What I Learned From 50 Celebrities

ebook (By Screwing Up In Front Of Them)

By Farrell Hirsch

cover image of What I Learned From 50 Celebrities

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Farrell Hirsch has lived more lives than any dozen of the proverbial rejuvenating cats you've heard about.  Not many people can say they've launched multiple national radio networks, worked with the coaching staff of a major league sports team, executive produced star-studded awards shows, been the co-creator of high-tech start up, written a play that played at Lincoln Center, optioned a TV pilot to major production company, and been the CEO of a nationally recognized not-for profit.  So while he has never been what most would consider famous or wealthy, he is rich in the kind of experiences that make life fascinating and cocktail parties stories riveting. After moving from his native New York, he embarked on a writing career in the film and TV world with such bizarre highlights as a unreleased Filmation cartoon called Bugzberg, a Kenny G music video, and a board game called "Charisma" created by a guy who's other simultaneous venture was importing Carribean golf carts to be used on American highways.  All of that lead to career first as a playwright, where he had close to 50 productions of his seven plays everywhere from New York City, to London, to Stockholm, to Los Angeles, to the Allegheny Highlands Regional Theatre in Ebensburg, PA.  The highlights include the two NY productions of his first play Different States, which was hailed as "refreshingly real" by the Village Voice, the live televised performance of The Last Bear in Stockholm in front of 1500 war refugees from Sarajevo, and his 2001 libretto for the musical Rockne - the story of the famed football coach, which had it's World Premier at the Morris Center Theatre in South Bend Indiana in front of a dozen of Knute's descendants.  From there he was one of the people who founded The Ovation Awards, LA's answer to The Tonys.  Writing, producing, and lining up talent for those shows for seven years brought him into contact with stars like Charlton Heston, Annette Bening, Carol Burnett, Neal Patrick Harris, Stephen Sondheim, Nathan Lane, Danny Glover, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, and hundreds more. And then, for no particular reason, since he hadn't really ever worked in radio, he was hired to launch national radio networks, on SiriusXM. The first of these was taking on the inimitable task of turning the world's most visual brand, Playboy, into something viable in the world's least visual medium, radio.  The endless drudgery of having to spend countless evenings at The Playboy Mansion parties, of recording Bill Cosby, Etta James, Elvis Costello at the Playboy Jazz Festival, having celebrities like Carmen Electra, Donald Trump, Fleetwood Mac come in the studio, hanging at the Super Bowl with Warren Moon and Lil John was exhausting.   And none of that includes, what was quite literally, thousands upon thousand of naked people. 

What I Learned From 50 Celebrities