Hi there, this is Rob Long, and as long time listeners know, I have created a small industry

in interrupting James Lylex as he attempts to segue gracefully to a commercial message.

I don't know why exactly I do that.

Commercial messages are what keep the whole ricochet enterprise afloat, actually.

Maybe I just like interrupting things.

I don't know.

This is a question for a psychiatrist, clearly.

But here I am interrupting the orderly appearance of flagship podcasts into your inbox to tell

you about my short, four-minute, weekly commentary called Martini Shot.

When you're filming a movie or a TV show, when it's the last shot of the day, the first

assistant director will call out, this is the Martini Shot, meaning after this shot

is done, we're calling it a day, and after this shot, you get your Martini.

So I call these stories Martini shots because they're exactly the kinds of stories we tell

and lessons we learn.

After we wrap for the day, stories about Hollywood and the media, about living and working

in the entertainment business, about living and working in general.

Even like a good Martini, they're short enough to enjoy more than one.

I did them on public radio for 16 years, and now I'm doing them on my own, 16 years

on public radio.

I know you'll agree is long enough.

So in a way, this is a commercial message.

I'm trying to get you to listen to and subscribe to my short, four-minute podcast.

...