Yes, I Can Hear You, Clem Fandango!!

When I came back from India (with 11 minutes to spare) I hunkered down in the basement of my truly excellent friends Kathy and Phil. Beyond getting to spend all that time with them, which oddly flew by, I was also introduced to the British TV series Toast of London. If you haven't seen it, shame on you. It's very funny, and typical of a British show, routinely inappropriate. There's a recurring gag where Steven, the terrible actor who mainly survives by doing voice-overs, is interrupted by a character called Clem Fandango. It goes something like this: CF: "Steven, can you hear me, this is Clem Fandango . . . [followed by some insane request]" ST: "Yes, I can hear you, Clem Fandango!!" with the slow burn always lead to an explosion. It shouldn't be as funny as it is, but I laugh every time. Almost every time I'm on one of the endless Zoom meetings that pass for a career and social life now someone will innocently ask, "Can you heart me?" Which always leads me to explode, in mock exasperation, "Yes, I can hear you, Clem Fandango!!" Mainly these innocent souls then stare at me, quite rightly, as if I were a lunatic. I then introduced the show to my old friend Jack Schultz, and, well, the inevitable shenanigans ensue. Jack and Dave and I always always meet on Monday evening for the Brass Mule Happy Hour (a bar of ill-repute that Jack and I frequented in our misspent youth). I used to schedule the meeting using Google Meet, but then Jack started scheduling it using Zoom so that we could each post our own Clem Fandango inspired background. Dave just stares at us in sad resignation.

"Yes, I can hear you, Clem Fandango!!"

"Yes, I can hear you, Jack Schultz!!"