NyQuil is still the same, but Leary is not. When I see him here again, many years later, in full Asshole mode, I'm newly struck with the feeling that he's a link between the coke-y bullshit of the '80s (see: David Carr) and the deliberate self-loathing of subsequent eras (see: my record collection). (Back then, I just thought he was showbiz.) Sure, Leary's comedy-druggie-asshole contemporaries were either more intellectually refined (Hicks) or more loudly brilliant (Kinison) but they also tend to be more, uh, dead than Leary is right now. In Leary's case, you can almost see the coca evaporating from his soul ... or at least he was really good at acting that way. Thus: Rescue Me. So maybe I'm just celebrating his longevity, with a side order of respect for his evolution. Yeah that's it.
I'm also taking NyQuil this week. Vid:
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