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In the new book, “Winging It: Improv’s Power and Peril in the Time of Trump”, the author explores popular cultural and public affairs, ranging deftly from the unmediated experience in Fred Astaire’s tap dancing, Frans Hal’s brush strokes, hook-up culture, psychedelic trips, social media, and Hamilton’s hip-hop to, last, though not least, the performative and demagogic posturing of Donald Trump. 

The gesture all improvisations share is “I will create this on the fly,” or as Trump has stated, “my gut knows more than my brains” This defies rationality and elevates embodied emotions, instinct, and intuition that challenges our assumption that everything of value depends upon long study, tradition, and hard work. Claiming to be free of serious purpose … improvisation only pursues pleasure. Or so it says.

Interview Guest:

Randy Fertel, PhD, is a writer and philanthropist dedicated to the arts, education, New Orleans, and the environment. Randy holds a Ph.D. in English and American literature from Harvard University and is the author of A Taste for Chaos: The Art of Literary Improvisation and The Gorilla Man and the Empress of Steak: A New Orleans Family Memoir. 

Dr. Fertel has taught English at Harvard University, Tulane University, LeMoyne College, and the New School for Social Research. He specializes in the literature of the Vietnam War and the literature of exile. In addition to his writing, Randy is president of the Fertel Foundation and the Ruth U. Fertel Foundation, named for his mother Ruth Fertel, founder of Ruth’s Chris Steak House. He is co-founder of the Ridenhour Prizes for Courageous Truth-telling, now in its 20th year. He lives in New Orleans and New York.