an ode to james lipton

new york has never been a celebrity-sighting town for me. in fact, the first three times i ever came to the city, i ran into people i knew from richmond, and on each trip i spend time with friends who live here, so it gives my perception of the city a personal quality. that's not to imply that i don't love walking around gawking like a tourist, just that i've never really thought of the city as a place where famous people live, where i might get to observe them in their habitat. to my knowledge, i've never seen anyone famous in the city, though last year i brushed by a guy in hell's kitchen who was a dead ringer for george clooney, but taller, and with wider shoulders, than i imagine him to be. so it amused me yesterday when i found myself playing phone tag with kedakai lipton, wife of james, of the actor's studio. it seems she's a real estate agent, and a rather successful one at that, and she has a client who wanted to see one of our exclusives. i missed her initial call because i was dealing with the gas line guy at the time, and because of the convoluted way we have the phones set up right now, names don't come up on my cell caller ID, only numbers. i had to listen to her message three times to understand her name-- because of a lifetime of people butchering mine, i like to get names right before i call back whenever possible-- but if i had picked up the digital line first, i would've seen "james lipton" on the ID. this tickled me much more than it probably should... now, i am not a huge james lipton fan. he comes off as a pompous ass in many ways. however, there are a few things that endear him to me. i know, i know, he's a supreme ass-kisser... but if he's comfortable enough in his manhood to gush over johnny depp on national television despite having cultivated an image as a pompous, elite bastard, well... (i should point out that this approach only works if you don't take the show too seriously-- my antipathy toward charlie rose will not be budged by any gushing he might emit, because his format begs to be taken seriously, whereas any show that airs on bravo, home of queer eye and blowout, is asking to be construed solely as entertainment, not serious news, despite lipton's airs. charlie rose can still bite me for that time he asked toni morrison what it was like for her and her "mammy and pappy" growing up in the old south. and of course that's what she called them, charlie, 'cause, you know, she's black. jackass.) but i digress. another reason i like ol' james is because, at least on camera, he treats the students at the school with respect and gravitas. but the initial thing that helped me get over his pomposity is his cute references to his wife. at least once during every episode of the show i've seen, he's worked her name into the interview in some side comment, and always with a shy little smile in her direction (as she seems to always be in the audience). and i think that's just adorable.