Episode 2: Paul F. Tompkins

"Episode 2: Paul F. Tompkins" is the second episode of the Ronna & Beverly podcast. Hosted by Ronna Glickman and Beverly Ginsberg, the guest is Paul F. Tompkins. He is one of the repeat guests on Ronna & Beverly. This is his first appearance.

## Animated Inanimate Objects

In a conversation about Beverly's gift of identifying what men would be if they were animated, Beverly reveals that if Dr. Phil were animated, he'd be a giant penis wearing a mustache, and Bill Clinton would be a fat pickle with the green animated warts and all, and President Obama would be a banana.

## Ronna & Beverly's World

The ladies open the podcast by discussing the post-Oprah world in which they are now living. Beverly says she's Oprah and Ronna is Gayle, at least in her head.

Beverly briefly discusses Shayna Punim, her dearly departed bichon frise. Shayna Punim lived for seven years, and Beverly says she's been mourning her for seven years. (Ronna points out that Shayna Punim only died four and a half years ago.) Beverly says she's still mourning her, and she puts a black ribbon on her bra for Shayna Punim. She says the dog was fluffy, white like a cloud, a cotton cloud. She would take Shayna Punim's face and put it in her mouth. She was adorable.

Speaking of dogs, Beverly says that Stedman looks like a black standard poodle - curly, tall, and lean.

When Beverly talks about having learned so much from Oprah and not knowing how she's going to deal with her household without Oprah telling her what to do all the time. Ronna asks what she's learned in the last 12 months. When Beverly says she's learned that her favorite things are free, Ronna responds that Beverly's favorite things were free long before Oprah. Beverly says she resents that stereotype, that it's anti-Semitic. Ronna says it's about Beverly and asks what's in her purse -- how many matchbooks, how many mints. Beverly reveals that she does have one pair of underpants in her purse that she switched the tags on at Marshalls (so she only had to pay $3.99).

Ronna and Beverly discuss how they want to fill the void left by Oprah.

Beverly discusses how one of her gifts is looking at men and knowing exactly what they would be if they were cartoons, if they were animated. (See section above.)

Ronna talks about how excited she is for summer. She has a place on Martha's Vineyard, but Marblehead is so beautiful too.

Beverly reveals that she's dreading July and August. She was supposed to have a summer of her own. She built a yoga corner in her living room (using a couple of stones from her driveway, she washed her plant, a printout of Buddha that she got from the internet, and cranberry orange candle that she doesn't light because it's a fire hazard). She planned to sit there, center herself, think about herself, and read. However, now her daughters have spoiled her plans.

Rachelle got fired from her internship for the summer. She was going to work at a fashion company in New York. She watches Project Runway and wanted to work in fashion. She's not book smart, but she's heart smart, Beverly explains. Anyway, she had plans to live in the NYU dorms for the summer, and Beverly would give her an allowance to go to clubbing. However, it turns out she never applied. She showed up the first day, and they said they never got her application. So now she's angry and upset at Beverly. Rachelle thinks Beverly was supposed to know that Rachelle was supposed to apply. Beverly told her that if she didn't have a job, she's coming home. Rachelle doesn't want to get another job, Beverly says. She is too upset about failing in fashion industry and wants to reconsider all her options.

Lainie, Rachelle's fraternal twin sister (Lainie's heavy), has been trying to find herself in Israel the past few years. She's coming home this summer because of the Arab Spring. She's nervous. Beverly's terrified too and told Lainie to come home but don't stay in her place. Lainie only heard "come home."

Ronna asks why they can't stay with their father and then remembers that he has cats and Lainie is allergic to cats.

Beverly asks what Jordan's plans are for summer. Ronna says Jordan is terrific. He's going to do a cycling tour in France in August. Beverly says it's doesn't surprise her that Jordan is pursuing testicles this summer. Ronna says he is pursuing trying to prevent testicular cancer. Beverly says she just means that Jordan likes man parts sometimes. Ronna says it's natural that a man would want to keep his own parts healthy.

The show then moves to Ronna and Beverly's interview of Paul F. Tompkins. They talk to him in Ronna's well-appointed home. When he asks whether the audience extends beyond Marblehead, Ronna says they don't know who is listening. They know Barbara Eschelbach is listening. They know Barbara Sidman is listening. They know Judy Perlow is listening. But other than that, they don't know.

They discuss Paul F. Tompkins' career, and Beverly becomes very aggressive when discussing how Paul F. Tompkins played a character on Community who was hitting on another man. She starts yelling at him about he's stealing parts from gay actors. There is an interruption in the program, and Beverly apologizes (kind of) when the program continues. She seems quite hostile for the remainder of the interview when they discuss Paul F. Tompkins' relationship, Schwarzenegger, and his death row meal (spaghetti and meatballs, or pizza). [*More about the interview?*]

After the interview has concluded, Beverly proposes a possible solution to the summer quagmire to Ronna: a custody arrangement where Ronna takes one of the daughters and Beverly takes the other. Then they switch. They can stay in Ronna's house while she's on the Vineyard. Ronna says no, and, among her reasons, Ronna says she doesn’t want pot smokers in her house. Beverly says that Rachelle has a condition -- she gets horrible migraines and a sore throat. Ronna says, not to mention TMJ. How does a 20 year old who goes to Arizona State have TMJ? Beverly explains that Rachelle lost her mouthguard, and she will grind her teeth down to the gums if she doesn’t smoke pot.