Jack Hitt/Steve Martin
Is Jack Hitt from This American Life actually Steve Martin? He sounds just like him on the radio.
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JWinter asked: Is Jack Hitt from This American Life actually Steve Martin?
No, Jack Hitt is a contributing writer for GQ, Harper’s, and Lingua Franca. He’s also contributing editor of This American Life and writes for The New York Times Magazine.
Comment by ESmith — 12/18/2003 @ 9:21 am
Yea, I’ve read a bunch of his stuff and he’s great. But, that doesn’t mean he’s not Steve Martin. When I see them both in the same room together, then I’ll believe you.
Comment by jwinter — 12/19/2003 @ 8:17 am
“In that long stretch of fluid darkness, an acquaintance and I talked while rocking on a porch swing. He lived “off the grid"–no electricity, no gas bills, grew most of his own food, shit in the woods. Every aspect of his comparatively ascetic existence involved thinking about the relationship between his desire and nature’s. He strived for a kind of simplicity that I, as a man with more than a decade of Manhattan life behind me, could only listen to as some charming and exotic idea, like hearing a Zen monk explain that he can grip a prickly burr with the muscles of his sphincter and transport it backward via reverse peristalsis until it reappears at the other end, still sharp enough to catch on the bristly surface of his tongue.
Impressive, but, you know, why?”
Yup, y’all may be raahht, onnacounna, he do write kinna “Wile n’ Crazy” laahhk…
Comment by ESmith — 12/19/2003 @ 3:25 pm
Hey, don’t be a dick. If you only know Steve Martin from “Two Wild and Crazy Guys", then you’re the one who’s ignorant.
Steve Martin is literate, perceptive, and intelligent. Jack Hitt is those things and, probably, a bit more articulate. Both gentleman are smart and funny. Their speaking voice happens to sound a lot alike. That’s what this brief entry was about. But don’t act like Steve Martin is a Hollywood buffoon.
Damn it, gotta go. More later…
Comment by jwinter — 12/19/2003 @ 6:23 pm
Well EXCUUUUUUUUUUSSSE ME!
A misc. tid bit on Jack Hitts voice:
“so i work in this little breakfast place in new haven, busing tables and making waffles. a few saturdays ago i was doing my thing, clearing off tables, and there’s this guy with two little kids sitting at the counter. he’s telling them that riddle, with the hungry fox and the hungry chicken and the corn cob who all need to get over the river…you know, that one. i’m standing there wiping the table down, and i realize that his voice sounds so familiar, and in a second i’m sure that he’s on this american life, and that it’s jack hitt. well, sort of sure. so suddenly i’m completely (and sort of ridiculously) star-struck, and i want to go up to him, and of course i don’t want to go up to him because what if i’m wrong? i keep finding excuses to go out behind the counter ("need me to pour coffee?"), and finally i blurt out, “are you in radio?” and he looks very surprised and responds, “yes.” and i say “you’re jack hitt, you’re on this american life.” and he looks more surprised and asks me how i know. so of course i gush for a few seconds about how much i love this american life and how of course i recognized him because i listen to it all the time… i ask him if he had ever been recognised by his voice, and he says no, he hadn’t. “i’ll have to tell ira about this next time i talk to him,” he says. the words echo in my head…i’ll have to tell ira, i’ll have to tell ira… we talk for a few minutes (about where he records his stuff for the shows he does, where i’m going to college, which of the shows he’s done is his favorite, what other work he’s done) and i have to get back to work. “good luck, caroline. i’m sure we’ll see you around the neighborhood,” and he’s gone.”
http://www.livejournal.com/community/wbez_thislife/15874.html
Comment by ESmith — 12/21/2003 @ 11:14 am