Invasion Of The Pod People. 4.

The other Pod Person I was referring to as one of the three I listen to regularly is Stephen Tobolowsky, a very steadily working character, who hosts "The Tobolowsky Files" as his Podcast.

I first discovered Stephen Tobolowsky when he was a guest on Kevin Pollak's Chat Show, and realized, that to my knowledge, I had never seen him before, and was totally unfamiliar with his work as an actor.

Being one of the few who has never seen "Groundhog's Day", in which he had a significant part, my only subsequent sampling of his acting work was on an episode of "Law and Order:Criminal Intent", which is now the show that fills up my Tivo.

Once the regular "Law and Order" and "Law and Order L.A." went off, I was ready to give uo the ghost.
But my wife strongly recommended "Criminal Intent" as a show I would glom onto.
I was hooked from the first episode I saw, and have built up a collection on the Tivo.
One of the first episodes I saw was one where Stephen Tobolowsky guest starred.
And I recognized him from Kevin Pollak's show.
I haven't seen him in anything else acting-wise, but now, I have been on a constant lookout.
Maybe I'll get my hands on "Groundhog's Day".

When he did Pollak's show, he told stories that were totally mesmerizing, and quite structured.
He is also a writer, and for many years was romantically linked to the wonderful playwright and screenwriter Beth Henley.
It would not shock me if some of his writing talent came from hanging around with Ms. Henley and having osmosis seep through.

But he is a brilliant writer in his own right.
On his show, he works with a co-host, who primarily serves to introduce Stephen, and Stephen takes it from there, talking directly to his audience.
And what he provides is literature.
He makes no bones about having prepared what he's going to say by writing it out first.
I identify most closely to what he does than what the ones in the other Podcasts do.
I like to think that what he does verbally is closest to what I attempt to do on the page.
I think that I approach things with more overall humor, and he approaches things with a little more darkness and irony.

But at our best, I think we both indulge in telling ripping yarns.
He has a warmth and charm that I don't nearly possess as much of, at least on the page.
And his is a very friendly experience.
The Podcast runs just about an hour.

I recommend it highly.

I have also realized that there is a fourth podcast that I listen to just as regularly, and I will discuss that one next time.

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My book, "Show Runner" and it's sequel,"Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store, You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
You might want to check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.

The paperback, "Mark Rothman's Essays" is still available for people without Kindle. I have many readings and signings remaining, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.

The website "On Screen & Beyond" has two hours of an interview I did on it's podcast in their archives.
Just Google On Screen & Beyond to find them if you're interested.

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