Nervous notebooks and Richard Belzer

Jessica Dianne
Fostoria High School

Written in Jamie Flanagan’s Entertainment Coverage Class

Richard Belzer born in Connecticut in 1944 and has been through a lot in his 65 years of living. Both of his parents died tragically before he reached age 23, therefore he had to grow up fast. Most kids without parents do not turn out well, but not Richard he has truly come a long way since then.
His various television and movie roles and hilariously stand-up has earned my respect, and that’s why when I heard I would be able to interview him I was elated. I was chosen to speak to Richard first, I’m not sure if that was a good thing or a death sentence. It was over 80 degrees in the conference room I shared with 10 other young journalists and I was surprisingly nervous, which meant I was really, really hot.
Everything I needed to say was written down in my pink notebook, but when the time came and Richard Belzer was on the phone, my notebook went missing. With no remembrance of what to say I froze and it was longest 3 seconds of my life before I began to speak.
With no notebook in sight I actually began to think it grew legs and ran away because it was more nervous than I was. I’ve done 3 interviews a week since freshman year and it was very unlikely for me to become nervous, but I was and I dealt with it.
While Nervous Notebook was still missing, Richard went on to talk about an upcoming documentary called “The Uprising” which he is narrating. “The Uprising” is a about different animals rising up and overpowering humans after a lifetime of mistreatment.
Richard is an animal lover and believes that humans deserve an uprising because “humans have motives” and the animals do not. An Uprising is a serious topic because it could actually happen, so Richard said “Human have to be more compassionate.”
Soon the interview was over I wasn’t nervous at all anymore, It wasn’t even hot as it was before. Sure enough Nervous Notebook reappears more pink and prevalent as ever. Actually I learned something from Nervous Notebook; be brave, be prepared, and be clear.