A friend's breakup and obv - Instagram
Back, and still making the global pandemic about me.
Welcome to Week 2 of “An Email from Isabel!” Thank you for sticking with me this far. This week, I offer you a few Instagram videos to make you laugh, and One Single Thought about breakups (and helping a friend through one) during This Time.
If ya missed it, you can check out last week’s email by clicking on the hyperlinked title.
This week, Variety released their “10 Comics to Watch for 2020” list. In that spirit, I thought I’d share my own list of Two People to Follow Who Have Made Me Laugh On The Deep, Dark Place Known As Instagram:
1. Jordan Firstman – If you haven’t seen Jordan’s impression videos, you are truly living under a rock (okay minus 45 points for saying “living under a rock”).
Jordan is an established actor, writer, and director – he’s written for TV shows like “Search Party,” “Big Mouth,” and “The Other Two,” and wrote and directed a 2016 Criterion-approved short comedy film, “Call Your Father.” But perhaps more relevant these days, he does impressions of abstract ideas and inanimate objects on Instagram. Definitely worth a stalk.
Some other favorites: “This is my impression of an actress trying to justify her role in a children’s animated film,” “This is my impression of assistant director on a movie set who is trying to speed up production because everyone knows the lead actor is about to get canceled”, & “This is my impression of a white person at a protest who can’t chant on beat.” Check ‘em out! You deserve a chuckle.
Hannah is a writer/comedian in LA who is one of the only people who have made me truly laugh out loud with her front-facing videos. Here are three videos that made me LOL on multiple occasions:
One Single Thought
Now that we’ve laughed, I want to talk about breakups during the global pandemic.
My friend is going through a real breakup (as in, like, a 2-year relationship, as opposed to my fake “breakups” which are after like 3 months and because we both didn’t actually like each other). This means that I am second-hand sad and desperately want to help any way I can.
If my friend’s breakup had happened in Normal Times, I would take him to brunch where we would wear big sunglasses and laugh, and then maybe we’d take a long, aimless walk where we’d ultimately get really hot and my blood sugar would plummet and I’d need an immediate snack, which would turn into making him sit with me in a Starbucks while I ate vegan chickpea puffs. At night, we’d go to a bar and he’d try to have a good time but by 11:30 he would get too sad and I would know immediately so we’d take a quiet Uber back, where I’d initially try to make jokes to the driver to try to cheer him up, but neither he nor the driver would be in the mood.
With a breakup now, there is no distraction. There are no $30 brunch or sunglasses or crowded bars at which to feel lonely or passersby on a long walk to mock. There’s kinda just you and your friend and all you can do for them is listen and talk through everything, with your psychology PHD in Past Advice from Your Own Mother.
This time, my friend and I sat in my backyard for hours and just talked. I initially felt so bad that I couldn’t do much for him (plan a fun night out, pick a pregame playlist with his favorite songs) But strangely, this was nice. We really got to talk. I feel like I understand him and his life outlook much clearer now than if we had been chatting at brunch and a waiter kept interrupting to refill our water or the placement of a check marked a clear ending to the time together.
Although him being sad makes me sad, talking for 6 hours about stuff we would never usually discuss was an absolute treat.
Not to be like, tHeRe ArE SoMe PaRTs Of QuAr tHaT ArE GoOd, but yeah, this friend-break-up ritual felt a bit more meaningful than usual.
….And now he’s gonna kill me for making his break up about ME! Muh hahahha..
What do you all think about my one thought? You can leave a comment on the post or email me at isabelklein89@gmail.com ;)
Okay, signing off for now! If you like this newsletter, I would absolutely be obsessed with you if you would share it with your friends and fam who you think would like it. If you don’t, unsubscribe!
Leaving you with a picture of Goldie Hawn in “Shampoo” (1975) and her daughter, Kate Hudson, in “Almost Famous” (2000). I happened to watch both last week, and would suggest you immediately do the same.
Much love, Isabel
You’re brilliant and have an amazing eye/ear for “talent”!