This does little to dissuade the idea.
Posted on 11/23/2005 11:46:09 AM PST by Pharmboy
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - What is it like to pal around with Bill Clinton? Rick Cleveland gives us the skinny in "My Buddy Bill," a fascinating and finely executed one-man show based on Cleveland's friendship with the former president.
The friendship is over now, for reasons that become clear in the evening's most revealing episode. But no matter what you might have thought of Clinton going in, you're going to understand him much better on the way out.
Cleveland met Clinton in 2000 when, as one of several writers on "The West Wing," he was taking a tour of the White House. When Clinton's dog Buddy peed on the rug in the Oval Office, Cleveland, who knows a lot about dogs, gave the president an impromptu lesson in dog behavior. It turned out that the two had things other than dogs in common, both having had alcoholic fathers and a "white trash" background to overcome.
It also is clear that Cleveland is a pretty easy guy to like. He's a folksy sort with a dry wit, a laid back manner and an impish glint in his eye. Imagine a grown-up Huck Finn rafting down the Potomac and you can see why Clinton was drawn to him.
Cleveland's stories are chock-full of intimate details and amusing enough to tickle the most demanding funnybone. There was the time he was invited to Arkansas and winds up jamming, drinking beer and playing Trivial Pursuit with Clinton, his strange brother Roger and Billy Bob Thornton. We're also told about a trip to Amsterdam where Clinton, Christopher Walken and Cleveland smoke some very good hash in a stoner bar and Bill, perhaps under the influence because he definitely inhales, has some intriguing things to say about Monica Lewinsky, Sharon Stone, Ann Coulter and other topics of interest.
But of all the people we meet, including Clinton, no one is quite so ... um, commanding as Hillary. We first meet Hillary at an Italian restaurant in Santa Monica where Bill and Rick are double-dating with their respective wives. The Clintons arrive late and obviously have been fighting on the way over, so the dinner has the feel of low-level warfare with lots of sniping and an occasional ambush. One thing is crystal clear: Bill Clinton is not the same person with Hillary around that he is when she's not around.
Hillary, it seems, is not only "watching me like a hawk," as Bill puts it at one point, but she has someone else watching her fun-loving husband. Based on what happens next, one is forced to conclude that one, Bill Clinton would not have become president if not for Hillary; two, Bill Clinton would not have continued to be president if not for Hillary; and three, Bill Clinton owes Hillary Rodham big time for what she has done for him, and she has her own ways and reasons for collecting on that debt, not all of them pretty.
Is Cleveland telling the truth? He does his best in the show's final moments to sow some doubt in our minds, but most of what he says rings true. Completely true or not, though, it's a delicious show to sit through, subtly written, humorously delivered and skillfully directed by Peter Birkenhead for maximum effect.
A final note: This is the debut production of the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the newly remodeled Geffen Playhouse. It's a warm, intimate second space certain to find much use in years to come. The opening piece is a corker.
Written and performed by Rick Cleveland; Director: Peter Birkenhead; Set designer: Karyl Newman; Dramaturg: Mary Cleveland.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Ping...
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And not get on commerce flights , lay on train tracks work at starbucks fly with jfk jr.hang out in waco swim to usa from cuba oh nevermind
PC bigotry.
I guess Bill's still working on that.
ping
Freepers have known this forever. This is just confirmation by another source.
This does little to dissuade the idea.
No, he overcame it. He became black.
Still trash, though.
No big deal...so did Monica.
Well, well ...
Uh-huh, yeah, sure.
I want to know why they are no longer friends. Anyone know?
It sounds good, I hope this guy lives a long and healthy life.
I assume this show won't be presented at the Clinton Liebrary anytime soon.
I thought it was "diss", as in disrespect.
Cleveland is a tv writer who's admitted he made up just about all the Clinton stories for his one-man theater show.
Bubba inhaled while in office? Who knew? I'd heard rumors of continued cocaine use but not hash.
Somethings rotten in Denmark. A google search of "My Buddy Bill" with "Cleveland" turns up only positive, fawning reviews. If it was truly critical of Clinton, the media would already have the long knives out for our friend Rick Cleveland, methinks.
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