Author Fran Lebowitz on the stuff she hates, 1978: CBC Archives | CBC 

It's almost scary how thoroughly out-of-it they are. She may as well have landed in a space-ship. They have no idea how to relate to a woman that doesn't fall into their Neanderthal categories. They don't see her, and end up talking to thin air.

@@steveneardley7541 Christ what the hell are you talking about

@@steveneardley7541 It seems more like they're there to set up her punchlines and that they're both in on the joke.

This is the way most guys were. No wonder so many boomer women got divorced as soon as they could get a mortgage and otherwise support themselves and their children. Women stepped up to the jobs-outside-the-home plate, but most men didn't step up to the domestic chores and childcare plate. Taking the garbage out (after being reminded five times--this apparently is called "nagging") and mowing the lawn (maybe) aren't enough when the little woman is bringing home her share of the bacon. A lot of these divorced men never figured out what the problem was (despite being told).

@@sarahsnowe old maid's insanity

Really...are you serious ??!!!

Yes, of course-I was with my close friend Lee and we both still remark on what an extraordinary evening it was!

What a magical moment

Thank you for sharing ☺️ she is awesome

that is the best possible thing to say about that tower

They do a fine job of that themselves.

youch! Kitty got claws!

@@petergambaccini7396 You and the OP are so dense-headed you don't 'get' that everyone there including (and especially) the host fully gets it on levels you can't even imagine. Smarten up.

And why should I take advice from a pinhead like you?

@@petergambaccini7396 Because I'm better than you. That's why.

really, I didn't know that. wow

She always tries to be provacative

What the hell does that mean. It was the time.

@Joe M Jokes are funny. That was not funny. Unnecessary touching, too. ew Ms. Lebowitz, was amused, not at the joke, but at the smarmy Mr. Bean, sitting to her right. " beta boys"? I guess YOU have declare YOURSELF a, alpha boy? yeah right. You come off as a, Charlie boy, defiantly. So, don't get your tiny gurken in a twist.

Blado I looked for this and couldn’t find it. Do you remember anything else about it?

RIGHT???? And to this day when this same scenario comes up, women just turn their heads away and smile. Because we're expected to be polite and behave. Not a lot has changed since the old days.

i think he was trying to lighten the mood, as the host was trying to get up in her business!!!

Little did he know, he wasn't her "type"

The joke at the end 🤮👎🏻 ... I support feminist principles but I think in our time of offended non-binary teens in their safe spaces 🙄 oppression activism and victimisation have gone too far. But that was awful.

Yeah, seems like she's being indulged by the interviewer as if she's a silly child who will grow up and be a 1950s housewife some day.

@@MFRU-vid683 Back to the nursing home you go Malo!

It would have been apparent then though

@@MFRU-vid683 Nothing has gone "too far"

There is 0 sexism in this video. The only cringe is you.

Kid, they invented lesbians back then.

@@jonathandewberry289 um, Sappho?

😛 clearly!

Yeah, and it would have never occurred to Orson Bean and that idiotic interviewer that a brilliant, droll, highly intelligent woman like FL would have ANY aspiration other than winding up a housewife, married, pregnant instantaneously by the end of that TV program. WHAT planet were these two men on? I am just 4 years younger than FL and vividly remember how commonplace it was for men to be so blatantly condescending, patronizing and egregiously sexist on a daily basis to the vast majority of women. It was right around this same time frame - 1978 - I went on a job interview and two minutes into the interview the man who was the Hiring Manager told me "Colleen WHY aren't you married with a couple of children, keeping house?" He told me this in a very shocked, flabbergasted, exasperated tone of voice. I was only a mere 24 years old and this man could not comprehend how I could still be single, no children at just 24 years old.......I tried to change the subject and informed the man who was interviewing me for the job that I would like to focus on the discussing the job description - talk about the workplace culture at his office, discuss what type of professional advancement this company offered the staff. He then told me "You better be CAREFUL Colleen, if you don't get married soon, you will wind up a "spinster Old Maid"........Really, I could not make up this crap! I kept politely trying to change the subject of my matrimonial and reproductive plans - but the jerk who was interviewing kept going back to "Why aren't you MARRIED" with a disapproving tone of voice........he kept alluding to how many single, eligible bachelors worked in the office and that he did not really like to "Hire Women as Secretaries Because Right After They are Trained How to Do The Job, They Quit and Get Pregnant".........then I told him " well you better only hire MEN for all your secretarial job openings". Then he started talking about my clothes, my hairstyle, how attractive he thought I was.......it really creeped me out - he came onto me in a creepy, sleazy, lecherous manner........I wound up accepting that job because I was flat broke and my rent was due in 2 weeks.......then I quit on the 8th day after I was hired......he was such a pervert sexist creep.....every single day I worked there - at least 2-3 times a day, he would ask my pervy creepy questions "Did you take a bath this morning?" "What part of your body did you wash?" etc.........disgusting. On the 8th day on that job I told him "You are a creepy pervert I QUIT and I told him I was going to immediately call the employment agency who referred me to this job interview".......that really scared him - for the employment agency to find out what a sexist creepy pervy jerk he was............HILARIOUS - then he told me "I will give you ONE MONTHS SALARY as severance pay if you promise NOT to tell your employment agency you quit because I asked you several times a day questions about whether or not you took a shower this morning, what parts of your body you washed". So I only worked there 8 days and QUIT but he paid me an extra FULL MONTHS SALARY. This was typical of what it was like back in 1978 for working women who were supervised by male bosses........this interview at 6:00pm was along the same lines of sexist comments......no matter how intelligent, sardonic, brilliantly hilarious FL was - the ONLY thing of importance to Orson Bean and the interviewer is their ardent belief FL was going to wind up married, pregnant and a housewife by the end of that evening...........

Fran inventing lesbianism: “You know what drives me crazy? Penises! If there’s something cylindrical hanging out of my mouth I’m lighting it on fire”

Pretend It's a City is fabulous. I'm so glad Scorsese and Lebowitz did it together.

Yea I don’t understand that concept either. I always was puzzled when I’d watch something about people wondering what to do or tips about your retirement. Lol

You'll understand it when you retire.

Me too. I have a million things I'd rather do than this "struggle for the legal tender."

yeh i hate the 'children taking over the world' thing though

They used to refuse to let women on set without makeup.

what a horrible world that was!@@litsci1877

A number of past middle-age interviewers/TV people at the time (1978) were embarrassingly behind the curve, so to speak, not understanding or having a clue about the music, comedy, clothes, etc., of that generation that came after them. For example, they didn't understand SNL when it first came out, saying "I don't get it, there are no punch lines!!"

Wasn't uncommon for men to talk down to women like they were children or not quite capable of carrying a conversation as a man. But actually I think it was the man's own insecurities and incapabilities in conversstion. I know, being a woman of that era-Sue

Fran is very accommodating in interviews. She embraces the content of the question and never the delivery or the interviewer. She truly does prefer ideas over people

The interviewer's name was Paul Soles. CBC utility player, not very bright or talented

I noticed that too😅

@@ninamartinez5596 I switched off......

Yes and it’s gross.

Time is a thief and you can’t get it back!

Still gorgeous.

I think she's abandoned any hope or aspiration of writing a book and has settled into this schtick of the college circuit (I'm talking current day, as i n 2016). Nothing necessarily wrong with that -- there are so few as witty and charming.

John DeLuca She's abandoned t he idea of writing another book because,..well,..who really buys books anymore.

...we do rarely change after the age of 7 (and I'm being generous, Google or your favorrite search engine is your friend).

@@ohd00bley I agree with this. Very few people really change--I just think we come to grips with who we are, that's all. And Fran has always been fearless in her approach to life. This can be good or bad, depending on your pov.

She's been consistent.

Back then, you could even smoke in a doctor's waiting-room.

Cringe moment.

Just a bit of good-natured ribbing. Don't be so dour.

​@@danbowman9294 Zip it D-Boy

Soft spoken but not shy. She definitely held her own.

And beautiful.

@@kristin1533 she was quite shy actually

She changed very little over many decades

But she is right in saying people would prefer that... no-one has a problem with it so far and seem to be content in their personalised bubbles

This asthmatic woman agrees with you. I used to hate having to leave a restaurant when someone lit up close to my table.

California's public housing dept...HUD no longer enforces smoking and drug use restrictions nor enforces ADA (Americans w/Disabilities Act) r requirements.

Back then we smoked in cars, on buses, on subway platforms, in movie theatres, every imaginable place, indoors and out, including hospitals and funeral homes.

@@davidantonacci9525 on airplanes too!!! In grocery stores, people would just put them out on the floor!

She was 28. I guess I guess she would look young.

And, she was so young. can you think of anyone in her age group who is as interesting, intelligent or engaging in today's celebrity world? There is no one now in my opinion.

Patronizing to FEMALE guests. You know she wanted to kick both of them in the face with her loafers...

The interviewer is a man named Paul Soles, which is funny because I always thought he looked like a fish. . He was with the CBC for years and years.

He isn’t very witty. He simply can’t grasp the pearls she is giving.

Yea I hate how it’s so taboo now. I like the smell of it and if it’s classy. I think it’s cool. Lol

@@aaronying4989 There is nothing classy about drug addiction, especially when it involves lighting a fire and inhaling the poisonous gasses.

...and when they are not doing that and making us laugh and self-reflect, they continue to make a mark on this world world as we know it...

Does anyone remember "This is the law", a hilarious primetime game show he was the star of?

Thanks, I couldn’t remember his name. I was thinking Saul something ...

@@GuyCybershy Barely, but yes.

I admire her and enjoy listening to her, but your comment is very astute.

Thanks for this comment! Very perceptive. I always had trouble precisely articulating what it was about her that made me dislike and admire her at the same time.

Warhol was brilliant? I'm quite well read and I have never come across that opinion. After having read his book "Diaries" in its entirety I thought he was interested in inconsequential celebrity subjects (surface issues).

what makes her brilliant exactly?

I'd say she's more articulate/ quicker than Warhol, but more brilliant than America's greatest artist? That's a stretch.

Not sure I follow. Lebowitz is incredibly verbose and Warhol was always as vague and sparse worded as possible.

Is.

Oh please...She’s 70, I’m 65. Back then we didn’t put up with or do anything we didn’t want to do.

Also now.

It was a different time. People back then would have thought that a harmless joke.

N0 she dont!! She looks like Bette Midler with brown hair!!

Yeah because the manners of a razor- sharp-intelligent woman fit better on an old, desexualised matron than on a young woman, right? Sigh...

Yeah. I find her to be dismissive, and narcissistic in the way she presents herself.

​@papadop we really gotta retire the word narcissist until people learn to use is properly. Narcissism is a disorder with a very specific set of behaviors and rules. It doesn't just mean self centered.