In this week’s episode, recorded before last Thanksgiving, Adam, Will, and Norm talk about the holiday, Adam’s affection for billiards, and the role pool played in Adam’s early life. (Note: This episode was recorded in 2015, before Adam went on his latest stage show tour.)
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Adam and Norm assemble a beautifully machined replica prop k…
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Adam reveals his surprise Christmas present for his wife--a …
Norm needs to learn how to interupt those other two, Will is just a bully when listening to these podcasts.
Skill that shows a depth of knowledge or practice is often an entry to a kind of informal “brotherhood” or “family” of practitioners. From juggling to pool to kite flying… it’s like fandom, everywhere.
was in gothenburg at a poolhall called biljardpalatset with some friends , so we’re at this table furthest in playing a few rounds with a couple on a date, (actually think it was on valentines day) i had a ball lined up for the middle pocket, this girl who was on this date had her back in line infront of me about to shot her ball when i was setting up for mine, i hit my ball first , whats the worst that could happen? the ball flew strait as an arrow and hit her on her bum, she didnt even flinch , i was immediately embarrassed as one should be went over and apologized for the mistake and all was fine, murphys law i guess
If Adam is a fan of trudeau he should take a look at bernie here in the states would love a endorsement from adam
There was a pool table at my high school and we would play almost every break, before, and after school every day and we would see who could hold the table the longest. I don’t play much anymore and I would say I’m a pretty average pool player when I am sober, but when I have even one drink, my pool game goes completely in the toilet. Does anyone else have that? Also, what’s the verdict on pool cues? Do you bring your own or use the house cues?
Why? It is obvious that Norm is not into pool by his attempts to change the topic. The other two are enjoying the topic. It is a good discussion and I am glad that Norm can’t switch it.
It is pretty funny that Norm just sits there in the middle of the shot looking very bored by staring out in space and not at the speaker.
Did Adam call Quincy an MD? As far as I remember it was Quincy ME
frankie As I recall Quincy was a forensic pathologist and, to be one, you have to have an MD. For once I think Hollywood was right.
I have a pool story similar to Adams. My older brother taught me how to play pool starting when I was very young. I was never great at it but I learned quickly. Later on in life when I was in my 20’s we both worked at the same factory. We were at a bar for the company Christmas party and I was holding one table and of course my brother was holding the other table. I was playing 8-ball last pocket and not doing well. The table was clear and all my opponent had to do was sink the 8-ball in the side pocket. He shot and the 8-ball stopped just short of the pocket with the cue-ball in the center. Normally at this point I would just hit the cue-ball to a place on the table that would hinder my opponent but with the table clear, no matter what I did he could have a clear shot to the 8-ball. So I was lining up to hit the 8-ball hard to knock it out of the pocket. My brother looks over and asks me what the heck I think I’m doing. He put $5 down on the table and said I would never make the shot. I put my $5 down and knocked the 8-ball out of the pocket and back onto the table. My opponent missed his next turn and I sank it into my pocket on my next shot. That was one of the first times I ever played for money and the last time my brother ever bet against me in pool.
True he would have been a doctor, but I’m sure the title of the show was Quincy ME.
Cool to hear that Jack Klugman grew up a pool hustler! I remember he was in the Twilight Zone episode called “A Game of Pool,” playing for his life against Jonathan Winters’ character “Fats Brown.”
“Clatworthy” doesn’t sound Irish to me 🙂
Adam should really meet up with Joe Rogan for a podcast, complementary and opposites at the same time. Both are passionate about pool, Rick Baker, Hunter S. Thompson, … Somehow they are the opposite sides of the same coin.
Yes i have been big fan of Joe and Adam for long time and totally agree with this. Adam should do Joeys podcast sometime!
I’ll preface this by noting that I have no allegiance to any political party in Canada. I think that blindly following any party as a matter of tradition is folly.
Unfortunately, our system of only allowing members who have been elected to serve as cabinet ministers is fundamentally flawed. There is never a guarantee that you’ll get a qualified person to fill that cabinet position. We just have to hope that the person appointed has a good support staff.
At any rate, for visible minorities, PM Trudeau’s cabinet is actually less diverse than former PM Harper’s. The absence of East Asians (as opposed to South Asians) is surprising as is the absence of Afro-Canadians. While Harper did not have an Afro-Canadian cabinet minister, he also did not have any to choose from, whereas PM Trudeau has four.
So while Trudeau is more diverse gender wise, he is less diverse racially.
Also, did any of you spend any time playing snooker?
One of the best pool movies I have seen is “Poolhall Junkies”. Probably shaded by a good friend’s admiration of Christopher Walken, but good.
A little info I thought you might enjoy. https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/julians-an-old-school-pool-hall-in-union-square/
My Dad taught me to play billiards and I learned how to use the Pythagorean theorem at 8 years old. I always had gas and lunch money.
What! Inner Game of Tennis is fantastic. – I learned about that book because my jazz piano teacher told me that I must buy the book and start applying the ideas. Adam, now I know we are on the same wavelength….
Pool story:
When I was 16 or so, my mum guilt tripped my elder sister into taking me ‘somewhere’ to do ‘something.’ We ended up in this shabby little cafe near the local shopping centre, which had 2 pool tables out the back, where CK (my sister) proceeded to teach me how to play. Needless to say she was way better than me at that point, but not on a professional level by any means.
Into our third game, after teaching me the basics of how to and what to do, she drops a shot to give me a turn… And suggests I try to the 9ball, which was a really easy and close shot to the pocket.
I shook my head, walked around the corner and said ‘I want to play that one.’ Whichever number, halfway down the table.
A shrug of acceptance and she stepped back, fully expecting me to miss.
I lined it up, slammed it, sunk it. Bouncing off two rails no less.
Looked at CK, and there was a glint of respect there, which I’d never seen before. She bet I couldn’t do it again (which of course I couldn’t and didn’t when we lined it up a second time), but the respect was real, and kinda nice.
Have you guys seen Poohall Junkies? I think it’s the best “modern” billiards movie. Though it may not have as dramatic a storyline as The Color of Money or The Hustler. Poolhall Junkies was a Mars Callahan production in which he stared and had Chazz Palminteri, Christopher Walken and other well known actors.
Nice call out to Jack Reacher books Norm 🙂
I grew up during the 70s and 80s in Ottawa, and we had the Broken Cue chain of pool halls. My dad at one point or another worked as manager for I believe all of them. So I learned to play on a full size snooker table. My favourite game was carom billiards, which is played with 3 balls, two white, and one red. One of the white balls has a dot on it. It was a two person or team game, and it was supposed to be played on a proper billiard table which had no pockets, and to score you would have to use your cue ball to hit a carom, that is, first hit your opponents cue ball, and then red or object ball. But none of the halls had a proper carom billiard table. So the variant we played was on a snooker table. You would get one point for sinking the red ball, two points for your opponents cue ball, 3 points if you sink your cue ball after hitting one of the other two balls, and 5 points for carom. So the highest scoring shot was to hit a carom, then sink your own cue ball. I became very adept at sinking my cue ball, since I was very good at putting spin, or “english” on the cue ball. I was never as good as my dad, who could have gone pro if he had spent the time playing, rather than raising a family. Today, I rarely play, but when I do, I have a weird combination of being able to make the hard shots, but totally flubbing the easy ones. Probably just concentration…
What possible difference does it make to have a “perfectly gender-balanced” cabinet, whether it’s 2015 or not? How about just finding the best people for the jobs, regardless of genitals or skin tone or whatever? I know that’s somewhat naive, but no more so than arbitrarily balancing chromosome pairs.
Nice. The first game I “learned” to play was snooker, then bottle pool, which is I guess a variant of carom billiards. I also rarely play anymore, but when I do, I make the more difficult shots and bugger the easy ones. Nice to see I’m not alone.
Will, What make is your coat? I like it.