Fuck It! June is Going to be Charles Grodin Month Here at the Happy Place

One of the best things about having your own website is that for the most part you can do whatever the hell you want. This is particularly true if you are not particularly interested in popularity, page-views, selling ads or scoring lucrative freelance assignments. 

Oh sure, there’s stuff that I HAVE to do for the site. I need to watch and write/podcast about every movie Nicolas Cage and John Travolta have made over the course of their extraordinary, extraordinarily checkered careers. And I need to watch and write about all of the movies you kind people have chosen for Control Nathan Rabin 4.0. Lastly, I need to write about five movies that fit the theme of the 12 theme months of 2020: The Year YOU Control Nathan Rabin. 

Other than that, I can basically do whatever the hell I want, no matter how weird, obscure, defiantly non-commercial or personal. And I do! Every goddamn day I take advantage of the freedom that comes with doing a personal website with a tiny but appreciative audience that allows me to make a living doing what I love without having to answer to a bunch of evil corporate fucks. 

And the shit that I NEED to do for the site? For the most part I dig it, even when it’s terrible.

So when I learned that Charles Grodin, one of my all-time favorite performers and a comic genius I find endlessly fascinating had died at 86 my first thought was, “This is terrible. I wish I could do a Charles Grodin theme month on my site.” 

Then I realized that there’s absolutely no reason I CAN’T do a Charles Grodin theme month and lots of reasons why I can and I should. 

So I ran the idea by my boss—me—and he couldn’t have been more enthusiastic or supportive. “Nathan, that is a WONDERFUL idea! And you are ABSOLUTELY going to kill it! Also, you’re looking great and your work is wonderful. I don’t find it difficult to be around you at all! I could not be more excited to be working with literally my favorite writer” I gushed to myself of myself, and not in a weird, insecure, overcompensating way at all! 

So June is officially going to be Charles Grodin Month here at Nathan Rabin’s Happy Place. I could not be more excited to be doing a deep dive into Grodin’s fascinating life’s work. I will of course be doing a bunch of random-ass shit you probably don’t even know exists but I’m also going to try to write about the big movies in Grodin’s career, stone-cold masterpieces like Midnight Run, Real Life, The Great Muppet Caper, Clifford and The Heartbreak Kid. 

I’ve written about a lot of that stuff before but I have no problem writing about it again. 

What would you like me to cover for Charles Grodin Month? And what are your favorite movies, roles and moments involving this singularly brilliant and hilarious human being and national treasure? 

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