“I Mean…What?!?” – Abe Gurko

This is a great news day for me, for all sorts of reasons. First being that the 100 Days are over and second because I can finally report that Carrie Fisher is coming to Broadway. Why am I so excited? Mostly because this town could use a good laugh. New Yorkers have got to get that stick out of their ass. So, we are having a bit of a financial set back. To quote Cher, “Snap out of it!” Carrie’s one-woman show, “Wishful Drinking” is friggen ha-larious. It’s a two-hour therapeutic, laughing session. Plus, Carrie’s my friend and I’ve seen the show evolve from the first opening night in Los Angeles to where the show is now, which gets funnier and funnier. Her life reads like an open book and I’ve had the pleasure to experience many critical chapters. I worked with her for years, then settled into a friendship that has endured the ages, the homosexuals, the drugs, the madness, the laughter and the tears.

Our first encounter (of the third kind), I was invited to interview with her for a unique position, which was getting her back to writing after the birth of her daughter Billie. She was one of the busiest script doctors in Hollywood, and I was happy to become the script scrub-nurse. She lived in a gated community in Benedict Canyon. I pressed the button on the metal box sticking out of a bush and a raspy voice boomed from beyond, “Yeeeessss?” I was feeling a bit Dorothy, nervous, because Carrie Fisher was one of my major icons from her royal Princess Leia-ness, coupled with the fact that I too had been a massive drug addict in the 70’s and 80’s (endless) rendering “Postcards From The Edge” my Bible or “The Newest of New Testament” as it were. “I am here to see Carrie Fisher,” I eek out into the box. And from a galaxy far, far away, came that voice I have grown to love, “Star fucker,” and the pearly gates open. That is how it started and to this day there are continued hours of joy, laughter and tears from all that joy and laughter.

You too can have your Carrie Fisher moment. I strongly suggest seeing “Wishful Drinking” when  it comes to town and playing at the Roundabout Studio 54. And in case you don’t know from past I mean..what?!? entries, Studio 54 is where I kicked off my drug addictions, so there’s all sorts of Kumbaya happening here. I will post a link where you can buy tickets and as you can see (look to the right), I am already selling the T-shirts. A more extensive line of products will be made ready for the Broadway run, so mark your Blackberries, iPhones and iCals. It’s on.