Episode 34: Buggin' out

The Fame Fatale

Now that Thanksgiving is over and I’ve returned to my regularly scheduled overeating, I have the time to start answering your questions again. And, really, why spend all that holiday time yakking with your family about Pappy’s goiter when you can listen to me hold forth about how celebrities really live? It’s a no brainer, people.

This week, one of you wrote in asking what the deal is with celebrity money. You know: How stars spend it, how they hoard it. So I got you Irwin Feinberg, a real fancy celebrity attorney who knows of such things. (Apparently art is a big thing with the famouses these days; if you need proof beyond this week’s episode, I recommend Nick Paumgarten’s recent New Yorker piece about the Art Basel show that happens every year in Switzerland; the fair is essentially the Davos of art, with all the smug self-importance and ridiculously sized cash transfers that such a description entails. For example, at the last Art Basel fair, one famous painting sold for a “cheap” 3.5 million; Leo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett were among the VIP guests.)

Also in this episode: A loyal listener has a wee bit of a bedbug problem and wonders whether any celebrities have shared his pain. The answer: Yes. Just ask Howard Stern.

And! What will become of the Fast and Furious franchise without its key star? You asked. I answered.