I’ve had a lot of thoughts recently and thought I’d type them out. I don’t know if this will get published or not, but here goes.
A friend gifted me Penn’s book “God, No!”. It’s honestly a really good book (and I recommend it to everyone that likes Penn’s brand of comedy) and noticed something interesting when I read the acknowledgements. He goes off thanking a lot of people and to Teller he gives a simple “Thanks, Teller.” Now I didn’t think much of it at first-and don’t ask me why I read the acknowledgements first but I do it for every book- but when I began reading the book, a couple of sentences stood out to me.
“It’s not sad to feel that life and the love of your real friends and family is more than enough to make life worth living. Isn’t it much sadder to feel that there is a more important love required then the love of the people who have chosen to spend their limited time with you?”
These two have spent nearly half a century with each other and Penn expects me to believe that there is no love between them? It doesn’t even have to be romantic love, but just platonic, brotherly love. I heard Penn say something along the lines of ‘we’re friends in the most basic sense of the word. We don’t hang out socially. When we first started out, there was no affection.’ And he continued to say that it was true until this day. That’s not a quote btw, it’s just what I remember from an interview.
I mean, I completely understand what he’s saying. You have coworkers and you have friends, but these two crossed that line years ago. They lived together, traveled together. Their show is basically their child, for fuck’s sake. Hell, Penn wasn’t even really looking to get married, his wife 'found him’. Can’t make a comment there about Teller. They have chosen to spend their 'limited time’ with each other and that’s the most basic form of love there is in my opinion. Every single time Penn says “there is no love” I will call bullshit to the highest degree.
I thought about the simplicity of it. Just two words. "Thanks, Teller." I thought of every time I truly thanked someone sincerely.
Merriam-Webster defines 'love’ as “a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties.” Based on that definition, these two love each other. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.