James Morrison Live on Game Changers with Vicki Abelson

How fortuitous that my first show back after an 8-week hiatus was with the stunningly soulful James Morrison––actor, writer, filmmaker, musician, husband, father, fellow, and stellar human. James was Chicken soup for my post-COVID soul. Discovering just before we went on the air that my treasured friend, Christinna Guzman had passed from cancer opened the door to an emotionally charged conversation about relationships…parent/child, James’ son, Seamus, is a brain cancer survivor… love partnerships, how James and Riad have thrived through their 35 years together, including through their son’s illness… art, which Christinna championed, and shared with me and oft shot for me, including my Women Who Write Literary Salons, and these Game Changers talk shows, where James has read and sung numerous times and Christinna and I bore witness. To honor her and James’ talents, James gifted us with a reading from his show, Leave Your Fears Here, sang, at my fervent request, his brilliant, Selfish Man, about a certain someone who continues to refuse to not grab the headlines, and then read from his brand new show, Satan’s Wild Animal Circus of Agony: A Five Ring Memoir, a most meaningful piece about his father’s end of life. Powerful, moving, important.

We talked about sobriety and recovery, a passion James and I share, about adapting, growing, changing, and allowing space to be wrong. We talked about his and Riad’s documentary, Showing Up, an unprecedented look at the audition, with some of our most accomplished working actors reflecting on the process and how it affects them. Nathan Lane, Sam Rockwell, Eli Wallach, and Kristin Chenoweth are a few of those interviewed. I just watched it again and I’m rethinking this whole return to acting thing. It’s a wonderful film, raw and moving, and so damn honest. Like James himself.

I adore this man and every moment in his exceptional company. I’ve said before, sitting down with 24's Bill Buchanan, AKA, James Morrison, is like wrapping myself up in my softest, warmest, coolest, comfiest, cutest, silkiest pajamas, and settling in for an easy, breezy, fun, loving, memorable night. This one had the added bonus of being a bear hug of support, comfort, and grace. I’m forever grateful for his friendship.

For all things James: jpmorrison.com

James Morrison Live on Game Changers with Vicki AbelsonWednesday, January 31, 5 PM PT, 8 PM ET Streamed Live on my FacebookReplay here:https://bit.ly/42kBBKq