My Buddy Bill [Clinton smokes hash in Amsterdam, Hillary, and more in a new play about the ex-prez]

The Hollywood Reporter ^ | Nov. 23, 2005 | Jay Reiner

[summer]

Rick Cleveland tells Bill Clinton stories in his one-man show.

Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse, Westwood, CA
Through Dec. 18

Bottom line: A must-see, must-hear show to open the fine new second space at the Geffen.

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.

MY BUDDY BILL
Presented by the Geffen Playhouse
Credits:
Written and performed by Rick Cleveland
Director: Peter Birkenhead
Set designer: Karyl Newman
Dramaturg: Mary Cleveland

[Feiny]

I took my man there for his birthday.....I thought you just wanted to get drunk? hahahha

If you want, I can check into tickets.....also showing at the same theatre is John Goodman in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

[Dashing Dasher]

John Goodman?

Is he Paul Newman or Elizabeth Taylor?

LOL!!!

No - that's okay. I don't want you to have to see it twice - unless you wanna....

[Feiny]

Of course John is playing "Big Daddy".
As much as I liked the play, I am not up for seeing it twice. At this time of year, I can think of a better use of my $50.

[Dashing Dasher]

Vodka?

[jaime1959]

> Nope, the secret service were there....Rick says he is fairly certain that the SS agent took the photo. <

And you believe that?

Note: I loathe the Slickster and have no doubt he's taken all sorts of contraband substances in his life, but this story is plainly BS. IMO anyway.

[Feiny]

I have no idea if it is true, but the story he tells is entertaining. It could have been that the agent saw someone take the photo & then took the camera....it could be complete B.S.....I don't really care...it is funny.

Plus, the fact that we could actually believe that an ex-president would even be doing that is insane.

[Hildy]

Just think that...a President of the US is smoking hashish in a bar in another country with an actor and a writer...just think about the ramifications that could have reapt.

[Feiny]

Because it was Clinton, there would have been massive praise for his brave act of standing up for those who need medical marijuana to ease their pain....no one would care....now, if it were Bush....that would be a scandal.

[jaime1959]

There's plenty of real things to criticize Slick about. Making stuff up only hurts your case.

[Feiny]

I am not making it up idiot.
This is the content of the play....or did you not bother to read the entire thread?

[jaime1959]

> I am not making it up idiot.
This is the content of the play....or did you not bother to read the entire thread? <

Go f yourself, jackass. I never said you were making it. But you and others here obviously take it as gospel truth.

Oy!

[Feiny]

You absolutely wrote that I was making stuff up. I guess you don't read your own posts:

"Making stuff up only hurts your case"

You were the only one taking it seriously.....I posted the scenes that occurred. I did not make anything up. Rick may have made some of it up, but I think most of the story is true while some parts were exxagerated for comic effect and some parts were made up completely. Either way, you were a wet towell on the posting party & you are not invited to my next review untill you lighten u p a little.

[jaime1959]

> You absolutely wrote that I was making stuff up. I guess you don't read your own posts:

"Making stuff up only hurts your case" <

No, I did not say that YOU were making stuff up. I was referring to the playwrite AND those who believe the incident in the hash bar really happened. It was a universal comment and not one directed at you personally.

[halfright]

The dog really sets that off.....awesome piece.

[Jackknife]

I've been saving that one for a while for just such an occasion.