Who’s On First?

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Last week I had the pleasure of being one half of the performers of the classic Abbott and Costello sketch, “Who’s On First?”

I think it is the most perfect piece of comedy ever written—if your native language is English.

My colleague Adam Pisco and I performed it before an auditorium of our public international high school English Language Learner students, none who have English as their native language, and many who have come here with no English at all. They represent dozens of countries and languages.

So we were afraid we were taking a big risk, and we were afraid that the students might not be able to understand the sketch, and not be quite able to get the wordplay involved.

But I’m very happy to report, as you can see and hear by clicking on the video, that we were absolutely wrong.

“The Most Important Person in the History of Baseball”: Ken Burns on Jackie Robinson

Jr

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Last Thursday WBAI broadcast the interview I did with filmmaker Ken Burns, whose new PBS documentary Jackie Robinson airs April 11-12. Burns talks with me about the myths that have grown around the legend of Jackie Robinson, and the whole process of filmmaking.

If you have any interest in baseball, film, or American history I think you’ll greatly enjoy listening to this interview with a great American documentarian.

Thanks to Mario Sanchez for helping to edit this radio piece.

Click on the grey triangle to listen.