Best known as one of Jimmy Fallon’s “Rag Time Gals” on The Tonight Show, comedian Tom Shillue has a new book hitting stores on today. Titled Mean Dads For A Better America: The Generous Rewards Of An Old-Fashioned Childhood, the former Red Eye co-host’s latest offers a humorous memoir of his time growing up in America during the 1970s, as well as a dash of nostalgia for the way things were. Shillue was kind enough to take a few minutes to participate in our twenty questions questionnaire series recently.
1. You walk into a bar. What do you order from the bartender?
Michter’s Rye. Ironically as I wrote that, autocorrect respelled it as “Much Tears Rye.” That’s a good name, too.
2. Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?
I think @DiGiornoPizza has a great twitter account (no joke), and for Instagram I’ll have to go with cashcats.
3. What’s currently waiting for you on your DVR or in your streaming queue?
I tape a lot of British period dramas, so I’m forced to watch the high culture stuff. I’ve got Wolfe Hall and Victoria in the queue. But I’ve also got Better Call Saul, which I consider to be American highbrow.
4. It’s your last meal — what are you going out with?
Steak, Steak, Steak. No sides.
5. What websites do you visit on a regular basis?
I check Drudge so much there is a faint outline of a police siren burned into my iPhone screen. I love the news sites, I read both the right and the left, but I most like the aggregators like Drudge. They just provide the links so it’s like all-you-can-eat buffet of information.
6. What’s the most frequently played song on your mobile device?
“Windows Rolled Down” by Amos Lee. Mainly because when I decide I want to hear it, I play it on a loop about 15 times in a row. It’s an amazing song. If you are feeling great, it’s joyous, and if you’re blue, it’s dark and sad.
7. If you could go back and give your 18-year-old self one piece of advice what would it be?
“Keep writing in the diary, you idiot!” I kept a diary all through senior year of high school, and it’s full of such rich stories and events I would have forgotten. And then ages 19-22? It’s the dark ages of Shillue. I remember nothing.
8. What’s the last thing you Googled?
This is going to sound strange, but “Lattes in Avocados.” I wanted to see if it was a thing. It is.
9. Dogs or cats?
Dogs.
10. Best concert of your life was…?
Probably my first one — Cheap Trick at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston on November 14th, 1982.
11. What book are you most likely to give as a gift?
Everyone’s getting Mean Dads for Christmas this year because I bought a box of them. But since buying it a decade ago, I’ve given the book Blankets by Craig Thompson to several people. It’s an amazing graphic novel about adolescence that anyone can enjoy.
12. What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?
Have my children.
13. South Park or Family Guy?
The Simpsons! Can I say The Simpsons? Okay, okay… I’ll say South Park.
14. You have an entire day to do whatever you want. What would you do?
It’s an extensive itinerary. I won’t give you all the details, but it starts at a gourmet coffee bar and ends at a barbershop quartet convention.
15. What movie can you not resist watching if it’s on?
Braveheart. As long as it’s before the part where he rides into the guy’s bedchamber on a horse and crushes his head with the mace. That’s the best part.
16. The sports team or teams you’re most passionate about?
The Red Sox and the Kubs. (My daughter’s softball team is the Kubs).
17. Where did you eat the best meal of your life?
Sullivan’s Hot Dogs on Castle Island in South Boston.
18. The last movie you saw in a theater?
Boss Baby. (When you’re a dad, you only go to kids’ movies.)
19. Who was your first celebrity crush?
Mary Elizabeth McDonough who, as I’m sure everyone remembers, played Erin on The Waltons.
20. What would you cook if Nic Cage were coming to your house for dinner?
Steak of course. And when he says “I don’t want it,” I’ll say, “You’ll eat it.” And when he says, “I like it well done,” I’ll say, “You’ll eat this one bloody. It’ll feed your blood.”
PREVIOUSLY: Jonathan Rhys Meyers
