“This place sucks,” Jeff Garlin blurts out as we pass a cafe with a maroon awning. “Worst tuna fish in the universe.”
Garlin (whose one-man show I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With just finished a run at the Remains Theatre) is performing one of his midday rituals: a walk up Clark Street that begins at the Gold Coast Dogs at Dickens and Clark (where today Garlin partakes of a hot dog, a chocolate malted, and half my fries) and ends at Frances (“My ritual begins and ends with food”), with stops in between at various comic book shops and compact disc stores.
“So are the sideburns.”
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Garlin turns to me and speaks directly into my tape recorder. “I start at the beginning. Sort of look, to see what new ones are out.” He demonstrates, gently pawing through the books. “Now, look at this! This is the new Avengers. There’s a couple making out! An alien making out with a woman.
Garlin turns his attention elsewhere. “This is the Cage. Cage, it takes place in Chicago. Otherwise it’s a sucky book. I might get this, Captain America. How is this, Bill?”
“Have you read the Daredevil?” Garlin asks Bill.
Then he turns back to the wall of comic books. “Let’s see, Iron Man. No, I’m not going to get that. I’m sure it’s a crappy issue. Let’s go down the line. Bill, have you read this?”
