“And we’re back!”
Failed Astronaut is a pop culture newsletter/blog returning to a regular publishing cadence. 1-2 times weekly, I’ll send out thoughts on TV, film, and comedy with plans for interviews, micro-reviews, and throwbacks to my 15-year career as a critic with work appearing on UPROXX, Mental Floss, Pajiba, Den Of Geek, Splinter, and Late Nighter.
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So… last week, I got laid off following a 12-year run at UPROXX as a writer, editor, and strategist. This blog isn’t really about that; it just sets up what I want to write about nicely. So convenient!
In the time since I got “the call,” there have been two specific things friends and acquaintances have asked:
1. How am I handling things?
2. What am I going to do next?
To that, I want to scream, “I DON’T KNOW! TELL ME WHAT TO DO!” But it is a fair question.
In the short term, the plan is to write much more than I have over the last couple of years, since I have spent more time as an editor and strategist. This newsletter/blog (or blogletter) is part of said plan.
As for a longer-term goal, I’d really like to try my hand at the Stanley Tucci gambit.
“The Tooch” is a beloved character actor and bald icon who has crafted a successful side hustle as a professional bon vivant. Tucci has written memoirs (“Taste: My Life Through Food” is a magnificent read) and cookbooks. He has also convinced not one but two media companies to fund his culinary tour(s) of Italy, resulting in Stanley Tucci: Searching For Italy (2021-2022) and Tucci In Italy, which just launched its second season last week.
The Stanley Tucci Gambit is very similar to Mike White’s White Lotus Gambit, where he trades a season of rich piggy satire with a stacked cast (running their own gambits) to HBO for a lengthy shoot in some of the world’s most beautiful destinations. Tucci is just trading high drama for Negronis and spa days for pasta. And yes, that is a good trade.
Tucci has committed himself to the intimate and charming exploration of a food culture that is woefully misunderstood and crudely Americanized with our canned raviolis, microwave pizzas, and Olive Gardens. What I’m saying is, the gambit is as mutually beneficial as it is jealousy-inducing. I’m happy for him; he figured out the perfect job. But content lords, even though I do not deserve it, I have seen what you’ve done for Stanley Tucci (among others) and I want that for me!
It doesn’t even have to be me managing to mangia my way through the assorted regions of Italy (my maternal great-grandfather’s homeland) on someone else’s dime. I can accept that that is Tooch territory and that I’m probably not worth that kind of investment. Let’s right size this concept for me — I’d settle for a show that tours and rates all the sub shops in New Jersey or Jewish Delis in New York.
Great American Substories
Pastram-a-rama
I Wish Upon A Knish
Go halvesies on the Ubers with me and let’s develop these ideas, CNN, NatGeo… Byron Allen Presents Buzzfeed?!
I am ready to commit my life to the mission of traveling and eating for a living. I’m just waiting for someone to make that my “what’s next.”
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Recs
Margo’s Got Money Troubles
This show remains a splendid, messy dramedy that’s highly watchable. The season finale goes up tomorrow, so if you’ve been looking for a complete yet manageable binge, here it is.
This Apple TV series stars Elle Fanning as a college student-turned-new mom trying to build a following on OnlyFans to navigate the cost of living while dealing with an absentee baby-daddy, social isolation, and her dysfunctional parents. Those parents (played by Nick Offerman and Michelle Pfeiffer) carry their own layered stories about substance abuse, recovery, and how uncomfortable and unusual it can be to allow yourself to be loved and cared for after time spent on your own. Pfeiffer also gets to throw one of the most satisfying punches you’ll see on a series this year.
Right now, this show has a place on my 2026 Top 10. I’d be surprised if it falls off.
Marty, Life Is Short
From Lawrence Kasdan, this Netflix documentary about Martin Short is a highly intimate look at the life of the legendary comic who seems to be friends with every major actor from the ‘80s and ‘90s. (This includes Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn – Captain Ron brought people TOGETHER).
Kasdan succeeds in telling the story of Short’s childhood, professional ascent, and personal pursuit of joy while serving up reminders about the velocity of time and the fragility of life.
Old footage from star-studded dinner parties and reflections on Short’s late wife, Nancy Dolman, capture that most profoundly. But the note of tribute at the end honoring documentary participant and longtime Short pal Catherine O’Hara and Short’s daughter, Katherine, who both passed recently, hits like a hammer.
Marty is a warm watch with a sneaky reminder to ground yourself in the present with the people you love most.
Wayback Machine #1
Most of what I did for UPROXX was about TV, film, and comedy. Occasionally, I got to play in the food and travel space. One thing I really enjoyed was a short series in which I interviewed comics about food. I talked to Chris Gethard about the culinary quirks and features of our shared home of New Jersey, asked Joel McHale about steak (until the interview abruptly ended right around when I asked a cannibalism question), and this Mike Birbiglia interview that is, as the title states, “about pizza and only pizza.”
I did not intend for this first newsletter to serve as a mini-campaign to turn myself into a food influencer, but here we are.
Clip Of The Week
Stephen Colbert’s final Late Show is days away. He has handled the extended farewell tour following his politically motivated sacking with grace, dignity, humor, and a dash of justifiable saltiness. Last week, Colbert leaned into that last part, hosting Late Show originator David Letterman and inviting him onto the roof of The Ed Sullivan Theater to toss some CBS property down to the street below. That gentle vandalism was a deeply satisfying tribute to a classic Letterman bit, embracing late-night’s chaotic silliness. It also echoed the inspired (faux) recklessness Conan O’Brien displayed at the end of his brief Tonight Show run with NBC’s money (the Bugatti Veyron Mouse, anyone?)
Seeing office chairs and watermelons CRASH into the pavement was great. Letterman signing off by telling CBS, “Goodnight and good luck, motherfuckers” was pure magic.
Small aside: the last time I went to the Ed Sullivan Theater, it was when they were remodeling in between Letterman and Colbert’s runs. Another memory from that trip was going to the Carnegie Deli (my all-time favorite restaurant), only to discover that they had closed.
See, it all comes back to food.
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