On Friday, April 12, Stockton University’s Performing Arts Center (PAC) had a featured event titled An Evening with Fran Lebowitz where American author, journalist, social observer, and actor Fran Lebowitz came in and talked about some of her social commentary.

With almost 500 tickets sold, the event was broken up into two parts, the first part was with Dr. Ian Marshall, where he asked questions and had an honest conversation about Lebowitz’s career and how she got started with creating and writing and what she ultimately thinks about the world today. The second part of the event was the crowd asking Lebowitz questions and asking for honest advice for their futures and how they should live.

Lebowitz is a native of Morristown NJ, she currently resides in New York City. Between the times of 2001 and 2007, Lebowitz had a recurring role as Judge Janice Goldberg on the television show Law & Order. She also played a role in the Martin Scorsese-directed film The Wolf of Wall Street which aired in 2013. Lebowitz mentioned in the Paris Review that “she’s not afraid to be on TV and she’s rarely a nervous person” which also contributed to her long encounters with various talk shows including Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien, and Bill Maher. According to the Paris Review, “Fran Lebowitz’s trademark is the sneer; she disapproves of anything except sleep, cigarette smoking, and good furniture. Her essays and topical interviews on subjects ranging from the difficulty of finding an acceptable apartment to the art of freeloading at weekend houses have come to be regarded as classics of literary humor and social observation.”

Marshall is the Dean of Stockton University’s School of Arts and Humanities. With almost thirty years of combined experience in teaching and administrative positions within the field of English, his goal within the School of Arts and Humanities is to further foster and grow the program and continue to give students the opportunities they expect.

During her conversation with Marshall, the pair reflected on the culture within the United States, and one thing that Lebowitz mentioned that got lots of people’s attention; “The United States doesn’t have a culture”. She explained this by commenting that people are living within the United States that have culture but the United States itself doesn’t have culture. She tied this together by saying “some of us are technically the immigrants.” While giving her views on the world and societal standards, Lebowitz didn’t fail to make the crowd erupt in laughter during this first segment. Before this first part of the evening ended, she mentioned her good friend, Toni Morrison. Lebowitz stated that “most people who say they love to write are bad writers, however, Toni loved to write, and she was a great writer.”

The second part of the event consisted of the crowd asking Lebowitz some questions and asking for advice. A question that was asked was “How did she get through quarantine?” She responded by first stating “Having a big apartment helps a lot.” Which made the crowd erupt in laughter once more. Lebowitz then told a story about how some of her friends who lived in Europe couldn’t even go outside at all because they were under heavy restrictions. “However, for us that wasn’t the case, so sometimes I would just go and walk outside and walk to the library to see if the library is still there, it was eerie to walk around sometimes.

When someone in the crowd asked her “why she doesn’t run for politics” she answered the question by saying “Because I am the oldest in this room, if I could run for politics I would. Whenever someone asks who would want to be the president, I always respond “I would, it’s a fantastic job, it’s hard but you have a plane so it’s worth it.” She ended off by stating that it would be good to see young people in politics because they have a longer and future as opposed to the older generation.

Another question asked was, “What books does she recommend young adults to read?” She responded to that question honestly and swiftly by stating “I’m happy to see young people read anything because honestly, I’m a slut for literature” which made everyone laugh including her.

When meeting some of the audience following the event, The Argo got to ask people how they enjoyed the show. There were a variety of different answers while some people enjoyed her humor and some people believed that “she got too political” one commentator stated. Another audience member named Ann stated how she had “mixed emotions about this event, I agreed with some parts of what she said but some other parts made me turn my head a little.”

“I do believe in being blunt, but there was something about her bluntness that threw me for a loop from time to time during this event” another audience member stated.

To check out more performances that the PAC has to offer for the rest of the semester click here.