Tavis Smiley

So at first I didn't really have any feeling for the show. Eh. Not my thing. Then a year or so ago I read his book What I Know For Sure: My Story of Growing up in America and it opened me up to watching his show, and slowly I have been sucked in and now I am truly a fan. The dark, dimly-lit set is almost so sleepy yo aren't sure what to make of it. But he puts on people who are just so bright and intelligent and they're often not the people you see anywhere else and he actually lets them talk and asks them questions you want to hear the answer to. His laid back approach reminds me of those great actors who are so genuine you think maybe they're not that good, maybe that's just the way they are in real life. But they really are that good. Plus his guests run the gamet from economists to politicians to authors and actors and musicians. It's like reading an old book or watching a foreign film in that you just need to let yourself adjust to how different it is before you can appreciate it. An aside: a few years back while we were living in LA NPR was doing a birthday tribute to Tavis. All these famous people were leaving messages wishing him a happy birthday. For literally 20 minutes I thought they were wishing him a happy 60th birthday. I have no idea why I thought that, but when I got home I asked Eric "Did you know Tavis Smiley is SIXTY?!?!" And Eric was like "I only have a vague idea who you are talking about. So what?" And I'm all (that's the LA way of saying "I'm like") "He is that NPR guy who looks like he is WAY YOUNGER than 60! This is incredible. He looks so amazing for sixty!" Except it turns out he was forty. Oops.