Imagine if Jerry Seinfeld and Adrian Grenier gave birth to a painfully skinny young man. At 17, Martin left his family in Port Said to make his way in Cairo. That was five years ago. Given the intractable unemployment situation here, he's now forced to live by his wits. Martin is sitting a few feet away from me as I write this. There is one ballsy MF in the room, in other words, and it's not me.
He walks the streets as if in a daze, seemingly daring cars to hit him. Like George Baker's Sad Sack, he could sleep through a war, and in a way he has. Martin is obsessed with American culture, particularly as it manifests itself in the sitcom "The Golden Girls." I ask him about an episode we watched yesterday in which Rose inherits a pig. [Editor's note: Inexcusable audio but worth a listen.]
Martin seems like such a genuine person. I was touched by his comments about the deaths of Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty.
ReplyDeleteMe, too. He's got a lot of politically active friends (Tamarod, I presume) who keep him up to date on developments. He'll call me and say, "Tonight's safe" or, more ominously, "Don't cross the river today." I value his input.
ReplyDeleteBut Martin is not politically active?
ReplyDelete