Hampton Habitués

Good News Gossip About Our Notable Friends And Neighbors

Stranger than fiction 

Based on real events, The Shrink Next Door is a riveting tale of trust, deception, and boundary-breaking relationships. It’s also got its fair share of Hamptons hijinks, including a “stolen” family estate in Southampton and mentions of East End hot spots, such as Nick & Toni’s and Round Swamp Farm. 

Starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd, the Apple TV series tells the woeful, yet strangely compelling, tale of Martin Markowitz and his unlikely and unusual relationship with his psychiatrist, “Doctor Ike” Herschkopf. Based on a podcast by journalist Joe Nocera, who became intrigued by the story after meeting some of the real-life players, the series follows a conflict-avoiding milquetoast, played by Ferrell, as his life is essentially stolen by his amiable yet increasingly Machiavellian therapist, played by Rudd. Kathryn Hahn and Casey Wilson also star in the bingeworthy series. 

More Murders Please

Have you caught Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez, and supported by East End habitues Nathan Lane, Jimmy Fallon, and Jackie Hoffman? If not, the charming comedy-slash-murder-mystery is more than worth the subscription fee. 

Based on the premise of three solitary strangers who are avid true-crime podcast fans and how their lives become entangled when one of their posh Manhattan neighbors dies suspiciously. The washed-up actor, played by Martin; destitute former Broadway hitmaker, played by Short; and struggling designer, played by Gomez; band together to solve the mystery and make a podcast of their findings while they’re at it. The charming adventure also brilliantly utilizes Hoffman as a cranky neighbor, Lane as a murder suspect, and Fallon as himself. Can’t wait for the next season to stream!

About Time

Yippee! Nearly 40 years in the making, Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time is finally finished and available for public view. Directed by documentary film maker and Vonnegut friend, Robert Weide, and now screening through IFC films, the feature-length documentary allows fans an intimate look at the life of the legendary writer. 

The story behind the film is unsurprising for those who knew the generous Sagaponack-based Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions and Mother Night author. Weide initially reached out, as a fan to his idol, via letter. And Vonnegut responded. Following that, the two struck up a decades-long friendship that lasted to the writer’s death in 2007. 

The result is a deeply personal documentary that’s filled with interviews and interactions between the subject and auteur, close friends and family and rare archival footage. Traveling from the Hamptons to Vonnegut’s boyhood home in Indianapolis, and other significant locations, including the author’s 60th high school reunion and speaking engagements for the novel Timequake, the film is a must-screen for anyone who ever dared to crack open the pages of the American literary legend’s books. 

Celebrity House Tours

Forget the days of peering inside celebrity homes via Zoom and ad hoc camera setups. Designer Charlotte Moss is delivering the real thing, in professional-grade technicolor with her new book, Home: A Celebration: Notable Voices Reflect on the Meaning of Home. 

Through the lenses of their crafts and passions, each contributor — including a handful of Hamptons folk in the mix of celebrated artists, designers, photographers, actors, and activists — presents an offering — either a personal text or work of art — on what home means to them. Featuring glimpses inside the houses of East End-based talent, such as Drew Barrymore, Christy Turlington Burns, Jill Kargman, and Jeremiah Brent and Nate Berkus, the lavish tome offers insight, advice, and lots of style. Plus, profits will benefit No Kid Hungry to fight food insecurity in America. 

Published by Rizzoli, the work shares Barrymore’s desire for all things cozy, Burns’ home inspirations, Kargmans’ self-described “deathbed house,” and Brent’s and Berkus’s beach house philosophy. It was inspired by The Book of the Homeless, a collection of essays, art, poetry, and musical scores published in 1916 and edited by Edith Wharton. That book used its proceeds to fund civilians displaced by World War I. 

The Works of Women

Huzzahs to groundbreaking artist Audrey Flack, who was recently interviewed by Anthony Mason on CBS Saturday Morning at her home studio in East Hampton. Featuring the world of women in art, and how the fairer sex has historically been relegated to “lesser than” status, Flack discussed some important moments of her career. 

Wearing a “Feminist AF” long-sleeved tee, she shared some snippets of her own story, including how she hid her feminine identity when signing her work during the beginning of her career and her inclusion as one of the first female artists, along with Mary Cassatt, to be included in H.W. Janson’s History of Art textbook. 

Glad to see this amazing talent get a bit more of her due. Calling all curators — It’s time to get cracking on a retrospective!