NYC and DeBlasio now!

[@samanthab1923]

That's the first thing I thought when I heard she voted for him. Everyone hates DeBlasio!

[@ingloriousled1870]

she gave her opinion, and she hated him

[@andrew-xr1de]

I like Fran, She's really good!.....and right!

[@frankjames6232]

For all of those who are on the outside looking in? I'm a native New Yorker Brooklyn born and raised I my thing is New York is unique in it's cultural stature that it was a place to express your music and artistic talent we were to everything that is now pop culture now from punk rock/nu-wave to hip-hop to disco now the culture cues are gone because guilliani and doomberg sold out New York for their own pockets no more wetlands, CBGBS, paradise garage disco fever Latin quarters danceteria for in which made many of musical legends who are now induced in the rock&roll Hall of Fame Debbie Harry / Blondie ( CBGBS) the Ramones (CBGBS) grandmaster flash and the furious five (Disco fever) talking heads ( CBGBS) no more inspired places to be inspired only memories of the places that inspired the inspirational

[@blahblah1438]

Frank James thank you for your perspective I'm not from New York I've always loved it to visit and in my dreams thought about what it would be like to live there. I wonder where all the young artists go now

[@elcruzer5514]

I love you Fran!! Read all your books! You still Rock. We met at the Bottom Line one night and I made a complete ass of myself. Because I love you.

[@alihirsch1045]

So true and so sad

[@christianruiz5385]

Can you imagine hosting a fantastic dinner party in Manhattan and having her as one of the guest>? it would be a dream come true! she would dominate the conversation all around the table!

[@velocitygirl8551]

Beautiful view ...

[@agnescleary2312]

I've always loved Fran Lebowitz, but she's got to give up the whining about not being allowed to smoke in restaurants. Bloomberg's an elitist asshole, but the science on the damaging effects of second hand smoke is solid. Smoking is not a human right. Breathing is. But everything else she says....right on the money!

[@user-wb2yv7ll9d]

100% agree.

[@NosyHausfrau]

I agree. I was born and raised in NY. Non-smokers ALWAYS complained about smoking sections. You would very often hear "like the smoke knows to stop when it gets to my section?" People rejoiced when it was banned. I love Fran but she's the only smoker I know of who doesn't GET that no one cares to share carcinogens with her.

[@dakiblabla]

Excellent camera work on her lapels, shame you kept missing the face.

[@soniam5052]

Which interview is on first clip with Fran Leibowitz?

[@seand8613]

Biking is good for the environment though, and it’s been super popular in new york.

[@laurencegoldman4639]

Case in point: Bodley Crowther ran supreme as NY Times (remember newspapers?) film critic: May 25, 1961: “Lancaster Stars in “Young Savages” (John Frankenheimer hard boiled look at teen gangs. All star cast.) Crowther ends with:” A film that sees the problems and then soft soaps them doesn’t provide much valid drama or do much good.” !!!!! Can you ever imagine R>O Scott writing this? Or Rotten Tomatoes reviews? Or Roger Egbert for that matter? Just the phrase “valid drama”...When I read that, I realized in a flash how much the culture (in NY and elsewhere) has deadened our sensibilities and degenerated. When was the last time a reviewer lifted a film back into the context of it’s relevance to the immediate, vibrant actual present life which birthed it? NY Culture and New Yorkers used to be sharp, on point, sophisticated. The city used to stay up waiting for the Times just to get the reviews. It sure ain’t like it used to be, baby.

[@doughamel150]

an education in thinking, god bless lebowitz...why does she not run for Mayor??? She would win!

[@yazebrahi220]

is she single?? because hello

[@williamgatesenson]

that last analogy was solid.

[@tennyc]

"God Save The Queen , cuz tourists are Money!!"- Johnny Rotten , Sex Pistols

[@jaysterling26]

Not really : tourists can now visit Versailles - if there was still a monarch in France it probably wouldn't be possible. Plus, the Queen doesn't really stay that much in Buck. house (apparently not liked) - Windsor is more preferred.Cheers.

[@frankdiscussion2069]

Fran drives a 1978 Checker Cab! Now that's cool.

[@GH-oi2jf]

It’s a Checker, but it was never a cab.

[@javieroviedo6928]

She as so right about tourism! Look what happened this last year. The only thing making big news was Broadway NOT making money because of no tourism.

[@1kinut800]

The interviewer doesn't even sound like he's listening to her.

[@ggsluv]

He isn't. He obviously has nothing intelligent to add to the conversation besides "uh huh". I'm sure he's simply looking for quotes from Fran that he can then turn around and pass off as his own ideals.

[@me67226]

I love Fran.

[@dasboot-yp7xv]

See what happens when you factor the BILLIONS of tourism dollars out of your annual budget. You'd be begging for tourists to come back.

[@billykobilca6321]

Clever. sees things freshly different Like Malcolm Gladwell.

[@priyac7054]

You don't have balls and honest guts you should be afraid to keep breathing in from of Fran. I fkin love THAT INTRIGUING HONESTY SHE HAS, I FKIN LOVE HER. I want her as my soul mate, but she'd prolly would at first avoid my fax

[@poolmilethirty2859]

She brings up a good point about the fact that tourists don't vote. So government officials don't care about the people that live there if they are only catering to the tourists. And she brings up the caribean. How well off are those citizens. The government doesn't care about them.

[@kevinwhelan9607]

Re.below. I meant of course "being" not "been". D'oh!😮

[@mastercng]

If you strip her of context and ethos. She'd just be your local crazy lady who will talk to anyone about her wild and strong opinions.

[@allthatjazzspaz95]

Crazy people are generally brilliant

[@mastercng]

@@allthatjazzspaz95 the one thing they all have in common though is that they're crazy

[@badbunnyky]

how is this different from any other talk show host or internet personality lol

[@VBN59Z]

Love Fran, but little did she know New York City was now entering an era of crime and horror.

[@Dalsemien]

I love Fran, but not smoking in restaurants has saved my throat. More people than you think have highly irritable and sensitive mucous membranes, and smoking is horrible to get in your throay if you have that.

[@GH-oi2jf]

Smoking is the main thing about which she’s completely wrong.

[@poolmilethirty2859]

She realizes that it's a very bad addiction 😢

[@Marfmellow88]

Very interesting but unusual person.

[@priyac7054]

ALSO, GO ANDREW YANG!!! ✊🏼✊🏼💙💙💙💙💙

[@c.e.schlink9933]

Hey! Just turn “rentals” into “Airbnb’s” like they are doing here in Maui!

[@rogerrobie2451]

deblasio is worse than bloomberg tho, who was shit

[@mlocante]

Wonderful

[@sheLovesG]

I wonder what she thinks of DeBlasio now? Lol!

[@brockreynolds870]

I simply don't see the appeal of New York. The noise and the dirt and the crime. I would never even want to visit there. I love my 40 acre farm , my home in the woods, and the beatiful creek running 40 feet behind my house.

[@VBN59Z]

Yeah you don’t have that.

[@poolmilethirty2859]

Wouldn't it be nice for everyone to be as lucky as you.

[@brockreynolds870]

@@VBN59Z Why would I lie about living on a farm?

[@victoke]

watched

[@elianevdb]

The robot captioning this video needs to do A LOT more learning. This is so bad, it’s distracting.🤦🏻‍♀️

[@joaoruyfaustino9392]

I’m not a New Yorker I don’t know why I’m watching this

[@ForrbidenFist]

She echoes!

[@billykobilca6321]

GiGa Flux because not enough people are listening, or even thinking cognitively for themselves and or just dontget involved. limp wrist, pathetic apathy n pacivity of general public is appalling.

[@user-wb2yv7ll9d]

She's only charming when she's talking with Marty and he & his great editors can soften her extreme edges.

[@kevinwhelan9607]

However many years on, is she still trying to write that novel for Knoft? It's as unlikely as her producing a book of lyric poetry in the Elizabethan style (or indeed ANY poetry) or a palimpsest on Christian apologetics. It ain't gonna happen! Fran Leibowitz is an essayist. And that should be enough. It's her special niche. Did TS Eliot write novels? Fitzgerald poetry or travel books? No. There is no such thing as writer's block; it is a lazy, self-indulgent myth invented by writers in denial. There are books a writer is meant to write and then those they have no business even attempting and I think someone as clever as Fran knows this in her bones. Fran's novel has about as much chance of been completed as Donald Trump is likely to admit that he was ever wrong about anything at anytime anywhere.

[@andreagdevine]

Fra

[@brijmsn]

So things didn't get better...

[@deanphoto2]

I love Fran to bits...., but she's so obsesssed with smokers rights. Lol. Her only shortcoming....

[@Carterofmars]

Fran Lebowitz said there has always been much more freedom, personal freedom in NY? I'm not sure exactly what that means. Is she speaking about freedom as it pertains to actual laws? Or, does she mean freedom from a moral perspective? Freedom to break from what many/some consider socially acceptable behavior. Because certainly a mayor shouldn't attempt to enforce rules on morality or what is socially acceptable. Society will decide that, no? She said hospitals shouldn't be about money. But, if a hospital looses money, how does it stay open? Years ago I believe hospitals relied on wealthy donors to meet their fiscal obligations at year end. Where does she think the money will come from to maintain a private hospital? I'm not criticizing her; I'm just wondering. I find her to be very witty; entertaining to listen to.

[@Carterofmars]

Subsidized by who? By us really if you think about it. So isn't it better to have hospitals, any businesses really compete for the money rather than have it redistributed? It's all the same really, only via subsidization, the business looses the incentive to provide more and better to thrive. It's human nature. Reality. Think about it.

[@bulafritz]

As a tourist I was quite impressed with New York. Too many rats in too small a space though. And too noisy. Times Square would be more fun with casinos. Give it that Vegas touch. I guess it was seedy and full of crime before? No thanks.

[@55vermeer]

Yeah, the Vegas touch will wipe away the seediness and crime. lol

[@creativeblunder]

Sounds like you should’ve gone to Vegas then

[@natemoe3134]

She's a one trick pony

[@R00365]

Slight grumpy granny vibes...

[@velocitygirl8551]

I love Fran , but perhaps bikes is accepting others ... idea of freedom? I even get the smoking thing lol ... but if some want to ride their bikes to help the environment and their health, so be it. It doesn’t make NYC less RISQUÉ ...

[@lohphat]

She misses diversity. People who use bicycles are different and offer a great way to get around. Bicyclists pay taxes too. Other great cosmopolitan cities have embraced bikes. Find another windmill to tilt at. Why should I have to endure your nicotine habit at a restaurant? Should people who pick their nose be allowed to wipe their finger on your clothes? It's not all about you.

[@creativeblunder]

lohphat i think the point is that each city/region has its own individual vibe, and you visit/live in places that are aligned to your lifestyle. You want to farm? Go to a farmland state. You want health conscious eco friendly conditions? Go to the PNW. Like she said “nobody ever moved to New York for their health”

[@lohphat]

ck ck Why do people who ignore the dangers of smoking get priority over others who aren’t self destructive?

[@Smokeless1167]

My aunt has lived in Manhattan since 1970. I visted in '77. Leibowitz is everything NYC wants to get away from. She represents the pissed-soaked garbage dump that residents want to leave behind.

[@Ellen24493]

Ugh, awful interviewer. Pause, mmhmm, right. He can't relate to what she's talking about. Too young. Not enough life experience.

[@davewinchester6135]

Never heard of her

[@greyclouds2069]

U need to get educated!!!!!!

[@mrsmartypants_1]

I’ve never seen Franny so drunk and incoherent.

[@drgrl]

she doesn't drink

[@bigmamared1]

Fran doesn’t drink

[@4440ch]

Keep smoking .......pointless jibber from the queen of

[@blackcoffee8435]

listen to the juxtaposition in the tone and conversation between Fran saying meaningful things as opposed to the vacuous verbal fry and yamerring of the people in the background.