When The Rider Goes Full Newhart

 I've done stand-up comedy a few times in my life. Just enough to know (a) how hard it is, (b) how I might be good at it, and (c) how I'm not going to have enough time to seriously pursue getting very good at it, and certainly don't have enough money to spend my time that way. Road not taken, and all that. But part of that experience is watching a great deal of it with a critical eye, and understanding why different practicioners succeed or fail for me.

A famous old-school stand-up routine is Bob Newhart giving you half of a telephone conversation. The conversation is ridiculous, but what makes it work is Newhart's deadpan demeanor as he listens to, and tries to correct, the other side. 

Anyhoo. Go to YouTube if you haven't seen these. Back to the story.

The pick up is in the outskirts of Princeton and happens without incident. My rider is a male, mid-20s, on the phone. Rude but common. I do the usual (confirm address, reveal amenities), and turn down my music so that his phone call doesn't compete. I've got him for 20 minutes and it's relatively lucrative. I can also hear every word of his end of the conversation...

And my man is engaged in a *passionate* debate with someone ("Bubbe"?) over the relative merits of his choices of reality television programming, and dismissive of the merits of *their* reality television programming.

Specifically, "MILF Manor."

For those of you who are unaware of what a MILF is, well, it's a Mom I'd Like to (Redacted). To each their own, and I don't care to judge or share my own proclivities. But in MILF Manor, the (inevitably younger) men are paired and scrutinized with the older women, with the hidden twist that these are the moms of... the other men.

In short, it's a car crash of cringe, and if you like to watch that sort of thing, again, to each their own.

But what got me back to the Newhart callback was the *vehemence* of the defense. "You didn't even give it a chance!" was heard, and apparently delivered without irony, or with the goal of "Let's see if I can say something into my phone that will make the driver give me some kind of reaction."

And, well, Nope.

But congratulations, my MILF Manor enthusiast, for making the blog...