Mark Evanier pointed to what is likely Woody Allen’s first-ever podcast interview. (Likely because Woody has no idea what a podcast is, he noted.) I listened to it – it’s 35 minutes long – and I got one takeaway.
The interviewer asked him how he felt about that instant applause that established comedians get when doing stand-up. They don’t have to do anything except walk on stage; sometimes just having the name announced. Isn’t this just cheap applause?
Woody will take it. When he was a struggling, unknown stand-up, the effort to win over the room was much more difficult, sometimes impossible, while his comic predecessors were getting kudos just for showing up.
I feel the same way at work sometimes. I’m working hard to find some piece of information, and either it doesn’t exist, or it’s not available except at a price beyond our price range. I send off the package, downhearted because librarians like to provide THE answer. But the comment I get back is that the data I DID provide, which approximated an answer, was just fine. Maybe even great.
Now is this really true? Or am I getting a bit of a pass because I’ve been providing such good information for the past two decades? I’ve decided that I don’t particularly care.