The cooking show in ‘78 is a big hit, which doesn’t really surprise Midge, much. She’s always been a whiz in the kitchen, and she’s funny as hell on top of that, and so the combination of her quick humor and delicious food winds up being an irresistible one-two punch.
Susie is happy, too. It’s keeping Midge in the public eye without having to send her on tour. Abe isn’t doing all that great now that Rose is gone, and the kids are a fucking mess, apparently, with Esther’s genius starting to make her life much harder, and Ethan is still trying to decide whether he wants to do his rabbinical studies here in the states or in Israel.
Shit’s nuts, in short.
But the show is fun. It’s low stakes, and every once in a while they have a celebrity guest come on to make one of their own dishes. Gordon Ford came on once for a steak au poivre recipe where he just hit on Midge the entire time. It made for good TV, but Midge left set annoyed as fuck and the two women drank their way through a couple of bottles of wine that night.
Shy Baldwin came on for an episode to make paella and Midge makes lots of jokes about Jewish people and shellfish, while Shy complains about the fact that when he does cooking shows everyone wants him to make fried chicken.
“My fried chicken is terrible,” he laughs. “I gave Reggie salmonella once.”
Midge laughs at that. “You did not!”
“I did! He’s never let me live it down!”
It’s a great episode, two old friends who have mended a long-broken fence giggling their way through a half hour of television, talking about the tour in 1960, and having a frank discussion about Shy’s coming out the year before. Shit gets rave reviews TV Guide, and even Variety picks up a blurb about the two’s warmth and effervescence on screen.
Susie is happy.
“I booked Lenny Bruce for next week.”
Susie is less happy.
“Mike!” she snaps. “What the fuck?! Seriously!? She hasn’t spoken to him since his overdose in ‘66!”
Mike blinks. “I thought they were friends.”
“Before he fucked his life, yeah,” Susie tells him. “They haven’t spoken in years.”
“Do they hate each other?” Mike asks. “Should I cancel?”
Susie blows out a breath and thinks for a moment. Midge doesn’t hate Lenny. Quite the opposite. They just...never got it together. “Let me talk to her. See what she wants.”
“The guy’s been clean since he almost kicked it,” Mike shrugs. “And he’s mostly working behind the scenes producing documentaries these days. I thought it’d be a nice ‘hello, old friend’ kind of episode.”
Susie squeezes her eyes shut. “Just...lemme take her temperature on it.”
*****
“Oh.”
Susie observes her oldest friend quietly as the comedian absorbs the information. Her eyes look sad and wistful for just a moment before she takes a breath and sits up straight.
“It’ll be fine,” Midge says. “It’ll be...nice. To see him.”
Susie eyes her suspiciously. “Will it?”
“I uh...yeah,” Midge nods. “I think the last time we spoke, we ran into each other at a Grammy party he stopped in at right after he got clean. He was...it was nice.”
Susie sighs softly. She likes Lenny. She, too, has run into him here and there, and since getting his shit together and winning his appeal, he’s been good. He was downright sweet the last time, buying Susie a drink. Thanking her for trying to drag his dumb ass out of that hole he was in.
It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if Lenny wound up being husband number five.
“Okay, then. Lenny is on next week,” Susie confirms.
*****
He gets to set a little early to prep, and say hello. He’s quiet now, which Midge finds strange, but he’s clearly happy to be there. They share a friendly peck in greeting and then the work starts.
Susie hovers, whether to keep an eye on him or to keep an eye on her, Midge doesn’t know, but they run through what they’re doing (chicken soup - she can’t believe she hasn’t made it on the show yet), and the director does his usual shpeil, explaining how things work, where to look, where to stand.
Once the cameras are rolling, that old chemistry comes roaring back like a tidal wave. Their banter is fast and funny, and they laugh together. They shamelessly flirt, and Lenny drives her nuts by adding too much chili powder to the soup.
“You like spicy food,” he accuses.
“But chicken soup isn’t a spicy dish, Lenny.”
“Why not? We’re adults. We’re not committing murder. We can make spicy chicken soup.”
It goes off the rails from there, and suddenly they’re adding an entire jalapeno to the soup, and Lenny goads her into doing a party trick she’d mentioned to him long ago; eating an entire hot pepper without incident, which she does.
They eat the soup, and declare it delicious, surprisingly, with all the spice.
They end the episode with their arms wrapped around each other, and Lenny laughing and trying to avoid her spicy breath as she giggles her way through the outro of the show. Once she gets out her “thank you and goodnight!” she turns to him and huffs in his face, making him jerk back, still laughing.
Susie can’t remember the last time Midge lit up so much with anyone other than Susie herself. It looks good on her, and since her mother died, she’s been down.
“You still out in LA?” Susie asks him as he’s getting ready to leave.
“I just moved back,” Lenny admits. “There are three docs shooting here in the next year I’m working on, and I’ve been asked to be more active, so I got a little place.”
Midge hears and perks up, but doesn’t say anything.
“Well...don’t be a stranger, then,” Susie tells him, patting his arm as she walks off, leaving the two comics to talk, though listening as she goes.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were moving back?” Midge asks.
“We don’t talk very much anymore, I didn’t think you’d care to know,” Lenny offers helplessly.
“You’re so dumb,” she accuses. “Of course I care to know. We should throw you a housewarming party.”
“No.”
“Lenny.”
He sighs heavily, as unable to say no to her as Susie is. “Fine.”
Susie smirks and heads for the offices to get a bead on last week’s ratings.
*****
After that, Lenny guests on the show once a month, and even when he’s not there, Midge brings him leftovers.
END
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